2003Contenders

I see what Adam is saying... He isn't advocating keeping TD or even saying that he did a good job. He is just pointing out that his failure as a GM was not an intentional thing. In our every day jobs I am sure that we know of people that are lazy and deserve to get fired but don't for one reason or another. That wasn't the case with TD. I fully believe that he did the best he could. There are certainly mistakes that he made -- most of them in hind-sight -- but it wasn't because he was incompetent or not trying to do his job. He deserves credit for cleaning up a very messy salary cap situation. It was a mess that Butler left behind -- and one that Butler didn't have the decency (God rest his soul) to clean up before moving onto San Diego. He deserves credit for drafting some pretty good players for us -- that didn't necessarily come in the first round of the draft (McGee and Schobel, for example). He wasn't afraid to take chances -- and some of his gambles paid off (the Willis pick, trading up and down the draft board in 2001, franchising Price), while others didn't. I think, more than anything else, his fatal flaw was that he never got over the battle he lost with Bill Cowher in Pittsburgh. It made him paranoid about hiring a coach that he thought would ever usurp his authority. Thus, he instead hired two light-weights -- both of whom could one day be good head coaches but both of whom came to the table with too little experience and presence to lead the team to the next level. When it's all said and done, TD's legacy is that of a team that failed to make the playoffs in any year under his tenure, even though not all of the reasons for this were his fault. Still, as the GM, the buck ends with him. There's no need to kick him to the curb with animosity, as he tried to do what was best for the team. Let's just say that we're sorry that things didn't work out... and bid him adieu.

In a town like KC that already has a pretty decent team -- and a fine offense in particular, I think Gregg could do well in his second go-around, assuming that he doesn't monkey with the existing offense. The one key that is missed, I think, is his media and player dealings. Remember how sick we got of him here talking abut "execution" after each loss? Greggo has done enough things even this year (his handling of Lavar Arrington, for example) that could have been PR disasters (think of MM's bouts with Moulds and Adams) were it not for Gibbs' ability to defuse the situation -- at least in the public eye. Things have worked for him in Washington because he's been able to play the bad cop to Joe Gibbs' good cop. There are certain things that a coordinator can get away with that a head coach can't.

Besides, isn't Marv on the record saying he likes Mularkey?

Excellent post.

If we want to "blame" someone for the Losman pick, then that goes squarley on the shoulders of Sam Wyche, who scouted him at his public workout -- and gushed about how he had a better workout than Manning. I for one do not want to blame anyone for this pick, as I still think JP can work out if given proper coaching and supporting players (OL in particular).

I don't think it was JP he was talking about. In fact, Wilson went out of his way (even after "calling JP out") to emphasize that he wasn't blaming Losman. I think RW was pointing out how angry he was for believing the hype that the team would be good enough to win with a young, untested QB. (See Chicago) The team isn't good enough in A LOT of areas. I actually think RW's comment was more of a general one -- and I think a clear indictment of how he feels that he's been snowed by TD. In fact, for those of you who are worried that RW will maintain TD is some capacity, this is to me me the clearest indication that TD is gone. It is also scary to think that this may mean that RW will become overly meddling with whomever our new GM will be... That could scare good candidates away.

George, tell me like ya done before. Tell me about the rabbits...

This actually does bring up a good point. For as much criticism as MM has received for not running Willis enough on Sunday -- I seemed to recall TOO many times when Willis was on the sidelines sucking up air. To me there is clearly a conditioning problem here that is also evidenced by Willis' tailing off after the halfway mark of the season. Is this going to be an on going problem with Willis -- or is it a problem with the strength and conditioning coach? It is also a clear indicator that we need a second quality back to take up some of those carries when Willis is genuinely gassed. You know, someone a little better than Shaud Williams. Even Thurman had Kenneth Davis to spell him.

How'd McCown do the one game he played in Buffalo last year? Oh, that's right he made some comment about how he couldn't imagine how someone like Jim Kelly could have had a productive career playing in these weather conditions.

McGahee has ZERO leverage here. If he even threatens a hold-out, the front office should respond with, "Go ahead and do what you think's best."

One thing is, despite everything we heard to the contrary, Willis has yet to show the burst that he had at Maimi prior to the injury. Will he ever get it back?

I would advocate trading next year's #1 to move up to get him, as I think he is a player that will make an immediate impact. That gives us an entire year to work on re-acquiring that draft pick.

I just made reference to this in another post. I will have to say that MM really did show me somthing in last week's game. I'm not one that buys that the win was not a good one, considering that the Benglas CERTAINLY had something to play for. Here's what I would say... 1. Considering what was at stake for the Bengals, MM clearly out-coached Marvin Lewis, a guy who is on some lists as a Coach of the Year candidate. 2. MM had the team ready to play, when they could easily have been running for the bus. 3. For a change, the staff made some decent adjustments during the game. 4. They showed some heart in coming back practically everytime the Bengals looked to be taking the momentum. The on-sides call may have been the deciding bit for him. I know that it didn't matter because Holcomb ultimately threw that lame INT. However, the call was a good one -- and the execution was great. More important, maybe for the first time all year I didn't see that deer-in-the-headlights look when he and April pled their case to the refs. He was forceful enough to the point where the refs didn't even require the use of a challenge flag to correct the call. Maybe, just maybe this was a deciding moment for MM as a head coach in much the same way that players have a breakout game. Maybe we'll see againt next week against the Jets in another "meaningless" game. I just wish that we had seen more of this from him earlier in the year.

