Those people are certainly important. They determine and shape the direction of a franchise.

But perhaps just as significant is how each team fills its coaching staff. They are decisions that, outside of the team's market, don't get a whole lot of publicity. But they are just as important as the top-of-the-masthead hires.

Take the situations in Green Bay, Houston, Dallas and Jacksonville, teams that didn't make the playoffs but their head coaches have been retained. Right now each of those teams is evaluating its coordinators and determining whether a change is needed.

The head coaches - Mike McCarthy (Packers), Gary Kubiak (Texans), Wade Philips (Cowboys) and Jack Del Rio (Jaguars) - must make the right decisions in the next month. Those coaches likely will not get another chance to retool their staffs. They must hit or else they will be out of a job in one or two years.

McCarthy, by way of Mike Stock's retirement on Friday, already will have a new special teams coordinator next season. McCarthy also must decide whether defensive coordinator Bob Sanders and his press-coverage 4-3 scheme is right for his team. McCarthy has already married himself to the zone-blocking scheme on the offensive line.

Kubiak fired defensive coordinator Richard Smith and two of his top assistants. Kubiak said he would like to stick with a 4-3 scheme.

Phillips let special teams coordinator Bruce Read go. Phillips may get a chance to bring in a new offensive coordinator if Jason Garrett takes one of the many head coaching jobs for which he is interviewing.

Del Rio will probably be looking for new coordinators on special teams (Joe DeCamillis is expected to land in Dallas) and defense (Gregg Williams' contract has run out).

There's a fine line in the NFL between staying the course and tinkering for the sake of change. Both tracks have plenty of winners and losers. The bottom line is a head coach must put together the right staff.

Fans often like to point to a coach's ability to manage a game as the deciding factor in whether someone is a good coach or not.

Managing a coaching staff is actually much more important. Head coaches must count on their assistants to develop the talent on the roster, especially the young players.

If the head coach is heavily involved on one side of the ball, like McCarthy and Kubiak (offense) and Phillips and Del Rio (defense), then the other coordinator is almost solely responsible for the other. Head coaches must have complete confidence in that coordinator or things get missed.

Coordinators do much of the work involved in game-planning and most of the film study on the opponent. The head coach often gets bogged down with other things, including personnel and speaking to the media.

Selecting coordinators or assistant coaches won't get a lot of headlines nationally. Some fans might not even care. But those mostly anonymous faces on NFL sidelines have as much to do with winning and losing as their million-dollar bosses. So keep a close eye on what transpires in the next month.

Playoff format won't change

Even though the New England Patriots finished 11-5 and became the first team since the 1985 Denver Broncos to not qualify with that record, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said this week the manner in which playoff teams are selected will not be changing soon.

"We talked an awful lot about that in the Competition Committee with the membership last year," Goodell said. "Frankly, they all felt that winning the division was the No. 1 objective when you come into a season, and that should be the highest priority. I think we'll continue on with that system at least for the foreseeable future."

As for the Patriots, Bill Belichick sounded as if he and the organization needed the break in what has become a marathon of an NFL season and off-season if you go deep into the playoffs.

"With the AFC Championship Game two years and having to go out and coach the Pro Bowl, then last year finishing another season in February, those have been two very, very long seasons for our players and for our staff - not just the coaches, but the entire sports staff, everybody involved," Belichick said. "That's always the way you want to finish a season. You want to be playing into February. But, at the same time, those last two off-seasons we had were as condensed as they could be relative to the other teams in the league. Unfortunately, we're not playing this week, but it will give us a little more time to do maybe a little more thorough of an analysis and a breakdown of everything I just talked about than we've done in the past (two years).

"I think one thing that we all need, and probably deserve around here, is a little bit of rest. Again, a lot of our players, in the last couple of years, went from the end of the season, to rehabbing an injury, to jumping into the off-season program, to getting back on that treadmill again. I think that maybe this year is an opportunity for some of those guys to take it at a little bit of a different pace, and that would include the coaching staff as well. Our guys around here work hard, put in a lot of hours, they're very dedicated. So I think it will be a useful break and you can include me in that group."

Titans still healing

As of now the Tennessee Titans are preparing for their Jan. 10 playoff game without two of their best defensive players: end Kyle Vanden Bosch and tackle Albert Haynesworth.

Vanden Bosch had groin surgery three weeks ago but is confidence he'll be ready.

"Everything is going as planned. It's healing up nicely and feels good. I'm able to do more and more things every day. Hopefully, I'll practice early next week. That'll put me at about three weeks out from surgery, and hopefully, I'll be all healed up and ready to go."

Haynesworth, one of the most valuable defensive players in the league, has a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. If the Titans were playing this weekend - they have a bye as the AFC's top seed - he would not play.

Haynesworth has yet to resume running and he appears to be getting frustrated.

"It's just slow to me. It ain't quite there," he said. "When I'm not out there practicing and playing, I feel like I'm just wasting my time, but I guess that's just part of Football."

Fear and loathing in Cleveland

Some tidbits about the firings of coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Phil Savage with the Cleveland Browns:

First of all, while he has been officially fired, Crennel is still hanging around team headquarters. Owner Randy Lerner invited Crennel to stay and possibly return as the team's defensive coordinator under the new coach. Amazingly, Crennel said he might. Jim Bates he is not. Bates was twice passed over for head coaching jobs while defensive coordinator - in Miami and Green Bay - and then left. With both the Dolphins and Packers, Bates could have stayed on if he wasn't so visibly disturbed about not getting his first head-coaching job.

While waiting to find out his fate, Savage exchanged e-mails with Lerner and the exchange at one point led Lerner to fire Savage over the phone. He was already in Pittsburgh for the Brown's season finale and he attended knowing he was fired. A car was sent to drive Savage back to Cleveland while the rest of the organization took buses.

That tells you how much Lerner thought of Savage at the end.

Gonzalez backsThigpen

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez, who was selected to his 10th Pro Bowl, was disappointed not to be traded in October. If the Chiefs take a quarterback in the first or second rounds of the draft, Gonzalez apparently will want out again.

Gonzalez seemed to catch a second wind with second-year quarterback Tyler Thigpen. Gonzalez led all tight ends with 96 receptions, 1,058 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Gonzalez wants Thigpen to be the undisputed quarterback next year.

"I'm not playing three or four more years," Gonzalez said. "I don't see why you'd want to go backward. It is going backward. I don't care if you bring in the top quarterback in the draft, we're still going backward.

"If they want to go that direction, go young. If the general manager comes in here and wants to blow things up - get a new coach, get a new coordinator, bring in a quarterback now - more than likely, I'll be like, 'You know what? It might be time for me to go. Just go ahead and get what you can for me.' "

Thigpen, who was 1-10 as a starter, said he'd be disappointed if the Chiefs drafted a quarterback to be the starter.

"I don't think they should," Thigpen said. "Moving forward now, I feel like I am the future for the Chiefs.

"I feel like I've earned it."

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