roger murdock Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 Below the dashes is word for word a post I made on our old board last December. I think it is worth revisiting in the eye of everything that is happening. Here we sit, 0-8. The team is in turmoil. Everyone agrees that the Front Office has taken a 'try and lose' strategy to play the value and draft pick game. Everyone recognizes that this roster is one of the worst in the history of the sport. Most people blame the coach for the struggles and think our front office is a bunch of geniuses. I think that our front office is full of very smart individuals who screwed up a potentially revolutionary opportunity because they had their heads too far up their butts. They may be geniuses, however, they are without question idealists. Idealists have throughout history made terrible leaders. If you want someone to lead your country, your team, you company, what.........hire a pragmatist. Idealists cannot compromise. They struggle working with others. They never see the big picture. They only see their vision in its finished form and usually don't have a path to implement it. Our front office's unwillingness to try and improve will get them all fired this season. If they took a few small steps towards trying to be competitive they could have implemented their vision over time and built something great and sustainable. Instead what did they do? They hung their coaching staff out to try worse than any front office in the history of the sport, They gave the fan base desperate beyond anything for a winner the worst back to back seasons in the history of the sport They lost on purpose when they work for the owner with the quickest trigger finger in the history of the league. Does that sound like the work of exceptionally bright people to you? They are terrible visionaries because they were too god damn stubborn to think like literally anyone else in competitive sports would. They didn't care about winning. They tried to lose. Our front office will be remember as a bunch of losers. Lucky for them that is what they were aiming for. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I see a lot of posts on this board that are really troubling to me: "He's only average" "He's too old and we are rebuilding" "We haven't gotten anywhere with him" "Don't spend in free agency, it never helps" "We will have to overpay for him" "Not worth the money" etc... We have all seen the above sentiments echoed on this board hundreds of times. Right now we have, indisputably, one of the least talented rosters in the history of the sport. We all knew this team would be terrible this year, some of us even suggested 0-16 was a real possibility. What was unique about this year was that it was orchestrated intentionally by our front office. This was a classic 'find out what we have, play the long game, the value game, and win eventually'. I think we have done some very very smart things. I loved the trades we've made. I appreciate that we aren't spending money in FA like a redneck who just won the lotto. I like the value based draft approach etc... However, none of that matters if we don't start winning. DUH - we all know this. The issue is that none of this matters if we don't start winning, VERY VERY SOON. Tanking to gather draft picks is a tried and true strategy in the NBA. Teams do it almost every year. It kind of works. Its expected. However, when the Philadelphia 76ers took it 3 steps beyond what is normal, the other teams got pissed. Nobody showed to 76ers games - home or away. There was zero interest in them. It cost other teams money. The organization started getting pressured because the league felt they weren't operating in good faith. Eventually their front office and coaching staff was fired. This is less of an issue in the NBA because its easier to retain your talent and coaching / front office cohesion matters less in the NBA. The Browns are basically using the 76ers strategy but they are doing it in a sport where every team is supposed to compete every year and be respectable and competitive. The 76ers got cleaned out for tanking in a league where 5 teams tank every year. We are tanking in a sport where no teams intentionally tank ever. Mark my words, if his team is 2-14 next year, everyone we have running the show will be gone. Best case scenario they are given a super short leash for year three and potentially fired mid season. Our realistic goals should be: Next year: 4-12 or better Third Year: 8-8 or better Forth Year: Playoffs or damn close We cannot look down on average players. This team has 10 starters that would be minor role players on half the teams in the league. We need average players. Hell we need below average players. Replacing a bad player with a mediocre one is still a huge improvement. We need veraterans. Besides Jamie Collins, nobody on this team has any idea what its like being part of a winning culture. We need that. The views this board has towards veterans is baffling. I bet most fans on here thnk Kevin Garnett destroyed development opportunity for Karl Anthony Towns last year the way I hear us talk down on good players who are older than 24 years old. This team NEEDS to show massive improvement in year two or its over. If we dont take massive steps towards trying to win next year it will cause permanent lasting damage to our teams reputation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candyman93 Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 I never understood why money and how much being spent bothered people. It’s not our damn money being spent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie man Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 If we win our next 2 games nobody will even care we just gotta win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruceb Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 You made a lot of good points/observations. I think the bulk of the blame for lack of improvement/results this year is on the coaching staff, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizzyDean Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 what I don't understand, is 1.5 years into a 4 year tear down and rebuild, folks are already labeling it a failure. They said upfront it was a 4 year plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogbite Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 3 hours ago, roger murdock said: We are tanking in a sport where no teams intentionally tank ever. I call BS on that one. I watched the Indianpolis Colts in 2011 