Mr. Scot

NBC had a story pregame about a lady whose dad had been a Lions fan all his life but passed away before he had the chance to see them make it to the playoffs this year. She went to the game with his personalized Lion's jersey and his ashes as a memorial sort of thing. Thought that was pretty cool...

Hell, building up a lead and sitting on it was our MO for most of the 2015 season I get it, but it's also fair to say they were facing a playoff quality team. Likewise, there'll be more than one game to judge by.

I remember my high school football team losing the first game of my sophomore season. I was bummed, but a little ways away from me in the locker room there was a junior friend of mine bawling. He'd played in that game, and played his heart out. I hadn't because it was my first year. We had different perspectives, but he was somebody that I liked and respected outside of football anyway. People are just different...

Analytics guys vs personnel guys is probably its own discussion. My issues with Halaby though go way beyond him just being an analyttics guy. That story from Kapadia is deeply concerning. Even if Halaby was a thirty year scouting pro, having those things in his history would steer me away. Knowing that we've already had similar drama here in our own front office just makes it worse.

I think some of the play designs were next level. One particular screen in the first half had me rewinding my DVR three or four times to try and make sure I caught it all. (and annoying the hell out of my wife in the process, but hey...) Mind you, it's still true that plenty of great coordinators fail as head coaches. There's more to it than just the X's and O's knowledge. Most people seem to think we're not going to be able to get Johnson anyway so it may not matter.

So does Brandon Hunt, but without all the bullsh-t attached as well as a history of success with a more stable organization. Likewise, a guy like Mike Borgonzi has a longtime record of great personnel management, but we're interviewing Brandt Tilis rather than him because analytics. Same story in Detroit, where you've got a guy like Ray Agnew who was also successful with the Rams, but we're ignoring him in favor of another analytics guy, Mike Disner. I know some folks have tried to use the logic that a seasoned personnel guy didn't work for us the last time, so maybe we should try analytics. That logic is kind of like saying your prior dentist made a mistake with your teeth so in the future you'll get all dental advice from your optometrist. This isn't because we're looking at an angle that's proven successful anywhere else. It's because David Tepper wants somebody who thinks like he does. And heck, since the last GM was willing to go to the owner and undermine the head coach, why not also hire somebody who's already taken part in an operation like that somewhere else? But hey, he worked for the Eagles so it's all good. Hiring from a successful organization is always a great idea. Take the Seahawks, for example...

Well, history tells me you'd probably be okay with us hiring somebody who'd run the organization completely into the toilet as long as it was somebody I disliked. I seem to play a large role in your football decision making...specifically that you pretty much always want the opposite of whatever I do because... reasons

FYI for those wondering...

I was dealing in hypotheticals... They were talking about a guy on TV, I thought. To be fair though, every fanbase has people like that (ours included).

Maybe not yet, but we do seem to be working on it

I mean, I do give him credit for the filming workouts thing. That was kinda smart

You don't think there'd be Panther fans doing the same if we won a playoff game just next year?

Yards don't matter if you don't score

Nothing against Detroit fans, but I'm okay with the Lions losing if it means we get Ben Johnson (it's the only real rooting interest left for me)

You didn't read the stuff reported about Halaby, did you?

Didn't read the article, did you? Behind the scenes, yeah you would. They've had some success of late, but they turned around and fired one of the guys who led them to it and now they're set to fire another. Not exactly what I'd call a model organization.

See above... Throw in that we just fired a head coach in part because of internal politics and toxic behavior. In the wake of that, so we really wanna risk bringing in a guy who's been part of a similar issue in the past...and could conceivably be part of a current one?

No disagreement, just a phrase that's ... Interesting

Meanwhile the Eagles, who just a few years ago fired the first coach ever to win a Super Bowl for them, are now potentially set to fire the one who coached them to a Super Bowl appearance just last season. Halaby played a role in the prior dysfunction. Is he also part of the current issues?

Kinda what I'm afraid of... Lurie is all the worst parts of Tepper and more.

As the saying goes, "You don't wanna follow the legend. You wanna follow the guy who followed the legend."

To you or anyone interested in Halaby, I'd suggest reading this article from The Athletic: Paranoia, mismanagement and office politics inside the Eagles Pertinent excerpts... ______ Four weeks into the 2019 season, Doug Pederson sat down for his scheduled inquisition. The Tuesday tribunals with team owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman were a weekly occurrence during Pederson’s five-year tenure as Eagles head coach. In the meetings, Lurie and Roseman questioned Pederson about all aspects of his game management the week prior. Fourth-down decision-making, play calling, personnel choices — everything was on the table. ... Days earlier, the team overcame a 10-0 second-quarter deficit to beat Aaron Rodgers and the Packers 34-27 and even its record at 2-2. The offensive key to the win was a steady dose of the running game that took advantage of Green Bay’s defensive game plan. Apparently, that wasn’t good enough. Lurie, who has long advocated the use of analytics, wanted to know why Pederson hadn’t called more passing plays. The interrogation was the same after another win that season — this time in Buffalo on a day with 23 mph winds. “(Pederson) was ridiculed and criticized for every decision,” one source told The Athletic. “If you won by three, it wasn’t enough. If you lost on a last-second field goal, you’re the worst coach in history.” ... Sources say Pederson was beaten down by the constant second-guessing. “They treated him like a baby,” one said. ... Alec Halaby, the Eagles’ vice president of football operations and strategy, has worked under Roseman since joining the team full time in 2010 and now runs the team’s four-person analytics department. The young executive with an Ivy League pedigree carries with him the kind of reputation that causes football lifers to scoff. And according to multiple sources, a rift grew between Halaby and some members of the coaching staff and scouting department. “Within the building, he’s perceived as Howie’s guy,” said one source. “That’s a problem. … No coach wants somebody around who they think is undermining the perception of how well they’re doing.” ... To some, Halaby is something of an interloper. They say he carries influence with Lurie in part because of a close relationship with fellow Harvard grad Julian Lurie, Jeffrey’s son, who stands to one day take over the family business. To others, Halaby is “brilliant” and simply willing to fight for what he believes is right. The more nuanced opinion is that Halaby is in a “no-win situation,” boxed into a specific characterization by the non-traditional football background he shares with Roseman and a personality that makes him a “square peg in a round hole.” The blurriness of Halaby’s influence on the final decision-makers created rifts throughout the organization and contributed to the iciness between departments. One source described the analytics team as a “clandestine, Black Ops department that doesn’t answer to anybody except the owner,” even though Halaby officially reports to Roseman. ... During the 2017 season, Halaby’s and Pederson’s relationship soured to the point where Pederson berated Halaby within earshot of the rest of the office, according to sources. In the opinion of some members of the coaching staff, Halaby was not to be trusted. Frustration mounted on the scouting side as well. Rather than being presented with reasons for where certain draft-eligible players were rated by Halaby’s department, the scouting staff would simply be given a list of players the analytics department liked. According to one source, a top personnel official was upset to find out Halaby was grading players on his own despite never having been trained in the scouting department’s methodology. ______ FYI: The author, Sheila Kapadia, was a longtime Eagles beat rider before joining The Athletic

Not me, specifically because I know he'd wanna build the same thing here.

Let's just say watching the game isn't exactly dimming my enthusiasm for having him coach the Panthers