Sanders A Top Pick For Defensive Position » Brats & Beer

January 19, 2006
posted under: Bob Sanders, coaching carousel, Packers

Take this news for what you want, but the Press-Gazette is saying Bob Sanders is the leading candidate to replace Jim Bates as defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers. Keep in mind this is coming from the paper that thought Bates was the leading choice to become head coach, but judging from the interviews that have happened so far, I would have say they’re probably right. According to the paper, Mike McCarthy has talked with Jerry Gray from Buffalo, Donnie Henderson of the Jets, and Vic Fangio from Houston in addition to Sanders, and while those other three all have experience as DC (unlike Sanders), they also have all coached a 3-4 defense and it’s unlikely that McCarthy and Ted Thompson are prepared to completely reinvent the Packers defense. There’s also the whole ‘Packer People’ thing that McCarthy seems intently focused on, which I’m getting a little tired of hearing; I get enough of that middle management babble at my own job.

I understand the idea that the Packers might want to preserve continuity in their defense, and I’m sure that Sanders is a decent coach who has a good rapport with his players, but we need someone to take over the defense lock, stock, and barrel, not just an adviser for McCarthy. Sanders has no experience running a defense and making critical decisions on game day. We have enough on-the-job training going on elsewhere in the coaching staff, can’t we get someone who really knows what they’re doing to run the defense?