Why Whiz should be on the heatseat.

[Cheesebeef]

I don't believe this at all. Whis took us to back-to-back NFC West Championships. A first-round exit wouldn't take down the banner(s) hanging in the stadium. Tony Dugy coached the Tampa Bay Bucs for six seasons (it's difficult to believe that was all--he coached Indy for seven) and went to the playoffs four times with them.

I don't think it's completely fair to hang every FA acquisition on Whis. The pro personnel guys should be bringing Whis a dossier on these guys, and maybe Whis has the final okay on them. But a group of people have to say "yes" before Whis gets that say so.

I do hold Whis responsible for not only the quarterbacks being terrible from a talent perspective (although there's some blame to go around there, as well), but also because they've all gotten progressively worse (except Skelton) the more coaching and contact they've received from this staff.

People are being held responsible--the QB coach was fired, Grimm was demoted (kind of), lots of personnel department turnover--I just don't believe that you can put a coach whose team is clearly playing for him and who has gone 7-2 his last 9 games on the hot seat.

agreed.

 

[Shane]

I don't believe this at all. Whis took us to back-to-back NFC West Championships. A first-round exit wouldn't take down the banner(s) hanging in the stadium. Tony Dugy coached the Tampa Bay Bucs for six seasons (it's difficult to believe that was all--he coached Indy for seven) and went to the playoffs four times with them.

I don't think it's completely fair to hang every FA acquisition on Whis. The pro personnel guys should be bringing Whis a dossier on these guys, and maybe Whis has the final okay on them. But a group of people have to say "yes" before Whis gets that say so.

I do hold Whis responsible for not only the quarterbacks being terrible from a talent perspective (although there's some blame to go around there, as well), but also because they've all gotten progressively worse (except Skelton) the more coaching and contact they've received from this staff.

People are being held responsible--the QB coach was fired, Grimm was demoted (kind of), lots of personnel department turnover--I just don't believe that you can put a coach whose team is clearly playing for him and who has gone 7-2 his last 9 games on the hot seat.

You're on a roll lately bro! Good stuff!

 

[NJCardFan]

I don't think it's completely fair to hang every FA acquisition on Whis. The pro personnel guys should be bringing Whis a dossier on these guys, and maybe Whis has the final okay on them. But a group of people have to say "yes" before Whis gets that say so.

Then who's idea is it to being in all of these washed up Steelers? Graves? Bidwill? I have a reason to believe that it's Whiz and Grimm.

 

[Shane]

Then who's idea is it to being in all of these washed up Steelers? Graves? Bidwill? I have a reason to believe that it's Whiz and Grimm.

The year just before bringing in Joey Porter he had 9 sack in limited playing time. Hardly a sign that he was slowing as badly as he did. So IMO they get a pass for that signing. Especially since after year 1 they made him restructure for peanuts.

The William Gay signing I place firmly n the lap of our DC. He has to recommend and sign off IMO.

 

[kerouac9]

Then who's idea is it to being in all of these washed up Steelers? Graves? Bidwill? I have a reason to believe that it's Whiz and Grimm.

Probably a pro personnel department that was bad. We had a former director of Pro Personnel who had the same job with a sorry Browns organization. He's most familiar with the AFC North, so he brings in guys like Derek Anderson, McFadden, Porter, and Zastudil. That's who he spends the majority of his time scouting and evaluating.

Again, I do agree with Krang that Whis doesn't have the time to scout every free agent on the market--that's not his job, either. Ultimately, he does have final say over who makes the 53-man roster, but he only has limited input (likely go/no go) on who actually comes in and competes in camp.

 

[JeffGollin]

There are two ways you address coaching changes: (1) blame the guy in charge when things don't go well or (2) hire a smarter guy who seems to have the magic touch.

Example: Harbaugh seems to be pressing all the right buttons.

Problem is - if you fire your coach because things aren't going well, you'd better have a smart HC with the magic touch to replace him with. Otherwise, you're just contributing to a dysfunctional cycle of tearing down...rebuilding...tearing down...rebuilding over and over again.

Wiz isn't perfect, but he's had his share of successes and runs a disciplined, well-structured program. Unless you know of someone available to replace him who has that magic touch, we'd be better off supporting him in the interests of consistency.

When things aren't going well, it's easy to cherrypick isolated bad things and ignore all the good things. On balance - over time - I think Wiz has done more good than bad. I say "yell at him" but don't fire him.