Let me preface this post by admitting that I do not have the football acumen of many on this site. However, I do have an experience that probably the majority of our posters do not.
That would be that I coached, for 31 years on a high school level, not football, but basketball; a fairly high profile sport in our town.
We had some success, a few championships, but several poor seasons as well. During the down times, there was personal criticism from the press and around town as well.
As a coach, there is a good chance you believe some of the criticism comes from not having all the facts, and as a result is unfair; the entire story is not being told. So it quite natural to want a voice on the matter; to put another perspective on the criticism. My own little experience with criticism is probably why my perception of his press conference was not as negative as some.
However, the problem with trying to put your own spin on the situation, which I did, is that it is usually counter productive. Very few of the critics, accept your take, because the truth is, all they care about is wins and losses.
Another problem with verbalizing your own spin, is that you probably believe it, which I am pretty certain Reese does.
This can lead to resentment, anger, and a bunker mentality, that sometimes inhibits your growth in the job.
Not saying this will happen with Reese, probably won't, but it is human nature to fight back and become stubborn in these situations.
Not much new here, but have a few minutes of down time, and felt like getting my thoughts on Reese out there.
For the record I am not bemoaning that he is still here; I'm fine with it. I just hope he has better success, in a much, much higher profile situation, than I did in rejecting the anger that can interfere with your job.
As the OP says, even if some of the "bad" picks were on he coaches and scouts, you just come off as defensive if you try to justify yourself.
Reese has a new coaching staff in place. If he wants to show us he has been unfairly blamed, have a great draft and free agency and make the playoffs next year. That will shut everybody up.
I only care about the quality of the roster he builds. Everything else is irrelevant
Coughlin threw plenty of people under the bus. Just like Reese, he would accept responsibility and then proceed to deflect blame to others. As Joeinpa astutely observed, that is "normal" for most of us and especially coaches
And my point was, sometimes, defensiveness leads to stubbornness, which leads to a myopic view of your performance, which leads to defeat.
Funny i was just reading the other day on BBI how much McAdoos offense needed a speed guy at running back.
In my opinion, David Wilson, was a great pick. He wasn't my choice at the time, but you could see it in him. He had the passion, drive, and athletic ability. He was going to be a star in the NFL. Obviously its just my opinion, because we will sadly never know. Guess I agree with Jerry on this one.
If Tom Coughlin wasn't involved why was he at the combine with his stopwatch every year
What says it all was the last game of the season and maybe a little bit of why Eli was so shook up at the conference .....watch Tom Coughlin response and Body Languge when Eli threw the last pick 6 in the Eagle game very telling ,Maybe that's why he was telling Eli "it's not you Eli".....
Reese's predecessor never met a microphone he didn't like. It didn't make him a better GM (or a worse one, as far as I can tell). Reese just wants to be left alone to do his job, which is fine with me. The defensiveness might foster the impression that he's not learning from adverse outcomes, but it's just an impression.
When TC became on the hotseat, they didn't simply fire him. Most agree that at least some of the removals at coordinator were forced upon him, most specifically Gilbride. Gilbride and Fewell were each replaced in the seasons prior to TC ultimately being let go. When they still couldn't turn things around, TC himself was let go. It is highly probably that Mara himself did not want to make the change but in the end the results were not there and there was little choice.
So now with a new HC in place, Jerry Reese finds himself next in line on the hot seat. Based on his remarks regarding McAdoo's qualifications compared to other candidates I would suggest that McAdoo was not JR's top choice but given Jerry's own status he's just not carrying that kind of weight at this point in time. That of course is speculation, but what I think is clear is that JR now find himself next in line in terms of accountability and it is no longer a question of "blame", the only thing that can save him at this point is results, as was the case for TC a year ago.
Just as the firings of Gilbride and Fewell pushed things upwards onto TCs lap, the firing of TC pins the onus squarely on Reese. I know there are some who do not agree with this and assume that Reese will never be removed, but if you follow the dialogue and how things were handled with TC, I think it is safe to assume that RJ is very much on the hot seat and blame cannot save him, only results. Given Mara's talk about credibility and speaking of issues of roster in no unspecific terms, a lack of results would be beyond even Mara's hands to retain him.
Go back and watch TC for something that was clear and with force. He knew his path, his faults and had no problem accepting where HE went wrong. Reese? No he couldn't. That press conference changed my opinion of Reese because he had no answers and he SHOWED he had no answers.
When TC became on the hotseat, they didn't simply fire him. Most agree that at least some of the removals at coordinator were forced upon him, most specifically Gilbride. Gilbride and Fewell were each replaced in the seasons prior to TC ultimately being let go. When they still couldn't turn things around, TC himself was let go. It is highly probably that Mara himself did not want to make the change but in the end the results were not there and there was little choice.
