The never-ending NFL coaching carousel has refused to take a back seat to this Sunday’s NFL Pro Bowl.
Even before the NFC’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired Rutgers coach Greg Schiano on Thursday to replace Raheem Morris, the coaching landscape across the AFC went through multiple changes in the first couple of days after most players arrived in Hawaii for Sunday’s pro football all-star game.
First, word spread late Tuesday that Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Dennis Allen was leaving to take the head coaching job with Oakland, a big AFC West rival.
Then on Wednesday, the Indianapolis Colts announced the hiring of Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano to replace Jim Caldwell just three days after the Ravens lost a dramatic AFC championship game to the New England Patriots.
Allen is set to be Oakland’s fifth head coach in six years, although the team has yet to officially announce the move.
Six-time Pro Bowl punter Shane Lechler welcomed Oakland’s new addition, even if it might make him feel old.
Allen hosted Lechler on his recruiting visit to Texas A&M in the mid-1990s, and the two were college teammates for one season.
"Hopefully I can talk to him real soon and he can get a staff together and be ready to go," said the 35-year-old Lechler, who is four years younger than his new head coach. "Dennis always took a business approach to (football) and he was a good guy to be around."
The least of Allen’s worries in his new position should be special teams. In addition to Lechler, place-kicker Sebastian Janikowski and long snapper Jon Condo will represent the Raiders at Aloha Stadium on Sunday.
Condo is making his second Pro Bowl, while Janikowski finally earned the elusive nod after making 31 of 35 (88.6 percent) field goals, including an NFL record-tying 63-yarder, and converting all 36 of his extra points.
The Colts and Ravens aren’t division rivals like Denver and Oakland, but both are perennial AFC contenders, having played twice in the playoffs in the past five years.
Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, selected for his 12th Pro Bowl in 16 seasons and one of four Ravens expected to play Sunday, shouldn’t be fazed by another coaching change.
Pagano is the fourth defensive coordinator Lewis has played for in the past 10 seasons to have accepted a head coaching job somewhere else.
Whether it’s been Pagano, Rex Ryan (Jets), Mike Nolan (49ers) or Marvin Lewis (Bengals) as coordinator, the Ravens have still had one of the NFL’s best defenses year in and year out.
Baltimore has finished in the top five in total defense in six of the past nine years.
Defensive end Terrell Suggs, a five-time Pro Bowler who elected not to make the trip to Hawaii with three other teammates, told the Associated Press, "Chuck is unorthodox. He’s like the Joker. You never really expected what he’s going to do, and everything has a motive."
That’s a welcome sight for Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney, the lone Colts representative in Hawaii.
The seven-time Pro Bowler from Syracuse had never won fewer than 10 games since entering the league until going 2-14 this season without star quarterback Peyton Manning.
"It is what it is," Freeney said when asked about the Colts’ season this year. "Hopefully it won’t take that long to get back at it."
This year’s Colts lost exactly one fewer game than Indianapolis had in its previous four regular seasons, making Freeney’s trip to Hawaii as needed as ever before.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
