In Jacksonville, Gene Frenette writes there are "only a few realistic" coaching candidates who have the "cache to bring a heightened level of excitement" to the Jaguars fan base. Former Jags coach Tom Coughlin and Saints coach Sean Payton "head that list." But even if Coughlin "doesn’t get the job, putting him in the mix of contenders was the right thing to do," as it "would have created a public relations nightmare for the Jaguars to dismiss him as a candidate." But however the Jaguars "spin it, firing Gus Bradley while the team was en route to the airport" after losing in Houston was "astonishingly dumb." It "should have been done in Jacksonville when Bradley could meet with the team, and Owner Shahid Khan should have been there to inform his coach face-to-face" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 12/23).
DESERVE BETTER? In Buffalo, Jerry Sullivan writes it "gets tiresome having to preface criticism of the Pegulas with reminders of what they've done for Buffalo." Sullivan: "That stuff has an expiration date." At some point, the family that owns the Bills and Sabres needs to be "held to a correspondingly high standard." If Buffalo is "such a tough, blue-collar sports town, it should let the Pegulas know that existing simply isn't good enough." Sullivan: "They don't want a team that's a national embarrassment." Buffalo fans also "should be careful about mindless devotion to ownership." If people "lower their expectations because they feel lucky to have a team, the Pegulas might decide average is good enough" (BUFFALO NEWS, 12/23).
BUSINESS AS USUAL: In San Jose, Tim Kawakami writes if the York family, which owns the 49ers, plans to part ways with GM Trent Baalke, "why in the world has he been allowed to give out extensions" to TE Vance McDonald and LB Ray-Ray Armstrong? It is because the Yorks "won’t make a public decision about Baalke until after the end of the season, so he has to go about his business presuming he’ll keep his job, even if he expects to be fired." The 49ers also are "so far under the cap -- and have so little interest in paying big bucks in free agency -- that the Yorks would want to do these extensions deals with middling players, anyway, just to get closer to the cap line" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 12/23).
