Some fans are shaking their heads in wonderment at the performances

of some first-year head coaches who keep on losing. Others are campaigning to get rid of an incumbent.Yet there’s an impressive number of men doing terrific jobs who deserve to be praised as we approach the halfway mark of the NFL schedule.Try Pete Carroll in Seattle. Jay Gruden in Washington (while his older brother’s return has been a fiasco in Oakland). Ron Rivera in Carolina. Anthony Lynn in Los Angeles. Matt Nagy in Chicago. And Bill O’Brien in Houston.The key measurement with that half-dozen is talent. More specifically http://www.theseahawksfanshop.com/Marquise-Blair-Jersey , none of those six has a ton of talent at his disposal, though all have some star players.But Gruden has a first-place team. So does O’Brien.Rivera’s Panthers look like a solid bet for the playoffs. Lynn’s Chargers are 5-2 and in good position to be in the postseason. Nagy’s Bears are vastly improved over John Fox’s group of 2017, and Carroll — the only Super Bowl winner in this group — might be doing his best job in a highly distinguished career with the Seahawks.In a year when so many coaches are being lambasted, from newcomers Pat Shurmur in New Jersey to Steve Wilks in Arizona to newcomer/oldtimer Gruden in Oakland, it’s worthwhile and refreshing to take a look at some jobs well done. Very well done. PETE CARROLL While the Seahawks aren’t in full-blown rebuild mode, they are remaking the roster and reaffirming themselves as a hard-hitting, run-first (and effectively), aggressive squad that doesn’t back down. Their victory at Detroit was their best in a 4-3 season during which they started 0-2.Carroll is fitting in new parts, particularly in the secondary and at running back. He’s getting strong leadership from Bobby Wagner, Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin, but lots of credit needs to be thrown his way for doing quite a bit with less than usual. BILL O’BRIEN When the Texans dropped their first three games, people were placing O’Brien on a Lone Star hotseat. Now, he’s sitting atop the AFC South with a club that should win that division of underachievers.Not that Houston is underachieving. The poor start had much to do with returning players such as the Texans’ best, J.J. Watt, and quarterback Deshaun Watson not being back to full strength. Now they are.This is a balanced team when all the parts are available. O’Brien doesn’t panic, he instructs well, and his is a team on the rise. JAY GRUDEN Is Washington the most-talented team in the NFC East? Nope.Is it the most consistent? Nope.What the Redskins do is protect the ball (just five giveaways, trailing only Atlanta’s four), stymie opposing offenses, and rely on some excellent veterans such as Ryan Kerrigan, Josh Norman and Alex Smith. Plus, Gruden was willing to reach out to Adrian Peterson, who has shown he has plenty left — so much so he might be the front-runner for Comeback Player of the Year.While there’s turmoil in Dallas and New York, and rumblings fostered by the mediocre performance by the defending champion Eagles L.J. Collier Jersey , all is going smoothly in D.C. Credit Gruden RON RIVERA Yes, in 2015 he guided the Panthers to the NFC title. He still has Cam Newton and Greg Olsen and Luke Kuechly.But these Panthers, who have beaten the Eagles, Bengals and Ravens, aren’t at the level of the team that fell to the Broncos in the Super Bowl 2 ½ years ago. Their offensive line is shaky, their receivers are inconsistent, and they’ve shuffled their secondary.They’re also 5-2 and Rivera has one of the best relationships, on and off the field, with his players of any coach in football. ANTHONY LYNN Lynn’s best defensive player, Joey Bosa, has been sidelined all year. The Chargers have relied on rookies — safety Derwin James is among the top defensive newcomers in the league — and a few other youngsters, and it’s working to the tune of nine picks to three allowed, 18 sacks to 10 allowed.Philip Rivers is having one of his best seasons of a borderline Hall of Fame career, in great part because Lynn gives his quarterback lots of freedom.You hear criticism that the Chargers haven’t beaten anyone good. Well, a large number of teams would love their 5-2 record. MATT NAGY Every week, the Bears play an opponent tough. Their defense is rugged, particularly if Khalil Mack is healthy. Their offense is developing, not rapidly but steadily. Where Mitchell Trubisky has progressed in his second season and first under Nagy is where