DeFelippo to Bears (QB Coach)

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dplank
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The Marshall Plan wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:35 am Finally a hire that makes sense.

The Ragone promotion stinks to me like a lackey got promoted because Nagy is circling the wagons and he's trying to keep Ragone from bolting because he didn't get OC. Even though Ragone didn't deserve it because its not like he worked wonders with Biscuit.

Very exciting to have Flip on board. The guy can talk forever about offenses and he's got a great track record.

Why is it that the HC of this team is my third favorite coach on the team behind the DC and QB Coach? Oh well.
What has Pagano done to earn that? Honestly want to know, I'd love to not hate on the guy as much as I do.
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This is a great hire.
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Great hire. DeFelippo to work directly with Trubiskey and other QBs brought in. Ragone to develop passing attacks. I think they brought in Lazor to do the same with the running game, he hasn't been too successful with the passing game. He'll also be the primary guy developing the weekly offensive game plan. Nagy to oversee all and call games. I don't think the hire means anything regarding Nick Foles nor do I think Lazor's hire means anything regarding Andy Dalton, although Dalton would be more likely for a one year stint as a backup.
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I thought Nagy was supposed to be the QB whisperer?

The Ragone promotion is almost comical, but if George wants to pay a bloated coaching staff?

Am for the Lazor and DeFlip hires because the QB Whisperer and The Big Ragone haven't built a foundation with Trubisky in 2 years. After 3, he still looks like a rookie. So it makes sense to bring in some new specialists to diagnose the patient and try to cure him. More guys potentially in the ear of a QB that some here claim "thinks too much" lol

Nagy also needs help as a coordinator. That's obvious from the results.
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AZ_Bearfan wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2020 8:34 pm Another great hire man. This is good stuff. I'm just putting this out there, but Ragone may end up years from now as the first HC from the Matt Nagy tree.
lol slow your roll there buddy..right not Nagy doesnt even have a shrub , much less a tree :frustrated:
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The Cooler King wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 8:50 am
Hoog wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 6:52 am but as with Nagy's preseason decision to NOT play any starters, he does sometimes subscribe to the smartest man in the room theory.
I can understand why many didn't like his deceision with the starters, but this is not "smartest man in the room" territory. It's a rapidly growing league wide trend. Not some island Nagy is on.
Valid point but seems like Nagy was at the forefront. Anyway you look at it, to me, it was a really bad idea. Football is rhythm and the o-line is like a synchronized swim team. They need live reps with each other even if you have mostly returning players. At practice, everyone knows the play coming or has seen the play coming, live defenses react and help you see how others will react to your formations, etc... I don't like the "no play in preseason" trend at all.

It certainly didn't help reduce injuries. In fact, I might even say it caused injuries due to lack of muscle memory for these guys. They need a few hits before they go into battle. I'll get off my stump now.
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Amen.

Reps are vital for O especially OL and a raw QB.

When the team came out like they did against the Packers at home, Nagy earned every bit of second-guessing. Arrogance.
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But was it obvious enough to Nagy that these guys need reps before the season starts? God I hope so.
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That remains to be seen. Nagy seems a bit stubborn. Wonder how much Lazor and DeFilippo prevailed on their HCs to play O starters in preseason? Maybe they can teach him some common sense.

I hope they are wise enough to sign a QB that can actually compete with Trubisky, something he has never really been faced with. Big believer in providing competition at positions where they have questions. Especially with a playoff caliber defense.

A sliver lining with backups playing a lot in preseason though, might be that the backup QB plays a lot, so is up to speed if Trubisky falters sort of like what happened with Tannehill and the Titans.
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I'm willing to see the keep up with the resting starters trend. But if I was running the football ops of a team, I'd have a running project for my analytic guys to track league wide usage and results, and definitely evaluate the issue again in a few years once there were sufficient data points. (Edit- the other thing is there's a decent chance the league resolves this issue somewhat very soon with a shortened preseason and a couple weeks tacked onto the regular season... Tbd).

