05-23-2021, 11:15 AM
(05-19-2021, 08:54 AM)XenoMorph Wrote: we also stopped supplying him with talent.. I mean we gave him Stacy Andrews and expected magic
The front office gave Alexander the exact guys he wanted. He was they guy banging the drum for Ogbuehi and Fisher in 15. Let's not pretend that Paul was an innocent bystander in the epic downfall of the o-line. He was also the run game coordinator when Jeremy Hill mysteriously went from being a guy that looked like he was going to mow down the league at the end of his rookie year to being a tap dancer for the remainder of his time here. The run blocking was bad even before the 2 2015 draft picks were inserted into the lineup. That's with Whitworth, Boling, Zietler, and Smith starting, ie one of the most highly regarded groups the team has ever had up front.
PA got cute, plain and simple. He changed his approach to nuanced technique and broad teaching of multiple positions to all players. He also started drafting athletes over real o-linemen. Most of the guys he'd had success with were big mauling monsters who could win in the run game. Why he went away from that, I'll never know, but it set this team back for whats been a 6-year running clock now.
Yes, PA was once a great OL coach. At one point he was one of the league's best. Yes, his opinion still has great value, particularly if he's learned anything from the experience that got him fired here. Yes, he's a better coach than Jim Turner and it's not even close. No, his failure was not someone else's fault. He owns it. He had as much clout with the Brown family as any coach they've ever employed. He was here through multiple coaching regimes. The fact that they still rely on hs opinion heavily for draft eval makes that point obvious. Paul done f-ed up all on his own.
