It's early but I'm liking the FO decision making

[chipwhich]

I don't have to wait to see that the team has improved is all I'm saying.  I'm not crowning us anything other than having better talent top to bottom than recent years.  I will feel the same even if we get blow out this week.

 

Well in week 1 the offense hadn't improve.  The special teams made the same ol mistakes, and the defense while stout on the defensive line made some same ol boneheaded errors in the secondary.

 

Week 2 we looked improved, again against the worst team in football.

I prefer a fair sample of games rather than 2, arguably against terrible opponents.

Your mistake, potentially, is in assigning quality based on last year's results.  This would have been like assigning 2011's results to the 2012 division champ.

 

Well that's why I prefer to wait, I dunno, 10 games to call them improved?  6 games?  1 division opponent?

[Taco Bell]

I agree there are a ton of things I like about this year's moves, and I'm not sure how much Gruden is involved in certain aspects but I agreed, wanted, or was pleasantly surprised by almost all these moves they've made so far.  I'll just bullet point certain things.

 

- Shanny gone - jk we know that 

 

- Jay Gruden - I know he was already rumored to be the guy based on the borderline nepotism going on, but he was actually the coach I wanted anyway.  Of all the non-retreads, which were all flat out no's to me, he was the guy that seemed to fit our team the best, both in personality and background.  I love his demeanor for our team, he seems to be very energetic without any sort of overt comedic tone like Chucky that could very easily wear out a struggling team, which we may still be for a year or two, who knows.

 

- Clark signing - Deep down I knew he would come here, both because he honestly would get the biggest payday here, but also the obvious connection of already playing here with Sean... But, he also had to perform well, and he's done about as well as he could have here so far as a mid 30's safety.  He hits hard, and he doesn't miss tackles, and he seems to be a true professional if he can balance being on First Take every other day in the spring and still be a player.  I know he may hit a brick wall at any time, but that's why I trust his professionalism to keep working as hard as he can so that doesn't happen anytime soon.

 

- Hatcher signing - I mean, the only thing I heard cowboys fans say all last season was that Jason Hatcher was their best defensive player by a mile.  He's slightly risky only because he was older too, but he's a late bloomer so he might have more left in the tank than the average 32 yr old.  He also has an injury history but it proved a lot that he got through all the nagging things this offseason and hit the ground running anyway.  And, much like Clark, you can tell that he came in here and immediately was respected, probably due to his work ethic and infectious vocal leadership.

 

- The draft.  The 2 picks I loved the most were the Breeland and Grant picks during the draft, not because I'm a draft genius, but because when I was confused about who they were (like many others lol) I looked them up and saw the bright sides to both guys immediately.  They both were technically proficient (Grant even more) for their positions minus a 40 time, with extra bits sprinkled in.  Breeland - I know it's just speculation but I sorta figured he wouldn't be "wide eyed" transitioning to the NFL because he had just gone through his whole career covering Sammy Watkins and Martavis Bryant in practice.  Grant, I mean, I'll take a guy that was top 5 in BOTH hands and route running in the draft, the two most important parts of being a WR, in the 5th round.  Sounded like a no-brainer to me as a 5th rounder (in hindsight of course).  The other key guys Moses Long and Murphy all obviously have time to prove themselves and have done nothing yet to worry me otherwise.

 

- Cutting the right players.  I know every organization does this during a transition to a certain extent, but I really feel like Gruden/Allen have been doing a great job cutting players decisively.  Cutting Jenkins, a former draft pick, is a good example of this.  I'm sure he could have lasted longer, even if not much, but it's a sign that these guys will cut what some might think is a loss of investment without regret.  And obviously, they cut a few of their draft picks this year... not that it never happens, but I'm sure a coach with a more stubborn personality would be more resistant to such things.  I think this is yet another sign of Gruden being near the forefront of whatever the "cutting edge NFL" club is, since he is more than willing to accept a mistake instead of stick with something for too long.  Shanny was obviously living in the 90s NFL still, for example, and would ride his decisions merely in an attempt to prove he was right.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.  There can't be mistakes "sometimes" in the NFL, your goal is to have 0 mistakes.  Recognizing a mistake early is therefore better than leaving it go.

