32 Comments
Oct 30Liked by Mike Tanier

I'm not renaming the worst coach award again! I'm still bitter that nobody else liked the Bill Peterson reference!

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Interesting to see on the Young link that Will Levis also scored real well on the S2. That explains how he’s able to generate so many bad ideas so quickly on any single play.

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If you've ever seen the S2 website it looks like "Astrology brought to you by a faux-Under Armour MLM".

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author

This is accurate!

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Another gem. As a Bills fan who stayed loyal through the drought, I an attest to the fact that "Fire McDermott" remains an implausibly constant discussion point. Perhaps that is due to his greatest relative weakness being in-game strategy (in my unqualified opinion!) but his other undeniable strengths completely out-weigh that! Plus, he has shown an impressive ability to grow and improve in many areas, including in-game strategy. We'd be NUTS to fire him. Unless we lose to Miami this week. Then he is DEAD TO ME!

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I feel like "fire the coach" has replaced "bench the QB" as fans go-to complaint after every loss (or even close win, depending on expectations). For most of my life, the most popular player on any football team was always the second-string QB. Fans saw him as the solution to every problem. That seems to have mostly gone away, and been replaced by the belief that the solution to every problem is to find somebody who will do a better job than Siriani/McDermott/Tomlin/Pederson/etc.

I'm not sure exactly what factors are at play that have caused this shift, but I think its real, especially in terms of what dominates mid-season rant-discussions.

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It's so easy to second guess play calling based on seeing the outcome.

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author

Fire the Coach has always been a thing. The difference now is that lots of media will pander to the fans who think that. Even in the 90s on Philly talk radio, the cranks who wanted a coach fired after one loss would get laughed off the air. Now, all the talking points come from SEO metrics, and instead of some 45 year old in the press box hosting a show, it's a 26 year old podcaster who will say anything for engagement

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Maybe. I tend to think "fire the coach" is more prominent now because fewer fanbases think that switching QB1 for QB2 is the solution. I think that's combined with fewer well-tenured coaches and/or less respect for tenured coaches. There has to be some easy solution, so if its not a QB change and the coach is no longer untouchable, the coach it is.

To your point, though, I suspect that in the past, local sports media who peeved off the coach suffered greater consequences than local sports media who peeved off the the starting QB. So there may well have been more dampening of coach-criticism by the local media, either consciously or reflexively.

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“Schadenfreude springs from a certain timeless delusional cluelessness, not specific political ideologies.”

You are The Best, Mike.

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Oct 30Liked by Mike Tanier

We need a link to the Upper Class Twit of the Year, Monty Python skit here.

Always punch up, my friends, never down.

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Well, some people think punching Bud Bundy is 'punching up', and punching, say, Michelle Obama is 'punching down'. (absolute end to my part in this quasi-sorta political discussion)

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Yeah, that’s a good line…

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I couldn’t agree more with your groupthink answer as to why Bryce Young was the first overall pick despite obvious facts suggesting it would be a regrettable decision. Reminds me of the far more impactful groupthink example of the “Iraq had WMD” fiasco. NFL coaches, owners and personnel folks aren’t as smart as they think they are or how they’re portrayed. And neither are politicians and the ironically titled intelligence community. One group however, is held accountable (with the lone exception in Dallas).

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Oct 30·edited Oct 30

You were there; I was not. But how legitimate are the sources claiming the Texans loved Young? Because...:

- are you telling me the organization trusted the feedback of a man who recommended they turn their football operations over to a youth minister? I'm not sure I'm buying that.

- no one - not a soul, outside of the inner circle - had *any* idea the Texans had designs on a move up for Will Anderson. Are we to believe they were loose-lipped on Young but tight-lipped on Anderson? That doesn't add up.

- DeMeco Ryans is a manly man's man... You're telling me he got into a room with Young and his 12-year old frame & boarded on the Young train? I have serious doubts.

- the Texans have claimed the do not use the S2 test in their draft process

- also, I believe the Texans leaked Stroud's s2 test

*If* there was known-chatter the Texans loved Young, I would offer it was a smoke-screen. My theory has always been Anderson was their top-rated prospect; Ryans coveted him - but ownership demanded a QB. At *worst,* they had Young and Stroud even & were content with the consolation prize. But I have a sneaking suspicion - based on the above + what has been a mostly really good draft record under Caserio - that they really wanted Stroud.

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author

The man who turned football operations over to the youth minister was the man writing the checks!

Ryans never got to the Young evaluation stage. Remember how quickly the Panthers trade happened.

The Texans Young Leak seems to have come from the Cal McNair level. Cal thinks a "smokescreen" is that little thing you put inside a bong.

I mean, it may have been a smokescreen, but I was getting a lot of this from Texans reporters over beers. The kind of reporters who also have beers with Cal.

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I can envision Cal having beers, but a bong?? Granted I've been at one Seminary party where that was an off-site (barely) thing, but overall doesn't seem all that Youth Ministerial.

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My dad’s best friend used to grow weed in the basement of his rectory. Of course this was the 70s-80s and we’re all Jets fans.

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Never solicit input from a player on personnel decisions. Ever. If Star Player insists on inputting into any such decision, nod however politely as is needed. and not one thing more.

Your managerial people have spent an entire education and working career learning, sometimes the hard way, how to make and not make such decisions. Star Player has spent all that time becoming and being Star Player. He by (total lack of) training and experience has no qualifications for contributing to such decisions.

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author

There is a difference between asking for input and letting him make the decision!

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When you ask someone for input and then don't actually input it, you just make them madder than if you'd never asked at all. So just don't ask, and if it's volunteered do a really really good job of nodding.

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In my experience you get a better result if you involve multiple perspectives in hiring decisions. You need to be clear about the hiring criteria and let each person know what you want them to test for. When it's time to make the decision, let everyone voice their opinions and clearly state why you're making the decision. That should make it clear that everyone's input was considered and they should understand why they didn't get their way. This process has helped me avoid mistakes several times in the past and no one has slashed my tires because I didn't agree with them.

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In particular I don't see the point of soliciting Dak. We're not talking Jordan/LeBron or (for that matter) Aaron here. If the Cowboys do decide to rebuild, they'll be looking to pay off and unload Dak's contract in order to accelerate that process.

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The ultimate goal is for everyone to get rewarded because Prescott is playing well. He might know a thing or 2 about what will allow that to happen. I'm assuming he's adult enough to understand that his coworkers don't have to be his buddies in order to be successful. If he's not, then yeah probably not worth bringing him in.

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I cut and pasted your interlude about dads giving sons tough love by razzing them about Eagles/Jets/Giants back in the day.

We are both Packers fans and I sure hope he unblocks me as he may understand where Im coming from if he reads this.

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author

oh dear

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Everyone lies in job interviews. Well, everyone who is successful in job interviews. Unless you tell this group of people you know next to nothing about "you are just the GREATEST group of people in the blahwidgetblah industry! EVERYone wants to work for you people!!!", they don't hire you. Instead hire one of the applicants who does have enough brains to do so.

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“My biggest shortcoming? Well, I’m a perfectionist. And I’ve also been told that I work too hard.”

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author

I never lied on an interview! My shortcoming was always "I am forgetful about filling out paperwork and keep a sloppy desk."

And look at me now! Um... self employed.

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You’re my favorite unemployed NFL writer! You’re also my favorite NFL writer even over the employed guys.

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King of your domain! Ruler of your destiny! Founder, CEO, and Chairman of the board! You should be selling us $800 invites to your zoom seminar on how to make it big.

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Why is Dorsey calling plays? Now that Watson is out, isn't Stefanski a lock for ANOTHER CotY award?

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