As I've told you repeatedly, Hair-Trigger Haslam (@all rights preserved) isn't poised to fire Hue Jackson or Sashi Brown if the Browns don't have a winning record in 2017.
Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Like most objective analysts (who do their homework), the horse's mouth isn't sure what will happen in 2017, but expects the team to be very good in 2018 or 2019 DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
Jimmy is a football fan but not a "football guy". Still, contrary to popular misconception, he is niether mentally impaired nor emotionally stunted.
It's been awhile, so I can redundate: Hue Jackson was Haslam's first choice, and not his fourth or sixth option. This matters. He was sold on and committed to Jackson when he hired him.
Hue was the first guy he hired with actual Head Coaching experience (and I need to point out that he did a great job with a pretty messed up Raiders team. Nobody could figure out why he was fired). Hue was arguably the hottest Head Coach prospect at the time Jimmy hired him.
Chud and Pettine were speculative. Hue Jackson was a blue chip, long-term investment. Can't you see the difference?
Another difference from prior years:
Haslam structured the new front office organization. He'd consulted with Bill Parcells, Robert Kraft, the Rooneys and others, of course, but Jimmy himself was fully qualified to set this up.
Immediately, the "football guy" analysts started sniping, and poor Mary Kay got sucked into it.
Understand this:
1: Sashi Brown has bottom line control of the roster. He's not a "football guy", so this was called insane.
No, not at all! Jimmy gave this negotiator this authority because he is not insecure, listens to people, and does not seek power for power's sake. Jimmy KNEW that Brown knows what he doesn't know, and would listen and defer to Hue and his other "football people".
This was a big reason why Hue Jackson signed on! The only time Sashi Brown will override or veto these guys is when the "football guys" eyes get bigger than the Haslam's wallet. Hand-in-hand with Paul DePodesta, Sashi is the enhusiasm-curber.
In my last post, I rolled my eyes over the Steelers offering Ebineezer Belle starting quarterback money (which he turned down wtf :@!×+🖕#!?!) Well, Sashi (and Paul) will never screw up like that.
It turns out, Hue Jackson didn't flunk math himself (like some "football people" did), so (apparently) there haven't been any real conflicts, outside of some bizarre LaCanfora Soap scripts.
2: Hue doesn't report to Sashi Brown. He reports to Haslam, too.
A lot of "football" people call this insane. Why? Apparently, the "football people" are "Game of Thrones" addicts. Somebody has to be pushing somebody else around! Somebody must force somebody else to submit (or get fired trying)!
If you're paying attention, you must see that this regime is different than those it succeeded. If you can't see this, ask Jimmy Haslam.
Running the ball is critical to this offense, and in the first day of full contact (yes it matters now), the offense trampled the defense, all the way down the depth chart.
Hue said it didn't mean anything, but he was lying. Hue regards Gregg Williams as his opposite (and equal) number, and doesn't want to rub his nose in it...because he is an adult.
But this is excellent news. This will be Hue vs Gregg all the way to preseason, and Hue, behind closed doors, said "In yo face!" to Gregg.
Now, Gregg will have to find ways to stop Hue's running game, and no doubt Hue will be passing in the next practice.
I'm not speculating here. I'm informing you that this is what's going on between the Williams defense and the Jackson offense.
I'm tempted to predict these two getting into "verbal confrontations" with eachother and stuff. LaCanfora will call it a "civil war".
The most important thing here is that Hue vs Gregg is like Garrett vs Thomas.
I guarantee you, Hue and Gregg will have a lot of fun trying to outsmart eachother through preseason and beyond.
Right now, Hue has the edge. Most of his players are veterans, working in the same (basic) system they did last season.
Gregg's system is new, and he has to experiment to find his free safety, strong safety, hybrid player, right DT (Ok look gramps Bryant is almost certainly a GMF), AND Garrett, Peppers, and both drafted defensive tackles are rookies too.
Behind closed doors, I expect Hue to be teasing Gregg, and Gregg saying "just stay tuned" a lot, and the results being an above average offense and defense in 2017.
Now, Joe Flacco has back issues. I hate that! Now when the Browns sweep the Ravens, everybody will blame it on that! Dammit.
Peter Smith wrote a great safety preview. He gives undrafted rookie Rodney Nacuafield a chance to start in center field, and thinks they'll keep five safeties.
He sees Peppers over the slot a lot vs big receivers, because he can protect the edge and blitze from there, as well as (Pete and I think) actually cover.
Peter gives Derrick Kindred at least the same chance as Nacua to start at free, citing Gregg Williams' history of using strong safety types there, and Kindred's range. I stand corrected, with one asterisk:
Did Williams have a true free safety on those rosters? (Not rhetorical. I don't know).
He sees Rodney Campbellfield as a strong safety, and feels he has an edge over former first round pick Pryor to make the roster. Campbell is the better athlete.
In my own opinion, Nacua will win the free safety job. He's had a ton of college starts at the same position in a very similar system.
Peter refers to the "speed of the game" in the pros as his main obstacle, but I think he's overestimating it. Once you get toasted a few times in practice, you figure it out quickly.
For a free safety, the speed issue is more a matter of decisiveness than anything else. A center fielder gets burned when he takes the wrong bait, or hesitates to move toward the targetted receiver. It's more about the quarterback's arm and quick release than it is about the receiver's speed.
Kindred will play a lot, regardless of how this shakes out. He's a really good player, and as Peter says, he'll probably work at both free and strong. Gregg Williams might also mix in some cover two.
The Browns receivers need to stop dropping passes. The quarterbacks all did their jobs, but the receivers screwed them. I wonder if Mary Kay will start saying Kizer throws a more "catchable ball" than Kessler next.
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