I never called him a bust. You're putting words in my mouth, you temporarily cantankerous ole fart. Fair enough on point 2, but I'm leading toward SS making that next step. I know, still means nothing till the season plays out. I'll just have to wait 4 months to collect my half a year of free membership..... err lap dance.
It seems as though this fan base has been looking for someone to blame for every season in which we haven't won a Super Bowl since at least 1990. Has anyone thought that maybe no one is ultimately to blame, that the dice have come up losers for us because of chance, and that 31 teams fail to win the Super Bowl every year? Who would have thought that we were going to win anything in 1971 with all those no-names? But it came together. This team is not cursed, nor has everyone responsible for running it been an idiot. Since Shula stopped producing 12-4 records, we've changed players, owners, coaching staffs, GMs, consultants, philosophies, approaches to the draft and free agency -- everything that could be changed, without results. If it isn't Ireland, it'll be someone else. It's a matter of the stars lining up for us. Eventually everything will come together again if we remain fans. I just hope it happens while I'm still alive. Don't want us to be the Cubbies of the NFL.
What I'm talking about, is you using the stuff that's been reported by the media for your argument. But when someone else points out that it was widely reported that Ireland wanted Mike McCoy while Ross wanted Philbin, you're just not having it. I'd say that's being at least a little inconsistent. You can't just accept the things that's been reported as fact, but only if it helps your argument. That's certainly the way it seems to me anyways. If you want to see what Ireland does without Parcells in his 2nd year. I have no problem with that. No matter what, it's going to happen regardless. As long as you're as consistent about Ireland should the team fail this season as you would expect from myself should the team actually make the playoffs, we're good. I hope I can admit I was wrong at the conclusion of the season.
Good research. I was certainly reading you wrong. That sounds about right to me. Tackles do, and should get drafted higher. It's interior OL that I have a problem with. Those guys are relatively easy to find in the draft. The research I did on Superbowl teams showed a lot of low picks and UDFA's starting on their lines. I also did another study regarding the lines of playoff and non playoff teams last year. Can't remember it though. Drafting a Center with the 15th pick is a luxury pick imo. I just can't condone it for a team that really can't afford that luxury. There's a reason one hasn't been drafted that high since Steve Everitt in 1993. Interior OL are easily replaceable, relatively easy to find later in the draft compared to other positions.
This is why it's absurd IMO to tinker with the GM position when this team looks to finally have landed a franchise quarterback. If you start from the position that it's incredibly difficult to win a Super Bowl in this league even if you do have a franchise quarterback, and then compound that by the fact that we haven't had one, I think the focus goes off of Jeff Ireland. There just isn't anywhere near enough of a case that Jeff Ireland is so poor at his job that you tinker with the upper levels of the team's organizational structure (GM) once you've landed a franchise quarterback and you're trying to develop him and the players around him. You stay the course and try to make it work IMO.
I doubt Tannehill really gives a **** who the GM is, so long as they do a better job than Ireland has at getting him someone to throw to, and someone to block for him. Continuity with coaches matters as long as the coaches can actually coach. GM, not so much. If he's not doing his job he's not doing his job. I'm sure Philbin is probably secretly wishing Ireland is canned and he can convince Ross to bring in someone from GB that he knows he can work with. I'm sure every coach feels that way when they first get hired. It's only natural to prefer familiarity.
I'm sorry if you feel that way or if it seems that's how I'm portraying it, but I'm not refuting the McCoy stuff at all. All I was saying is that we were looking at McCoy as a head coach, not an OC, so it's quite possible for us to hire McCoy as the HC and bring in an OC who runs a WCO. That scenario never played out, so we don't know for sure what would've happened. All we know is Ireland coveted a WCO QB, signed off on Philbin, Sherman and their WCO, and has drafted personnel that are better suited for a spread/zone scheme. It's also been said about McCoy, IIRC, that he's very good at adapting an offense to his personnel. He's gone from building it around Tebow's strengths to now being the OC of Manning's offense, which I'd consider is nothing like a Henning offense, no? Yup. If the team fails, it's on Ireland fully. Right now I wouldn't call him good or bad. I'd put him right in the middle only b/c I personally don't feel I, myself, have enough information to form a solid opinion...... but he certainly has enough outstanding transactions out there to eventually make or break him.
They're not. You don't have to be a WCO to run a zone scheme. It's possible it's coincidental that Ireland drafted 2 olinemen who fit a WCO. That's not absolute either, but we did draft 2 of them who are blocking deficient, so I'd have to lean more toward that being b/c Ireland wanted to spread it out more. You're right; they often don't..... but at the same time I don't believe a GM would choose a HC who wouldn't hire an OC capable of running the type of offense the GM has in mind. I'd have to think it's a joint effort between Ireland, Ross, and Philbin, with Philbin's hiring predicated upon Ireland's approval of the direction Philbin wanted to take the team and offense, including making sure he's ok with Philbin's choice of OC. I mean, if I were a GM in charge of the team and my reputation were on the line, that's the only way I would do it. I'd have an offense and defense in mind that I'd want to run prior to my coaching hires. I'm not sure if that's pigeonholing McCoy or not b/c I was under the impression he's a bright young mind who's quite adaptable based on personnel etc rather than sticking to one scheme ala Henning.... but it's worth looking into.
To be honest, I hated the thought of Mike McCoy. I might be completely wrong about him. Who knows. But if you give me the option to pass on someone that's learned under John Fox and Dan Henning, then I'll pass. I'd rather not take that risk when options like Chudzinski, Pete Carmichael Jr., and Philbin are available.
Agree as well. He'd have to prove quite firmly that he's not a true Dan Henning disciple. If we were to take a coordinator from Denver, I was more intrigued with Dennis Allen TBH.
I'm too lazy to look it up, but I wonder how old Jeff Ireland was back in 1973? I wouldn't blame Ireland for the drought any more than Id blame the current President for what happened in Vietnam. It's a shame that on the eve of the season opener a sizeable portion of the fans are declaring the season DOA, the GM an abject failure and calling for his head. Most of us agree that that the GMs top priority was to find a franchise QB and that Tannehill seems to have the potential to be just that. Obviously there's more work to do, but if Tannehill is the real deal then the hard part is already done. Changing course now would seem imprudent IMO.
So Brandon Marshall went off today....J. Martin almost ended Tanny's career, Richard Marshall still sucks, and it seems that Ireland spent an entire offseason subtracting contributors and adding none. But hey...he can draft a QB 8th overall! Give that man an extension!
