Hard disagree. He called out the media and he called out 99% of fans as well. If you wanted a R1 QB, if you hated the Gibbs pick, if you wanted Carter, if you wanted him to trade for Crosby, Chase or Sweat or do something at the deadline, if you ever used the phrase SOL, if you didn’t like the Irvin, Alualu or Bohanna PS stuff, if you’ve expressed doubt in Bro Mart or Levi … etc he just took a victory lap and rubbed your nose in it.
The media represents the fans, and the fans most definitely have not been 100% fully supportive of this regime and every move it’s made. If anyone in the media wrote “well I’m not really qualified to comment on this draft pick because I’m a sports journalist and have never worked operationally for an NFL team” then they’re getting fired or at the very least coached up to write something that will grab some attention and that’s going to be some kind of take that they’re not qualified to have.
Brad Holmes shouldn’t be reading the media, he shouldn’t care what they say if he does make the mistake of reading the media, and he definitely shouldn’t be calling them out and taking victory laps, and he even more definitely shouldn’t be doing it before he’s actually proved that he can do what he’s talking about and sustain this thing. He should be above all that. There isn’t a coach or GM in the league, or in any sport for that matter, who doesn’t get criticised by the media. That’s literally part of the job that you just have to suck up.
I consider myself to be one of the few people that hasn’t ever criticised Holmes. I criticised and lost faith in Campbell at 1-6, but I’ve always backed what Holmes has done and have had plenty of arguments on here to prove that. BPA, not making wild trades and not going all-in at the expense of the future, that’s my kind of process. So I don’t think he’s rubbing my nose in anything, but I do think this rant about people that haven’t endorsed everything he’s done is really undignified, I think all those opinions were and are completely valid even if I disagreed with them, and I feel it suggests a lack of understanding about what the media is actually there for and an oversensitivity to criticism. I want Barry in the endzone from my GM and HC when the spotlight is on them.
This doesn’t change my opinion on Holmes, but I am a little worried because he’s now set himself up for an onslaught of criticism if the team isn’t riding high again next season. The media will remember, and the second it looks like things aren’t great, the knives will be out. What’s been great about this season just finished is how everyone came together, the team, the fans and the media were all rowing in the same direction, singing from the same hymnsheet, you name your metaphor, and the media is the centerpiece of that relationship, they have the power to color fans opinions. Brad kept his receipts, well you can bet the media will keep these ones.
I think it’s unfortunate and probably a consequence of Brad not being a confident public speaker, there’s always a lot of anxiety and strain in his voice when he’s on camera and his body language is never relaxed and calm. I think that he meant to basically brief the fans and the media that they’re going to keep doing things the same way, BPA, no big moves and no all-in, but he got lost in his explanation of that and ended up calling people out. It’s not a disaster, and the best way to deal with it is to keep winning, but he’s only just put more pressure on himself and made some of the media more keen for him to fail. I hope he’s doing some damage control behind the scenes because media relationships and media patience are important, and I think he’s just undone a lot of the credit he just built up in the media.
