Coaching Moves Afoot

ESPN is reporting that the Cincinnati Bengals have hired former Cowboys' and Falcons' defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer has been hired for the same position with the Bengals. After thirteen years in Dallas Mr. Zimmer moved on to Atlanta, only to have his stay there short-circuited by Bobby Petrino's abrupt departure mid-season. Now Mr. Zimmer joins Marvin Lewis -- a coach who certainly must be considered "on the hot seat" in 2008.

Nice career move.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Atlanta and Baltimore are in a tug-of-war over this year's golden child assistant coach, Jason Garrett. And to add just a little more intrigue an ESPN report indicates that Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones isn't resigned to losing Mr. Garrett to either of those opportunities.

From our perspective, Mr. Garrett may well end up being a terrific head coach in the National Football League but don't forget this year's top candidate can sometimes be next year's forgotten man -- just ask Russ Grimm. The Steelers created something of a modern precedent for elevating a coordinator to a head coaching position after a single season; but for all of the talk about Mr. Garrett's pedigree just remember this: the Dallas offense gained 79 more total yards in 2007 than it did in 2006, and scored thirty more points. So, while he may become a great head coach some day, we're not sure that he's worth fighting over like the last Wii on Christmas Eve.