Bring me your tired, your hungry, your stories...

[superpunk]

The offseason is here, and for every team, that means one thing - optimism. And trust me, I am fully excited about seeing our new look team out there next year. I've been admiring Ware as a fan, but it's about time he got the flashy stats to get the rest of the world to notice him.

One thing I've noticed, so far this offseason, is that there is a ton of optimism about how Wade is going to use certain players, who thus far have been a bit of a disappointment. Certainly an intriguing possibility, with guys like Marcus Spears and Julius Jones not quite living up to what we've expected so far. I've read threads about Julius being unleashed, Spears being used more effectively as a passrusher, 1600 yards for Julius.....and I've got to tell you - it's got me giddy.

So, what I figured we could do, as we sit and wait for OTAs, is use this thread to share our success stories. That's right - I want to hear everyone's favorite example of a new coach coming to town and motivating the players who may have underachieved to previously unknown heights. Share your examples of veteran players who suddenly bloomed under the new regime, and became significantly better.

This seems to be a pretty well accepted truth - so I'm guessing there's plenty of precedent. Go!

 

[THUMPER]

How about Nate Newton, Mark Tuinei, and Kevin Gogan who came on after Jimmy got here.

Nate was a refugee from the USFL who hadn't distinguished himself in the NFL. Tuinei was a converted DL, and Gogan was uninspired.

Once Jimmy showed up, all 3 stepped it up big time!

 

[Vintage]

Well, since its all schematical (oh, yeah.....) errors that Wade is going to fix, I expect Spears, Canty, and Ferguson to combine for around 20 sacks.

Ware will be unleashed a la Merriman. That means 20 sacks.

Newman will be Deion Sanders reincarnated.

LT who? That's what we'll be saying when JJ takes the field.

And we'll have a plethora of pass rushers. So much so, that we should cut Greg Ellis now, because the new scheme is going to make Burnett, Carpenter, Spencer, Ayodele, and James excellent pass rushers. We don't have room for another pass rusher.

Which in turn, will make Newman, Henry, Glenn, Brown, and Reeves all pros.

As far as precedent? Duh. Its Wade Phillips.

 

[Alexander]

As far as precedent? Duh. Its Wade Phillips.

Phillips has rarely inherited a defense and took a step back.

He's taken bad defenses and made them better.

But those expecting a quantum leap forward and a morphing into some dominant defense might be expecting a bit much.

And let's be honest, San Diego didn't win any more playoff games than we did last season.

 

[superpunk]

How about Nate Newton, Mark Tuinei, and Kevin Gogan who came on after Jimmy got here.

Nate was a refugee from the USFL who hadn't distinguished himself in the NFL. Tuinei was a converted DL, and Gogan was uninspired.

Once Jimmy showed up, all 3 stepped it up big time!

Jimmy was a heck of motivator. I am not sure how those three played before he got here. Too young, lol. Were they disappointing before he got here, or were they just not getting a chance.

Well, since its all schematical (oh, yeah.....) errors that Wade is going to fix, I expect Spears, Canty, and Ferguson to combine for around 20 sacks.

Ware will be unleashed a la Merriman. That means 20 sacks.

Combine for 20 sacks? 20 each. Or did you forget who this is?

 

[superpunk]

Phillips has rarely inherited a defense and took a step back.

Now THAT is an encouraging precedent.

I'll enjoy the attack as much as the next guy. A welcome change.

 

[Eddie]

Phillips has rarely inherited a defense and took a step back.

He's taken bad defenses and made them better.

But those expecting a quantum leap forward and a morphing into some dominant defense might be expecting a bit much.

And let's be honest, San Diego didn't win any more playoff games than we did last season.

Wasn't SD's D ranked #19? We were ranked #14.

Optimism on hold.

 

[THUMPER]

I could also throw out Vince Lombardi who took over a lackluster Packers team and led them to a championship game in 2 years.

The players that were on the 1958 Packers (the year before Vince got there) that were on the team when it won the title in 1961 were:

QB Bart Starr - HOF
RB Paul Hornung -HOF
RB Jim Taylor - HOF
OE Max McGee
LB/C Dan Currie
LB Bill Forrester
LB Ray Nitschke - HOF
LB Tom Bettis
DB Hank Gremminger
DB Johnny Symank
DB Jesse Whittenton
OE Ron Kramer
OT Bob Skoronski
OT Norm Masters
OT Forrest Gregg - HOF
OG Jerry Kramer
OG Fuzzy Thurston
C Jim Ringo - HOF
DT Dave Hanner

That's 6 Hall of Famers who were on the 1958 team that went 1-10-1 and 3 years later won the title. Plus several other key players from those 60s championship teams.

