Gibbs Goes to Payton's Place

Rafael – first-time poster here; as a lifelong Cowboy fan now stuck in Redskin territory, I want to thank you for this outstanding blog, which I’ve been reading since last summer. Regarding the Jim Herrmann rumor, I hope it’s false. I’m a Michigan alum, and Herrmann has been absolutely terrible as a coordinator and LB position coach the past few years. If you wonder why a talent-stocked program like UM has underachieved the past few years (esp. on defense), Herrmann is a prime culprit. For the last decade he’s lived off the reputation he gained as def. coord. when Michigan won the national title in 1997 with one of the most dominant defenses in the last few decades in college football (headlined by Charles Woodson and featuring other future pros like Ian Gold and Dhani Jones, they allowed 8.9 points per game, only gave up 5 TD passes all season and had 23 INTs). Perhaps Herrman’s recent failures as a coordinator wouldn’t matter if he was coaching just the Cowboys’ LBs; problem is, for the last few years UM’s LB play has been consistently poor too — players out of position, taking bad angles to the ball, poor recognition, etc. Lloyd Carr is finally feeling the heat from UM alumni and fans after a 7-5 season, and is looking to shake things up a bit; word is that Herrmann is being encouraged to look for a face-saving pro job somewhere to avoid being demoted from def. coordinator at UM. Perhaps he’ll prove me wrong and revive himself w/the Boys — but I’m not sure I want to trust Herrmann to develop our good young talent at LB (James, Ware, Burnett, and whoever we get in the draft).

DCCowboyfan,

I will pray for you and your family for having to live in skin town. I thought it was bad for me in Pantherville. Most Panther fans are former skin fans. Well, they seem to pull for whoever is having the best season which as a diehard fan makes me sick. I dont know much about Herrmann, but since you bring up, it does seem as though Michigan Def has slipped quite a bit over the past few years. Not sure if its Carr or Herrmann, but i hope they stay as far away from the ranch as possible.

DCCowboyfan,

you are not alone. I too have suffered living amongst these delusional skins fans. I was ready to puke everytime i heard their fight song on the radio. However, i did hear one rendition of the song that was ok. I had dinner at a restaurant attended by a bunch of steeler fans during sundays game. After the game, with drinks the steeler fans all sung the skins fight song to the restaurant as a spoof. I tipped my hat to them as many others quietly cursed beneath their breath. ha ha

how about me where i’m from super bowls are being won left and right.i was the happiest man on earth when they lost to denver.i just didn’t want them to accomplish more than we did.see guys i’m a true fan.i’m backing our team up here in boston.