It’s NFL Black Monday 2012 – Is Your Coach Having a Bad Day?

The 2012 NFL regular season has come to an end. For those that advance to the playoffs, congratulations, you get to continue on your march towards the grand prize: The Lombardi Trophy and the legendary status of being a Super Bowl winner. However, for the others, some of you get to pack your bags because the NFL sometimes stands for Not For Long.

Today is Black Monday, the first Monday after the end of the regular season and the day where the pink slips are handed out to coaches and general managers for failing to achieve the only goal in the NFL and of Charlie Sheen: Winning. Today was especially bloody as we saw long-term coaches get canned, as well as some of the newer ones that probably did not get the chance they deserved to see the improvement through.

Regardless, let’s recap to who is looking for new jobs this winter.

black monday 1

Andy Reid is probably the biggest, and yet least surprising name on the list. The Philadelphia Eagles dismissed the 14-year head coach today after a massively disappointing 4-12 season. Despite six division titles, five NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl appearance, the record that stands out is his last two years where he was 8-8 in 2011 after collecting superstars such as Jason Babin, Nnamdi Asomugha, and Dominque Rodgers- Cromartie. The defense was horrid and took even more of a hit after changing coordinators mid-season this year. He also was 1-4 in NFC Championship games and the Philly faithful won’t forget that. He knew this was coming and I’m sure he will welcome the change. It has been a rough few years as he had a myriad of family issues in Philadelphia that came to a head when his son was found dead at the Eagles training camp. He already is trying to inquire about coaching openings and building a staff so he should get right on his feet. I do think Philadelphia will miss him because his teams always makes runs at the division or the playoffs but after the last two years, it was time to move on.

black monday 2On the somewhat surprising front, Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears was also let go just as his team was eliminated after the Minnesota Vikings victory over the Green Bay Packers Sunday night. After nine years with the Bears, he made the Super Bowl once in 2006 losing to Peyton Manning’s Colts. Again, a solid coach with a good record (81-63 with the Bears) but the collapses of recent years and the offensive struggles did him in. Last year, the Bears started out 7-3 before going 1-5 the rest of the way and this year started 7-1 before going 3-5 the down the stretch and missing the playoffs again. The end of the year consistency has not been there and despite having Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, and Matt Forte the offense has ranked 2nd to last in yards per game since being hired as head coach. Something had to change, especially with the NFC North offenses being powered by Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford and Adrian Peterson. They needed people to keep up with the vaunted defenses he fielded during his tenure. Again, he’ll definitely find work again, if anything as a D-Coordinator because he always employs great defenses dating back to his times with Tampa Bay and St. Louis.

Cleveland Browns new head coach Romeo Crennel answers questions at a news-conference, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005, in Berea, Ohio. Fresh from winning a third Super Bowl title as New England's defensive coordinator, Crennel was introduced Tuesday as coach of the  Browns.  (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)In Kansas City, after locking up the 1st pick yesterday after getting thrashed by Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, Romeo Crennel was let go by the Chiefs. Again, no shock, but surprisingly GM Scott Pioli remains employed and most definitely, it’s the personnel that did in the Chiefs, not just the coaching. The reverse actually happened in New York when the Jets let go of GM Mike Tannenbaum and kept coach Rex Ryan. Again, personnel depth and the Tim Tebow trade probably destroyed Tannenbaum’s chances to redeem himself for 2013.

In San Diego, Norv Turner and GM A.J. Smith finally got canned after constant disappointment in their organization. Watching Philip Rivers regress and the drafting of LT replacements go south made the decision easy for the Chargers brass. I still think A.J. Smith should’ve been fired years ago after the way he handled LaDainian Tomlinson’s exit from the Chargers, and getting rid of Drew Brees. Plus getting rid of Marty Schottenheimer after a 14-2 season was pretty stupid, especially since the reason was because they had a ‘dysfunctional relationship’.

In other news, the Cleveland Browns got rid of coach Pat Shurmur and GM Tom Heckert. New ownership took over so they just wanted their own people to take over and start fresh considering the ridicule the franchise gets nowadays. Shurmur has a great offensive mind so it will interesting where he ends up because of the job he did to help Sam Bradford (before he regressed). The Buffalo Bills also got rid of Chan Gailey after three losing seasons so that comes as no shock. With the Bills not making the playoffs since 1999, they carry the longest playoff drought in the league. The $100 million dollar signing of Mario Williams signing didn’t help the expectations as well so he had to go.

black monday 4

For now, the Arizona Cardinals end the red slip list with the firing of their coach Ken Whisenhunt and GM Rod Graves. Despite making the Super Bowl in 2009, the team could not recover from the Kurt Warner retirement and have been languishing in the bottom ever since despite having Larry Fitzgerald. The GM Graves didn’t help things by trading to get Kevin Kolb and handing him a $63 million dollar contract. Also getting destroyed 58-0 by the division rival Seattle Seahawks didn’t help keep the spotlight off their ineptitude.

