Well to be fair they were never irrelevant. They were bad that one year, but were a heavy favorite all the years leading up to it.
They were irrelevant without Manning, and then immediately relevant with Luck. Can't foresee all the injuries.
These three guys have been a major factor, if not THEE factor, in drafting the following players. Chris Grier has drafted: Laremy Tunsil Xavien Howard Kenyan Drake Jakeem Grant Minkah Fitzpatrick Jerome Baker Christian Wilkins Marvin Allen has drafted: QB Josh Allen LB Tremaine Edmunds QB Patrick Mahomes RB Kareem Hunt WR Tyreek Hill TE Travis Kelce OT Eric Fisher CB Marcus Peters DE Dee Ford Reggie McKenzie has drafted: DE Khalil Mack QB Derek Carr WR Amari Cooper SS Karl Joesph CB Gareon Conley OT Kolton Miller
I also think something that gets lost in this is the "culture". We've been struggling with this for years trying to change the culture. Maybe we threw the baby with the bath water out, but that kid was a demon and that water was dirty. We're going to "adopt" a new baby and refill the tub.
I continue to be surprised that Ross fired Gase, whose 3 year w/l record was about .500, which is not horrible.
I admit it sucks Rox to see you have this take, because I like you as a poster and respect your opinion.. Let me try and give you a different angle to see if I can make you have a little tingle. I know there is no record on Grier that instills confidence in the personnel Dept. But like I’ve been pining on the board the last few weeks, it seems obvious this rebuild has been planned for a while, he recognized the magnitude of the rebuild early and went out and got help in the form of two executive talent evaluators in Allen and McKenzie. Its the recognition of the situation, the combination of skills in that Dept, and now the assets and capital accumulated that gives me hope..
Oof. One the better decisions Ross has ever made. It'll soon make you very happy to know that fraud is now in NY.
It's very hard to instill a winning culture on a team that's intentionally going 0-16. Add in the fact that half the roster will be gone next year and yeah, we are extremely fortunate to have a disciplined, low penalty team. We'll see how long it lasts.
You also have to look at it as a lot of guys who wouldnt normally get a shot are now getting a chance to show that even if the team sucks, they as a player belong on a roster somewhere. It's not surprising those guys would try and play a tight penalty free game.
Let me preface this by saying I know we stink. I am happy, however, with the subtle improvement week to week. Like I said before, the next step is putting two halves together. Now, is it coaching or teams taking the Phins lightly? I don't know, but I hope it continues. All I wanted to see from this year is an identity and improvement week to week. I listened to some talking heads talking about Flores being fired at the end of the season. I'm not sure that's right or we'll even know what kind of coach he is. Tis the business though.