I don't get the McDermott negative takes in the Mafia at all. Before he came here, it was desolation in the land of mediocrity. Since then, we've been one of the most consistently successful franchises in the league. A few plays away from the Super Bowl. There's lots of luck in sports and we didn't get it a few times when we needed it but he's been a tremendous success, and has been willing to grow as well. Two thumbs up from me!
Regarding the NFL Coach of the Year, last season Detroit's Ben Johnson won the AP Assistant Coach of the Year. Certainly Johnson's savant reputation and his designation as the hottest Head Coach candidate blew up Campbell's chances as NFL Head Coach of the Year.
LaFleur needs to get back to winning the NFC North, go deeper into the playoffs and notch a Super Bowl trophy and he'll get his flowers the rest of his career. Player MVPs at least have statistics that can be argued. Coach of the Year is so nebulous. Voting is done before playoffs start, or the coach hoisting the Lombardi Trophy would be the Coach of the Year each season. If LaFleur can fine tune Love, - check down or scramble to move the chains, drag a slow-starting offense into gear to stay in games early, become a more expressive leader on field and off -, Love's improved performances will raise LaFleur's profile. But Coach of the Year is pretty meaningless.
You totally wrecked that Packers fan's deep dive into pro football reference.com into finding those arbitrary benchmarks to link Willis to those other much, better QBs. So mean (chef's kiss).
I didn't mean to go after the fan, just the guy at Packers.com who did it! Tho ... I guess I went after the fellow who asked the question a little bit too. Sorry!
"Lopsided" teams seem to do well because they can win 12 games during the regular season winning games against purely mediocre teams. It's like the dolphins beating the saints 52-49 or something. You beat all the mediocre teams and maybe eke out a win against the chiefs. But then playoffs roll around and you now have to eke out 3 or 4 wins in a row. It doesn't work.
The Dolphins questions and their responses are spot on. Mike's suggested reasons as to why Ross hasn't fired Grier are as plausible as anything, I guess. Grier has become the GM equivalent of Marvin Lewis as HC of the Bengals, only with even fewer 10-win seasons. It's just amazing how a franchise can have so many incredibly talented individual players over these last 20-25 years (a number of whom they did actually draft) and still remain so inevitably mediocre. I would never hope for another human being's death, but I'm reasonably sure that it is only Ross's shuffling off this mortal coil that *might* signal the complete restart that my beloved team needs to get out of this now decades-long doldrum.
Oof, no, not even that; that's also been tried. All it got us was an impatient owner who forced a coaching legend to retire and replaced him with one on the verge of burnout, and here we are
OTOH, this worked beautifully for the 90s Bucs, so "do the needful" or whatever
I have seen a billion or so of those “only players to achieve various random statistical benchmarks” lists, but the Willis one was the most pretzely of them all!
Is there a person alive who believes that there is a speck of value in them?
LaFleur strikes me as somewhere in between early Tomlin and late Tomlin - consistently average to division winner without having Pats or Chiefs or Bills level dominance within his division, and while he's able to get some playoff wins, is not able to make it to the Super Bowl.
As a Packers fan, I'm grinding my gears for a refutation. I like LaFleur's creativity. I'll peg 2027 as the Packers' next Super Bowl victory. Can we get Love up a notch to beat the best teams and to bury the bad teams?
I actually compared LaFleur to Tomlin in something I am working on. He's getting a lot of credit for "Wow, this team was really toxic and the roster was assembled in a weird way but they made the playoffs." Which is, in fact, a noteworthy achievement. The issue arises when it becomes the only thing you do.
I disagree with your answer about “balanced” teams of your goal is to win an SB, not just be competitive. Winning one is always a crapshoot, even with a Brady or Mahomes. But if you are really great on one side of the ball, then a Flacco run, a return from injury from a Bob Sanders, or a string of opponents who are great matchups for your strength (Legion of Boom vs. Denver) can get you over the top.
This would be very easy to check. It not being my own thesis, of course I'm too lazy to. I will point out that your most recent example is already 11 years in the rear view mirror, Terry.
I don't get the McDermott negative takes in the Mafia at all. Before he came here, it was desolation in the land of mediocrity. Since then, we've been one of the most consistently successful franchises in the league. A few plays away from the Super Bowl. There's lots of luck in sports and we didn't get it a few times when we needed it but he's been a tremendous success, and has been willing to grow as well. Two thumbs up from me!
Regarding the NFL Coach of the Year, last season Detroit's Ben Johnson won the AP Assistant Coach of the Year. Certainly Johnson's savant reputation and his designation as the hottest Head Coach candidate blew up Campbell's chances as NFL Head Coach of the Year.