So that’s the list so far, I guess we’ll see if we add more names to the list. Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, Carolina Panthers are probably on the clock as we speak…

Shawn Ryan: TV’s Luckiest/Unluckiest Man

If there was anyone that wanted concrete proof that the world of television, and particularly the world of television writer employment is an enigma, look no further than the career of Shawn Ryan. He has had the dubious reputation of being quite possibly the most canceled writer/show runner in Hollywood today. Shows such as Lie to Me, The Unit, The Chicago Code, Last Resort, and Terriers have all been canceled, the last two being within the first season. Only in Hollywood could someone repeatedly be canceled and yet repeatedly finding new jobs.

Continue reading Shawn Ryan: TV’s Luckiest/Unluckiest Man

Trailer Roundup: Texas Chainsaw and a Double Dose of James Franco

Baytown Outlaws

Celeste (Eva Longoria) enlists the help of three redneck brothers to retrieve her son from Billy Bob Thornton.  They successfully complete the mission, but then have Thornton’s assembly of hot miscreants seek revenge for him.

If mayhem, gunfire, and scantily clad women are what you desire, The Baytown Outlaws looks to have everything you need.

Director:  Barry Battles
Stars:  Zoe Bell, Paul Wesley, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Natalie Martinez, Billy Bob Thornton, Eva Longoria, Daniel Cudmore, and Agnes Bruckner.
Release Date:  March 19, 2013 to Blu-ray

Continue reading Trailer Roundup: Texas Chainsaw and a Double Dose of James Franco

VHS Vault Christmas Special! Deck the Halls with Covers of Terror

For some Christmas is a time to be jolly, for others a time for religious celebration and for others it means nothing at all. But for a very small few, it means a heck of a lot of cheesy horror movies. I am one of those few and proud of it. Christmas horror films seem to have come about with the 1974 horror classic Black Christmas and has been a staple of the movie genre ever since. I want to share some VHS delights with you, maybe you can put some of these into your stockings. Be warned some of these films are so silly they will make your nose go red like Rudolph. Here are my favorite VHS Christmas horror covers.

Continue reading VHS Vault Christmas Special! Deck the Halls with Covers of Terror

A Little Holiday Cheer: Silver Bells

Here at Grizzly Bomb we bring you the latest in news, reviews and gossip about everything that interests us from movies to comics to television. The Grizz tends to be slanted towards all things superhero/comic book inspired, but we have broadened our horizons into more varied genres, music and dashes of sports analysis here and there as of late. With that in mind I’d like to introduce a little bit of holiday cheer for all the bomb droppers and Grizzly readers out there.

I live in Boston Massachusetts, and there are a lot of good reasons that the term “Masshole” has become part of the common vernacular, especially to those uninitiated to the experience of driving in our fair city. The term is clearly not a characterization of all of Boston’s inhabitants and one great example of that is my friend Peter. Peter A. Cancilla, as he is professionally known, runs a small video production company called Vaudeville Pictures and is the type of guy who wears a three-piece suit to take out the trash with an appropriate “taking out the trash” hat to accompany the trip. Peter wears many hats in fact, literally and figuratively, but one of his most interesting passions is puppetry. It is in that endeavor I was recently able to help with the production of his latest Christmas masterpiece.

In order to coordinate all the action in this video the cast and crew of friends and acquaintances numbered in the 20’s and everything was shot over a handful of long cold evenings. The results are a spectacular example of what Peter loves most: bringing people together to enjoy each others company and making people smile through the art of song and goofy puppets. Although this is definitely a Christmas song I think there’s enough whimsy and joy in there for anybody celebrating the December Holidays to appreciate it.

Happy Holidays!

group-camera

monster-1

miles-1

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone: New Trailer is Incredible…

Cinema Blend recently posted up the latest trailer for the new magician comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Now to my knowledge there is a lack of magician based comedies at the moment. In fact the only one that comes to mind is the UK movie Magicians starring UK TV funny men Mitchell and Webb. Though I enjoyed it let’s just say it did not set the cinematic world on fire. So I was interested to see how this comedy would fare. Here is the trailer so you can decide for yourselves what you think, but before that read this synopsis also from Cinema Blend to give you a better idea of what this flick is all about.

[box_light]Superstar magicians Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) have ruled the Las Vegas strip for years, raking in millions with illusions as big as Burt’s growing ego. But lately the duo’s greatest deception is their public friendship, while secretly they’ve grown to loathe each other. Facing cutthroat competition from guerilla street magician Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), whose cult following surges with each outrageous stunt, even their show looks stale. But there’s still a chance Burt and Anton can save the act—both onstage and off—if Burt can get back in touch with what made him love magic in the first place. [/box_light]

The magic world is ready for a good parody and this film looks like it is on the right lines. I love the old versus new theme that is prevalent here. Steve Carell is superbly cast as the out-of-place magician (and he looks hilarious) and it’s great to see Steve Buscemi back in comedy again as his partner. I loved the David Blaine joke they popped into this movie and I am hoping to see a lot more of these kinds of gags throughout this film.

The-Incredible-Burt-Wonderstone

Carell is great at playing these underdog characters and this role seems to fit him like a glove. I also like the fact he seems a little cocky in this movie and has more of an edge than the normal misfits he plays. The film has such an amazing cast with Jim Carrey portraying  of a new breed magician (a lot of Chris Angel influence is seen here). But it is not just these fine actors. We also get to see Olivia Wilde, James Gandolfini, Brad Garrett, Jay Mohr, Alan Arkin and Gillian Jacobs!

Wonderstone Cast