Fischer is a decent HC, something Miami has not had in years. That said he's vastly over rated by the media. I hate the guy for two reasons (1) he coaches dirty, q.v. Harrison IR play and (2) he's a Patriots and BB hater, q.v. Spygate. Combine this with his NFL Compensation Committee role as a Polian rump swab and you gat a pornstash clown whom I cannot stand.
Still, given that he is competent, I predict that Miami finishes ahead of the imploding NY Jets in 2012.
This pretty much nails it, I think, "decent" is about all the praise he deserves. Here are what I think are the key stats for him:
- He was the head coach for 16 years with the Oilers/Titans and they made the playoffs only 6 times.
- His teams won only 5 playoff games. It would be only 2 if not for the "Music City Miracle"; I still question whether that was a lateral, and will always believe that if "Son of Bum" had played Flutie in that game, the Bills would have won that game.
Not so good considering the talent he had to work with both on his staff and on his roster. Gotta be fair here, and give him plenty of the credit for the talent selection and even more so, obviously, for being able to develop that talent. His teams ran that "46" Buddy Ryan defense and it was fairly effective and for many years pretty much unique in the league. He put together an excellent coaching staff and even though I'm not a fan, I always felt his teams played hard (to the limited extent I paid attention to them).
The big question I have about Fisher going to Miami is whether he will be able to work well with "King Carl" Peterson, who is clearly the #1 man in their football operation now. Peterson has a reputation for, shall we say, his "enthusiastic input" with his coaches and GMs. There's also GM Jeff Ireland in the mix - for now anyway. My perception is that Fisher is that he got involved in too many power struggles in his last couple or three seasons in Tennessee, so I wonder why he'd go for a situation that looks like more of the same. Not to put too much stock in my own perceptions, but if Fisher winds up in Miami there will be a big part of me that will figure he's just there for the money, which wouldn't bode all that well for the Fins.
