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Total failure of a season. To end up 8-7 (no, I refuse to count a 6-0 win against a team playing 2nd and 3rd stringers against our starters as a true win) after going 13-3 last year is inexcusable, especially when you factor in the 4-12 debacle in 2015 and all those picture of mediocrity 8-8 seasons. This season SHOULD have clearly been the end of Garrett here and I am 100% convinced almost all 31 other franchises would have canned him for this train wreck, but not our idiot owner/drunken GM.
Virtually every factoid of shame you can think of in this franchise's proud history can be tied to Garrett now. He's been here in a key role since 2007, and we have 4 playoff seasons, a puny two playoff wins and no championship game or Super Bowl appearances. We witnessed a sea of 2nd half meltdowns this year and grabbed defeat at the jaws of victory again vs the Rams and Packers (both games at home and ultimately the two games that kept us out of the playoffs). Embarrassing ways to lose, mind numbingly bad game management and putrid game planning are all year in and year out trademarks of Garrett's horrendous run here, and yet he's being brought back for 2018.
1) I was out of town for past two games, but after getting an early Christmas gift with losses by Atlanta and Detroit, we go out and in typical Garrett fashion laid a fucking egg at home against a beaten down Seattle team that was run off the field the two previous weeks (and then to show how poor our performance really was, Seattle turned around a week later and in a must win game at home vs a bad/injury depleted Arizona team nd they LOST). This past week was a joke too, scoring a meager 6 pts against a team playing mostly 2nd and 3rd teamers defensively despite us playing everyone the entire game. Even with Zeke Elliott back on the field, our offense could do next to nothing is back to back games and the play-calling was ATROCIOUS.
2) There's no question, Prescott regressed badly the 2nd half of this season and it can't solely be blamed on losing Zeke for 6 games, Prescott was just as bad the last two games as he was the previous 6. He was great last year and was playing well the 1st half of this season, but it all went downhill after that KC game. His accuracy was bad and his decision making was really questionable. There were also numerous examples in virtually every game where he by-passed open guys elsewhere for almost immediate checkdown throws, or forced the ball into coverages to try and get Dez Bryant involved. There's no doubt that the OL play was a factor at times and our receivers dropped too many balls, but he has to work on his mechanics and accuracy this offseason. He also gets no help from Garrett's awful gameplanning and the system itself is incredibly predictable. They do too many things from a formation or motion standpoint that gives the play away and this has to change. If I can sit there and not only tell if it's a run or pass most downs but also be able to tell where the ball is going, there's no doubt the other teams defensive coaches and players are guessing right more than I can possibly do. With all this said, I think they have to hedge their bets a little on Prescott now and cover themselves by either bringing in a veteran as insurance or potentially even scout some of the guys coming out in the draft.
3) It's a "what if" type thing that ultimately doesn't matter, but if we would have had this year's pass rush and young DB's with last year's team or the 2014 that lost at Green Bay, I wonder how far we might have went. Lawrence was sensational this year, Irving is almost unblockable and Taco Charlton started to come on the 2nd half of this season. The upside with those 3 is significant. Statistically it wasn't a great yr for Maliek Collins, but virtually every game there were a few plays where he easily got in the backfield. I think he played most of this year with some sort of foot issue and I read a week or two ago it may require offseason surgery. If they add another piece or two to the DL we could be in really good shape there for years to come.
4) News came out while I was writing this, to no surprise idiot Jones said Garrett is the HC and "a change at HC never crossed my mind" also mentioned the idiocy of "he is familiar with our division opponents" as some sort of justification for keeping this clown. Also said he wants Marinelli and Linehan back as coordinators but there were going to be discussions about the staff.
5) On the draft, it appears that we will be getting 4 comp picks for our free agent losses last yr, the concensus seems to be it will be two 4ths and two 5ths, giving us 10 draft picks for 2018. (we traded away one as part of the deal to get Xavier Woods, otherwise we'd have 11)
6) They need to get an extension done with Zach Martin, they'll probably franchise tag Lawrence and Irving will be qualified at the max under a Restricted Free Agent level (meaning we'd have to receive a 1st rd pick at minimum if a team tries to sign him). Of our other players, the only one I'd make any real effort to retain would be Anthony Hitchens but he may end up getting more money to leave. Jonathan Cooper is a free agent, but I wouldn't sign him to any type of big money deal. If he came at a 1 or 2 yr deal for minimal guaranteed money he might be worth keeping but otherwise, I'd move on. He was average at best for the season IMO. A total of 13 players are unrestricted free agents, the only others of note are backup OL Joe Looney and Brandon Bell (I'd make no effort to keep either) and backup WR Brice Butler. The one other interesting one is Long Snapper L.P. Ladouceur, who has never had a bad snap and is definitely worth retaining, although I read somewhere he was considering retirement.
