When a student fails, do you blame the teacher?

[teeray]

Like in most scenarios in life it is both.

Quit worrying about who to scapegoat and how firing this guy or that guy will be a magic potion that fixes all our ills. Or replacing this guy with that guy is all we need.

Just play better and coach better collectively and see where we stand come January.

[KillerKat]

I just hope if Rivera isn't fired before the end of the season, that he is fired after the season. I'm so sick and tired of JR dicking around with this team for 20 years.

[Fiz]

That clay Matthews play in particular was mind numbing. I was never allowed to play organized football and even I know you block from the outside in.

[Jeremy Igo]

You know what I find really odd about that?

 

Rivera has coached a 3-4, and made it the top unit in the league as I recall, even though 3-4 wasn't his thing.

 

You'd think he'd have some good ideas how to defend one.

 

 

Rivera doesn't spend any time at all instructing the offense during practices. It is left to Shula and positions coaches to teach. Maybe RIvera needs to take a more active role in practice, get in some peoples asses, get their poo in gear.

[backINblack28]

Any lapse in talent we have is attributed to the former GM/the contracts we doled out circa 2010.  You can't look at our salary cap situation these past two years and expect the results we've seen.  We are 3-3-1 and defending NFC South Champions.  If you're not pleased with what Gettleman has been able to accomplish with financial handcuffs on, you just don't pay enough attention to salary cap and finances in sports.  And that's fine.  This year we've had what, 70 million worth of contracts on the bench for 3 wins?  The list of teams that can pull that off is ridiculously and undeniably short.  Look, we all want wins, every week, all the time.  But with the financial situation/salary cap in leagues, it's built for parity.  To be able to build a consistent winner, you need value.  I'd say if you look at our roster and contributors, that's exactly the best word to describe what we've got at most positions (only BECAUSE we are paying so much towards Stewart, Hardy, Williams).  Players like Olsen, Davis, Kuechly, Cam have been ridiculously good value as far as providing star power at great prices.  The cheaper guys we've gotten, as a whole, have done their part as well and that's why we've been in the position we have.  Some of those guys got a raise (none of which have really performed well enough to prove they were deserving of it which I think is another thing you can attribute to both coaching and smart GMing) and moved on, and we filled those spots the best we could given the talent and resources available.  We ALL knew WR, OL and secondary were going to be relatively glaring weaknesses on an otherwise strong team.  I think that 2 of those 3 groups have performed above expectations as a whole.

 

We have a 2012 undrafted free agent starting at Tackle who was playing TE/DL in college.  I think it's reasonable to think that Clay Matthews will make him look like bad on occasion.  I think all in all he's been serviceable for the value.  That's all you can ask.  We don't have the resources to upgrade that position at this time without sacrificing others.  All in all I just think if you look at where the money is at on this roster it's nice to be where we are.  I attribute that to the GM and the coach and the players.

 

 I would like to see them improve and get back to the status of last year.  One or two players can make a significant difference or contribution but they can't be the difference in a complete overhaul/destruction or progression of anything.  So our defense, in my eyes, doesn't have an excuse.  We need to start with a more effective pass rush, our corners need to play the effin ball, and we need to be able to effectively implement our offensive gameplan and run the ball to set up everything Cam and our offense is capable of.  Still, if you would have told me we would have been without Hardy, Stewart and Williams for most/all of the season I would be ok with where we are.  Our record is respectable from any time or perspective you look at it, it just hasn't been necessarily pretty getting there.  The fact is we are in a decent spot.  We were 3-3 at this point last year.  Our division is reeling and ripe for the taking.  With a game in hand on TB and normally unbeatable-in-domes teams struggling to win anywhere, I think we'll be just fine going forward if we can fix what I think are entirely fixable issues.

 

Sometimes you've just got to slow it down and look at it logically.  I'll give you an example.  Let's say someone was accused of a misdemeanor crime for which the most severe punishment he could incur, by rule, would be a suspension of 6 games.  Let's say he's missed 6 games.  Logic says he should come back and you (90% of the universe) say "well if he's found guilty, he would have already served his maximum suspension.  If he's innocent, then we're all a bunch of fugging stupid assholes."

 

Logic.

 

Keep Pounding.

[chknwing]

Also, I am not sure how you can teach tackling when tackling isn't allowed in practice.

 

should the coaches really need to be teaching this to professionals?  If the guys is a rookie etc, ok.  But vets should know.

[Jeremy Igo]

should the coaches really need to be teaching this to professionals?  If the guys is a rookie etc, ok.  But vets should know.

 

Yes, of course they should.

 

Basketball players know how to shoot a basket, but they do it hundreds of times a day anyways.

 

90% of sports skill is repetition.

[Mr. Scot]

should the coaches really need to be teaching this to professionals?  If the guys is a rookie etc, ok.  But vets should know.

 

In sports, any skill you don't practice becomes rusty, no matter how good you are at it.

 

[d-dave]

As a teacher:

 

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."

 

That being said, when my students struggle, parents will blame either me or the student.  Within the school, it's on the teacher's onus to make kids successful...

 

If the mistakes are mental mistakes, then that's on the player.  If the coaches aren't telling players what to do correctly, then it's obviously on them.

 

From the outside, how do you assess who is at fault between player and coach?  You would like to think that to coach taught the player to do X in a Y situation, but the player does Q.  I'd say based on the Rivera coaching term, it's on the players.  We've had more success in the past running a similar game plan.  They aren't executing them properly, which should fall to the players.

 

On the flip side, there has been a lot of speculation that the team didn't work very hard this off season.  That's the coaches and players there.  If the rested on their laurels, then it's time to go head hunting.

[Snake]

I'm honestly more prone to blame the coaches, even if it's a talent failure.

 

Rivera is just not a good talent evaluator.  He puts entirely too much faith in guys like Byron Bell and Captain Munnerlyn.  Much as I love guys who are all hard work and give 110% on every play, sometimes they're just not good enough.

 

I think that is his gift and curse. I really dont think his players will ever quit on him for that fact but he really does put too much stock in jag players. On the flip side really what other choice has he had since he took over the job with Hurney at the helm. We saw a team last year that played hard and grinded out games. Was that Rivera, Or the players, or Both? Really thats the question when moving forward.

[KillerKat]

I think that is his gift and curse. I really dont think his players will ever quit on him for that fact but he really does put too much stock in jag players. On the flip side really what other choice has he had since he took over the job with Hurney at the helm. We saw a team last year that played hard and grinded out games. Was that Rivera, Or the players, or Both? Really thats the question when moving forward.

The team was terrible at the start of last year until Rivera's job was in jeopardy. That's when we turned things around. Now after the extension, he's back to the old Rivera. I think he should be fired if the only thing that motivates him is having his job on the line.

[beastson]

In this case the coaches. I watch the panthers and sometimes I think what is our gameplan for this team?

 

I think offensively and defensively week to week we have one way of playing and unless we're getting destroyed, we stay the same

[chknwing]

In sports, any skill you don't practice becomes rusty, no matter how good you are at it.

 

 

i think there is a distinct difference in teaching and practice.  Which is what I interpreted Zods statement to mean.

[SOJA]

serious question- why don't we hire Gross as an O-line coach - a la Ricky Proehl