The team always looked pretty sharp and ready to play (save for the second NE game) at the outset of each game. The problems came from the 2nd quarter on. What does this mean? I think our coaching staff showed that they are pretty good Monday-Saturday, when the game planning is done. However, they are missing something on gameday -- when adjustments are made. That is one thing that I DID like about the coaching staff in the Cinci win. They showed some ingenuity -- and even some gumption in arguing their case related to the refs' near botch of the on sides kick. Really, it may have been an aberration -- but MM outcoached Marvin Lewis in that game. Let's see if the trend continues against the Jets. After all, MM himself can use a confidence booster heading into the off-season, supposing that he's back next year.

Josh Reed actually proved himself to be somewhat useful -- and even made some clutch catches here and there... Before the season I never thought I'd advocate bringing him back next year.

I agree that a quality pass-catching TE is very important. Need evidence, you need look no further than Drew Bledsoe. In his best days in NE he had Ben Coates. In his one good season with us he had Riemersma -- I know not much but still he had pretty good hands. I don't think it's any coincidence that Drew's coming back down to earth the following season was at least partially because JR was sent packing... It's also no coincidence that having Jason Witten this year has allowed him to make a comeback in Dallas. Hind-sight is 20-20 but for those who say that taking Willis with that #1 pick back in 2003 wasn't such a bad thing because TD still landed the guy he wanted in the second round (with Kelsay). Well, what if we had taken Kelsay with that first pick -- and then selected Witten in the second round? My point is that the TE posiiton has been just as neglected as the OL that everyone keeps complaining about. Let's hope Everett can make a full recovery by next season.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Adams the brain-child behind the Erik Flowers selection back in 2000? If memory serves me correct, he was the loudest voice pining for this late riser based on a supposedly incredible private workout.

I don't think MM and TD missed the boat with JP being named starter this year as much as they were simply wrong about everything else around him. Look at the Bears. They are proof that that formula: strong defense and decent rushing attack can mask the shortcomings of an inexperienced QB. If anything, Orton was even less effective than JP. The sad truth is that our own coaching staff overrated our defense -- and understimated the lengths that opposing defenses would go to to stop our rushing attack. Also, I don't think that starting Holcomb every game would have meant the playoffs for this team either. I think there was a conflcit in philosophy back in February, where someone -- be it Wyche or MM -- felt that the best thing to do for JP was to provide nothing in the way of a challenge and name him the uncontested starter going in. I think perhaps that whoever made the ultimate decision was looking too closely at things that happened with other teams -- namely Cinci and Pittsburgh -- without regards to our own situation.

I think part of the problem this year is that MW found himself in TD's and MM's doghouse for reportedly refusing to redo his contract to free up cap space. I am not one to say that a guy has no heart. But one of the qualifications to play OL in the NFL is the ability to play through pain. We all have a different threshold for pain. When I hear the things that guys like Mark Schlereth played through, I can't imagine EVER being so impervious to pain. While MW may have all of the talent in the world, clearly he misses the mark on the pain threshold requirement. Again, I know that is easy for me to say, but I'm also not the one making $5 - $10 M per year with the natural (and unnatural) abilities to play through an incredible amount of pain.

The only thing I will say is that the last time JP came off the bench in a game, he led us to victory against the Chiefs. Maybe MM is planning on starting Kelly, but will insert JP once we inevitably see that we are losing? Remember, even before Kelly got knocked out of that game, we heard that MM was planning on using both QBs. Just a thought. And, even though I advocate going with one QB and sticking with him, there is no denying that teams defend these 2 QBs differently. Do you think Denver would have only rushed 2 or 3 defenders on most passing downs against JP, as they did against Kelly last week?

That $12M guaranteed up-font money is too much to give him at this stage of his career. If he plays, say, only one year of it, then it would cost us $8 M against the cap just to release him -- and that doesn't even count the unamoratized portion of his orginal signing bonus. Much is going to depend on how much EM really wants to be back and how much of a cut he is willing to accept.

Thank you, sir!

Two things: 1. Even with such a great stat line, the Browns STILL lost that game. 2. These aren't the same Bengals.

Back to the Johnson Flutie thing... For all of the speculation that we have that TD is a control freak, I really do think that this particular decision was all GW. It would have been perfectly in keeping for GW to have felt that he ALONE could take this talented but fragile young QB and mold him into being a superstar. He had recruited Mike Shepard, Holmgren's QB coach to take over as GM -- and he was convinced that RJ would thrive in the West Coast offense. TD, meanwhile, had just come from ESPN, where as an analyst when asked about the QB situation in Buffalo, he cited Flutie's record as a starter and asked "What's the question?" I think GW sold TD on the point that past injuries had made RJ something of an unknown commodity, while Flutie's age provided lesser upside. GW went through the motions of talking to the players in the clubhouse about their opinions -- but his decision was clearly made up. Sadly it was this arrogance that marked GW's career in Buffalo, and I am sure he is feeding off of this "Defensive genius" stuff we keep hearing out of Washington. All of which is to say... when making a list for the prosecution regarding TD's failures in Buffalo, I'd pass on this particular allegation.

The truth of the matter is that our team was never well equiped to handle those strong NFC East teams that were so tough at the line of scrimmage. We played our best ball in that Giants game -- and darn near won, but the problems that would eventually plague us in the other 3 games began to come into focus in that Giants game. Remember that Polian originally built that team to thwart Miami, who had primarily owned the division for decades. As such we could score quickly and almost at will to keep up with Marino -- and our pass defense was strong. However, we were not built to handle a consistently strong rushing attack. Yes, I know that we managed to beat those NFC East teams during the regular season -- but in a winner take all tournament the stakes are very different. We simply did not match up well against those power running teams. I really think the treat that would have provided the better match-up would have been if the Bills could have faced the 49ers during one of those years. Of course, the 49ers had their own problems getting past those teams as well.