Thread: Change on the way

Looks like Mike will be calling the plays this Sunday & on the headphones with C-Pep.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/football/12690500.htm

If you need to register to read this article, then register. It's simple & free. I don't want to catch flack from webby or others for posting an entire article. If your a fan, you should already be registered for the Star Tribune & St. Paul Pioneer Press.

You won't catch flack from ANYONE for posting the entire article. If it's from a place where you need to register to see it, we prefer you post the entire article.

Oddly enough some slack asses can't register from work.

(That would be me :grin

Change on the way

Tice mulls options to curb dismal 0-2 start

BY SEAN JENSEN

Pioneer Press


After a disappointing 0-2 start in a season of high expectations, Vikings coach Mike Tice is under fire and gauging how much to involve himself in play calling for the team's struggling offense.

With just one offensive touchdown in two games, Tice said Monday he will consider a variety of options to jump-start the offense and implement changes by Wednesday's first full practice.

"We will address some things," Tice said during his press conference. "I am sure that there will be some tweaks. How many and how much, time will tell over the next two days in what direction we go."

The spectrum could range from Tice adjusting where assistant coaches work and making more "suggestions" to offensive coordinator Steve Loney, to Tice seizing control of the play calling and directly communicating with quarterback Daunte Culpepper.

One thing is certain: The status quo is not an option.

Although the season is just two weeks old, Tice feels the pressure heaped on him since the Vikings were touted as a playoff team and the NFC North Division favorite. After an abysmal start, the national media targeted Tice and the Vikings as a coach and team in peril. ESPN.com and FOX-Sports.com ran cover stories on the Vikings' horrid start.

Tice embraced the pressure of fixing the Vikings' problems.

"Any sucker can pilot the ship when everything's smooth and the sun's out and you've got a pina colada in your hand with sunglasses and a Cuban (cigar)," Tice said. "But the good captain's going to pilot the ship through the rough waters and get it to home port.

"That's my challenge as a head coach because it all falls on me. I have to make sure that I put things in order to get it corrected."

Tice is taking the approach of one of his mentors, Joe Gibbs, according to former NFL receiver Cris Collinsworth, now an analyst for HBO Sports and a co-host of NBC's Sunday Night Football, which begins next season.

"Joe Gibbs once told me, 'If someone is going to hand me a pink slip someday, it's not going to be because of the plays someone else called. It's because I called the plays and it didn't work,' " Collinsworth recalled the Washington Redskins Hall of Fame coach telling him.

"Mike's in a tough spot. There were some big expectations for this team, and they have to get it back on the right track. So I don't blame him."

Collinsworth, though, pointed out some issues.

Although he was a long-respected offensive line coach, Tice never called plays, and by doing so will spread himself thin elsewhere.

"It takes Tice out of the position of being a head coach," Collinsworth said. "Now, you're a coordinator. You don't have a head coach to oversee the whole thing.

"But I think that's the most important job on the coaching staff."

Given the pressure on Tice, Collinsworth said the Vikings coach doesn't have much choice. But Collinsworth added that Tice has experience that should help him significantly.

First, Tice coached offensive linemen — "one of the toughest jobs in the NFL," according to Collinsworth — and Tice played tight end.

"It's a pretty good position to have played because you are a guy who is intimately involved in the running and passing games," Collinsworth said.

Tice has not officially decided to take over play calling. He is weighing his options. Tice might move quarterbacks coach Rich Olson from the press box to the field, and send offensive coordinator/line coach Loney from the field to the box. That would enable Olson to work closely with Culpepper during the game. The offensive linemen, meanwhile, would be overseen on the field by offensive line assistant Corbin Lacina, assistant offensive line/tight ends coach John Tice and even Pro Bowl center Matt Birk.

Loney said he has not discussed any change of scenery or role with Tice, and he added that he felt good about his handling of the play-calling duties.

But Loney insisted that he is not so egotistical that he would stand in the way of a move that could improve the offense.

"So if it does, it does," Loney said of a role change. "If it takes me picking tape up off the locker room floor — if that'll help us win — I'll be happy to do that too.

"When you only have one touchdown in two games, you obviously have some things to fix."

In three seasons with the Vikings, Loney has worked from the sidelines, a position he prefers because he can better communicate with his linemen.

But he noted that he also has worked from the box in college as a coordinator/offensive line coach.

"I've done it the other way, and been successful both ways, so I'm not opposed (to any changes)," Loney said.

Last week, Tice was very hands-on in helping the offensive line correct its problems from a dismal performance in the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Despite the rash of turnovers, Tice praised the play of the offensive line Sunday in Cincinnati.

Although he did not address his plans this week, Tice likely will work closely with Culpepper, who has 10 turnovers in the two games. The goal is to help the Pro Bowl quarterback feel more comfortable with the offense and the play calls. Veteran backup Brad Johnson also could become more involved.

Collinsworth, though, is not so sure that play calling is the root of the Vikings' problem.

"I don't think it's the plays that are called," he said. "I think they got physically beat, and they were behind, and it just fell apart.

"There are guys there that are good players. But I think he has to find a playmaker out there."

Sean Jensen covers the Vikings and the NFL. He can be reached at [email protected]

Well, hopefully it works!!

I'm glad they are trying to do something new, because Loney sure isn't getting the job done. If we want our offense to work, Daunte is gonna have to improve his vision and look at all of the receivers.. There were many time on Sunday that our receivers were wide open and Daunte didn't even look at them. Maybe Daunte should get a pair of glasses like coach Tice.

Koren...Koren......Koren......Koren!!!!!!!!!!!

"So if it does, it does," Loney said of a role change. "If it takes me picking tape up off the locker room floor — if that'll help us win — I'll be happy to do that too."

FINALLY....a job that Loney can't screw up!!!

lmao, no cajun looney will find some way to screw that up too.

"gdavikes84" wrote:

Koren...Koren......Koren......Koren!!!!!!!!!!!

In reply:

Is not the answer ... Is not the answer ... Is not the answer !!!!!