Rhule's transition

[Mr. Scot]

Prior to the last few weeks, Matt Rhule had seemed generally upbeat in press conferences and on the sidelines.

More recently though, he's been visibly livid during games and last night at his presser he looked like a man who was being brought before the Inquisition.

Pro football is tough, and I think Rhule might be starting to understand just how tough.

To be clear, the expectations of him now are infinitely greater than they were at Temple or Baylor. At those spots, Rhule was beloved just for being a guy who could overachieve with lesser programs even though he didn't win championships.

In the NFL, not so much. If you don't win championships here, nobody pats you on the back for being an overachiever.

So will he rise to the challenge?

No idea. I certainly hope so because he's a very likable guy. But make no mistake, he's on a different (literal) playing field than he  was before. Being better than anybody thought you'd be is good for year one, but by year three people are going to be expecting results.

There are a couple of things I do think he'll need to adjust. His prior statement that he doesn't believe in firing assistants definitely won't fly at the pro level. He's also going to have to adjust to the turnover being quicker than in the college game, among other things.

You're not in Kansas anymore, Toto... or at Temple... or Baylor... or even Western Carolina.

This is the big time, and for all our sakes I really hope you're successful here.

[Jorgie]

need to give him another offseason to get a feel for what he really is

[LinvilleGorge]

No one expected this to be a quick fix. That's not stopping Rhule from trying his best and wanting better.

I've seen nothing to sour me on the staff so far. We're far more competitive as a team than I expected. If anything, I'm much higher on Snow who was a guy who I expected wouldn't be able to hack it in the NFL but has a bunch of rookies and outcasts playing like an average NFL defense. And admittedly, I'm lower on Brady who has more talent to work with but who is fielding a bottom third NFL defense albeit while missing his best player for the majority of the season.

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, LinvilleGorge said:

And admittedly, I'm lower on Brady wolhobhas

What he said... 

[Mr. Scot]

7 minutes ago, Jorgie said:

need to give him another offseason to get a feel for what he really is

Given the length of his contract and the amount of money David Tepper is paying him, I think he's gonna get a lot more than "another offseason".

Tepper talked about a five year plan so I think he knows this is not a quick rebuild. Even so, if we're not winning more consistently by year three, I'm gonna be worried.

[amcoolio]

69 million in dead cap (50 not on team, 19 in Short), worst in the NFL by a wide margin

Its unfair to judge him this season giving him a 139 dollar salary cap compared to other teams 208

I've actually been thrilled with what I've seen so far, and we haven't been blown out in any game despite the clear salary cap disadvantage

Clock management has been great, and the players are playing hard. Lack of end of game execution I don't put on Rhule. Extreme lack of talent I don't put on Snow (bend but don't break defense is all you can do with these players, just hope for field goals and turnovers which is what we have been doing.) Brady still needs some work but Bridgewater and the offensive line haven't executed well lately.

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, amcoolio said:

69 million in dead cap (50 not on team, 19 in Short), worst in the NFL by a wide margin

Its unfair to judge him this season giving him a 139 dollar salary cap compared to other teams 208

I've actually been thrilled with what I've seen so far, and we haven't been blown out in any game despite the clear salary cap disadvantage

Clock management has been great, and the players are playing hard. Lack of end of game execution I don't put on Rhule. Extreme lack of talent I don't put on Snow (bend but don't break defense is all you can do with these players, just hope for field goals and turnovers which is what we have been doing.) Brady still needs some work but Bridgewater and the offensive line haven't executed well lately.

Clock management wasn't so good last night, but overall I agree.

[Jorgie]

5 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

if we're not winning more consistently by year three, I'm gonna be worried.

basically what i said

[Mr. Scot]

I'd say it's possible at this point that one of Rhule's first big dilemmas could turn out to be Phil Snow.

It's valid to say that Snow doesn't likely have the personnel to run the kind of attack he wants to. But looking at the atrategies we were using them against Julio Jones last night, NFL Network's Joe Thomas said we were using "high school zone coverages" that just weren't going to cut it.

If Snow becomes a point of contention, things could get interesting.

