Black Cloud wants me to tell you that the Browns will suck for at least two more seasons blah blah -groan-...
Ok but he says they shouldn't fire Hue Jackson! Man, usually this guy wants to fire everybody including the waterboy and the owner--what's up wit dat?
Oh! Maybe he wants to keep Hue to make sure his predictions come true! Nah. He doesn't think he needs any help. He's not political like that...but what...
Oh! It's because I said they should fire Hue!
You see usually, I am defending GMs, players, coaches etc against Black Cloud. Now, when I throw up my hands and give up on Hue, I must be wrong! For Black Cloud, it's not so much about bashing everybody as it is about picking fights.
This time, Black Cloud flashed a brief glimpse of conscious thought, as he said he thought they should have stuck with Mike Pettine, and musical Head Coaches has been a big part of the problem here.
If he read my previous posts, they didn't penetrate past his eyeballs. Continuity is certainly a key to sustained success.
We see the longest tenured Head Coaches in Baltimore, New England, Geen Bay, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh. When Philly was a perennial contender, it was Reid. For the Giants, it was Coughlin. I can't argue with this.
But you can't build your dynasty around a BAD Head Coach!
As Andy Benoit has figured out (maybe with my help), Hue Fisher has been part of all this losing.
As Thomas Moore (can't find the article) points out more bluntly, Hue has been THE problem. I urge any new reader to check out my previous posts. I can't keep rehashing what I've said. I'm boring people.
Black Cloud is in the Real Estate business so he can comprehend this: Do you want a house built on sand?
Well, Hue Lewis is sand! He's not Lord Insideous, or Tomlin, or Harbaugh. At best, he's an embyonic Marvin Lewis. You want to keep him just to keep him? And TRUST ME, Mike Pettine didn't have the right stuff either.
As Andy suggests, Ken Dorsey has a list of potential Head Coaches he knows he can work with. If they're like Andy Reid, they actually do adapt their offenses to make the most of the players they're stuck with, at least until they alter their roster enough to run their "favorite" system.
This "Hue hasn't lost the team" stuff is cute, and if I'm Kirksey or whoever I'd have his back too. But look at the roster.
Young, unproven players are going to ball out no matter who the coach is, because they're fighting for their professional lives. This is NOT a veteran team, and this "they still play hard for him" crap is accurate up to the last two words of that sentence.
Moving on from the obvious, I've thought about making Gregg Williams the Head Coach.
It's not as outlandish as it sounds:
Williams knows all the best offensive coordinators, because he has faced them in battle. He and Dorsey could find one, and help him fill out his staff.
Williams knows his limitations. Most likely, he'd promote or hire a nominal defensive coordinator as well, but wouldn't interfere with his offensive coordinator, except to tell him what he would do to stop this or that.
It might be like Joe Thomas and Myles Garrett (et al). Big Joe is happy to advise the guys he practices against on how to beat him. He's like Saint Josh McCown that way.
Finding an offensive coordinator is easier than finding a new Head Coach. Gregg Williams stays in his lane and loves his job. The new offensive coordinator would literally run the offense.
It's semantics you see? Williams stands at the podium for post-games and stuff, but internally it might be exactly the same as it is now, except Hue Fisher has been replaced by a more adaptable and creative offensive boss (who has to listen to the adaptable, creative Gregg Williams' "advice").
Remember the Packers game? Here is where Williams would assert himself: He would NOT play as soft as he did with a 14 point lead on defense. (I'm pretty sure that Hue ordered him to back off).
Gregg would also make sure his offensive boss ran a balanced offense and and remained unpredictable and kept aiming at actual additional points, not to mention actual first downs.
Indeed, Gregg's new Offensive Coordinator could come from the Packers' staff. That big comeback was almost all West Coast and QB scrambles.
Promoting Gregg Williams to Head Coach is a viable option.
He'd naturally retain the majority of his own defensive staff, his defensive coordinator would be more or less his surrogate executing his system (for the third season), the new offensive coordinator couldn't blow up the special teams staff to bring his buddies in, and would be here with a mandate.
What mandate?
1: You WILL set up an offensive scheme designed to maximize the PLAYERS YOU HAVE ON YOUR GDAM ROSTER.
2: You WILL keep your "playmakers" on the field as much as you can, regardless of position.
3: You WILL have/use every possible scheme in your playbook, including zone-blocking, West Coast, and be prepared to ADAPT to unique situations and defenses.
4: You WILL run a balanced offense, emphasizing the run, but you will never, ever, be P R E D I C T A B L E. (Well except when a defense is worn out and you can run them over...BUT YOU WILL DO THAT TOO GDAMMIT)
Just a thought. Unlikley. Dorsey will want "his" guy in charge, and might not welcome Gregg Williams' input...like Sashi Brown did...
But Black Cloud? "Continuity" applies to mediocrity as well as it applies to success. Because you're sick of something doesn't mean you have to stick with where the wheel stops this time no matter what. You can't build a house on sand...how many different ways can I say this? Got to take one last stab at this: Hue Lewis sucks...any of this sinking in yet?
Hue Fisher gots to go.
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