Quote:Whether Bradley's longterm plan turns out to be sound or not - I really can't hate on his whole "Mr.Positive" routine.  It's painful at times to hear the positivity rhetoric when we're losing so often, but I feel like he's got an endgame plan beyond this stage of trying to keep chins held high through the slow growth and struggle. 

 

We'd all love an immediate winning record - but Caldwell has been very transparent when emphasizing his long-term draft-based rebuild intentions. Bradley knew he was in for a tough couple of seasons early on. 

 

We've all seen his "do your job" speech from his Seattle days and we know he can be that guy as well -- but I think he's just approaching this giant draft-based rebuild and youth infusion with an intentionally hyper-positive message for his team. It's intention is to urge young ascending players and a handful of vets to "buy in" even though ugly losses were knowingly imminent in the first few years of the process. 

It makes sense to me - despite the frustration. I imagine his demeanor will stiffen more and more when the roster is deeper and more mature and he can justify demanding more from his individual players and position groups. 

 

I hope to God I'm right....

 

There's a time to be a player's coach, and a time to be a task master.  I think it was Ghandi that said, for every season-turn, turn, turn...  

 

Your hope seems to be how I would manage.  When I had subordinates that were new and didn't have the skills needed yet, I was positive with them.  As they got better at thier jobs, I'd demand more of them.  I think we all hope that Gus is that type of leader.

 

This year is a hot seat year.  But I'm still positive we have players and better coaching around the offense that will make us look like a legit NFL team.  Last year was bad on offense and it made us look horrible...  But there's no reason right now to worry about it.

---