NFL Gameday Week 1 Football • Page 35

It is obvious, but it's really understated. This shit needs to be properly recognized: he's the greatest football coach/mind to ever live and, even with Lombardi, Walsh, Landry, etc. there isn't a close second. Also, he's easily one of, if not the, best general mangers of all-time. His patchwork with veterans, especially those with character issues (Corey Dillon, Randy Moss, LeGarrett Blount) has been stupendous and has allowed him to let a lot of big money free agents walk.

 

Yeah, it's not even remotely close. Hell, i wouldnt even limit that to the NFL. There is no American sport where one person is just undeniably that much better than everyone else.

 

Meh, I think there's a couple coaches that arguably have had better careers than Belichick, and are certainly close to him. Belichick is obviously an all time great coach, but he lacks the distinguished coaching tree that others have.*

*that still could change in the future.

 

I would definitely say Belichick is front and center for his ability to do more with less, but i actually would say Bill Walsh was a close second. He had 5 rings in SF didn't he? And his eye for talent was off the charts, 49ers were far and away the best drafting team throughout the 80s (it was known he was very involved with GM Eddie DeBartolo during the draft process.)

And he got a lot of flack for lifting a few pages out of the Ohio River Offense, but it's really not that simple, Walsh made some amazing adaptations to what eventually would become the West Coast offense and coached such precision and rhythm into it that they could practice in the dark and still complete passes. The whole 3-5-7 step drop and how that matches up exactly with the timing of throwing to your first read? That's all Walsh right there. And that's now the basis for how we judge pocket presence in the NFL.

Walsh was like a Belichick whose specialty was offense.

 

yeah when you can coach coaches and they go on and do amazing things with other teams that's ultimate legacy right there.

 

Coaching trees require certain, distinguishable philosophy that can be replicated.

You can't replicate the GOATness that is Bill. If anything, I think it's weirdly impressive that every one of his assistants went on to fail spectacularly at the pro and college level.

 

Mike Holmgren had a great coaching tree and his best achievement to date is his hilarious role in Alice in Wonderland

 

Charlie Weis, Josh McDaniel, who else?

 

and guess whose coaching tree Holmgren is under?

starts with a W and ends with an alsh

 

three most influential coaches post 1980:

 

I think the coaching tree stuff is a little overhyped. Too many variables in each situation.

 

Well-played.

I actually don't have an informed enough perspective on Walsh. But his nucleus of players was certainly more consistent and better than Bill's and his success was very scheme-based.....so just more narrow than Bill's I would proffer.

But I'm ill-informed on the matter. All that I know is that, with regard to the coaching greats of my lifetime (LaRusa, Phil Jackson, etc.), I think Gregg Popovich is the only guy that comes even close to Belichick....and I don't think it's very close at all.

 

come on now. You're not going to look at all those successful coaches (more playoff coaches than you can count on both hands) under Bill Walsh and his first team of coaches, and say it doesn't matter. He clearly passed down some philosophies that stuck, both in terms of how to use talent and in terms of playbook and gameplanning.

 

I'm not saying he didn't. But with how often the game changes I think the further you go down the tree the less relevant it is. There are also several times where a HC hires a coordinator who brings in his own philosophy and strategies. Those coordinators go on the be HCs and the guy who is 2-3 generations up on that tree gets credit?

 

I know you're like the only other dude in here who watches A Football Life when bored. They have one on Bill Walsh and it is outstanding, one of the few where I was actually glued to the screen the whole time. He wasn't just a football genius. He was an actual genius. The man could have written famous symphonies if he stuck with music instead. Some people just have unbelievable attention to detail and vivid imaginations where they are just seeing things that others can't see.

at one point Mike Holmgren mentioned how, when Walsh's players would make too many mental errors, instead of yelling at the players, he'd yell at their position coaches instead (Holmgren was one of them) and just light a fire in their face on the sideline, even in practice. That simple motivational mind trick simultaneously 1) forced the coaches to become better teachers/raise their standards for their players and take more ownership of their leadership roles 2) actually motivated players as well, because they were more likely to respond if they felt someone ELSE was getting heat for a mistake they made themselves and knew not to do. You can't make this stuff up.

 

if anything it is a credit to the original coach for seeing the potential in other people to learn, to be fully dedicated, and to inspire others beyond them. Takes one to know one kind of thing.

 

What is this? A chart for ants? I can't read this.

 

thanks for nothing, Cardinals

 

Garbage is a bit hyperbole. More like maddeningly inconsistent. For every ball that bounces off his hands (like the one you're referring to), he has one or two that show you his potential (the diving TD on the ball that 12 somehow managed to get to Adams). I was a bit surprised to see how many more snaps he got than Abby/Ty, though.

He didn't play in the preseason so he hasn't had game action in over a year. Had to figure he would start off slow this week and probably throughout the whole first month of the season. He only ran a handful of routes downfield all game. They're going to ease him back in until he's 100% game conditioned.

Early on I thought we would be in for a long afternoon with the run defense, but the shored it up after the 1st Q and were surprisingly good the rest of the game. Only 48 yards on 26 carries total for Jax. Big credit to Daniels and Guion for playing basically the whole game in that heat and playing well. I thought the ILB's were solid (good, not great). Look out for Joe Thomas to take Jake Ryan's starting spot soon -- he was everywhere when he got chances yesterday. I thought the biggest impact in stopping the run came from HHCD and Burnett. Dom brought them up in the box a lot in the 2nd half and it really slowed Jax down.

Random thoughts on the Packers' W:
-Offensively, the slow start wasn't too concerning. Especially when you consider that the first team really only played two series together during the preseason.
-Jared Cook didn't make a huge impact on the stat sheet, but I think the coaches will be pleased when they go back and watch the tape. I noticed a few times when they had him stretch the defense over the middle. 12 didn't get him the ball, but he still was holding that extra safety's attention. Drew a big DPI call early in the 2nd half. His one catch was on a TE bubble swing screen and he showed some athleticism on a play that averaged about 2 yards every time MM called it last year.
-Lane Taylor was pretty consistent. He's going to get some heat from the fanbase for getting blown up on Starks 3rd & goal run in the 4th Q, but that wasn't really his fault. The whole line was pass blocking, so there was some big time confusion on what that play was supposed to be.
-MM's 4th Q play calling was infuriating as it usually is. Three shotgun runs inside the 5 yard line was just plain stupid. You have a fullback for a reason. Pound Eddie behind Ripper, TJ, and Bryan. No need to get cute.
-The secondary was had a shaky day. Chalking part of that up to Robinson/Hurns/Thomas just being good receivers. Rollins and Gunter got burnt bad a few times. Randall was extremely consistent all day, especially making the big tackle on the final play. Hopefully, Shields' concussion doesn't keep him out as long as last year's did.
-Nick Perry played possibly his best game in a Packers' uniform.
-Matthews looked refreshed being back outside. Credit to Jax for limiting his rush in the 2nd half.
-We may need to file a missing person report for Julius Peppers. Never heard his name called once.

 

what in the hell did the Browns do to Jordan Cameron? Jesus Christ, that guy is dogshit

for the Dolphins offense to be completely successful under Gase, theyre going to need a true pass catching TE seam threat. I wonder who they go after this offseason

 

Wasn't he half decent in Cleveland? I don't remember him doing a single thing in Miami.

 

He had one really good year, yes. I have to imagine the concussions have caught up to him? he is literal trash.

 

hoooo boy

 

Fuck me... Wilson/Watkins and Allen. What a week.