can't fight against the youth.

This fellow at right will be the Cowboys' new O-coordinator at the very least, as Jerry Jones tells ESPN. Jason Garrett used to be Dallas' back-up QB, now he's a serious candidate for their head coaching vacancy after being a quarterbacks coach.

Teams are taking chances on young first-time NFL coaches like the Steelers and Raiders are doing with Mike Tomlin and Lane Kiffin, respectively, and while it's tempting to cast it as something of a youth movement, it's probably more along the lines of needing new blood in the Good Ol' Boys Network that is NFL coaching, as the Network is kind of tapped out at this point. All the retreads or legends you hear of every year that are in their 50s or early 60s aren't catching on (Mike Martz is still running Detroit's O), have taken their names out of consideration, or are better off as coordinators than head coaches (Wade Phillips is the epitome of this and yet he's a candidate for the Dallas job.) Even Miami's hiring of Cam Cameron fits along these lines, in its own way.

While Jemele Hill is hit and miss at Page 2, the whole point of bringing in coaches who are more along the lines of "player's coaches" is probably taking root. Professional football is becoming more and more like the NBA: the coach has to be respected, but can't be domineering in the parental way. Pro play across both leagues is less a scheme game than motivation and want-to on the part of the players rather than a college coach instilling a system that will be there longer than the three or four years his players will be. Sure, there are basic and little things that pro coaches have to instill and build personnel around (4-3 defense or 3-4?), but a lot more of it is getting the players motivated to execute it. It's more about your team's talent and ability than about your coaching genius (and this goes for the New England Hobo too; Belichick's genius isn't so much in his obvious scheme savvy as it is in getting players to believe in it and run it every Sunday.)