LaFleur needs to get back to winning the NFC North, go deeper into the playoffs and notch a Super Bowl trophy and he'll get his flowers the rest of his career. Player MVPs at least have statistics that can be argued. Coach of the Year is so nebulous. Voting is done before playoffs start, or the coach hoisting the Lombardi Trophy would be the Coach of the Year each season. If LaFleur can fine tune Love, - check down or scramble to move the chains, drag a slow-starting offense into gear to stay in games early, become a more expressive leader on field and off -, Love's improved performances will raise LaFleur's profile. But Coach of the Year is pretty meaningless.
LaFleur has to not finish in third place and go 0-4 against the first and second place teams!
Josh Allen as a 1920s free safety? When he's bigger than nearly every lineman in the league? He'd be lucky not to wind up as a nose tackle.
He'd lead the league in TFL, not that that was a stat then, and also injuries. The man likes to hit people.
You are right. He would have been an end!
You totally wrecked that Packers fan's deep dive into pro football reference.com into finding those arbitrary benchmarks to link Willis to those other much, better QBs. So mean (chef's kiss).
I didn't mean to go after the fan, just the guy at Packers.com who did it! Tho ... I guess I went after the fellow who asked the question a little bit too. Sorry!
"Lopsided" teams seem to do well because they can win 12 games during the regular season winning games against purely mediocre teams. It's like the dolphins beating the saints 52-49 or something. You beat all the mediocre teams and maybe eke out a win against the chiefs. But then playoffs roll around and you now have to eke out 3 or 4 wins in a row. It doesn't work.
The Dolphins questions and their responses are spot on. Mike's suggested reasons as to why Ross hasn't fired Grier are as plausible as anything, I guess. Grier has become the GM equivalent of Marvin Lewis as HC of the Bengals, only with even fewer 10-win seasons. It's just amazing how a franchise can have so many incredibly talented individual players over these last 20-25 years (a number of whom they did actually draft) and still remain so inevitably mediocre. I would never hope for another human being's death, but I'm reasonably sure that it is only Ross's shuffling off this mortal coil that *might* signal the complete restart that my beloved team needs to get out of this now decades-long doldrum.
That last sentence establishes plausible deniability for you in event the Grim Reaper plucks Ross at his appointed time. Sleep easy!
Oof, no, not even that; that's also been tried. All it got us was an impatient owner who forced a coaching legend to retire and replaced him with one on the verge of burnout, and here we are
OTOH, this worked beautifully for the 90s Bucs, so "do the needful" or whatever
I have seen a billion or so of those “only players to achieve various random statistical benchmarks” lists, but the Willis one was the most pretzely of them all!
Is there a person alive who believes that there is a speck of value in them?
They seem to impress some people. They irk the math teacher in me.
Makes the database coders puff up with pride when a 36 item query spits out one player from a hundred-year-old league.
LaFleur strikes me as somewhere in between early Tomlin and late Tomlin - consistently average to division winner without having Pats or Chiefs or Bills level dominance within his division, and while he's able to get some playoff wins, is not able to make it to the Super Bowl.
As a Packers fan, I'm grinding my gears for a refutation. I like LaFleur's creativity. I'll peg 2027 as the Packers' next Super Bowl victory. Can we get Love up a notch to beat the best teams and to bury the bad teams?
I actually compared LaFleur to Tomlin in something I am working on. He's getting a lot of credit for "Wow, this team was really toxic and the roster was assembled in a weird way but they made the playoffs." Which is, in fact, a noteworthy achievement. The issue arises when it becomes the only thing you do.
I disagree with your answer about “balanced” teams of your goal is to win an SB, not just be competitive. Winning one is always a crapshoot, even with a Brady or Mahomes. But if you are really great on one side of the ball, then a Flacco run, a return from injury from a Bob Sanders, or a string of opponents who are great matchups for your strength (Legion of Boom vs. Denver) can get you over the top.
This would be very easy to check. It not being my own thesis, of course I'm too lazy to. I will point out that your most recent example is already 11 years in the rear view mirror, Terry.
Yes, it is really hard to win a SB without a HoF caliber quarterback. Yet, every year, 90% of the league is in that position.
Lots of balanced teams also have great QBs. And HoF-caliber tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Don't know what you'd ask Brady about it. He 'fessed up to deflating those footballs sometime during the past regular season. So what's to ask?
The suggestion above for Hunter seems literally perfect. I'm not a Jags fan but I hope that's the course they take.
They've announced otherwise, have they not?
No idea. My comment was related to Mike's thoughts on how he SHOULD be used.
They appear to be using him on offense first, and trying to create a 2-way package. Let's see how it goes!