Sometimes it seems that NFL coaches make decisions based more on what will draw less criticism than on what has a better chance of helping them win the game. Of course, conventional thinking sportswriters and fans have a lot to do with this timidity.
I think Urlacher and his agent saw that Ray Lewis, another MLB Hall of Famer, got $4.5 his last year, and placed Urlacher’s value at that. So anything less than that was an insult. Personally, I think Lewis was horribly overpaid and was a liability on defense (deer antler spray notwithstanding), and the same would be true if Urlacher got more than $2 or so.
I hope the Bears get desperate, resign him, and start him, because I think the Packers would eat him alive in coverage. Maybe he comes back completely healthy and faster than he was last year, but I wouldn’t bet $3 million on it. Trestman said that Urlacher would make a good linebacker on first and second down, which indicates to me he understands that Urlacher may not be a liaiblity in coverage. The trouble is, nobody runs on 1st and 2nd down all the time anymore.
Didn’t Rodriguez just get arrested in Florida? That may be the reason.
BTW, kudos to my fellow Ratbird observers here, who appear to be much more levelheaded about the recent roster cuts than both other NFL fans (which is kind of expected) and the media analysts (who should damn well know better).
I think it’s fairly reasonable to see Birk and Bolden as the biggest losses, not the bottom half of a subpar defense. They may be a little green at inside linebacker and safety next year but it’s a solid bet that they’ll also be faster and more athletic.
That is exactly correct, and I’ve talked about it at length before. Essentially, fans are stupid and results based. If a situation clearly calls for going for it on 4th down, and it fails, the coach gets the blame for the call entirely. Whereas if he punts it away and the other team drives across the field over 6 plays, the specific blame won’t come down to one particular play, or at least not by the coach. So coaches coach to avoid taking the blame for what goes wrong, rather than what’s best to win.
Obvious example of one who doesn’t is Belichick, who actually makes the right call the vast majority of the time. The “right call” is often entirely counterintuitive to people who are used to way over-conservative football, so you when Bellichick does something unconventional and fails, despite being clearly the best coach of the modern era, he still gets shit for it. There was a 4th and 2 play against the Colts a few years back that we discussed in like a 4 page thread that was, at worst, break-even against punting, but all but me and like 2 other people were talking about how it was the WORST COACHING DECISION EVER).
Yikes, Jarvis Jones apparently ran a 4.92 at his pro day. Not sure if it was injury issues or what.
I’ve participated in these same kind of discussions at other boards. Fortunately, there are a few columnists out there (ESPN has Gregg Easterbrook and another fellow whose name escapes me on the Grantland page) who are asking readers to think about strategies in a different light. Personally, I’d like to see the NFL legislate some things that force coaches out of their comfort zones. Start small, like eliminating the point after kick, and see where it leads from there.
Bill Barnwell - I really like his work.
Barnwell is miles better than Easterbrook. Easterbrook has his hobby horses and just smashes those same points over and over every week - he’s also a huge victim of confirmation bias, going on (for instance) about how important 7th round pick and undrafted linemen are to specific teams and how they show up 1st rounders and neglecting all the instances of the former being raked over the coals by the latter. It’s got so bad for me that I have stopped reading him. That said, he is right about teams taking more risks and for those risks to be assessed on thought process not outcome; I just think he’s like the proverbial stopped clock and this is one of his “twice a day I am right” moments.
Barnwell at least digs into the issues in a bit more depth, which I guess comes with the territory given his FO background - but, even still, he’s going to have to avoid falling into the trap of repeating the same things over and over again to keep his column worth reading.
Yeah, Barnwell’s main focus is on how smart the GMs and coaches are. Easterbrook focuses on how smart Easterbrook is.
Barnwell’s got a lot to work with, and he’s written some pretty wide-ranging columns. I don’t see him belaboring issues the way TMQ does, just because I think he’d get bored doing it. He’s also got a much better handle on statistics and significance than Easterbrook, and he puts a whole lot more/better information out in a shorter, less self-indulgent column.
My first thought when seeing that was “Oh they signed a TE? Can he play MLB?” Anyway, the dude is huge and is going to be the blocking TE.
Doubtful. Maneri is a TE in a LT’s body and Rodriguez is a TE in a fullback’s body. They’re going to have different assignments. Of course, it’s not impossible that the Bears may want to dump Rodriguez now, but I think he’ll just get the slap on the wrist and the fines.
Since no one has talked about the Giants offseason, I’ll take a shot.
The areas of most need for the Giants were DB, LB, offensive line upgrading, and (once Martellus Bennett signed with the Bears) TE. They made moves in three of these areas, but I’m underwhelmed.
They signed Brandon Myers to replace Bennett at TE which statistically looks like an upgrade, but may be a step down. Myers is not much of a blocker, and the Giants use a LOT of blocking schemes by the TE. I don’t see how he will improve them unless he only comes in for obvious passing situations, in which case they overpaid for him. Adrien Robinson supposedly looked impressive last year as a rookie, but hardly played. And Bear Pascoe is a career backup type.
