Five Cavalier Thoughts on Opening Night Eve
December 25, 2011Quick Predictions for the 2011-12 Cavs Season
December 26, 2011While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
Serving Shurmur some humble pie- “That’s the problem in Cleveland. Pat Shurmur is quick to point out his team’s flaws, and talk about how a drop here, or a drop there, or a missed tackle on this drive, or that drive, could’ve changed the game. Rarely do you ever hear Shurmur admit his mistakes in front of the press, and his arrogant ego won’t let him do so. For much of the season it has appeared that Shurmur is in way over his head; taking on the offensive play-calling duties, as well as the head coaching responsibilities. Still, Mike Holmgren has given Shurmur his vote of confidence, stating that he expects Pat to be around for a long – long – time.
Holmgren was on hand for today’s game in Baltimore, and he’s going to have a tough time defending his ol’ buddy Pat after today’s pitiful coaching performance. Shurmur’s shortcomings as a (potential) head coach in the NFL have been clear to everyone but Holmgren. Time-after-time, Shurmur has deflected all the criticism towards his players. All those 4th Quarter collapses have been Colt McCoy’s fault, or the offensive-line’s. Maybe in those other games the players deserve much of the credit, but so has Shurmur. Today, was all Shurmur.” [McQuaid/Browns Gab]
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Here’s my question, are the Lions built “the right way” or will they fall back to earth next season- “Schwartz took time to slap hands with the fans after the win, a welcome reward to the faithful for all the down years. “Unless something really strange happens, it’s probably the last home game that we’re going to play this year. So our crowd’s made a big difference. We’ve said a lot about how they don’t just go to the games, they participate in the games. I’d like a few less waves when our offense has the ball when we’re holding the lead and we don’t want to get any penalties, but our crowd’s been great and they deserve to celebrate it and that’s why we stayed out.” [Farrar/Shutdown Corner]
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Unreal. “One victory away from an unexpected playoff spot, the Cincinnati Bengals are already immersed in their biggest challenge of the week. No, it’s not getting ready for Baltimore. It’s trying to get somebody to come and watch.
The Bengals (9-6) drew another less-than-capacity crowd for their 23-16 win over Arizona on Saturday that secured only their third winning record in the last 21 years. With a victory on Sunday over Baltimore, they would clinch the final AFC wild-card berth for a chance to win their first playoff game since the 1990 season. Big moment. Will there be another small crowd?
Only 41,273 fans showed up on a sunny, 38-degree afternoon to watch the breakthrough victory Saturday. Paul Brown Stadium was more than one-third empty, and that’s been the norm all season. Players buoyed by the chance to make the playoffs wasted no time lobbying for an audience.” [FS Ohio]
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Your latest Tribe rumor- “There’s more than a few reasons why Swisher is a great fit for the Indians. First off, he’s an Ohio native. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Swisher may welcome the chance to play close to home. He’s a firstbaseman who bats both right and left handed, which is what has been on the Indians wish list pretty much since the moment the season ended. The team simply isn’t comfortable with handing the position back to Matt LaPorta, and even if the plan is for Carlos Santana to play more at first, the club needs another player they can count on.
Third – and probably most important – he is a power hitter. Swisher last season hit .260 with 23 homers and 85 RBI. Those number in terms of the Indians would have ranked third in homers, second in runs batted in, and tied for 7th in average. As far as slugging percentage goes, at .449 last season that would have been tied for 6th.” [Loede/92.3 the Fan]
22 Comments
Couldn’t agree more with McQuaid’s commentary. Seems like all of the first time hires for the Cleveland Browns have enormous egos.
Cincy has what amounts to a playoff game this week against a division rival, and they have to beg fans to show up. How embarrassing. They can say what they want about the Bengals being better than the Browns this year, but this would NEVER happen in Cleveland.
I would call Bengals fans “fairweathers”, but the weather is pretty fair down there (literally and figuratively), and they still aren’t showing up.
I’d say 10 or 11 wins and a playoff spot for the Lions is pretty good considering they had to play the buzz saw Packers twice this year.
If Shurmur goes into year 2 and thinks he can just pass blame to the players and not own up to his shortcomings as a head coach, his second year will most likely be his last. Players will resent him and quit on him.
Good coaches talke all the blame for a loss. Shurmur never does. Hell he blamed the Alex Smith debacle on Alex Smith. Really?
Crobarred,
You are right. When players see the head coach blaming them for his mistakes and see that he does not have their backs try will not want to play hard for the coach. Or play for him at all.
@Crobarred & @ Tim:
Watch the last few plays from the end of the first half Saturday again. They players have already given up on Shurmur. You can see him yelling at them…at one point Shurmur very clearly yells “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?” as the players show no urgency to run back to the line and try and squeeze off one more play after the ill fate run call…it’s like the players knew there was no way to get another play off.
The players are still out there giving effort, but my guess is the effort is for their own pride and their teammates. I don’t think anyone is running through a wall for Shurmur anytime soon
Pat Shurmur has taken a two-time 5-11 team and likely turned it into a 4-12 team.
All hail the WCO genius guru.
Usually, you fire your coach when you feel like your team has bottomed out. Supposedly, that was last year, but somehow, this Browns team will finish with a worse record.
