I’m looking forward to a new front office and coaching staff.
Yeah, you and me both. The main questions at this point to me are:
1. When do we jettison the coaches/front office? I know, I know..."if we can the coaching staff, who is going to step in...we may lose more games as a result." To which I say, it doesn't matter. You could elevate the ball boy at this point and he could lose to the bears and giants. We'll be hiring a proper coach and front office in the offseason anyway. But my view is, it's not tenable to let this crew stagger on for the rest of the season. The fans are in revolt. Also, based on Jon Allen's recent rant, Rivera may be losing the team. Sometimes you just got to can a guy to make a statement, show accountability, or whatever...and then let the chips fall where they may. I don't like the idea of Harris waiting til the end of the season as I do not think it's necessarily good for the development of the team...but maybe I'm just being an impatient fan.
2. Who can we trade at the deadline? Realistically, it doesn't look like we're making the playoffs. I had some dim hopes we could beat the Giants, get to 4-3, and maybe put together 9 wins and sneak in. But after losses to both the Bears and Giants, I just don't think going 5-5 with a hard schedule is realistic (Philly once, Dallas twice, San Fran, Miami is a murderers row of 5 right there, and then Giants, Seattle, Jets, Rams, New England). That said, it's a fact we can't keep both Young and Sweat...it's roster mismanagement as everyone knows. We have now hit the point where Rivera coaching for his job becomes dangerous for the team. We HAVE to trade one of these guys for assets for the long term health of this team. Harris may have to step in.
3. Can Howell learn to avoid sacks? Howell is a very good quarterback with one very bad fatal flaw. It's simple: learn to get rid of the ball and avoid sacks and be a starting-caliber QB or don't learn to do it and be a career backup. I'm still for letting him finish out the season because long term, he has upside for the team's future...and Brissett isn't going to be our franchise QB. But I keep hearing how he auto-corrects and doesn't make the same mistakes twice...yet he can't seem to get this down. I get it the line is bad and all that...but he has the ball in his hands, he still needs to do it.
Tangent: while the O LIne gets a lot of blame, it's becoming clear to me that EB is not as good as he could be protecting Howell from this flaw through schemes and play calls. He needs to force Howell into more situations where the ball is coming out super quick by design. I don't give a rats a-- if it "limits the playbook." EB showing off his full compliment of plays is not more important and it's very Scott Turner-esque. I like both Howell and Bienemy generally but at a certain point, adjustments need to be made. You can't just keep saying, "We're growing, we're learning" every damn week.
A frustrating season. Some progress with respect to the 3 items above though might give me a small measure of hope....