At DB, the Giants re-signed Aaron Ross after Ross spent a year with the Jaguars. I assume they liked that Ross was already familiar with their defensive schemes, but when so much of last season the scheme appeared to be “Get burned as much as possible”, is that a plus? Asomugha is still out there; maybe they could sign him. They did re-sign Corey Webster, but after his stinker of a 2012 season, that probably made the rest of the NFL very happy.
At LB, the big change was Chase Blackburn out, Dan Connor in at MLB. I don’t know much about Connor, but the Giants desperately need more linebacker help. Maybe it will be their draft priority.
Other positions: They signed Cullen Jenkins to replace the departed Chris Canty; that may be an upgrade. Everyone figured Osi Umenyiora was gone, but it looks like he’s finding the pass-rush DE market a bit soft so maybe he’ll be back. It seems like only the Falcons have shown interest in him. They cut Ahmad Bradshaw, so the RB spot probably needs more depth. Domenick Hixon left and was replaced by FA Louis Murphy; Hixon was good but was frequently injured, so letting him go was a good move. The kicker position is a mess, with Lawrence Tynes, Josh Brown and David Buehler all signed, and not a good kicker among any of them. And they have done nothing thus far for the OL, although they still have David Diehl. :eek: If I was Eli Manning, I would buy more health insurance. Yuck.
Overall, I rate their offseason “meh” so far. They have little cap room, so I had low expectations - they didn’t even meet those. Re-signing Webster and not cutting Diehl looks like a couple of major blunders.
Josh Brown kicked great for the Bengals last season in relief of Mike Nugent.
I stand corrected. Apparently the Giants no longer have Tynes, so presumably there will be a battle in camp between Brown and Buehler. Still, they could have gone after Phil Dawson and not worried about paying two kickers.
Browns signed some bad CB from Atlanta named Owens, and Kellen Davis at TE. Which was the wrong Davis. I think maybe Lombardi was too high on coke to tell the difference.
Rodriguez is not a TE in a FBs body. He’s not a TE in a TEs body either, he’s basically Aaron Hernandez which makes him what people call a “move” TE or an “F”. Basically a hybrid TE/WR who can block a little and catch a lot. Why Lovie tried to make him a FB is baffling, he wasn’t suited to it in body type or skills. Hopefully he learned enough blocking skills to be used in a lot of different situations under Trestman, I’m thinking everything from classic TE to H-back to F mixed in with the occasional move back to FB. If he can do all of that well, the Bears could really keep defenses guessing without changing personnel. Lots of ifs though, Rodriguez hasn’t proven anything yet.
Also, he’s not getting cut. Emery drafted him and the snafu in Miami wasn’t anything worth worrying about. A drunk guy tactlessly playing the “I’m an NFL player” card in an attempt to stay out of the news. Immature, but not criminal.
The Bears just signed a potential Urlacher replacement in DJ Williams. It’s actually a pretty good move. He’s a headcase off the field which is a little worrisome, but on the field he’s been reliably excellent and for the price he’s a steal (less than Urlacher’s $2M demand). Williams may end up replacing Roach as the Sam depending on what other moves happen, but either way I feel much better about the LB spot now.
So Omni, Kellen Davis is worthless, right?
I know this will probably get me laughed off the Dope but I wouldn’t be shocked if Davis put it together in Cleveland. The guy is a sick athlete and is an above average blocker for a guy of his size/speed. He dropped a ton of balls and was super frustrating in 2012, but prior to that dropped balls weren’t a major issue. He’s not a great hands catcher by any stretch, but him cratering last year could have been a bit of a fluke.
If he gets a OC and QB who spoon food things to him a little better he might surprise, Norv may just strike [del]gold[/del] silver with him.
ETA: I composed this before seeing Beef’s question, go figger.
To add a little more color, Davis seems like he’s just a low football-IQ guy. Can’t seem to find a way to do those little things that TEs can do to make their QB’s lives easier. Things that are tough to coach and tough for fans to notice. He’d go games without getting a look, not sure how much of that was lack of trust with Cutty (or Cutty being locked in on Marshall) and how much was him being out of position or not open. Occasionally he’d flash that ability and you think you’ve got Jimmy Graham’s more muscular cousin…then he’d fall down or drop it.
Interesting editorial on the Urlacher saga. I don’t see much to disagree with here. I’m not about to throw the guy under the bus for being a bit pissy when he finds out the gravy train has left the station, but when put in the context of the previous deals that the Bears tore up to his benefit without acrimony he looks like a bit of a fool.
Who knows if the Bears really think Urlacher is worth $2M, if they’d have been happy to have him back if he’d said yes, and what was written between the lines during negotiations but if Urlacher can’t get more than $2M elsewhere he’s going to look like a jackass accepting it.
Given the offers left and right that Woodson and Asmuogha are getting, I doubt Urlacher is going to be unemployed for long.