Next Man Up by John Feinstein

Author:John Feinstein [FEINSTEIN, JOHN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316028110
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

That decision lasted less than twenty-four hours.

The next morning, while the coaches were beginning to prepare their game plan for Pittsburgh, Nolan went to see Billick. The rest of Monday hadn’t been much better than the personnel meeting. The film sessions (film hasn’t been used in the NFL for years, but everyone still calls looking at game tape a film session) had been full of tension. David Shaw, the normally mild-mannered wide receivers/quarterbacks coach, had gotten on the wideouts about their lax run blocking. He had shown them no fewer than half a dozen plays where the lack of a block by a wide receiver had been the difference between a short pickup for Jamal Lewis and the kind of breakout run that might have changed the game. He had met one-on-one with Travis Taylor, who was going on the injured list for four weeks, to tell him in no uncertain terms that there was a difference between being tough and being foolish—and playing with a groin injury that didn’t allow him to run at full speed was foolish.

Nolan had tossed and turned on Monday night for several reasons. He was still unhappy with the performance of the defense and was very nervous about cutting Brown. Part of it was personal: he liked Brown. More of it was the notion of leaving his defense without any experience behind the two starting outside linebackers, Adalius Thomas and Terrell Suggs. “I think we’re making a mistake if we cut Cornell,” he told Billick. “We’re leaving ourselves too thin at linebacker. Corey Fuller probably ought to go, but under the circumstances, I think it has to be Sapp.”

Billick listened. He and Nolan had worked together for four years. Their personalities could not have been more different: Billick was loud and direct; Nolan more subtle, with a dry sense of humor. Billick didn’t keep much inside; Nolan internalized constantly. Billick knew this was an important year in Nolan’s life. He had reached that level as a coordinator where his name was being mentioned for head coaching jobs. He had worked his entire adult life to get to this point, and the consensus was that a good year for the Ravens’ defense would probably make Nolan a hot name when the season was over. Nolan had thought he was going to get interviewed after the ’03 season for the Bears job, but it hadn’t worked out. He was prepared—he had his résumé in his computer and a folder marked “Head Coaching Material,” which included a list of the things he would say if interviewed and coaches he would try to hire for his staff. Even so, Billick had no doubts about Nolan’s focus. He knew Nolan had only one speed when it came to his job: all-out.

Nolan is a coach’s son. His father, Dick Nolan, had been the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers for eight years and the New Orleans Saints for three. As a result, Nolan and his five siblings had grown up around the game.

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