Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Landry was 64, Shula 65. So older guys but not at an age where they couldn't have kept going for 3-4 more years. Landry had a miserable 1988 (3-13) but that team played hard. Close losses all year and they never did stop playing for Tom. Still the needle was pointing downward in Dallas. The Dolphins made the playoffs in 1997. Losing in Rich Stadium in a game that was over at the half. Miami had a free agent shopping spree that year and there were Super Bowl expectations. Gary Clark, Eric Green, Randal Hill, Terrell Buckley, Trace Armstrong...

Landry I felt wanted to keep going. I don't think he was interested in a rebuild but perhaps a more almost ready franchise. Shula I really don't remember what the chatter around him was. I thought he may take a year off and then come back.

Madden retired at 42. He had that intense fear of flying. His star rose as a commentator and later with the video game franchise. Though I'm sure teams were trying to coax him back even into the 90's. He just would've had to Maddencruise instead of fly with the team. I get the feeling with him he was never all that close to returning. Too much going on. He was never bored.

Were there ever any concrete offers that these 3 were close to accepting? Where could they have gone?

I think right after Shula retired, he expressed interest in coaching the Ravens.

Landry had no plans on leaving Dallas anytime too soon after ’88. But he would have never wanted to start anew somewhere else.

sheajets wrote:Were there ever any concrete offers that these 3 were close to accepting? Where could they have gone?

I think the game had passed these guys by. Shula was always thought of as an innovator, but the fact that he had Dan Marino for 12 years and failed to put together an offense that truly complimented him and took the pressure off him (ie a decent running attack) has always been a mark I held against him. He failed to see what Walsh and Gibbs and others were doing at the time and instead went with a offensive scheme based around the medium and long pass, and he had the most predictable offense in pro football.

Landry was another innovator but it was clear that he could not develop a new offensive attack to showcase both Dorsett and Herschel Walker that would have given Dallas the best rushing attack in the league. Ten years ago, Landry would have found a way to do that, and when it came time to replace Dorsett, would have brought in the best available college running back to compliment Walker in order to stay on top.

Chuck Noll was different in that he was not the X's and O's innovator that Shula and Landry were, and was more of a teacher. Noll retired after 23 years, and probably could have coached longer if he wanted, but he was something of a renaissance man who had other interests.

With few exceptions, I think an NFL head coach is only effective for about 20 years before his bag of tricks becomes empty, and the league catches up with him. Bill Belichick is right at the 20-year mark, and it will be interesting to see how he adapts in the next few years.

Two coaches who I thought would return to coaching were Brian Billick and Jon Gruden. In the case of Gruden, he got in on the MNF gig and seems happy there and is good on television, but I find it odd that Billick has never gotten back on the sidelines in the past ten seasons.

I recall reading an article on John Madden while he was still the Raider coach that said he had plenty of offers from other teams, but stayed in Oakland.

It would have been interesting seeing Madden HC another team in the ’80s. Whether starting from scratch or taking over an already-winner, I see him being successful in either event. How about Bill Walsh? Had he, like Noll, stayed on as HC with SF for another decade, how would he have fared? I can’t see him failing to repeat in ’89 nor failing to tack on another Lombardi in ’94. Does he three-peat in ’90, beat Jimmy’s Boys in ’92, repeat in ’95? Tough to say but considering how solid an organization SF still was into the ’90s, sure enough he contends through ’98. Now the following year...yes, he likely suffers as well; nothing lasts forever. How does Walsh do taking over another franchise altogether in the early-’90s? I do remember a very fleeting, then quickly forgotten, rumor right after Buddy Ryan was fired that the Eagles were pursuing Walsh.

I think Belichick will remain the caliber HC he is as long as he decides to coach if only because no other team cares to mimick the ‘boring’ Patriot-way. He’ll have that edge over the rest of the league as long as he chooses to stay; even without Brady as QB-Mt Rushmore he is (see 2008). Hoodie looked as if he was heading for latter day Shula status with that Ring-less ‘doughnut hole’ from ’05 thru ’13 (losing two SBs to heavy underdogs), but thanks to these recent Lombardis his arguably GOAT status is back intact.

Shula began as an innovator, very great HC who couldn’t win the big one, then finally got over the hump in ’72 & ’73, was championship-caliber again in ’74, then was only ever very good after that, and only ever just ‘good’ in 1990 and beyond IMO. Not so sure how much failing to get a running game for Dan should be held against him. It’s not easy to just simply get a top-notch runner when you never play bad enough to get that high draft pick. Look at Jimmy. He had trouble getting Dan that running game as well. Dan simply wanted to throw on every down, and nothing short either. How much would he have wanted to hand it to an Eric Dickerson or Emmitt Smith 25-30 times a game?