TIGERS
Buster Olney is he kidding? I believe that he must have been
in Colorado and got hold of that
new legal funny stuff? Cuz man he is picking the Tigers in December! He must
have a job offer from the Tigers on the secret PR staff!
The club has not improved in any significant way or in a
real serious manner.
For one, they got rid of one of their better pitchers in
Doug Fister, he really pitched in bad situations; terrific outings, but no run
support. Next, they got rid of Felder, that’s a major loss; he made lots of
guys better hitters. Finally the infield is suspect again with the exception of
shortstop. As a pitcher looking at this defense I would be very happy that I
was a high fast ball pitcher getting lots of pop ups and fly balls! I’ve played
the game with the best and I can see from afar they desperately need a real
catcher. Stats don't lie over a period of time its simple and we need a catcher.
I will agree with one thing, they probably should win the
division again. Cuz we play in the worst division in baseball! But that’s why we play the season of course.
And God forbid that big guy gets hurt again in any manner
cuz the rest of the club is real pitchable as we found out again in the playoffs.
The new manager will have learning issues in a number of
areas. He might be a good guy, but to send in a guy who has never managed
before with a seriously veteran ball club is putting him into a very precarious
position.
If anyone really thinks this was about money, you have to go
check history of the past several years and see how much has been spent
pursuing that trophy! Also other issues forced some of these deals, so let’s
not believe everything the PR Machine puts out!
But at least we are about a little more than a month from spring
training! Thank God!
LIONS
Schwartz has lost his job? How could anyone be surprised at
this firing? But folks, he’s still being paid 12 million to be fired! Not a bad
gig huh?
Do you know there were sports radio hosts saying in week 16 that
if they won their final game Schwartz was going to keep his job! There is no
way Schwartz with his series of bad coaching decisions brought his demise on
himself just a few weeks ago! Where was the coaching? He appeared to be
desperate the last 3-4 weeks.
The last couple of games this season were a debacle of sorts
with most everyone sharing in the blame, whether it was Stafford
or the (too) many guys dropping passes, it makes no difference. You can’t fire
the entire team! Only the coaches and Head Coach.
He really seemed out of his element this year, not
understanding the rules at one point, messed up “Red Flag” calls and a host of
other issues, it had to be the Coach.
Stafford needs a QB Coach to work on
his fundamentals. Stafford has good fundamentals, you
can’t win without them, but he has gotten away from the fundamentals of
throwing the ball.
Whether you are a pitcher, golfer or QB you must have good
fundamentals and right now at least the last half of the season he was lost and
looked lost. I can understand throwing the ball in a foreign manner when guys
are all over you, but this tricky dickey side arm thing is not good
fundamentals.
He has to get back to what he does best, throw the ball as
well as any QB in the game. He has great talent but someone has to manage his
talent and that means starting over and getting back to basics.
As a former player it appeared to me that Schwarz had lost
the team somewhere after they lost that game in part because he did not know
one of the NFL rules. After that game it just didn’t look like the same team of
energy and aggressiveness. When the leader doesn’t know the rules what are the followers
supposed to do and react? I hope that we
don’t ever find out that somebody quit, but at times it appeared.
Five years as Head Coach is enough time to prove that you can
coach or win in some manner and Jim Schwartz did not win enough games in his
five years as coach of the Detroit Lions to win favor of keeping him another
season.
They say players under achieved, hey, that is the job of the
coach to make sure that the players achieve near or at their real levels of
ability.
But the message sent by the Fords was also mixed.
Jim Schwartz did not create this outcome by himself. How
does the Lions president Tom Lewand and General Manager Martin Mayhew keep
their jobs? Is this all Schwartz? Are you kidding? Hey, the decay always starts
at the head and the head(s) are zero producers. Who is the genius that’s going
to make this team a winner?
I believe that they held onto their jobs because of money in
the grand scheme of things. They would have had to be paid off as well, so Ford
kept them, at least try and hire a serious commodity coach.
How do you change the culture of this team?
You have to make changes in a number of areas, secure more
consistent talent and if you are really going to hire a real serious high
profile coach, I hope has a huge resume.
But will the front office interfere with the new Head Coach?
I also ask myself if Schwartz will ever be given a Head
Coaching job again. Has any former Lions coach ever been given a head coaching
position again? Check it out?
I wish Schwartz lots of luck and his coaches, all good guys.
It’s always a sad day when people lose their jobs, but it is also the signal
that the line has been drawn in the sand and they are turning the ball over to
someone they think will be more competent and able to bring something that we
have never seen in this town, A SUPER BOWL GAME PLAYED BY OUR LIONS!!!
Will that happen in any of our lifetimes? Anything short of
that will never work as defined by the word successful.