Mitch might be a unique case due to his issues, and there is probably a middle ground, but I wouldnt really want for instance to run RPOs in preseason action where he's more exposed and not protected by the rules.
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dplank wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:05 am
The Marshall Plan wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:35 am Finally a hire that makes sense.

The Ragone promotion stinks to me like a lackey got promoted because Nagy is circling the wagons and he's trying to keep Ragone from bolting because he didn't get OC. Even though Ragone didn't deserve it because its not like he worked wonders with Biscuit.

Very exciting to have Flip on board. The guy can talk forever about offenses and he's got a great track record.

Why is it that the HC of this team is my third favorite coach on the team behind the DC and QB Coach? Oh well.
What has Pagano done to earn that? Honestly want to know, I'd love to not hate on the guy as much as I do.
Take a step back and look at the offense. It set the defense up for failure in a lot of ways. No running game which means low TOP and the defense gets gassed. Not a lot of points either so the defense can’t take as many risks on big plays. They had to play not to give up the score.

Using this source:

https://www.lineups.com/articles/team- ... ball-2019/

The Bears gave up the third fewest points allowed at 253 which divided by 16 is 15.8 points per game.

A defense like that, even with an average offense, should’ve had a deep playoff run.

With an offense in the shitter that gave them no time to rest. I think Pagano is a miracle worker.
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Hoog wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 6:52 am I have been a manager of people for over 35 years (my first management job was at 18 years old) and I'm a big believer in having a few voices/opinions in the room.
I have had a whopping 2 direct reports in my career and each time it was the worst thing that has happened to me in my career. People and their drama. Get fucked. What is so fucking hard about getting up, going to work, doing the job the best you can, go home, and do it again tomorrow? I don’t know how you do it.
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The Marshall Plan wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:00 pm
dplank wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:05 am

What has Pagano done to earn that? Honestly want to know, I'd love to not hate on the guy as much as I do.
Take a step back and look at the offense. It set the defense up for failure in a lot of ways. No running game which means low TOP and the defense gets gassed. Not a lot of points either so the defense can’t take as many risks on big plays. They had to play not to give up the score.

Using this source:

https://www.lineups.com/articles/team- ... ball-2019/

The Bears gave up the third fewest points allowed at 253 which divided by 16 is 15.8 points per game.

A defense like that, even with an average offense, should’ve had a deep playoff run.

With an offense in the shitter that gave them no time to rest. I think Pagano is a miracle worker.
I feel like our offense was basically the same as 2018 with two main differences:

1. The defense took a major step back and didn't give them short fields all the time
2. They struggled in the red zone whereas last year they were great in the red zone

Maybe I'm misremembering lol, but I don't remember them churning out long drives or running the ball at all last year. We only went from 32m TOP down to 30m TOP this year, wasn't that big a drop. Yards dropped by like 40 ypg.

That minor delta on O doesn't wash away 5 years of stank from Chuck in Indy. I feel like he's just a name people recognize as a defensive coach and just assume he's good. I bet very few here realized he had the 30th ranked defense in the NFL two years in a row before we hired him.
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Interesting piece on his success with different quarterbacks in the red zone.

http://sportsmockery.com/2020/01/john-d ... est-flaws/
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dave99 wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:06 pm Interesting piece on his success with different quarterbacks in the red zone.

http://sportsmockery.com/2020/01/john-d ... est-flaws/
Interesting. Though I question using passer dating in the RZ without additional context. What's league average? For all passes, average passer rating is 90-95. I'd kind of expect average to be higher in the RZ.

Still the Bears went from 6th to 28th in RZ efficiency. That's huge. A whole point lost every time you reach the RZ.
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Hoog wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 6:52 am I have been a manager of people for over 35 years (my first management job was at 18 years old) and I'm a big believer in having a few voices/opinions in the room. One guy has to take those voices and make a decision though and ultimately will live or die by the decision but it balances decision making IF the manager is willing to truly listen. The key here is Nagy can't be stubborn and think he's the smartest man in the room. I like the mix now we have together here but as with Nagy's preseason decision to NOT play any starters, he does sometimes subscribe to the smartest man in the room theory. If he wants to stay in this league as a HC, he needs to break that thinking and not be so stubborn.

