All 32 teams have problems. The results on the field mask some of them, and in other cases its how its handled that determines what happens next. If we really had a locker room issue with Diggs, we handled it in a very Patriot like way.
Its a pride thing. Many people aren’t willing to own their shortfalls in a public way. They find an excuse and latch onto it, until it becomes their reality. Its not to say he’s not right about this one, I’m just commenting on the idea of “lying” in general.
You can walk into any place you want and you can tell whether it is well run, or not. Here, not only can you tell whether it’s well run or not, you can also tell if the employees have an attitude against management and against work. Sorry, but that is the Detroit locker room in a nutshell.
Belichick learned from Parcells. When Bill Parcells came into an organization, he fired people on every single level of the organization all the way down to the janitors and replaced them with “his people” or people more in line with what he was trying to accomplish.
One of the biggest issues with the Lions is we not only have sucked for 60 years…we were continuously ran by people who were in house candidates who really didn’t have much…if any…experience outside of the Lions organization. So until we hired Quinn, we kept doubling and tripling down on the same losing formula. Quinn may be thrown out with yesterday’s trash, but at least we FINALLY reached out to another team for once in our lifetimes.
Yes, and you know who is on your side. Who is undermining you… I think these guys know. (So do Diggs and Slay, I suspect.) They may not succeed here but they are going to go out with their own people in place. This is their shot. Slay may find himself playing for Cincinnati.
The Bengals are another poorly run organization. Its amazing when you hear the details of all of the things Marvin Lewis had to do in order to bring the Bengals closer to modern times in how they ran things. Then instead of building on what Marvin laid out there, they brought in a kid to coach the team. Unbelievable. He’s completely over his head.
Well reality is Diggs play dropped off this year, he was hurt, probably would not play most of the third quarter of the season, was playing on high contract for a backup safety, had his replacement drafted this year. So the cards were not in favor of Diggs. The staff could have handled him in ways that were much worse for him. They could have benched him, they could have cut him at end of season, they could have openly indicated his play had dropped off. They did none of this. They traded him mid season to a playoff team. They did not bench him hurting his value. They did not cut him voiding his contract. In a world where Diggs is probably going to be gone next year they probably made the very best move for him. This is a business and they handled business very professionally. They never made it personal or did anything else to impact Diggs future. I think people (including Diggs) are letting their emotions cloud the reality. I liked Diggs but I would much rather build a championship caliber team (not that I am seeing that yet) than keep players who are not a good fit or are overpaid just because we like the guy. I hope Diggs has an amazing NFL career, he puts in the hard work and earns what he gets. But I don’t fault management for making this decision. The real proof is how we build going forward.
Parcels also had the “Lawrence Taylor Rules” which were basically LT can do whatever the hell he wants because he’s that good. No pure disciplinarian, he.
What sticks in my craw re parcels or belichick or really any successful coach is the idea to imbue their reign with a moral imperative. That they were leaders of men; paragons of an ideal. They’re utilitarians.
The greats will gladly take a cocaine addict, a wife beater, a rapist, a murderer, a steroid user, a cheater…a whatever as long as they can win. If they’re talented enough, the coach will move mountains and bribe whoever needs bribing to shield them . If they aren’t, the coach will jettison them as soon as the math is right.
JC it sounds like you are chewing on sour grapes sir. I mean we are talking about winning teams and coaches who have had success. The morality aspect is really not applicable here. I assume you are talking about Ray Lewis but who is it that Ray Lewis killed? Rapist I assume you mean Big Ben but did he really rape someone or is it something that you just believe? Wife beater? You have coaches who are wife beaters. Bobby Cox of baseball’s Atlanta Braves was a wife beater. I
Condone no such behavior but I cannot discount what any of these organizations have accomplished because of a few immoral acts. It’s really not for me to judge just because the Lions have been a poorly run franchise for as long as I can remember.
I was referring to Lawrence Taylor the cocaine addict, Aaron Hernandez the Murderer, Christian Peter, the rapist, Julian Edelman steroid user, cheater Tom Brady OR Bill himself, and as far as wife beater, I mean, take your goddamn pick. Oh, throw in Patrick Chung the drug dealer and that’s just the Parcels tree!
You want to talk about what Jimmy Johnson let slide? Or Madden? Or Joe Paterno Or basically ANY succsssfull coach?
It’s not sour grapes, it’s just a healthy disgust for hypocrisy. People will look up to football coaches as examples of what’s right with leadership, when the only lesson we can really glean from the top of the Football pyramid is “Just Win Baby” .
Understand this, and I hope I make this clear. Matt Millen was a player. Mayhew was a player. Neither man ever even had a cup of coffee in another teams front office. Not one low level scouting job or any other job. Zip. Zero. Nada. Russ Thomas was the same way, as well as his replacement. And those 4 guys represent the entirety of what most Lions fans have experienced in 50 years of football.
Quinn was the first official GM who had ever spent a single day in another teams front office. There are names that creep up in Lions history, and some off them actually contributed to some good player acquisitions. But as far as I’m concerned, our “official” GM hires after Ford acquired the team goes 5 deep. And Quinn is the only one who’s ever been with another organization in their front office.
And you think that just started in the 90s? Aaron Hernandez was not a murderer while playing. Once he went to jail he never played again. There are so many players that dealt drugs is not even funny. Steroids? You think Belichick is the only coach who had a steroid user? Lyle Alzado never played for Belichick. I have two points…1) None of this would ever stop you for celebrating a Lions Super Bowl and 2) It’s life my friend. All of this deviant behavior is called life.
Not at all! Monetized sports has always been full of terrible people either doing or abetting terrible things!
I like my blood sport as much as the next guy. What rankles me is when the media or fans pretend that the coaches are anything more than well paid overseers of the gladiator pits or that any of them give a remote shit about “character”
Again JC…you are always going to have that. Immorality is a part of life and it will always be wherever you go. It’s the same as saying I can’t wait to get a new job because I can’t stand this co-worker of mine. Next job you get there will be a co-worker who you can’t stand. Every team in every sport had somebody who displayed deviant behavior. Scotty Bowman had to deal with it. Doesn’t make him any less than a hall of fame coach.