7) One of the huge issues this staff has is extreme loyalty to certain veteran players, even if its to the detriment of the teams success. Jason Witten is a prime example of this and the team just HAS to move down the road of making him a part time player for 2018 (since he has already announced he is coming back). He should be forced to take a paycut too. The same applies for Dez Bryant, if he is going to be back it should absolutely be at a reduced cap charge & salary (although last week he said he would refuse that and if true, I'd look to trade him and then release him if nobody wanted him). Neither guy is worth anywhere near what they are getting paid and both are so limited in what they provide the offense that we are probably WORSE with them on the field. Witten has been a class act and has worked his ass off on and off the field, but he is not an every down receiving TE any longer. Paying elite money for mediocre level of play does nothing to preach accountability and set the example for the rest of the players. This is something the best run franchises know and practice, and unfortunately over the years we clearly haven't.
8) The team definitely has legit needs. Even if they are completely invested in Prescott (and I wouldn't be after the 2nd half of this season, unless they know his poor throwing was due to some undisclosed injury) they still need help at WR, probably at TE, another DL or two, definitely a LB capable of playing day one and probably another safety. The other area they'll need to hedge their bets on is at kicker. Jimmy and Parcells both believed there was a point with some kickers where t became a mental thing, and once it got to that they were done (case in point with Parcells was Vanderjact, who prior to coming here was one of the best kickers in the league and then collapsed). They really have to hope whatever is going on with Bailey is physical because he fell apart here at the end of the season. I'm not really worried about the two misses from 50+ at NYG in the cold and wind, but two missed PATS and a missed gimmee FG last week are extremely concerning, and he clearly looked frustrated. They'll need to bring in a young guy next preseason and watch Bailey, because if this spills over into next training camp he cannot be the kicker next year.
9) While Jones spilled more garbage today about Garrett being the HC, he and Stevie both did say in the last week or so that they might change their free agent philosophy some for this coming offseason and actually spend some money. With the boob HC coming back, acquiring as much talent as possible (between free agency and the draft) is the only hope we have at this point. Garrett has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt he cant coach average or below average players up, so we just have to hope we have a loaded team.
10) It's pure fantasy and the type of bold franchise altering move that Jones would never remotely consider, but with the Browns reportedly shopping the #1 overall pick and a certain tall, big armed, accurate QB from UCLA available I'd be on board with at least exploring the possibility of making that type of move. We've already proven that with this OL and RB we can win with a rookie QB and now with a defense that is making real progress, we're set up even better. Rosen has the pure passing ability and arm strength to really stretch the field, which would open up more running lanes for Zeke. If the Browns would do it, I'd send them Prescott, our #1 pick and another pick to move into that spot.
Virtually every factoid of shame you can think of in this franchise's proud history can be tied to Garrett now. He's been here in a key role since 2007, and we have 4 playoff seasons, a puny two playoff wins and no championship game or Super Bowl appearances. We witnessed a sea of 2nd half meltdowns this year and grabbed defeat at the jaws of victory again vs the Rams and Packers (both games at home and ultimately the two games that kept us out of the playoffs). Embarrassing ways to lose, mind numbingly bad game management and putrid game planning are all year in and year out trademarks of Garrett's horrendous run here, and yet he's being brought back for 2018.
1) I was out of town for past two games, but after getting an early Christmas gift with losses by Atlanta and Detroit, we go out and in typical Garrett fashion laid a fucking egg at home against a beaten down Seattle team that was run off the field the two previous weeks (and then to show how poor our performance really was, Seattle turned around a week later and in a must win game at home vs a bad/injury depleted Arizona team nd they LOST). This past week was a joke too, scoring a meager 6 pts against a team playing mostly 2nd and 3rd teamers defensively despite us playing everyone the entire game. Even with Zeke Elliott back on the field, our offense could do next to nothing is back to back games and the play-calling was ATROCIOUS.
2) There's no question, Prescott regressed badly the 2nd half of this season and it can't solely be blamed on losing Zeke for 6 games, Prescott was just as bad the last two games as he was the previous 6. He was great last year and was playing well the 1st half of this season, but it all went downhill after that KC game. His accuracy was bad and his decision making was really questionable. There were also numerous examples in virtually every game where he by-passed open guys elsewhere for almost immediate checkdown throws, or forced the ball into coverages to try and get Dez Bryant involved. There's no doubt that the OL play was a factor at times and our receivers dropped too many balls, but he has to work on his mechanics and accuracy this offseason. He also gets no help from Garrett's awful gameplanning and the system itself is incredibly predictable. They do too many things from a formation or motion standpoint that gives the play away and this has to change. If I can sit there and not only tell if it's a run or pass most downs but also be able to tell where the ball is going, there's no doubt the other teams defensive coaches and players are guessing right more than I can possibly do. With all this said, I think they have to hedge their bets a little on Prescott now and cover themselves by either bringing in a veteran as insurance or potentially even scout some of the guys coming out in the draft.