and they were most certainly tanking the season. They had far more talent on that roster than anyone is willing to admit. It was probably a more talented overall roster than any Colts roster in the last 3 years. There is a reason Grigson wasn't long in Indianapolis despite hitting on a franchise QB like so many claim is what makes or break a GM or coach. Well he hit on his QB and destroyed the rest of the roster. Bottom line is that Indianapolis knew what they were doing in 2011 and they most certainly tanked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H2ThaIzzo Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 while i don't think that the goal of the organization currently is wins and losses, i don't think they are intentionally wanting to lose. Honestly when the new guys took over, it was the absolute worst time to be in a position to draft a franchise QB. Goff was the easy analysis, from a big conference, a guy who had been in the spotlight for years, a prototypical QB, but he was going #1. Wentz, outside of Philly, not many were sold on. And we can't blame these guys for making that deal, hell id make it again but just use some of the picks differently. They have done some things well. obviously having a capable QB is what leads to success and we don't seem to have that, yet again, but Corey Coleman breaking the same hand twice isn't something that could have been predicted. Myles Garrett has been a stud when healthy. Ogbah has been a stud against the run. The trade that got us Collins was fantastic. BBC as a free agent signing was a great decision. There are other picks and acquisitions made that have been good moves. Our skill positions are lacking, which is a big part of why we aren't winning. We should be 3-5 worst case, but we have had red zone turnovers, missed field goals, etc. Not counting Gordon and Coleman, we have the worst receivers in the league. I also have a feeling that we don't see Duke getting more carries because they don't want to subject him to hits in a meaningless season of football, when we can keep him healthy when we start to build up the roster more. We need our QB to throw catchable passes, especially downfield passes where he constantly overthrows everything, and we need offensive players that can make plays, specifically at wideout. We get that, combined with not turning the football over so much, and this team can compete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mastercheddaar Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 12 hours ago, DizzyDean said: what I don't understand, is 1.5 years into a 4 year tear down and rebuild, folks are already labeling it a failure. They said upfront it was a 4 year plan. ^ This right here. We are in position to make a huge splash in FA and the draft. We can add a ton of talent to this team. 16 hours ago, roger murdock said: We cannot look down on average players. This team has 10 starters that would be minor role players on half the teams in the league. We need average players. Hell we need below average players. Replacing a bad player with a mediocre one is still a huge improvement. We need veraterans. Besides Jamie Collins, nobody on this team has any idea what its like being part of a winning culture. We need that. ^ Also this right here. I have said this before on these boards. How many of our current starting WRs would start on any other team in the league? How about QB? DBs? TEs? Face it this team has a solid Oline and the start to something good front 7. That is it! AND our backups wouldn't even be on practice squads. Adding about 30 million dollars worth of FA talent on this team will replace some bad players... add in about 5-6 draft picks and it'll push us a bit further. The talent on this team is 2-14 to 0-16. We are getting exactly what they can give. That is all Mastercheddaar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger murdock Posted November 3, 2017 Author Share Posted November 3, 2017 21 hours ago, DizzyDean said: what I don't understand, is 1.5 years into a 4 year tear down and rebuild, folks are already labeling it a failure. They said upfront it was a 4 year plan. If everyone gets fired because we are 1-31, which seems pretty damn likely, then isn't it a failure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger murdock Posted November 3, 2017 Author Share Posted November 3, 2017 21 hours ago, Dogbite said: I call BS on that one. I watched the Indianpolis Colts in 2011 and they were most certainly tanking the season. They had far more talent on that roster than anyone is willing to admit. It was probably a more talented overall roster than any Colts roster in the last 3 years. There is a reason Grigson wasn't long in Indianapolis despite hitting on a franchise QB like so many claim is what makes or break a GM or coach. Well he hit on his QB and destroyed the rest of the roster. Bottom line is that Indianapolis knew what they were doing in 2011 and they most certainly tanked. That team was trying to win the Super Bowl in 2011. It fell apart because that entire team was based around the best Quarterback in NFL history, and he missed the entire season and was replaced by Curtis Painter. Yes I think they kinda tanked a little bit when all hope was lost. But it wasn't an orchestrated decision during the off-season like ours was. Fun anecdote, my roommate in college (2009 timeframe) had an uncle who worked on the Colts coaching staff. He asked him how often do backups get first team reps. His response was, "Since I have been here, our backup QBs haven't gotten a single first team snap. Most teams give their backups a small %, but we don't. If Peyton goes down we all know we are ****ed, and why would any team practice being ****ed" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogbite Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 They tanked period. Side note. Every time I see your name I think of Lethal Weapon with Roger Murtaugh. Is there a Martin Riggs that post on here as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizzyDean Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 2 hours ago, roger murdock said: If everyone gets fired because we are 1-31, which seems pretty damn likely, then isn't it a failure? only on the ownership for not having a spine and caving to the instant gratification worst to first type of fans (sound like someone we know?). Complete tear downs and rebuilds do not happen over night. We have a great start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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