Pat better clean it up in a hurry.
Like others have mentioned here, I am willing to give Shurmur until mid-next season before I get too cranky. This is simply in the interest of being fair, and not based on any evidence or belief that things will get dramatically better by then, or that he is the long term answer. If there is not clear improvement by then, Holmgren and Shurmur will both be sitting on increasingly warm seats…
@ BuckeyeDawg
And in the meantime no one wants to play for the coach, the team loses any respect it had, we get worse, we waste next season.
Of life isn’t fair then life in the NFL sure isn’t either. I don’t care what’s ‘fair.’ Decisions should be based in evidence not on what’s fair.
I’m not in the ‘fire Shurmur’ camp. I just think we should have seen improvement this year. Otherwise, you’ve just wasted a year for no reason.
If this team racked up 8 wins with at least 2 division wins, we’d all be thinking about this team turning the corner. Instead, we are looking at another building year next season, and that is unacceptable.
@ Tim – don’t misunderstand me. If Holmgren held a presser tomorrow announcing Shurmur’s firing or resignation, I wouldn’t lose any sleep. I have seen very little evidence that Shurmur is the answer.
However, I do think that when you hire a person to do a job, they should get a fair shot at it. In this particular situation, I think a fair shot includes a full offseason and some more talent to work with on offense. It has already been stated that there will be an OC here next year. Let’s see if that helps him.
I don’t have a lot of faith in Shurmur…but I’m not ready to call for his head. Yet…
If Browns fans did what the Bengals fans are doing, the Browns would have no choice but to field a better team. I envy Cincinnati for that.
I’m hoping the tribe could get Swisher, as the Indians would have both of their major goals covered (they did sign Andy LaRoche to a minor league contract).
Shurmur was a bad choice. Period. At least Marty Mornhinweg was a successful offensive coordinator before he bacame a head coach, Shurmur is a guy who, St. Louis fans told us, ran an all too predictable offense.
@13/BuckeyeDawg: agree word for word. Would only add:
– Canning Shurmur this year means next year’s hire is fourth coach in 5 years. What established HC or respected coordinator would enter that unstabile situation? Only one that can protect himself by controlling his superiors (cough- Kokinis- cough). No thanks, we’ve just watched that farce.
– Shurmur is relatively young and new to this job. Means there’s a chance he’ll improve. Mangini was canned finishing his 5th year as a HC and he was what he was. Romeo was, like Bud Carson, too old to develop new skill sets (same reason I doubt Holmgren’s ability to succeed at this new job). NOT saying Shurmur’s the answer, but give a new young guy some chance to grow. Can him next year if he’s still flailing.
I’m not in the ‘fire Shurmur’ camp either. I’m in the “never should have hired Shurmur’ camp. The pick smacked of nepotism, and there was nothing in his tenure at St. Louis that screamed “head coach material’.
That being said, the coaching carousel is a bad thing, and in any event, Holmgren is secure in this temporary gig and is not going to fire his old buddy’s nephew.
The best we can hope for is that Shurmur learns some managment skills (Belichik eventually did) and he learns how to manage a game. It’s not rocket science, but apparently there aren’t 32 people in America who can do it competently. For the life of me, I cannot understand how such highly paid professional coaches in the NFL so often cannt figure out when to use their time outs.
The play calling creativity may have to wait until the talent level rises and provides a variety of offensive options.
Unfortunately, this will not be next year. There are just too many gaps. If we hit a good draft, and key injured player come back healthy for next year, we maybe hope for a 7 win season. I think we are still in the waiting for the year after next year.
@ Harv
Consistency for it’s own sake is pointless. There will be consistency when the right coach is hired.
@Tim: you missed the point, it’s not for its own sake. The “right coach” does not take a job where the previous one’s average tenure is a year. The desperate ones do. That’s why Al Davis ended up with so many shlubs, also why he lost some great ones before they could make his team great (see Shanahan, Mike). The point is not that Shurmur is great, the point is how an org will turn off coaching talent by being trigger happy. 4 in 5 years appears trigger happy to anyone who has other options, like we can’t decide on what we want. For example, Cowher is much more likely to go to San Diego, where they over-patiently wait for Norv Turner to do something with their talent, than to come here where Randy annually lurches toward the last voice in his ear.
I’ve been in the “don’t fire Shurmur because the Browns need consistency camp.” And I’m still there (barely).
Except, if they draft a QB in the first round, then I think they need to fire Shurmur. I think there’s very little chance that Shurmur lasts more than another year, and then our new 1st Round QB will have to deal with a new Coach and maybe a new system.
If we draft a 1st Round QB, firing Shurmur now is actually a vote for consistency in the long, in my opinion.
@ Harv
I get your point. But still, keeping a coach even when he is awful has very little benifit. Cowher is likely to go elsewhere because he can have personnel control and more talent anyway. Firing a coach after one year every single year is one thing. A respected NFL man like Holmgren doing it after one year because the coach is a joke is another. Again, teams build consistency through winning, not the other way around.
Apropos of nothing: “Sources say Gruden has already decided to return to coaching in 2012, and ESPN is already preparing for his departure”