(12-10-2024, 09:29 PM)Caldrac Wrote: (12-10-2024, 09:14 PM)JagFan81 Wrote: That's where I do feel sorry for Doug. He had back to back winning seasons for the first time in 20 years. Injuries killed us down the stretch last year and that crazy 5 minutes in Miami in week 1 rattled us and we never recovered. If Doug had been a bit more vocal about not having players he wanted or fitted the scheme some fans may give him a pass for this year.
Sadly firing Caldwell for Nielsen and going out of the way to protect Press has hurt him. Plus he's been struggling to deal with the pressure and a scrutiny as the seasons got worse. I don't think he's helped himself much this season.
It's this last part in bold that sealed his fate for me in my opinion. His inability to hire the right defensive coordinator has crushed him completely. It now appears that he was carried on that side of the football with Jim Schwartz in Philadelphia during his lone Cinderella season. The narrative of Press Taylor carrying down here has come back to bite him once again. His overall attitude and demeanor this season has been very smug, dejected and not something I was expecting from him.
This just feels like the funk that carried over from their collapse from last year and him failing miserably in being able to shake it off. Not sure how true the rumors were in regards to Baalke being in on the Nielsen interview and/or hiring process, but, he also deserves a good amount of blame. While it was nice and refreshing that he instilled some winning consistency here in 2022 and 2023, it was this year in particular that should give us all pause and feel more comfortable moving on now while we still have Lawrence, Hines-Allen and Campbell early into their recent contract extensions.
There's plenty of solid candidates to go after in 2025. Bill Belichick, Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson, Brian Flores, Joe Brady and Steve Spagnuolo should be on this team's radar in my opinion. They need a tough, gritty type of coach that has a clear vision of how he wants his team to look week in and week out. We can say whatever we want about Doug's tenure here, the reality, is that, since he's been here? It's lacked an identity. It pretty much boiled down to the following:
1. Trevor Lawrence carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and having to play perfect 9 times out of 10 to avoid playing Hero Ball.
2. Lucky gambles that either made or broke you in 2022 and 2023.
3. Lack of quality depth or creativity when injuries started occurring.
Baalke waiting until this off season to replace Fortner. Drafting guys early last year that took an entire year to see glimpses of skill in Strange, Bigsby and Miller while seeing some degree of regression in guys like Lloyd, Cisco and Johnson. Extending Cam Robinson while denying Walker Little the proper opportunity to develop as an early 2nd RD investment. Waiting too long to address the LG position and finding a viable replacement in Scherff at RG, etc.
This recent free agency class should have him fired alone in my opinion. Armstead, Darby, Duvernay, Savage & Davis have really done nothing to boost nor amplify the team as a whole. I also find it frustrating that Maason Smith as a recent 2nd RD pick is just now getting more opportunities on the field and, once again, for the second or really third straight year in a row? There's virtually ZERO pass rush outside of Hines-Allen and Walker, and, there's no push consistently from within the interior and the offensive line is still a little suspect at times in the ground game in short yardage situations.
That's a perfect post Caldrac. That right there is our problems perfectly explained.
With what Doug walked into and how we looked the first half of last season, it was an insane turnaround. All the things us fans had wanted to see from our players. How it has collapsed so quickly and so badly I'll never know but sure would love to. Doug seems to have just accepted it. He doesn't get angry, he doesn't demand more from the team. I've lost count how many times I've heard him say he doesn't know how to fix it. It's like he's lost his fight.
I really agree with what you list as our identity. 2022 was a magical year but boy did we get some breaks go our way. The team showed incredible spirit and fight but we got so many good bounces of luck. I 100% agree about needing Trevor to play hero ball and the lack of quality depth has been the real killer.
As you list, Baalke had done a bad job bringing in quality competition to push the standards of the team higher. We've struggled to add through the draft and while he has had success with FA, the recent additions have hurt us so badly and will for another year or two. We still have plenty that needs improving and hopefully a new GM and HC can start building that culture and scheme that fits their ways of playing.
I just hope we finally address the GM and HC positions sensibly and together for once. Not just throwing two guys together again and expecting it to click.
