NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.As Round 1 of our single-elimination fight tournament involving NFL coaches nears its end, let us recap the action we've seen so far. To view the entire bracket or learn what we're talking about, kindly click on the links below.
The voting period will end Sunday night and we'll begin rolling out the second round matchups Monday morning. In the meantime, make sure to get your votes in (you can get to each individual matchup by clicking either of the above links or clicking on the links below for each specific fight).
In the Mike Ditka region, Mike Singletary earned the top overall seed and he did not disappoint. With close to 1,000 votes, Samurai Mike presently has 89 percent of the vote -- and he didn't even have to drop his pants in the process. His opponent, Jim Zorn, is likely used to losing by now, so this matchup doesn't come as a surprise on any level. Singletary's opponent for the second round has yet to be officially decided. In a hard-fought 4-5 bout, Tom Coughlin currently holds a 12-percentage-point lead over Mike Smith.
On the other side of the bracket, we possibly have two upsets. Seventh-seeded but always surprising prodigy Josh McDaniels sports a slim lead over second-seeded Jeff Fisher. Despite the physical differences, this seems to be how the season is going for each respective coach, so maybe it's time we start supporting all things McDaniels? Reportedly, Fisher showed up for the fight wearing Thom Brennaman's Tim Tebow jersey so he could feel like a winner. Instead, he's coming away with only the concussion. Also, inexplicably, Jim Mora, Jr. holds a decent-sized lead over Marvin Lewis. Not sure where this one's coming from at all. Maybe Lewis missed a field goal?
In the Mike Tice region, we have easily our most shocking development of all. I would accuse Chargers fans of ballot stuffing, but do they even like Norv? Regardless of how, Coach Turner currently sports a six percent lead over the humongous and fiery-tongued Rex Ryan. In the brawl between 4 and 5 seeds, it's not surprising Sean Payton's beating Todd Haley, but it is surprising that his lead is a hefty 36 percent.
In the bottom of the bracket, the dull-yet-effective Jim Caldwell appears to be taking care of an upset of his own. He has a pretty sizable lead on Dolphins animated head man Tony Sparano. If Caldwell holds on, he'll face someone even bigger than Sparano in the second round, in all likelihood, because Andy Reid has a pretty good handle on beating down John Fox -- just like his team did in Week 1.
Moving on to the Bill Cowher bracket, one of the tournament's favorites, Tom Cable -- after recently (and shockingly) escaping criminal charges -- is taking his rage out on poor Wade Phillips in a bloodbath. His second round opponent appears to be the scrappy Steve Spagnuolo, who is laying the hurt to Evil Wizard Bill Belichick. The bracket's 2-7 fight is a fit vs. fat blowout, as Raheem Morris is having no trouble disposing of Eric Mangini's breasts.
The Cowher region's No. 3 vs. No. 6 bout has a tweak of note: due to clerical issues, we had to reset the poll. At the time, Jim Schwartz held a 35-20 lead in total votes. Since the poll was reset, John Harbaugh has now taken a lead (38 votes to 26). We will be combining the two vote totals, which means this one is nearly a dead heat (61-58 in favor of Schwartz). Get those votes in; this will be a good one.
There won't be an upset atop the Jim Haslett division, as Jack Del Rio is severely bringing the pain to Dick Jauron. In related news, Jauron didn't make a facial expression during the entire shellacking. His next round opponent is far from being decided, as there aren't nearly enough votes on the Ken Whisenhunt-Mike McCarthy fracas in order to see how it's going to go down. There aren't many votes yet on the No. 2 vs. No. 7 rumble, but it appears Mike Tomlin isn't going to have much trouble with Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle (Brad Childress -- hat-tip to Steph on the nickname).
Finally, Gary Kubiak has a huge lead over Lovie Smith (currently 3/4 of the vote). It's not entirely surprising, since I personally thought Lovie's three-seed was far too high for someone who wouldn't harm a fly.
