lupedafiasco wrote: ↑14 Dec 2023 13:53
I will say its going to be hard to justify firing Barry when his defense has outperformed Lafleurs offense in most games this season.
Such a crummy take, not sure where this weird pro Barry anti offense fetish is coming from.
But A) we knew our offense would struggle, youngest receiving core ever assembled, no experience, first time starting QB, no talent added to OL.
B) our two highest paid, most experienced players haven’t played all year in Bakhtiari and Aaron Jones.
C) Throw in Watson’s and Musgrave’s injuries. And Jenkins and Wicks and Doubs, etc.
Ya gotta set expectations. Anything middle of the pack would be a huge win this year. That is exactly where we are in points and yards, I think we are like 10th in offensive DVOA
D) Gets all the big recent contracts (Jaire, Rasul, Gary, Campbell), gets all the high draft picks last few years.
E) They’ve been relatively healthy in comparison to the offense.
F) They finished last year ‘well’ and essentially returning everyone that mattered.
D needed to be our backbone this year, they aren’t.
They have pretty much the same ranks in yards and points as the O, essentially middle of the pack, maybe slightly better than O. However they are 30th in DVOA defense, they’ve played as many backups QBs as starting it seems. They’ve given 200 yards rushing 4 times, twice as many as anyone else, 3 of the times were to Desmond Ridder, Kenny Pickett and Tommy DaVito.
Been trying to bite my tongue, but how you look at this defense and say they are playing fine is simply beyond me. For as critical as you can be.
So here are some things that are happening.
Mark Murphy is going to retire after the 2025 offseason. New President won’t be able to make any changes till the ‘26 offseason.
Matt LaFleur and Gutenkunst are going to be back next year. 100%. They won enough and it would basically be too expensive to fire them now. After next offseason, would be Murphys last chance to leave his mark. If we miss the playoffs a third year in a row, very very likely Murphy would make a move his last offseason.
I’m sure LaFleur knows this, and will take the DC job seriously this offseason. Basically his last change to get it right.
So I know you want a ‘culture change’ in GB from the top down. But LaFleur and Gute back next year and Murphy 2 more. So what can we do in the mean time?
Disheartening to see you, of all people, defend this D because you have some kind of weird Love/LaFleur bias.