My biggest worry about Gettleman

[updownsigma]

One disadvantage of the weak NFCS this season: I feel Rivera is under a lot of pressure to make the playoffs or post a winning record, because otherwise, his tenure is going to start feeling increasingly like Fox's (one playoff season every few years justifies sticking around forever).  So say we continue to play poorly but make the playoffs by virtue of winning a very weak division at 9-6-1(first back to back winning seasons yay), then proceed to get crushed in the wild card round.  While making the playoffs is always awesome, and I'd definitely be extremely excited, it'd be clear that we made the playoffs because the NFCS sucks, not because we were a legitimately good team.  However, making the playoffs and/or posting a winning record would almost certainly ensure that Rivera is back next season.  And suppose that we flat out suck next season (say 5-11) because ultimately this isn't the right coaching staff, and Rivera is fired then.  That would essentially mean that 2015 would be a wasted season.

 

It takes a lot of hypotheticals to get to that point, but ones that I can certainly seem coming true.  In my opinion, we did something very similar this offseason with Shula, whose offense was mediocre in 2013 but was retained because of our winning record.

 

Note: I'm not one of the people calling for Rivera's job just yet, I'm just pointing this out as it relates to Gettleman's possible unwillingness to make changes in the coaching staff.

 

tl;dr version: I'd hate for us to keep Rivera around if it becomes increasingly obvious he isn't guy for the job, but then have us keep him for another season because we stumbled into the playoffs (which would probably placate most fans/management) in an extremely down year for the NFCS.

[CRA]

I suspect that the reason that he hasn't cut any staff is because he knows that they are the right guys for the job. I don't think that he would have 2 standards or not do whatever he can to win. He knows that he can give them the talent they need and is trying to remain competitive while going through cap hell. He works with these guys every day and knows whether they are doing a good job or not. So if he is keeping them you can bet he thinks they are the best guys he can find right now. It doesn't mean he might not make a change down the road if he thinks he can do better just that right now they are the best for the job. Gettleman also grew up in an organization that values continuity and realizes that the best way to build success is to not make knee jerk reactions like firing a coach when the team struggles. Look at how New York has stuck with Coughlin who has had mediocre seasons sandwiched between the super bowl wins,

Yeah, about when everyone is ready for Tom to be fired he wins a Super Bowl to quit them down for a moment...

[Who Said What?]

They made some changes on special teams coaches and named Rodgers the special teams coach since Gettleman came here.

[KendrickPanther]

I know everyone is super emotional about how embarrassing our team has looked in three losses and 1 tie. But this is literally Gettleman's 2nd season. He's been in the building for 21 months. He changed the independent scouting agency last off season. You can see the light at the end of the cap tunnel. We are in first place in our division coming off a division championship. 

 

We don't know how he manages his staff. We will probably never know that. Firing a scout doesn't make news. Retraining his staff doesn't make news. But I'm sure he is working very hard to make the the Front Office better. 

 

Think of all the guys that have restructured since Gettleman got here. That was a ton of work on his part. 

 

The way the NFL is structured, you can only turnover a roster so much every season. There is only one draft a year. There is only one June 6th cut a year. There is only so much cap space to sign Free Agents and if you spend poorly you kick yourself the following off season when an even better player becomes available.

 

Maybe in the end DG doesn't get the job done but our franchise is 16-8-1 under his management. The DG freak out really comes off premature to me. 

 

I would really like to see Shula gone next off season but Gettleman's first Head Coach firing was never going to come after a 12-4 season. Who would want to work for a GM that fires a 12-4 coach? Why would Gettleman shake up the staff right now? We are winning the division. He has to proceed with the expectations we make the playoffs.

 

[MedellinHeel]

this is an absurd notion. 

 

no sane person is gonna keep staff around (who are not their guys to begin) when their job is on the line. 

 

things go south and DG will certainly fire staff. 

[DaveThePanther2008]

A valid question and legitimate concern. I wouldn't say RR has coached mediocre seasons prior to this one though.

His first year we were the worst team in the league the year before, and were severely lacking in talent. He improved drastically on that team to 6-10, with a ton of close games that we coulda been 10-6 or 9-7.

He improved again the second year with unrealistic expectations due to Cam's Superman rookie campaign, with a laughable defense. Again, a couple of balls bounce our way we coulda had a winning record.

Defense finally showed up last year and we win the NFCS title.

This year has certainly been a regression, but I actually feel like Rivera's body of work as a whole has been decent and if we go the fire coach look for new one route we could regress even further.

I guess I just look at the Raiders and see a team that has a revolving door at the HC position and they are a laughingstock.

 

Top that with salary cap hell and I would say he has done a great job.  I like Rivera and overall I think he has the respect of his team. 

 

2013 we had a pretty injury free season just like 2003 and this year almost mirrors 2004.  Hopefully, the second half of the season will mirror 2004.

 

The best thing to do is stay status quo until Gettleman and Rivera have full control over the cap and team.  Otherwise you are just putting the new HC into the same boat as Rivera. Inferior talent due to cap hell.

 

All I can say is Hurney really fugged us.  What is even sadder is that Richardson prior to the labor agreement went stone cold on paying anyone anything. Many vets left and the young were made to play.  We sucked that year but had money to spend and Hurney went and spent it as stupidly as anyone.

[jtm]

As evidenced by the fact that we tried to sign the OT from the Bengals but couldn't compete with the $ Tampa offered.

Well said. It is easy to pile on Gettleman now, but I'd like to hear what critics would have done differently?

The Smith move was awful, but Gettleman tried to get OL in free agency but we didn't have the money. Also, who would have predicted the Hardy saga. With Hardy playing we probably aren't having this conversation.