Blitzen
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What Jerry seemed to learn from Parcells is how important building the lines of scrimmage is to a team. What he did not learn was how to not view players as his friends or storylines, rather as commodities.
This game is so brutal that the GM must always view players with the knowledge that one play could end their career (even if they are Tom Brady or a Mahomes). I don’t mean avoid all extensions, but have baseline protocol without deviation. Use extreme caution and conservative outlooks for every player when thinking about planning a future with them (this includes even drafting young players). Any players with questionable work ethic or health should get dinged accordingly. Those factors get amplified each year they age.
Looking at players through that honest lens is Jerry’s biggest con as GM. He sees his best players as the best storylines and ticket to relevance. Young Tony was able to keep terrible teams in the postseason discussion for years until the offensive line was built up. Then the offensive line and a running back carried it and recently teamed up with Dan Quinn’s defense and quick passing game (with some new additions) to carry recent years.
This season is what you get for aiming at the rim. That shaky house of cards the pretenders build will come down eventually. The current team is slightly better than the Browns and Giants (accounted for 3 of 5 wins against bottom three teams). Another win against a team starting a running back at QB and a fluky win against a disorganized division foe that included a late TD kickoff return and two missed extra points by the opponent’s kicker.
You can bet the thing that hurts Jerry the most right now, is that it is basically impossible to market this season as postseason potential (also every media member that covers the team). It’s so difficult to keep fans engaged when the team is not good enough to at least remain relevant in the standings.
This game is so brutal that the GM must always view players with the knowledge that one play could end their career (even if they are Tom Brady or a Mahomes). I don’t mean avoid all extensions, but have baseline protocol without deviation. Use extreme caution and conservative outlooks for every player when thinking about planning a future with them (this includes even drafting young players). Any players with questionable work ethic or health should get dinged accordingly. Those factors get amplified each year they age.
Looking at players through that honest lens is Jerry’s biggest con as GM. He sees his best players as the best storylines and ticket to relevance. Young Tony was able to keep terrible teams in the postseason discussion for years until the offensive line was built up. Then the offensive line and a running back carried it and recently teamed up with Dan Quinn’s defense and quick passing game (with some new additions) to carry recent years.
This season is what you get for aiming at the rim. That shaky house of cards the pretenders build will come down eventually. The current team is slightly better than the Browns and Giants (accounted for 3 of 5 wins against bottom three teams). Another win against a team starting a running back at QB and a fluky win against a disorganized division foe that included a late TD kickoff return and two missed extra points by the opponent’s kicker.
You can bet the thing that hurts Jerry the most right now, is that it is basically impossible to market this season as postseason potential (also every media member that covers the team). It’s so difficult to keep fans engaged when the team is not good enough to at least remain relevant in the standings.