Personally, I am behind Nagy and think he will make an excellent HC in this league and showed that in his first year. I think he got a little stuck in his ways and needs to listen to outside voices and he will be fine. I also think this is good for Trubisky. I really think Mitch is close but needs to play and stop thinking so much. When you see him processing rather than playing, it's when he does his worst work. I actually like when he free lances a bit. Yea, his decision making sometimes gets the best of him but it's much better than we you see him forcing a play just because it's what was called. Looking forward to the regrowth of this offense and Mitch under new guidance.
Great post, agreed 110%
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Honestly this makes me feel better about the somewhat underwhelming Lazor hiring. It's also nice to hear from Jahns that Rags is still around for more reasons than "Mitch likes him."
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I'm a mechanics nerd so this is porn to me:

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/sports/ ... 70905.html
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dplank wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 2:53 pm
The Marshall Plan wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:00 pm

Take a step back and look at the offense. It set the defense up for failure in a lot of ways. No running game which means low TOP and the defense gets gassed. Not a lot of points either so the defense can’t take as many risks on big plays. They had to play not to give up the score.

Using this source:

https://www.lineups.com/articles/team- ... ball-2019/

The Bears gave up the third fewest points allowed at 253 which divided by 16 is 15.8 points per game.

A defense like that, even with an average offense, should’ve had a deep playoff run.

With an offense in the shitter that gave them no time to rest. I think Pagano is a miracle worker.
I feel like our offense was basically the same as 2018 with two main differences:

1. The defense took a major step back and didn't give them short fields all the time
2. They struggled in the red zone whereas last year they were great in the red zone

Maybe I'm misremembering lol, but I don't remember them churning out long drives or running the ball at all last year. We only went from 32m TOP down to 30m TOP this year, wasn't that big a drop. Yards dropped by like 40 ypg.

That minor delta on O doesn't wash away 5 years of stank from Chuck in Indy. I feel like he's just a name people recognize as a defensive coach and just assume he's good. I bet very few here realized he had the 30th ranked defense in the NFL two years in a row before we hired him.
I see the numbers for what they are. The defense's job is to not give up points. We gave up the third least. That's a huge win.

His time at Indy doesn't concern me. He had no personnel and he was also loved in Baltimore.
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great hire IMO and should help Trubisky
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This is my favorite hire so far. If he can fix Mitch's mechanics he'll get him turned around. Something Ragone has seemed to not be able to do.
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G08 wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 4:46 pm I'm a mechanics nerd so this is porn to me:

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/sports/ ... 70905.html
Yeah I'm getting my Flip-On lately too.

This is an oldie but a goodie.

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I like this hire. I'm wondering what's in it for him? QB coach isn't exactly a glamorous role... for a guy who in the recent past was interviewing for prestigious HC jobs. So... why did he agree to come on board?

Does he believe he can fix Mitch in terms of not only mechanics but also touch and spatial awareness? Maybe he can - if a guy has a record of having NFL QBs perform well on his watch he must have a good "whisperer" skill set (which is exciting). Or is it because he believes (or knows) they're intent on signing a big FA, or drafting a guy high so he can tutor another good young guy like Minshew? Maybe all the above. Regardless, I'll assume the Bears' QB performance will be dramatically improved under him. Really any material improvement is going to have a massive impact on this team.
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DeFilippo probably took the job because he wasn't offered another pro OC position, so it was a choice between QB spots, which pay less.

Not a bad place to land in terms of how his job will be perceived from the outside. Bad offense with nowhere to go but up. Same with the QB project. Can he play worse? Probably not, so whatever improvement he shows will be partially ascribed to DeFilippo's coaching.