[Khyber53]

Yeah, let's wait on throwing the baby and the bathwater out together.

1. It's just the mid-point in the season and we've got as many wins as most folks predicted we would have for the whole season.

2. Injuries and turnover have left not just us, but also probably Rhule searching the updated roster for just who was #74, #38 and #6 (just randomly chosen numbers guys, don't see too much into it). This is basically a cadre of pro players and a bunch of replacements and walk-on extras at this point.

3. The NFCSouth is loaded with talent, even the Falcons. New Orleans and Tampa Bay have and will kill us this year. We also have the Chiefs and Packers ahead of us which aren't going to be pretty. The Lions and Vikings games may also be tough as both may be playing for their coaches' jobs (or they may be easy as pie).

4. We are in year one of the rebuild and we know that some of these are long term problems the team has had, they can't be solved overnight.

5. The coaching is there, but the overall talent level is lagging behind. Give them a chance to build that. It isn't Madden.

6. We literally had to field practice squad level guys as starters last night. Our back-up QB saw his first action since the XFL folded. 

7. No one has been able to cover Julio Jones successfully.

We're going to be alright. This wasn't a playoff season from day one. What is needed to fix this isn't available in trades or street free agents. We will need the coming year's draft and maybe a bit more. When our team is hitting its stride, the Saints, Bucs and Falcons will all be holding retirement parties for their starting QBs and trying to figure out what to do next.

Tomorrow.

[pantherj]

I'm not going to make any kind of serious judgement on our coaches until the end of next season. Right now we have a poop roster and we're headed to a losing season no matter how hard the coaches coach. Next season we should have a much better roster, and I expect much better results barring a rash of key injuries. This season you can't really hold any coach to the fire because we just don't have enough talent to accomplish much.

[raz]

who f'n cares what joe f'n thomas says.    did he mention we're also using high school players?

[BPF]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

I'd say it's possible at this point that one of Rhule's first big dilemmas could turn out to be Phil Snow.

It's valid to say that Snow doesn't likely have the personnel to run the kind of attack he wants to. But looking at the atrategies we were using them against Julio Jones last night, NFL Network's Joe Thomas said we were using "high school zone coverages" that just weren't going to cut it.

If Snow becomes a point of contention, things could get interesting.

I thought so too at points, but overall I was surprised by the end result on defense. Way more of a bend don't break strat, and it sort of worked for the most part. It could have been way worse, and to me the defense has been way overachieving in spots. Aside from Whitehead all the time and the occasional Tre headscratcher we are looking good for the future on defense when we get some more pieces and draft some more guys, it could be nice to have a real defense again. 

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, Khyber53 said:

Yeah, let's wait on throwing the baby and the bathwater out together.

1. It's just the mid-point in the season and we've got as many wins as most folks predicted we would have for the whole season.

2. Injuries and turnover have left not just us, but also probably Rhule searching the updated roster for just who was #74, #38 and #6 (just randomly chosen numbers guys, don't see too much into it). This is basically a cadre of pro players and a bunch of replacements and walk-on extras at this point.

3. The NFCSouth is loaded with talent, even the Falcons. New Orleans and Tampa Bay have and will kill us this year. We also have the Chiefs and Packers ahead of us which aren't going to be pretty. The Lions and Vikings games may also be tough as both may be playing for their coaches' jobs (or they may be easy as pie).

4. We are in year one of the rebuild and we know that some of these are long term problems the team has had, they can't be solved overnight.

5. The coaching is there, but the overall talent level is lagging behind. Give them a chance to build that. It isn't Madden.

6. We literally had to field practice squad level guys as starters last night. Our back-up QB saw his first action since the XFL folded. 

7. No one has been able to cover Julio Jones successfully.

We're going to be alright. This wasn't a playoff season from day one. What is needed to fix this isn't available in trades or street free agents. We will need the coming year's draft and maybe a bit more. When our team is hitting its stride, the Saints, Bucs and Falcons will all be holding retirement parties for their starting QBs and trying to figure out what to do next.

Tomorrow.

I can agree.

And to be clear I'm not criticizing him, just noting that I think the difficulty of his new role might be hitting him about now.