 

Certain cuts that seem great in hindsight.  

- Keeping Forbath.  I really do like Kai, although I wanted Hocker to "beat" him of course, only because I figured he "should" since he was drafted.  But, with Way having the ability to kickoff, it helps that problem, and like how everyone said, Hocker didn't beat out Forbath on kicks fair and square, so at least we don't have any red flags about "ulterior motives" yet.  

 

-Redd over Seastrunk.  After seeing that texans game, it was obvious that pass protection should have been the top priority of any non WR offensive player in hindsight, and it was always clear Seastrunk was having troubles there.  And of course, I'll take a regular season TD over a preseason TD any day.

 

-Rambo.  unless you wanted to wait and hope for the guy to change fundamental flaws for his position, it's great recognition and acceptance to move on from the guy.

   

 

Well I guess that covers it for now

[joeknows]

Draft record is shaky though

[grego]

Draft record is shaky though

 

whos draft record?

[skins island connection]

I agree the Jags are awful but didn't they go on the road to this allegedly beastly Eagles team and put up 17 in a blink and without Cecil Shorts? WHat about the Texans? They went out and beat down a bad team and their D is no joke.  SUre Fitz is not going to get them a SB ring but that doesn't make them a bad team.

 

Your mistake, potentially, is in assigning quality based on last year's results.  This would have been like assigning 2011's results to the 2012 division champ.  You don't actually know anything about the Texans other than the roof caved in on their season and Schaub's career. 

 

Look at the Falcons the year before Mike Smith and after.  Didn't the Saints lose to the Browns?  Who is good this early that we know of for sure?

 

 To add to this a little, but there are always upset victories in the first few weeks. Seems some teams get off to slow starts then get their act together. Which is why i'm not looking at the Giants and thinking 'easy win'.

[PeterMP]

The objective of the FO IMO should not be to get to the point where if things go right, you can win 10 games and maybe the division, especially in a not very good division..

 

If you think that should be the objective, then I can see the argument that they've done a good job, but I could have told you that without them playing a game.

[darrelgreenie]

-Rambo.  unless you wanted to wait and hope for the guy to change fundamental flaws for his position, it's great recognition and acceptance to move on from the guy.

There's a lot I agree with from your post but how can you have Rambo as a positive?

He was a questionable player last year yet was retained and the S position was addressed with 1 addition (albeit a very good one).

He cost the defense the only 2 TDs (iirc) given up this season.

 

If they had cut Rambo and replaced him with a better player during the offseason then I would give them credit.

Cutting him after he has failed again is simple.

Areas I think the FO failed (that I said back in the off-season)

 

-Safety- depth and youth

 

-DL depth, youth, pass rush

 

-RT upgrade

 

-RG upgrade

[Taco Bell]

There's a lot I agree with from your post but how can you have Rambo as a positive?

He was a questionable player last year yet was retained and the S position was addressed with 1 addition (albeit a very good one).

He cost the defense the only 2 TDs (iirc) given up this season.

 

If they had cut Rambo and replaced him with a better player during the offseason then I would give them credit.

Cutting him after he has failed again is simple.

 

Right yea I totally agree with your premise too, I guess what I meant was that they at least seem to cut dead weight when they see it once or twice, I wouldn't say cutting Rambo was "long overdue" that's all.  We heard a bunch of jabber from players and reports etc. about how hard Rambo was working and how good he looked this preseason, so I was just assuming he would have performed better than he did (like others I'm sure).  

 

And yea, I agree with the rest of your post I didn't quote as well, which are big holes obviously so yea.  But, I think they at least attempted in whatever way they could through the draft to get both RT and RG a long term possible fix (of course you can't assume anything here but the attempt helps).  And then the other 2 are definitely holes of course, but at least they got what we hope is an impact player in hatcher for the next 2 years, and at least got Clark to do something to improve that level.  Maybe they were riding on the idea that Clark would mentor some of these "no-name" safety players into just one of them making a leap.  

 

Yea, you're definitely right though that just in an overall spectrum those could have been improved in a better fashion than they either attempted and/or did not do at all.

 

I definitely used the "salary cap" excuse/justification too much in allowing some of the personnel flaws in the offseason to breeze past my post/puff piece lol.