the Jets, Cardinals, Bills and Browns hope their first-rounders of this year get to in 2019.He’s aggressive with the ball and without it, playing to win rather than playing not to lose. Whether he can keep the Bears in contention in the rough NFC North is problematic, but they certainly are headed in the right direction — and in an entertaining fashion. RENTON, Wash. (AP) — The vast majority of what the Seattle Seahawks needed to do in churning through its roster and clearing out a handful of players with big contracts later in their careers took place last offseason.The moves helped accelerate what coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider were hoping to do in “refreshing” Seattle’s roster and set up the franchise for having salary cap flexibility in the future.But the difficult decisions didn’t end with the departures of Michael Bennett, Richard Sherman and choosing not to extend safety Earl Thomas. After completing an unexpected season of 10 wins and a playoff berth Gary Jennings Jr. Jersey , the Seahawks still have a few significant free agent decisions to make heading into the offseason.And the two most important would appear to be on the defensive side with linebacker K.J. Wright coming off an injured-filled season and pass rusher Frank Clark looking to cash in on the best season of his young career.“This time of year, we always cite that it’s a really difficult time,” Carroll said. “There’s a lot of stuff that has to take place, there’s a lot of business. John (Schneider) has a master plan of carrying this thing out. He’s got a schedule and calendar of all kinds of stuff that he’s working. Already, we’re well into it. There’s a strategy and a plan to carry this out and our guys know. We’ve communicated with everybody.”Seattle has 14 unrestricted free agents heading into offseason, with Clark and Wright headlining the list because of their specific situations. Thomas is also an unrestricted free agent, but after a contentious holdout last offseason and a season-ending leg injury suffered in Week 4, the likelihood of Thomas continuing his career with Seattle appears slim at best.Clark and Wright both played this past season in the final year of their contracts, choosing to take the risk of not having contract certainty going into 2019. The results touched both ends of the spectrum of possibilities and leaves Seattle with intriguing decisions to make.Clark proved his worth as an elite pass rusher with a career-high 14 sacks in his first season playing without Bennett and fellow veteran Cliff Avril around. It was the most sacks by any Seattle player since 2007 and put Clark in line for a massive payday should he hit the open market.But that possibility may drive Seattle to use its franchise tag for the first time since 2010 when it was used on kicker Olindo Mare. While Carroll and others have made it clear they want Clark as part of the future, it may be easier for Seattle to pay Clark around $18 million for 2019 and try to work out something long term in the interim.While Clark seemed to prove his future worth, this season only raised questions about whether Wright should be part of Seattle’s future. It wasn’t because of his play as when he was on the field, Wright continued to show his value to Seattle’s defense, highlighted by his juggling end zone interception against Dallas in the playoff loss. But Wright will turn 30 in July and had knee issues derail most of his 2018 season.“I’m pretty sure he’s going to be telling me everything that is going on,” Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner said of Wright. “I’ll pay attention to it. He’s my brother and I hope everything works out, but I understand it’s a business.”Aside from Wright and Clark, Seattle must make decisions on two key offensive linemen with guards J.R. Sweezy and D.J. Fluker having played 2018 on one-year deals and helped the Seahawks have the best run game in the NFL.Other key unrestricted free agents who played important roles in 2018 include cornerback Justin Coleman, running back Mike Davis, kicker Sebastian Janikowski and linebacker Mychal Kendricks.And hanging over all of Seattle’s decisions are how any of them will play into potential contract extensions for quarterback Russell Wilson and Wagner, who both have deals that expire after the 2019 season.“Russ and I met and we talked about the future. We are talking about where we are going and what we want to get done. And, you know, that’s very much in our plans,” Carroll said.