What do Spagnuolo, Ryan, LeBeau, Schwartz, and Rivera have in common? They all have incredible personnel playing defense. This has always been an interesting topic. Do the coaches make the players or do the players make the coach? Obviously it's a combination, but which one is more critical? Hate him all you want but Belichick is an amazing defensive mind. He can take mediocre players and turn thim into great defense. Can you say the say thing about these other men? LeBeau came up with the Steelers zone blitz, but what about the others? I'm not saying these guys can't be great head coaches, but it does make one wonder.
We have some decent talent in our defense already. Maybe not the likes of the Ravens, but a coach like Ryan could help us play to their strengths, and also ensure we acquire and draft players that fit the mold.
I totally agree that the mark of a good coach is one who can take players who aren't necessarily "top talents" and make them play better. Belichick is great at it, as was Parcells. These guys take players, find their strengths and develop them, and then build a system around the team's strengths. Mangini was terrible at this. He tried to get guys to fit his system, rather than to nuture players and build a system around them. It's hard to know sometimes with assistants how they do at this, as they are often more X and O guys and the head coach is the motivator. That said, you do have to credit Spags for doing what he did this year when losing two key players on the DL. Hiring an assistant is always a crapshoot. But I agree that looking at how well they develop players and get the most out of them is critically important.
I agree it comes down to talented playmakers but I think you can't underestimate the coaches putting those big time playmakers in position to make plays. It always amazes me how some organizations seem to recognizes the talent they are looking for and have a clue on how to develop those skill sets and incorporate them into a sound scheme that the coaches and players believe in while other organizations draft top talent year after year and lack talent. I follow the Giants and they seem to go after raw speed and athletic types rather than size on the D side of the line and always seem to develop a pass rusher every year.
I'm not sure I agree with this... to me, you would need to have a system and try and find compatible players to run it. Now you can't do this 100%, especially when you are rebuilding a team in your systems' image. Belichick and Parcells were coaches who I believe could take players who perhaps were not good fits, and tweak the system to help align toward the players strengths. Until they found players that fit their system. It's one part science and one part art in that. Where I fault Mangini is in how he handled the assistants... I think he should have shoved Sutton aside and got someone else in there much sooner. This is part of the learning curve for a green HC, and is something that the FO/Ownership is going to have to accept as a part of the process.
That defense was riddled with injuries last year, however. Last year was an aberration for the Ravens defense.
i think watching the jets this year should show that the coaches make the team. the jets had the talent to win 11 or 12 games and poor coaching held them back.
a good coach can find similar talent through the draft. Dungy is another great example. Gruden Schottenheimer Anybody not named Herm Edwards.
I actually think the Jets had the potential to win 14 games. I believe good coaching would've led to sweep NE this year and wouldn't have lost to Oakland. The one question mark for me would be the final Miami game. Momentum was definitely on their side, but with less mistakes and adjustments we could've won.
I think its almost impossible to know. You can argue either way. I personally think its more on the coaches, I mean how else do you explain that everywhere a guy like Parcells go winning follows, part of that is getting the best players you can but part of it is coaching to your strengths which does not mean only worry about your weaknesses like Mangini did, I think our defense is ready to be elite. We need another corner which I'm sure we'll get through FA or the Draft, Lowery will only be getting better, and I'm comfortable with Rhodes and Elam at Safety, our linebackers are huge. We have a big powerful defense already here, but EM had them set up to fail. Personally my vote is all for Rex Ryan, the man has lived on a team that's all defense with a stale offense. I think that's the only formula that's gonna give us a winner next year, I don't see a high octane offense coming together over the offseason. A championship caliber defense I can see. If you remember last reason Rex Ryan's Raven D should have ended the Pats undefeated season they only lost that game by 3 and the refs gave them like 4 fucking shots at 4th down. Just sayin a guy that knows how to scheme the Pats offense is a guy I want. REX RYAN for HC of NYJ!! ats_suck:
Yea, and Herm too. Ha. Ha. Comedy gold. Plus, my whole theory's shot cause in the past the team couldn't hire a good coach to save it's life. Shoulda never drafted Keller either.
I actually completely agree with you about keeping a coach on for a long time and giving them an opportunity to grow... where I disagree is that I don't think it should be just any coach... Personally, I think Mangini coached with a loser mentality and even giving him time to grow I didn't see much improving with him. I don't think he'll do any better in Cleveland than Herm has done in Kansas City. I want them to find a coach who is worth keeping for 5+ years... and then keep them for 5+ years.
