The stress and grind of the coaching profession came to light in a frightening way over the weekend.
There was Gary Kubiak, 52, collapsing inside Reliant Stadium as he headed to the halftime locker room with his Texans up 21-3 on the Colts, the NBC cameras capturing him being wheeled off the field on a gurney to an ambulance taking him to a local hospital, Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya scrambling to provide updates on his condition.
It happened a day after Broncos head coach John Fox, 58, experienced dizziness on a golf course near his Charlotte home during the team’s bye week. Fox is scheduled for heart surgery this week and may miss the rest of the season.
Kubiak will remain hospitalized until at least Tuesday. The team said he experienced “dizziness and a light-headed feeling,” though reports state he did not suffer a heart attack.
Both incidents have to be considered a wake-up call by their peers around the NFL. Kubiak’s situation is the bigger eye-opener of the two, mainly because the former NFL quarterback is in excellent shape at age 52 and doesn’t have a history of health problems.
So for a model citizen like Kubiak to succumb to the stress — of which there has been plenty in the underachieving Texans’ 2-6 start this season — surely got the attention of every other person in his shoes.
It makes you marvel that Tom Coughlin is still going strong at 67, but at the same time makes you wonder how much longer his wife, Judy, and the family will want him to keep coaching the Giants.
It lets you better understand why Bill Parcells — albeit at a time when ally Tim Mara sold his 50 percent of the club to Bob Tisch — cited health issues, later revealed to be heart-related, as a major reason why he was walking out of East Rutherford after winning Super Bowl XXV.
It leaves you thankful that Rex Ryan consented to lap band surgery and lost 125 pounds.
More than ever, as the popularity of the NFL grows and the money swells and the win-now mentality compels owners to make regime changes on a whim, the pressure to keep up with the Joneses has 32 head coaches and their staffs carrying Vince Lombardi’s “Winning Isn’t Everything, It’s The Only Thing” ethos to an extreme.
Hell, it can even drive a man who had already won three Super Bowls to spy on an opponent.
These coaches are monks, every one of them. No days off during the season. And then comes the Senior Bowl, the NFL Draft, the OTAs, the minicamps. They watch tape on flights home after games. They sleep in their offices. None of them sleep enough. They eat on the run — when they remember to. It isn’t a healthy lifestyle.
Kubiak is a notorious workaholic, as Houston defensive coordinator Wade Phillips mentioned to NBC during Sunday’s broadcast (a 27-24 Colts comeback victory), and a lack of sleep combined with the incredible pressure of coaching in a league that’s never been more popular is a dangerous mix.
Does this mean many — or even one — of Kubiak’s peers will cut back their workload because of this? Doubtful. NFL coaches are incorrigible, after all, especially the younger ones.
So unless the league finds a way to mandate more humane hours for coaches, look for more round-the-clock film study and coaches still sleeping in their offices.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had made player safety a mission statement. Just because the coaches aren’t at risk for concussions doesn’t mean they aren’t at risk as well.
Steel Curtain coming apart
Calling them “Terrible Towels” has never been more fitting, because the Steelers are definitely a terrible team.
Big changes are being promised by Mike Tomlin after his Steelers were humiliated in the second half of Sunday’s 55-31 loss to the Patriots, who blew open a tie game in astonishing fashion by outscoring Pittsburgh 31-7 in the game’s final 22 minutes.
The 55 points were the most allowed in the Steelers’ storied 81-year history, and Tomlin’s team — now in sole possession of last place in the AFC North — is on pace to allow a staggering 416 points.
No wonder Tomlin was practically spitting fire afterward, vowing to root out any of his players — especially defensive ones — who might have quit during the Tom Brady-led onslaught in the second half.
“We are going to comb through this with a fine tooth comb, as we should,” Tomlin said in a brief postgame press conference. “And those people who are lacking effort won’t be playing. It’s just that simple.”
If only it were that simple, though. The Steelers have been battered by injuries, so it’s not as if able replacements are in the wings, and the recent combination of poor drafts and salary-cap woes caused by trying to keep their championship teams together are coming home to roost.
The Steelers are on track to miss the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1999-2000, and GM Kevin Colbert will be under the microscope to draft well in the spring or risk wasting more of 31-year-old Ben Roethlisberger’s prime.
Tomlin has two Super Bowl titles, so he’s safe. But look for big changes to come not just on defense, but also on his coaching staff. Don’t be surprised if offensive coordinator Todd Haley gets the ax and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau finally retires.
Chances are they won’t be the only ones out the door, either, in what is shaping up to be the most important football offseason Pittsburgh has seen in a long time.
Brady gets boost from Gronk
Reports of Brady’s demise have been greatly exaggerated now that tight end Rob Gronkowski is chipping off the rust and transforming the Patriots into a feared offensive unit again. Brady set an NFL mark by throwing 4 TDs without an interception for the 15th time and finished with a 151.8 rating in the rout of the Steelers.
Remember, Brady had completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes in three of his first seven games. Gronkowski, Aaron Dobson and Danny Amendola all had 100-yard receiving games.
“I’m getting better every week,” Gronkowski said. Beware the Pats.
“Maybe we got our inspiration from the Red Sox,” Bill Belichick said.
Ravens, Panthers going in different directions
Joe Flacco may be the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL not named Aaron Rodgers, but he can’t carry his team the way the elite quarterbacks do. The trade of Anquan Boldin, the absence of tight end Dennis Pitta and the stunning decline of Ray Rice behind a marshmallow offensive line has John Harbaugh and the 3-5 Ravens searching for answers.
The leadership void left by the retirement of Ray Lewis and departure of Ed Reed to Houston hasn’t helped either. While it is premature to count them out, don’t expect the Ravens to become the first Super Bowl champion to repeat since the 2003-04 Patriots.
The 5-3 Panthers are the surprise team in the NFC, but now we find out if they are truly for real. Their four-game winning streak, fashioned by mostly elevated play from Cam Newton and stingy defense, has come against the Vikings, Rams, Bucs and Falcons. The second-half schedule features games at San Francisco (next Sunday), a Monday Nighter at home against the Patriots and a pair of games against the Saints.
“We’ll see what we’re made of,” Jordan Gross said.
Washington takes a stand
Much like the 2007 Giants in Week 3 on the road against the Redskins, a goal-line stand on the road against the Chargers has given the Redskins a chance to turn around their season. And they can thank the play-calling of San Diego head coach Mike McCoy and offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt.
Only days earlier, following Ryan Mathews’ first rushing touchdown (against the Jags) since Week 5 of 2012, Whisenhunt had said: “We have to be able to run the ball in the red zone.” So what do the Chargers do on first-and-goal inside the 1 — after a replay review had overturned a Danny Woodhead touchdown — with a chance to seize a 28-24 lead?
They run the diminutive Woodhead on first down instead of the 220-pound Mathews before a pair of Philip Rivers incompletions, one of them a fade on second down for tight end Antonio Gates. Nick Novak kicked the tying field goal with seven seconds left, and Rivers never saw the ball in overtime as RG3 led the winning TD drive.
“We called what we called, and [the plays] didn’t work,” McCoy said.
Nick of time for Foles in Philly
The Giants should thank their lucky stars that Nick Foles (concussion) missed their game in Philadelphia. Foles’ 7-TD explosion and perfect 158.3 rating in a 49-20 rout of the Raiders ought to be enough for Chip Kelly to chase the NFC East title with Michael Vick spending the final days of his Eagles career on the sidelines.
The self-effacing Foles, who flopped against the Cowboys two weeks ago, deserves his chance to prove he can be the Quarterback of the Future.