When a student fails, do you blame the teacher?

[Mr. Scot]

You can't seriously be deflecting this off of Gettleman and on to Rivera. It was Gettleman who extended Rivera. If Gettleman trusts Rivera with talent evaluations on losers like Bell and Godfrey, that says more about Gettleman's inability to evaluate than it does Rivera's.

 

As has been mentioned, Gettleman looks at all roster decisions as a collaborative effort.  Draft, free agency, cuts, the whole package.  He doesn't act unilaterally because he believes in a 'two (or three or four) heads are better than one' approach.

 

What it actually does points up though is one of my big criticisms about him (which I think I'll discuss separately).

[MHS831]

A teacher gets the blame if the entire class is screwing up consistently.  However, when the stupid moments are isolated to certain players, it is on the player.

 

I blame the player for being stupid.  It is his job.  At my job, if I don't know something I should know, something that has been repeatedly shown to me, as an adult, I am to blame because I knew enough to ask.  If I screw up, they don't go to the person who trained me and point fingers.  I am a big boy now.

 

And there is something called "common sense".  Why would Chandler think it was a good idea to double down instead of blocking one of the most fearsome defensive players in the NFL (Clay Matthews) on a pass play?  Is that something a professional needs to be told?  Step down, no pressure in C gap?  Open up and get your hands on Matthews.  Stupid. 

 

Bell has been taught technique because he uses it much of the time.  However, he gets tired and lazy and abandons his teaching at times.  There is nothing a coach can do when Matthews is bull rushing an inferior athlete and player who is not practicing the technique he has been taught. 

 

It is not coaching when DeCoud takes a bad angle and whiffs on a tackle.  He did it in college, he did it in Atlanta, and he is doing it here.  I am pretty sure he has been coached up about it 100 times and he is rather smart. 

 

I think these grown men who make good money need to assume the coaches are not going to spoon feed and burp them until they get it.