3) It's a "what if" type thing that ultimately doesn't matter, but if we would have had this year's pass rush and young DB's with last year's team or the 2014 that lost at Green Bay, I wonder how far we might have went. Lawrence was sensational this year, Irving is almost unblockable and Taco Charlton started to come on the 2nd half of this season. The upside with those 3 is significant. Statistically it wasn't a great yr for Maliek Collins, but virtually every game there were a few plays where he easily got in the backfield. I think he played most of this year with some sort of foot issue and I read a week or two ago it may require offseason surgery. If they add another piece or two to the DL we could be in really good shape there for years to come.
4) News came out while I was writing this, to no surprise idiot Jones said Garrett is the HC and "a change at HC never crossed my mind" also mentioned the idiocy of "he is familiar with our division opponents" as some sort of justification for keeping this clown. Also said he wants Marinelli and Linehan back as coordinators but there were going to be discussions about the staff.
5) On the draft, it appears that we will be getting 4 comp picks for our free agent losses last yr, the concensus seems to be it will be two 4ths and two 5ths, giving us 10 draft picks for 2018. (we traded away one as part of the deal to get Xavier Woods, otherwise we'd have 11)
6) They need to get an extension done with Zach Martin, they'll probably franchise tag Lawrence and Irving will be qualified at the max under a Restricted Free Agent level (meaning we'd have to receive a 1st rd pick at minimum if a team tries to sign him). Of our other players, the only one I'd make any real effort to retain would be Anthony Hitchens but he may end up getting more money to leave. Jonathan Cooper is a free agent, but I wouldn't sign him to any type of big money deal. If he came at a 1 or 2 yr deal for minimal guaranteed money he might be worth keeping but otherwise, I'd move on. He was average at best for the season IMO. A total of 13 players are unrestricted free agents, the only others of note are backup OL Joe Looney and Brandon Bell (I'd make no effort to keep either) and backup WR Brice Butler. The one other interesting one is Long Snapper L.P. Ladouceur, who has never had a bad snap and is definitely worth retaining, although I read somewhere he was considering retirement.
7) One of the huge issues this staff has is extreme loyalty to certain veteran players, even if its to the detriment of the teams success. Jason Witten is a prime example of this and the team just HAS to move down the road of making him a part time player for 2018 (since he has already announced he is coming back). He should be forced to take a paycut too. The same applies for Dez Bryant, if he is going to be back it should absolutely be at a reduced cap charge & salary (although last week he said he would refuse that and if true, I'd look to trade him and then release him if nobody wanted him). Neither guy is worth anywhere near what they are getting paid and both are so limited in what they provide the offense that we are probably WORSE with them on the field. Witten has been a class act and has worked his ass off on and off the field, but he is not an every down receiving TE any longer. Paying elite money for mediocre level of play does nothing to preach accountability and set the example for the rest of the players. This is something the best run franchises know and practice, and unfortunately over the years we clearly haven't.
8) The team definitely has legit needs. Even if they are completely invested in Prescott (and I wouldn't be after the 2nd half of this season, unless they know his poor throwing was due to some undisclosed injury) they still need help at WR, probably at TE, another DL or two, definitely a LB capable of playing day one and probably another safety. The other area they'll need to hedge their bets on is at kicker. Jimmy and Parcells both believed there was a point with some kickers where t became a mental thing, and once it got to that they were done (case in point with Parcells was Vanderjact, who prior to coming here was one of the best kickers in the league and then collapsed). They really have to hope whatever is going on with Bailey is physical because he fell apart here at the end of the season. I'm not really worried about the two misses from 50+ at NYG in the cold and wind, but two missed PATS and a missed gimmee FG last week are extremely concerning, and he clearly looked frustrated. They'll need to bring in a young guy next preseason and watch Bailey, because if this spills over into next training camp he cannot be the kicker next year.
9) While Jones spilled more garbage today about Garrett being the HC, he and Stevie both did say in the last week or so that they might change their free agent philosophy some for this coming offseason and actually spend some money. With the boob HC coming back, acquiring as much talent as possible (between free agency and the draft) is the only hope we have at this point. Garrett has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt he cant coach average or below average players up, so we just have to hope we have a loaded team.
10) It's pure fantasy and the type of bold franchise altering move that Jones would never remotely consider, but with the Browns reportedly shopping the #1 overall pick and a certain tall, big armed, accurate QB from UCLA available I'd be on board with at least exploring the possibility of making that type of move. We've already proven that with this OL and RB we can win with a rookie QB and now with a defense that is making real progress, we're set up even better. Rosen has the pure passing ability and arm strength to really stretch the field, which would open up more running lanes for Zeke. If the Browns would do it, I'd send them Prescott, our #1 pick and another pick to move into that spot.