Pace will probably focus more on that dysfunctional side of the ball in FA and the draft, so there may be more talent around Trubisky. Another reason he may play better.
Last edited by Drone7 on Fri Jan 17, 2020 10:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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IE wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 10:12 am I like this hire. I'm wondering what's in it for him? QB coach isn't exactly a glamorous role... for a guy who in the recent past was interviewing for prestigious HC jobs. So... why did he agree to come on board?

Does he believe he can fix Mitch in terms of not only mechanics but also touch and spatial awareness? Maybe he can - if a guy has a record of having NFL QBs perform well on his watch he must have a good "whisperer" skill set (which is exciting). Or is it because he believes (or knows) they're intent on signing a big FA, or drafting a guy high so he can tutor another good young guy like Minshew? Maybe all the above. Regardless, I'll assume the Bears' QB performance will be dramatically improved under him. Really any material improvement is going to have a massive impact on this team.
If my memory is correct, he was the Eagles QB coach when he was getting looked at as a Head Coach. When he didn't get any HC jobs he took a OC job, i'm assumed failed as an OC, and is now back to his bread and butter as a QB coach. I believe that's how it went down for him. But I could be wrong because while I don't dislike him, I don't think he's anything super special either so I haven't really followed his career. Hopefully he will be successful here.
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He and Nagy both have ties back to Pennsylvania beyond the Eagles. Hopefully they rekindle one another's excitement for the game.
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IE wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 10:12 am I like this hire. I'm wondering what's in it for him? QB coach isn't exactly a glamorous role... for a guy who in the recent past was interviewing for prestigious HC jobs. So... why did he agree to come on board?
If Flip helps to turn Mitch into a top 10 QB he’ll be able to write his own ticket. With his track record I’m sure he had other opportunities, but I’m guessing this one was the most challenging.
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Drone7 wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 10:34 am DeFilippo probably took the job because he wasn't offered another pro OC position, so it was a choice between QB spots, which pay less.

Not a bad place to land in terms of how his job will be perceived from the outside. Bad offense with nowhere to go but up. Same with the QB project. Can he play worse? Probably not, so whatever improvement he shows will be partially ascribed to DeFilippo's coaching.

Pace will probably focus more on that dysfunctional side of the ball in FA and the draft, so there may be more talent around Trubisky. Another reason he may play better.
Yep. Pretty much no lose. If Mitch sucks he won't pick up the blame.cuz Mitch already sucked.

If Mitch improves, he's gonna make it rain.

He could have maybe gone the college OC route but there's a bit of risk in that too.
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Other teams wanted him so I'm sure we are compensating him at a greater rate than your typical QB coach.

I don't think he would have come here if he didn't think he could work with Trubisky. As has already been mentioned in this thread, if he gets the kid to play well he's going to be a hot name in the coaching community. Dude has a bit of a reputation of wanting to "climb the ladder", so I hope he's able to stay in his lane as a QB coach and not step on toes.
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DeFilippo got head coach interviews, including with the Bears, on the back of his work as QB coach in Philadelphia. After being unsuccessful he went down the most common route to becoming a head coach and took co-ordinator gigs. Perhaps his lack of co-ordinator experience was a significant part of the feedback he got from his unsuccesful head coach interviews.

His brief stints as the OC of the Vikings and Jaguars didn’t go well for him, but he has that experience now. If he turns Trubisky’s fortunes around and gets HC interviews on the back of it then he can by-pass the OC role.

Most teams looking for a new head coach either have a young QB or are about to draft one. I wonder if DeFilippo has ambitions to be a play calling HC like Nagy or if he’d delegate that to an OC? If it’s the latter then he could make a stronger case for being hired. He could make an argument along the lines of:

“I have the utmost respect for Coach Nagy, but when he became head coach of the Bears he took on too much and spread himself too thin trying to be head coach, play caller and QB mentor. To his credit he realised this which is why he brought me in to mentor Trubisky and kept my predecessor Coach Ragone on staff as Passing Game Co-ordinator. If I become your head coach I will delegate the play calling. Aside from my duties as head coach, my only other focus will be on mentoring the young QB.”
Last edited by HisRoyalSweetness on Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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