“You have to be willing to listen to these (guys), and I feel like there needs to be more of working relationship with your athletes, certainly at the NFL level. These are grown men that we’re dealing with. Like I always approach it as we are working together. Now, rookies are a little different, but once you’ve been trained a little bit, we’re working together.
“‘Now how do I make your job easier? That’s my job. How do I pull the most out of you? That’s my job as a coach. And your job is to use me as a resource, player. So what do you need from me? How can I help you? Let me ask you this: What makes your job easier, player X? Would you rather do it this way?’
“You have to have some flexibility in the way that you coach and deal with players… You have to be willing to open yourself up to players. You have to be willing to put yourself out there.”
Assuming that the reports are true than he will be in fact be our next HC, I can see a good chance of better results than what we’re used to. Connecting with your players is an absolute must IMHO, and this guy is going to do that. The trick for him is to hire 2 very good coordinators who are really good at the Xs and Os, which apparently isn’t Campbell’s forte. But he also will have an ace in the hole: Chris Spielman.
So, should we break out the champaign? Ehhh, might be a little early for that, we’ve been down this road before. IMHO, we should wait and see what the preliminary results are in year 1. Same thing for our new GM, let’s not jump the shark here.
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I really hope he pans out, and the new GM too.
I am trying hard not to invest any emotion at all until we see some results one way or the other. The one glimmer of hope I hold back is that ‘ace in the hole’ you mentioned. Seems like this is the first time they have ever had someone with football in their blood and a brain in his head involved in a hire. Spielman is smart and has connections. Lets hope his eyes never got clouded by his position and he made solid choices.
It would be nice if we could get another option besides jumping the shark or beating that old dead nag when discussing the Dee-Troit Lions.
I brought this up in another thread.
He’s the anti MP.
Patricia alienated his players. Diggs stands up in a meeting and challengers MP and is told to shut up and do his job. Then a few days later is traded for it.
The Lions needed a guy who could mend the damage that MP caused. They think Dan is that guy.
Funny thing is that under Schwartz players complained he was too tough on them. So we bring in Club Caldwell. Players get soft and make a lot of mental mistakes so we bring in MP who treats the players like assets and not like people. Shut up and do your job. So now we bring in Dan C. Each HC we hire for the strengths that their predecessors biggest weakness was.
Our HC hires seem a little reactive as a result.
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That does seem like the cycle we’re in
We haven’t gone from “demanding” to “cushy” though. We’ve just gone from someone who thought so high of himself and where he came from that he could just come here and say “do your job” and everyone would. He thought he was so appreciated that he could talk however he wanted and it would be accepted or even coveted. With Dan it’ll still be demanding but Dan knows that “do your job” is not something that works today. He knows how tough it is for the players and tries to meet them where they’re at. You’re still going to up-downs when other teams aren’t, but he’ll have greater buy-in.
It sounds like his emphasis on speed and violence on D will be a departure from read-and-react. That will also be a welcome change for most players and probably all of the fans. This is similar to the adjustment McCarthy is making in Dallas. Think less, play faster. It’s what Richard Sherman advocated for down there mid-season.
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