For going off on so many coaching interviews in Chicago while they were still in the playoffs, so he is being very careful until the Chargers are out of the playoffs. Minorities can get brought in to satisfy the ‘Rooney rule’, when they really don’t have a shot. I’m not sure he would take a job with the Lions or Raiders; but I would wager that he would sell his grandmother for a good HC job.

There are a couple of D coordinators out there who were with the Chargers not that long ago. Greg Manusky (49ers) was a well-liked LB coach for the Chargers before Rivera, but its likely the 49ers will keep him since Singletary is staying as HC. Another is Brian Stewart (Cowboys) who was with the Chargers, but followed Phillips to Dallas. He might be willing to switch jobs considering the Wade Phillips hot seat rumors and he’d get more autonomy with an offensive-minded HC. However, I think Dallas would have to give him permission to interview since it’s technically a lateral move.

Another option is to raid the Steelers coaching staff. I like their version of the 3-4 better than ours anyway (their DEs get sacks sometimes, crazy, huh?). I’m not sure who is an up-and-comer over there (John Mitchell has the always odd “Assistant Head Coach” title), but I’m sure LeBeau has a good staff and its unlikely that they are going to get promoted if they stay in the Steel City.

Given those options I’d definitely want Rivera back next year, and while I don’t want to hold anyone back from an HC job, it’d be nice if he stayed a year. If only because I’m eyeing some of those Cowboys coaches and it may take one more “disappointing” season there to free them up.

The lack of offensive holding calls has been league-wide this year, freeney should know that.

The facemask was malicious and clearly intentional, and really the only one that locked up the game. The holding call prior to the ball in the air could have gone either way.

Bottom line: If you don’t want to get called for a penalty, don’t break the rules. Especially in critical situations.

But he has a legitimate beef with offensive holding stuff. I saw a couple of plays where McNeil got a good chunk of facemask to keep the defender (usually Freeney) from getting to the QB. He never grabbed in such a way the head turned, so if the officials saw it then I suppose that was their excuse for the no-calls.

Of course, the Colts didn’t get called much for offensive holding either (not that I recall any specific examples, but I guarantee you that there were one or two instances where I begged for a call because I saw something that the rulebook would call holding).

If I were to rate the 3 overtime calls on legitimacy percentage (new, made-up "stat") I go with:
-Facemask (95%) > It was definitely grabbed, there was some turnage. The Colts are probably pissed because the facemask didn’t provide the Colts with any advantage on the play, but it was definitely unsportsmanlike (and Rivers said during an interview that the Colts were trying to get “extra” hits on Sproles all game)

-Defensive Holding on the run play (75%) > This meets the rulebook definition. Colts player grabbed some jersey to keep the blocker from proceeding to his next block. The only good gripe here is that is rarely called, but I would argue that it is rarely done either.

-Defensive Holding on the pass play (50%) > There was definitely some leeway here for the official to go either way. The contact wasn’t anything special and it occurred close the 5 yard contact area. Again, the Colts have a gripe about the timing of the call, but I can’t imagine that the official was doing anything other than calling what he saw. Rivers did a great job of throwing the ball to the spot where he expected his receiver to be in order to make it look like receiver was impeded from getting there.

And next year he’ll hit the lottery in all likelihood. As long as he doesn’t suffer a career-ending injury this year, that franchise tag will actually serve his personal interests very, very well.

Welcome back!