profusion

EB seems to have a more favorable reputation inside the league than he does among us Commanders fans. I'm torn on this. There were alarm bells in camp about his leadership style. His playcalling seemed odd at times, decent at others. I didn't see a lot of adjustments. Brissett moved the team down the field pretty easily in EB's offense. Tough for me to say how much of Howell's struggles late in the season were on him versus EB. The concerns about his leadership style are the main reason I wouldn't hire him. Maybe the team needed some shaking up, but I didn't sense that the offensive players were willing to "run through a brick wall" for him.

Why not interview him? If nothing else, it gives the advisory committee some further insight about the roster and why things went the way they did in 2023. That's not even getting into the Rooney Rule stuff (which I hope Harris would take seriously and not as a cynical exercise).

Josh and Adam have already said they're building for the long term. Grabbing a high-priced veteran QB who peaked 10 years ago is the opposite of doing that.

It's interesting how the Falcons are publicizing their HC search. Josh seems inclined to keep the Commanders' process quieter. We've gotten updates from the beat reporters, but the team itself is keeping things under wraps.

The Niners didn't play very well, but they just had too much going on for the Packers to overcome. That was a fun game.

Terry doesn't *do* hotels.

Amen!!

Essentially, RG3 never learned to play "traditionally" because he never had to. He was the quickest guy on the field and exceled at the read-option. His build (his structure, not his muscle development) was too slight for that to be viable long-term in the NFL. He was going to get destroyed inevitably, and he hadn't developed the tool set to succeed without his running ability. Heck, I'm not sure he would have lasted even as a dropback passer. He was a track-and-field athlete trying to play football. Despite the above, it's also worth remembering that the ankle injury that ended his time in Washington was a non-contact injury. Essentially, he turned while running full speed, and his body went one direction while his foot went the other. He was never going to last. The attitude just made everything worse. He'd have been better off sitting for several years like Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love did and working on the skills needed to be a good NFL passer. Unfortunately, the 2nd pick rarely gets that luxury, and his ego would have caused problems.

I agree. The question with Hurts is whether he's good enough to win a SB. He looked that way for a while this past season but then came crashing back to Earth. AJ is a cornerstone piece, by contrast. You have to expect diva behavior out of a star wideout.

This serves as a timely reminder of exactly what we DON'T want associated with our favorite team ever again.

I don't get the impression that Josh is looking to get cute with off-the-wall personnel choices. It may be that someone blows the advisory committee away during interviews and vaults themselves to the top of the list, but I doubt there'll be a strategy of being tricky with this hire. It's a franchise-defining hire for Josh (and Adam), so it's not the time to be too clever by half.

I think you have to take any reports about the draft or trades this time of year with an entire block of salt. Just assume that everyone is exploring all the opportunities and trying to misdirect other teams. I'd be surprised if the Bears had only received five inquiries about the #1 pick--and they'll try to see how far they can drive up the bidding. If the offer becomes large enough, at some point you can't refuse. Same for the Commanders with the second pick.

Interesting. It would fit a "win now at all costs" scenario. Kirk is now in the later part of his career, and I expect that Bill doesn't want to wait for a young QB to get it together. I'm kind of eager to see the results if Bill does sign there.

If that happens, I wonder who'll be the QB. They need to bring in somebody else for that position, and Bill's judgment on QBs has been notoriously suspect in recent years.

Plenty of issues with Seattle that make it less attractive: --Ownership uncertainty due to upcoming sale --Likely stuck with Geno Smith for a while --Pete Carroll still apparently going to be hanging around the building Josh and Adam are definitely going to have to make a great case if they want either Johnson or Slowik, for sure.

That guy needs to replace Major Tuddy.

That was the key quote from Adam, to my mind. Look for improvement on the field right away even if it takes longer to show up in the standings. Better coaching should show up right away in better technique and decisionmaking from players and fewer mistakes and penalties.

Agreed, but I'd also say that my ideal is where there is no reason to listen to a GM or owner interview, because they're in charge of a smooth, effective, drama-free machine. There hasn't been a lot of that around these parts in many years.

They've changed the rules recently. It used to be that there was an absolute ban on interviews until the candidate's season was over. The feeling was that it penalized candidates from playoff teams and that it made the offseason harder for interviewing teams, since some candidates couldn't even be contacted until February. It's still an even playing field, though. The hottest candidates are all still coaching for the moment, unless you count Belichick, Vrabel or Dan Quinn that way. I'm quite sure Josh and Adam will have a priority list for that very reason. Of course, Josh seems like the kind of guy who isn't going to lose out on his preferred candidate very easily. The same factors that attracted Adam to the job will also make the HC job attractive. The wildcards would be the Cowboys or Eagles jobs coming open, but those are difficult situations that might be a turnoff for some of the hotter candidates. Salary cap problems, aging rosters, meddling and impatient owners...

No, it was in reference to the HC hire. It's very modern corporate America, even though they have yet to request an interview with a woman for the job.

These don't look like men who want to hire Bill Belichick or Mike Vrabel.

The man knows how to stick to the script. I'm going to miss all of the idiotic "damn good culture" and "Harvestfest" asides of the past.

The short answer to your question is that a HC has to be as much an administrator and manager as they do a coach. They vary a lot in how much they manage versus coach, though. Ideally, they're focused primarily on coaching the coaches, making sure they have the tools to do their jobs effectively, and making final decisions on rosters and schemes. Many also take playcalling duties even if they're not the primary designers of the offense and defense. It's a complex job, which is why it's rarely a good idea for them to also be the GM.

I will say that Jeff Lurie needs to be careful, because the Super Bowl loser's hangover seems like a real thing. Overreaction is a risk. It does look like there's some bad juju in the locker room, though, based on that collapse. I'm not sure what I'd do there. I just hope whatever it is, it messes them up for years to come.

What's more, it's not like the Cowboys and Eagles lost in agonizing last-second defeats. They were thoroughly handled from start to finish by teams that barely made the playoffs. That's indicative of something really wrong with both.