Remember when I ranked a list of OC candidates a few days ago? I woke up this morning to see that #6 on my list was gone. Chan Gailey (who didn’t make the final list) was hired by the Jets, because the best way to make a horrible offense better is to implement a scheme for which you have zero talent. Nobody else on my list has a job yet.
Then I checked feedly and found that, a few hours after Baltimore got their OC, Cleveland found their man. John DeFilippo. #7 on my list. Granted, he’s there mostly because he’s entirely unproven, but still not my first choice. My favorite passive-aggressive optimistic post came from Waiting for Next Year.
Admittedly, settling for a candidate that the Browns passed over last season is hardly encouraging. Surely more details about DeFilippo will emerge throughout the day, as will (hopefully) what the Browns found so attractive about DeFilippo. Browns fans undoubtedly will want to become familiar with the man they expect to play a prominent role in their football lives for at least the next 11.5 months or so. Hopefully DeFilippo’s background as a quarterbacks coach will help him draw out the inner All-Pro from the likes of Brian Hoyer and Johnny Manziel.
Well, Hoyer’s a free agent and won’t be coming back, but the rest of that paragraph delights me and saddens me, much like the Browns on a regular basis. One of his former bosses gives him rave reviews. Yet what inspires me most of all was this article, which got me weirdly excited for DeFilippo to succeed. It’s an interview with Derek Carr who also sung the praises of the new OC. He also revealed that DeFilippo has a nickname: “Flip.”
Yes, it’s a play on his name. However, it also encases thousands of possibilities, from a life as a secret ninja who fights crime to a fan of Flip Wilson to an all-time master of Flip Cup (which is surprisingly hard, at least for me). Maybe he’s going to be the coaching equivalent of Two-Face? Perhaps he’s a gymnastics enthusiast? Or a pro wrestling enthusiast?
The Bleacher Report (linked above) points out exactly why Flip got the new job:
DeFilippo was wanted by many as a quarterbacks coach before Cleveland offered him the offensive coordinator position[.]
I imagine Cleveland first offered him the job to be QB coach, he declined, and then ol’ Flip was given the keys to the kingdom. Well, maybe more of a barony. He’s also from Youngstown and has ties to Pettine, which probably helped.
Overall, I’m not sure how he’ll turn out. He probably won’t have a pathological obsession with Kirk Cousins, which is definitely a point in his favor. (Now I just got a mental image of Kyle Shanahan wearing a “used” Kirk Cousins jersey at all times. And by “used” I don’t mean during a game.) Carr also pointed out that Flip got “the most” out of Terrelle Pryor, which isn’t saying much.
All I have to say is this: Flip. Flipflipflipflipflip. FLIP.
36 Chambers - The Legendary Journeys: Execution to the max! 