Updated NFL coaching hot seat: Who will be the second coach fired after Robert Saleh?

The point at which it makes sense to fire a head coach mid-season seems to be shifting. One of us was fired after five games this season, and it looks like more could happen before Thanksgiving. Maybe Halloween.

The NFL is becoming more and more impatient, be it with draft pick development, quarterbacks or coaches. Robert Saleh was fired by the New York Jets after a 2-3 start. Maybe that will encourage other teams to make a move in the first half of the season.

Here are the coaches in the hottest spot as we approach Week 7:

The hottest seat

Doug Pederson, Jacksonville Jaguars

One has to wonder if Pederson would have been fired if the Jaguars hadn’t been in London for the second straight game this week.

Jacksonville is 1-5. The Jaguars scored an unimpressive last-minute win against the Indianapolis Colts and then lost 35-16 to the Chicago Bears in London. The Jaguars lost five of their last six games last season, with their only win coming against the Carolina Panthers (2-15), putting them at 2-10 since the start of December last year.

Pederson fired his defensive coordinator after last season, has been defiant about the idea of ​​taking over from offensive coordinator Press Taylor, and his young quarterback Trevor Lawrence shows no signs of progress. Essentially, Pederson checks every possible criteria for a coach in trouble.

If the Jaguars lose to a bad New England Patriots team on Sunday morning in London, it’s hard to imagine Pederson surviving it.

Very, very hot

Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys

The only reason McCarthy might not actually be on this list is because Jerry Jones doesn’t fire head coaches easily. For some reason, many still hold him to that reputation, but Jones ousted Jimmy Johnson three decades ago. If anything, he was too patient with his coaches.

This has to reach a tipping point. The Cowboys are 3-3 with a home record of 0-3 and have been embarrassed in all three losses. In all games they were at least 20 points behind. The offense is stuck, the defense has fallen apart, and if the Cowboys don’t become more competitive, Jones may be persuaded to consider a move. Everyone else is waiting for it.

Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles

Sirianni will likely be on this list after the events of last season. He witnessed a massive collapse and was barely able to keep his job, but the owners decided to keep him with reduced power. This made everyone wonder how much longer he has left.

The Eagles weren’t bad this season, but they weren’t great either. Sirianni was criticized for tweeting at fans late Sunday during the unimpressive win over the Cleveland Browns, although he apologized and may have had an innocuous reason for the antics. In any case, it wasn’t a great sight.

The Eagles have an easy upcoming schedule (at the Giants, at the Bengals, against the Jaguars), which should be good news, but it could also make Sirianni’s spot a lot hotter if the Eagles lose some of those games.

Dennis Allen, New Orleans Saints

The Saints are off to a 2-0 start and are everyone’s surprise team, it seems like they’ve been around for eons. The Saints have lost all four games since then and Sunday was a new low. They defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 51-27. The Buccaneers had 594 yards. This is a terrible look for Allen, who comes from a defensive background.

It’s a bad week for Allen facing Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos, and that’s because rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler starts another game on Thursday night. If Payton, a Saints legend, comes to New Orleans and beats Allen for the Saints’ fifth straight loss, no one in New Orleans will be happy. A home loss to Payton could be enough for the owners to consider a move.

Brian Daboll, New York Giants

Daboll is 17-22-1 as the Giants’ head coach, but he’s trending in the wrong direction. The Giants had a lucky playoff appearance in Daboll’s first season and not much has happened since. They are 2-4 this season, and whether Daboll survives the year if the team continues to lose will likely depend on how ownership views the roster. It’s also reasonable that the team could blame Daboll for quarterback Daniel Jones still being stuck in the middle of the road.

Daboll seemed like a good choice as the first coach of the season. The Giants weren’t terrible, however. We’ll see how much the Giants lose ownership if the team goes on a losing streak.

Who knows what could happen

Antonio Pierce, Las Vegas Raiders

Pierce was a sentiment that was right in the moment, but came with skepticism. The Raiders weren’t wrong when they thought the momentum they had last season could continue. It was also worth asking whether Pierce was ready to become a full-time coach yet.

This season hasn’t been great. They followed a shocking win over the Baltimore Ravens with an inexcusable home loss to a terrible Carolina Panthers team. Pierce hasn’t taken much responsibility for his team’s unpreparedness, poor in-game decisions, or anything else. The Davante Adams situation quickly developed and led to a trade, and that doesn’t reflect particularly well on Pierce either. It seems unlikely that Pierce will be fired during the season, but things could change if the Raiders’ season gets out of hand.

Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns

Stefanski is a two-time NFL Coach of the Year and the Browns wouldn’t be better without him. But the Deshaun Watson situation is strange.

Even though Watson might be the worst starting quarterback in the NFL if you don’t count injury replacements, Stefanski has refused to even consider benching him. If this comes from the owner, would Stefanski eventually retaliate and make him a target? If sticking with Watson is important to Stefanski, then that looks strange. And it’s not like team owner Jimmy Haslam is known for his patient, rational decisions.

Stefanski probably isn’t going anywhere, especially if it’s an ownership decision to continue using Watson and he continues to play the good soldier, but there’s a strange vibe around the Browns.

Dave Canales, Carolina Panthers

There’s a reason Canales is here and it’s David Tepper, who apparently loves firing coaches and his new NFL head coach is 1-5. If Canales’ Panthers hadn’t beaten the Raiders in their only win, the coach might be higher on the list. We know Tepper is impatient.

Bryce Young being benched isn’t Canales’ fault, but it doesn’t reflect well on him either. The Panthers appear to be one of the worst teams in the NFL again. For example, if the Panthers are 1-10 in December, will Tepper stick with his new coach? He should do it, but that doesn’t mean he will. With Tepper everything is possible.