Hobson Gets Red Pilled

[3wt]

(05-07-2018, 03:09 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Actually our coaching staff has been handicapped by the front office refusal to sign any decent free agents.  Our coaches have to work much harder than other coaching staffs because our coaches are being held back by the owner.  The coaches on all these other teams have access to decent free agent vets almost every year to fill holes.  Our coaches don't get that.

The Bengals have outperformed most teams in the league over the last several years despite working with a handicap.  I don't see how you can call that "poor coaching".

As good of a coach as Belichick is I doubt he would have as many rings if the front office did not get him top level players like Corey Dillon, Randy Moss, Darrelle Revis, Mike Vrabel, and Aquib Talib.

I think you're right about the negative impact of the front office on the efficacy of the head coach.   Hard to know what exactly goes on behind the veil, but the party line has always been that the bottom line decisions have always been Mr. Brown's.

The sense I have looking at the big picture over the years and in the Lewis era is that the more leeway Marvin has been given the more successful a team he has fielded.  He appeared to have a pretty free reign in the beginning of his tenure and he was pretty aggressive finding some effective free agents (Thornton, O'neal, James, Hardy, Kelly, Graham, etc)

But I think those were mainly to jump start one of the NFLs worst teams.

I think Marvin has been hamstrung more than we know, and that Marvin's conditional two year contract depended on his freedom to hire the coaches and free agents he wanted.

The over arching problem with the Bengals franchise since Mike Brown took over has been, well, Mike Brown.   I think he's a fine intelligent man who wants to win and knows football.   But for whatever the reason he has a history of making really poor personnel decisions - regarding both players and coaches - and has handicapped our team as a result.  

I think the two big (family) issues have been control and vision.  The obsession with the former and the lack of the latter.  Take New England and Pittsburgh:  You see Kraft willing (except for the Brady/ Garapolo debacle) to give control to his coach.  You see Rooney as having the vision to guide his team into a new era - and being willing to listen to others, even members of the press to the point that he was willing to change his whole paradigm of personnel development.

I'm hoping Mr. Brown's willingness to grant Marvin more autonomy results in significant success.  So far I like what I see (other than a few of the draft picks )