05-26-2021, 09:18 AM
To the ongoing conversation, culture is an important part of winning that most people don't understand. There is something to be said for bringing guys in who have had success because they understand what it takes to not only achieve success but also how to handle success. Even when you consider the coaching staff is relatively young and lite on having had success being able to lean on veteran players who have had it to give their thoughts on things is beneficial. You can also get feedback from them on how their teams who had success approached different teams and schemes.
I am less down on the "coaching" people often reference here because most refer to "coaching" as play-calling and the play-calling has been fine other than critiquing it from a position of hindsight. I remember last year in the Browns game people critiquing the cover 1 call that the TD was caught against saying, you have to play two high there. The reality is that is absolutely false because of what had occurred in the game up until that point. We were getting murdered by their tight ends all game and they were down to their 4th WR on the outside so you give help inside to the guys who couldn't stop their TE's all game. Even so, the call was fine and Phillips was in the perfect position to make a play on the ball but failed to do so...in the end, players have to perform no matter the call.
Other people complain about their base being multiple. Probably 30-40% of teams in the NFL run multiple base, and many of them are the more successful teams in the league defensively. The whole 3-4/4-3 argument is kind of comical because it actually means very little as the personnel doesn't usually change much but it's just alignment and man up or down. As others mentioned, we have no real clue how good this defense can be because defense is a sum of it's parts and we had so many replacement parts in last year that we can't even guess what it would have been.
This is definitely a prove-it year for the staff, but with that said I think they have done a good job assembling a roster that will at the very least be really desirable for potential coaching candidates if they don't get it done this year.
I am less down on the "coaching" people often reference here because most refer to "coaching" as play-calling and the play-calling has been fine other than critiquing it from a position of hindsight. I remember last year in the Browns game people critiquing the cover 1 call that the TD was caught against saying, you have to play two high there. The reality is that is absolutely false because of what had occurred in the game up until that point. We were getting murdered by their tight ends all game and they were down to their 4th WR on the outside so you give help inside to the guys who couldn't stop their TE's all game. Even so, the call was fine and Phillips was in the perfect position to make a play on the ball but failed to do so...in the end, players have to perform no matter the call.
Other people complain about their base being multiple. Probably 30-40% of teams in the NFL run multiple base, and many of them are the more successful teams in the league defensively. The whole 3-4/4-3 argument is kind of comical because it actually means very little as the personnel doesn't usually change much but it's just alignment and man up or down. As others mentioned, we have no real clue how good this defense can be because defense is a sum of it's parts and we had so many replacement parts in last year that we can't even guess what it would have been.
This is definitely a prove-it year for the staff, but with that said I think they have done a good job assembling a roster that will at the very least be really desirable for potential coaching candidates if they don't get it done this year.
