No offense to Randy Gurzi, but most teams would not have cut Josh Gordon. This has always been a specious assertion...Redundancy alert:
1: Gordon was on his rookie contract. He cost the team not one cent, or even the 53rd roster spot, while on suspension.
2: His time on suspension also suspended (ie extended) his contract. With increased annual salary cap inflation, his contract quickly became very cheap.
3: So, not only was there no rational reason to release him, but it would have been irrational to do so, because:
4: As he proved beyond a shadow of a doubt in 2013, he is one of the most gifted wide receivers ever to have played.
Now, some people talk about "distractions", which I guess I can't call irrational, but it seems to me like a suspended player who is liked by coaches and teammates and never causes any distruption barely sneaks into that category.
If you say "distruption", you need to look that word up. Josh might have partied too much, but he's always been a good teammate and a good person.
What's more, believe it or not, Josh Gordon is a really smart guy. Cut out the eyerolls and snorts, please: A whole lot of smart people have had similar issues.
Anyway, certainly some teams would have cut Josh Gordon, but not any competent teams.
You cut guys like this if they are expensive, or not truly elite. You don't cut a dirt-cheap historically-talented 25-26 year old superstar, "one strike away" or not...DUH.
Jeff Hartman, a Steelers' writer, offers some insight into how Steelers fans regard Todd Haley's assertion that he might just have the best quarterback room ever with the Browns.
Sorry G, Jeff is a good analyst, and wrote a generally good article. Yes, even though he is a Steelers fan. What's more, G, I have met many Steelers fans who could spell their names correctly and had most of their teeth (deal with it!)
Anyway, Jeff isn't perfect. He seems to think the notion of Tyrod Taylor, Baker Mayfield, and Drew Stanton being more exciting than Big Ben and ? and ? is laughable which...well it just does not compute.
And Jeff brings up the fact that Haley had Kurt Warner in LA.
Clearly, Todd Haley is talking about the atmosphere, personalities, and relationshps between his three quarterbacks. Jeff seems not to have heard "room" in Haley's statement.
No doubt, Steelers fans are hypersensitive about this stuff from their former offensive coordinator, and certainly a few of them are stupid enough to think this was Haley bashing Big Ben or something, but they don't matter.
Jeff also mentions "even if you hated every minute of Haley's playcalling": He's not stating an opinion here. He is addressing his audience, ok?
Evidently, a lot of Steelers fans haven't liked Todd Haley for awhile now.
I've read a bunch of articles about Big Ben asking position coaches to mediate between him and Haley, and I can guarantee you that there was a real personality conflict here.
Haley is definitely a type A guy, plus an alpha male. Unlike Gregg Williams, he's not a "people person".
But...play calling? Ok so Big Ben never quarterback sneaks, but other than that...what the hell?!? You think that offense racked up those numbers in spite of the playcalling?
Sounds to me like there are as many absolutists among Steelers fans as among Browns fans. You decide you don't like a guy because he's picking on your quarterback, then start building a case against him like you're a Federal Persecutor.
On the quarterback sneak thing: Per Pat Kirwan and a couple other Head Coaches on NFL Radio, every quarterback can check to a sneak anytime he wants.
In fact, it's rare for any offensive coordinator to call a sneak, because it's dangerous, and should be up to the quarterback, based on what he sees at the line of scrimmage.
Kirwan, in particular, finds it highly unlikely that Todd Haley took the sneak out of Big Ben's toolbox, and that when Rottenburger said "you'll have to ask the coaches about that", he was shifting the blame.
Nevertheless, I do have concerns about Haley's interpersonal skills. Not his brains, or his playcalling. Just how he deals with quarterbacks in particular...
However, Kurt Warner LOVES the guy!
...is it possible that...Big Ben might be...naah!
At any rate, Todd has Hue Jackson and Gregg Williams surrounding him now, so he'll probably refine his people skills at least a little, if only by osmosis.
Gregg Williams is percieved as an abusive slave-driver...and he sorta is, but of all the players I've ever heard from who played for him, I have never heard anything but gratitude and praise.
Williams is as much Type A/Alpha as Haley, but his guys all love him (including the guys he cut or demoted).
I'm getting into the weeds here, but in re Todd Haley I'm saying
1: Has anybody asked Antonio Brown or Ebineezer Bell about him?
2: Is Kurt Warner a liar?
3: Is it concievable that Saint Big Ben is a butthead? THE butthead?
4: Are the guys on NFL Radio all wrong? Is Todd Haley the first Coach in history to ban the quarterback sneak...to a 6'5", 250 lb quarterback?
I'm personally overjoyed to have Todd Haley here.
Sure, Big Ben was "due" to develop into a truly elite quarterback, but Haley adapted his offense for Bell and Brown; he made these guys (and helped Rottenburger massively in the process)...
Haley has had Big Ben and Kurt Warner (and Marshall Faulk), but never a Josh Gordon...probably never an Njoku either. And never a dual threat quarterback like Taylor (or even Mayfield) either.
And what about Faulk and Bell? Would either of these guys have done as well without Haley? Well...wait til you get a load of Duke Johnson in 2018 (just sayin).
Every coach (including Hue Palmer) claims to adapt his scheme to his players, but Todd Haley actually does!
My last post got deep into this, but what Haley will do different here than he has before in his carreer were not fully addressed:
1: He will throw more deep, vertical passes.
I know I know, without Big Joe, we can't have Tyrod standing there in a pocket for four seconds and that Hue Palmer stuff, but you don't get it:
A: A quarterback can throw a high-trajectory pass in under 1.2 seconds if he is confident that his target will be at a certain spot at a certain time, and can make sure it's not intercepted at the very least.
B: Tyrod Taylor can throw accurate deep passes on the run, (and so can Mayfield).
Haley has never had a Josh Gordon. He will make the most of him.
2: Haley has never had passcatching tight ends like he has now, including DeValve (who he's now working at fullback, H-back, and like Njoku too).
3: Haley has never had a Jarvis Landry.
In general, aside from quarterback, Todd Haley has never had this much overall talent to work with before.
The biggest difference is a true deep threat.
Second is a lethal passcatching tight end (I'm projecting a bit here, but if you don't see it coming you are mentally impaired).
The third is a Jarvis Landry (okay we can argue about this, especially since Antonio Brown is who Landry is actually up against here if you understand football).
But (with all due respect to Ross Tucker), in reality, Antonio Brown dropped off the map every time Big Ben didn't play. Jarvis Landry delivered game in/game out for every quarterback, none of which were as good as Big Ben.
Further, thus far, Landry is averaging a LOT more than 8.6 yards per-catch for Todd Haley, so...
You don't get it. Yet. So oknevermind okbye
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