Not saying that Wade Phillips is Vince Lombardi...

 

[smarta5150]

Wasn't SD's D ranked #19? We were ranked #14.

Optimism on hold.

Dallas secondary >>>>>>>>> SD Secondary.

Nuff said.

 

[YosemiteSam]

The year was 1998.
The player was Hurvin McCormack.
The new head coach was Chan Galey.

In 1997 Hurvin McCormack had .5 sacks.
After a regime from Switzer to Galey; Hurvin McCormack increased his sack totals 10 fold. He went from .5 sacks in 13 games to 5 sacks in 16 games.

This my friends, is what a coaching regime change can do for a players career!

 

[sago1]

SD may not have won a playoff game either but they at least won 12 or 13 games during the regular season. We went 9-7 therefore less room for optimism exists.

 

[superpunk]

thread is not about San Diego's defense.

Thank you Thumper, and nyc (lol). Did you have anyting more recent? Because I have absolutely no idea whether those Packers players were disappointments before Lombardi got there. Of course, this is freaking Vince Lombardi we're talking about...

Like something in the last 10 years or so. Examples of coaching regimes taking players to previously unrealized hopes.

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

Bad thread.

 

[Hostile]

The most amazing story I have ever heard about coaching is about when Raymond Berry joined Tom Landry's coaching staff. For those of you who did not know him, Raymond Berry was Johnny Unitas' favorite target and one thing he was amazing at doing was catching a pass on the sidelines and lightly getting both feet down then going out of bounds.

Berry retired in 1967. Landry called him repeatedly until he joined the staff in 1968. His time in Dallas was short though.

So when he came here to coach WRs he not only decided to tell them how to run the pattern, he decided to show them. So he lined up where he always did ran the route and caught the ball. His feet were out of bounds.

So he did it again. His feet were out of bounds again.

He immediately went to Tom Landry and told him that the practice field was too narrow by a foot. Tom assured him it wasn't and that they had practiced on that field for many years. He said, "either the field is too narrow or the hash marks are in the wrong place."

So, Tom Landry got the field manager and they measured the width of the field. It was 11 inches shorter than regulation.

He was that precise.

In the book I Remember Tom Landry Raymond Berry described Coach Landry this way.

Tom Landry was not perfect by any means. He had the same struggles in life the rest of us have. But he had better equipment to deal with it than most of us have.

It's kind of like when he had Bob Hayes, the fastest human in the world playing wide receiver for him. What Bob brought to the table was that he could just outrun everybody. Well, what Tom Landry brought to the table was that he could out think all the rest of us.

 

[superpunk]

Bad thread.

why?

Do you just disapprove on principle (it is me, after all ) or is it bad because there are precious few answers - if any?

 

[Alexander]

That's right - I want to hear everyone's favorite example of a new coach coming to town and motivating the players who may have underachieved to previously unknown heights. Share your examples of veteran players who suddenly bloomed under the new regime, and became significantly better

Everyone's favorite burning effigy took a 5-11 team to a wildcard berth in one offseason.

Wait, he's terrible.

 

[superpunk]

Everyone's favorite burning effigy took a 5-11 team to a wildcard berth in one offseason.

Wait, he's terrible.

Even in that example, though - were there many players who experienced some rennaissance? I had thought about ole Bill when I made the thread, but really who turned their career around, to rpeviously unknown hieghts from that team. Quincy was still upside down in TD-INTs. Roy and Newman were new players. Flozell Adams was the closest I could imagine. They played better as a unit (for reasons that have been discussed to death) but there were no real rejuvenated players.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Willie Blade.

 

[superpunk]

Willie Blade.

And that lasted how long? I don't think Willie was exactly a disappointment, either. But his temporary "surge" (if it can even be called that) was really just a paper tiger, would you agree? He didn't actually become a better player, and after his initial excitement wore off, he went back to being the same old Willie.

And honestly, I'm looking for some more examples. Some real barn-burners. After all, the descriptions given for what these players' performance is to be next year have been more than glowing. "Unleashed" "Used correctly" - gimme precedent for this (apparently) common phenomena.

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

The original poster rubs me the wrong way

And its almost impossible to rub me the wrong way