So now with a new HC in place, Jerry Reese finds himself next in line on the hot seat. Based on his remarks regarding McAdoo's qualifications compared to other candidates I would suggest that McAdoo was not JR's top choice but given Jerry's own status he's just not carrying that kind of weight at this point in time. That of course is speculation, but what I think is clear is that JR now find himself next in line in terms of accountability and it is no longer a question of "blame", the only thing that can save him at this point is results, as was the case for TC a year ago.
Just as the firings of Gilbride and Fewell pushed things upwards onto TCs lap, the firing of TC pins the onus squarely on Reese. I know there are some who do not agree with this and assume that Reese will never be removed, but if you follow the dialogue and how things were handled with TC, I think it is safe to assume that RJ is very much on the hot seat and blame cannot save him, only results. Given Mara's talk about credibility and speaking of issues of roster in no unspecific terms, a lack of results would be beyond even Mara's hands to retain him.
Excellent post. I was very strongly of the opinion that when push came to shove the org would not "fire" TC. Given what actually happened, I absolutely expect that Reese will be fired if they do not show signs of significant improvement.
As the OP says, even if some of the "bad" picks were on he coaches and scouts, you just come off as defensive if you try to justify yourself.
Reese has a new coaching staff in place. If he wants to show us he has been unfairly blamed, have a great draft and free agency and make the playoffs next year. That will shut everybody up.
Correct sir. He has to hit on this draft and the next couple or he is toast i would think.
Imagine what would happen if we have 2 bad drafts in 2015+2016 ?
I personally think it will be fine and i think the issue they had was around when Ross arrived. Maybe REese is more involved in the scouting now ? Who knows but 2007-2012 was pretty weak, then things got better.
supposedly there were front office changes around 2013 .. or so someone said on here once.
Go back and watch TC for something that was clear and with force. He knew his path, his faults and had no problem accepting where HE went wrong. Reese? No he couldn't. That press conference changed my opinion of Reese because he had no answers and he SHOWED he had no answers.
Awesome post John.
What we have to hope for is that Reese knows the game.
Go back and watch TC for something that was clear and with force. He knew his path, his faults and had no problem accepting where HE went wrong. Reese? No he couldn't. That press conference changed my opinion of Reese because he had no answers and he SHOWED he had no answers.
I don't think reading the situation at the live presser required a "trained eye" as even a novice eye could see it was stage fright that got the best of Jerry.
And my point was, sometimes, defensiveness leads to stubbornness, which leads to a myopic view of your performance, which leads to defeat.
For every 2 Marvin Austins how many Bradshaw's are there?
Actually go ahead and try to name a better pick than Bradshaw (round to career performance) since.
I only care about the quality of the roster he builds. Everything else is irrelevant
This. People put too much stock into press conferences. EA was a reporter and then PR guy. It made sense that he was good at that stuff while Reese isn't.
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good point on Wilson, And for every Manningham, there seems to be two Marvin Austins
And my point was, sometimes, defensiveness leads to stubbornness, which leads to a myopic view of your performance, which leads to defeat.
For every 2 Marvin Austins how many Bradshaw's are there?
Actually go ahead and try to name a better pick than Bradshaw (round to career performance) since.
Better pick, no - better find UDFA - Victor Cruz.
Go back and watch TC for something that was clear and with force. He knew his path, his faults and had no problem accepting where HE went wrong. Reese? No he couldn't. That press conference changed my opinion of Reese because he had no answers and he SHOWED he had no answers.
No offense, but your line of work has nothing to do with being able to read into the ins and outs of a high level football exec.
By the way, my guess his being defensive us because of the jewelry on his hand. How many other GMs have what he has but he's incompetent in the eyes of no nothing's
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With those eyes, I viewed the TC "exit" presser and the Reese presser, you could see that Reese had the "deer in the headlights" look. Reese knew that he screwed up with the roster and had no answers. Reese was stumbling and bumbling all the way through and had very little answers. If he truly believed his personal spin, it comes out clearly and with force even if it was completely wrong. If he believes it, he is going to try to make you believe too. That wasn't done because he didn't believe his own line of BS.
Go back and watch TC for something that was clear and with force. He knew his path, his faults and had no problem accepting where HE went wrong. Reese? No he couldn't. That press conference changed my opinion of Reese because he had no answers and he SHOWED he had no answers.
Awesome post John.
I am with the poster though, I dont give a f___ at this point, the powers that be did not hold him responsible. Hopefully some day soon he will retire or choose to GM another franchise who is hard up for his talents, but I dont see that happening. I just want him (and ownership) to learn from their mistakes and maybe break away from concepts or practices that seem to be set in stone.
Put up or get the f___ out Reese.
Will Mara and Tisch ever say that?
Four players who would have helped the team much more than Wilson may ever have even if his career hadn't ended due to injury. Hindsight is 20 20 but picking late doesnt mean there aren't very good players available
Reese's share of the player acquisition role is increasing. the head coach's role is decreasing. you do the math as to where the blame should fall.
but, Reese does need to suck it up and adopt the 'buck stops here' mentality.