Tag Archives: All or Nothing

The Highs and Lows of Hard Knocks and the Cleveland Browns

26 Sunday Aug 2018

Posted by in Hard Knocks, Pre-Season

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18-08-26 Hard Knocks Crew

Image Credit: ESPN.com

Episode three of Hard Knocks had some highs on the non-football front but was also a demonstration of some of the limitations of the format. When it is good, the programme gives us an insight into the working of an NFL team but it has now been going long enough that you can spot some of the plotting beats and we’re beginning to get to the point where the sword of Damocles hanging over the players further down the roster begins to interfere with the enjoyment of the show. Fourth string quarterback BROgan Roback is a camp arm and doesn’t get into the game against the Bills and we watch in real time as Nate Orchard loses contain twice on the pass rush and the effect this could have on his family. Even last week’s fringe breakout player Devon Cajuste features with his long catch (accompanied by fan cheers of Juice) and the later pass inference that Todd Haley was as unsure about but we’ll look at it on film.

The episode starts with a training camp ‘fight’, which is just one of those things we know happens at training camp and the interesting thing for me was that it was linebacker Christian Kirksey who was peacemaker talking to Jarvis Landry about how he can’t react or break a hand and that he’ll talk to corner Terrane Mitchell. It was pretty amusing to see the, ‘gang of orange’ quarterbacks gathered round Landry and offering to handle the situation for him.

However, for the football nerd it can be frustrating watching obviously sanitised of football content front office and coaching footage. I understand that they can’t give away a competitive advantage but it was painfully obvious that Hue Jackson and Dez Bryant were aware of being on camera in their sit down meeting. I’m was surprised that John Dorsey didn’t know that the player he was bringing in that day was the answer to the pop quiz question his intern had set. We also got treated to offensive line coach Bob Wylie complaining about stretching and comparing 1940s calisthenics to modern training techniques, which is not the kind of attitude I’d want in my coaches but the glimpse into the offensive line drill that had the linemen using a low structure that was clearly helping the linemen keep their pad level down from the snap was genuinely interesting. I was less interested in the random zoology break down of nature’s offensive linemen that was part of the same segment but between Hard Knocks and All Or Nothing it appears that for all the money spent in the NFL, they have the same problems with quality of presentations as sometimes beset the corporate world.

The things that would worry me more seriously as a Browns fan is that I’m not sure how sustainable across a long season Gregg Williams’ fire and brimstone routine is and frankly, I’d like a bit more instruction on what he wants as well as demonstrations of displeasure. We perhaps should be careful of judging this as we don’t know what has been left on the cutting room floor of NFL films, but the fact that his players were touching the quarterback in training and Carl Nassib (he off the impossible financial returns) was openly mocking the offensive coordinator does make you wonder a little about the discipline.

The good news is that Thursday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles continued to show that the Browns could well be better this year as they ran out 5-0 winners. In particular, the defence caused the Eagles problems with the pass rush all night and Myles Garrett looked every inch the first round pass rusher as he got a pair of sacks including one for a safety and caused disruption in the backfield. The offence did enough to win the game but the fourth and goal failure that led to the aforementioned safety was a worry as was Tyrod Taylor having to leave the game with a hand injury, but he was able to come back in later in the game. The quietly effective part of the offensive over the last two games in terms of Hard Knocks coverage to how they look in actual games are the running back duo of Carlos Hyde and rookie Nick Chubb who have been moving the ball effectively and helping balance the team. You get the feeling that tight end David Njoku could cause a lot of teams problems with his athleticism and receiver Rashard Higgins had another catch that caught the eye. The swirl at receiver will be one to watch next week now that Josh Gordon has been cleared to practise and play but it appears Dez Bryant was offended by the contract he was offered, but Dez may need to adjust his expectations if he wants to get back on the field as there does not seem to be a lot of other suitors out there at the moment.

As the season nears the cuts are coming and having had the dress rehearsal game next week’s will be all about the battle to make the roster. That’s when the unmanufactured drama will really take hold.

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What a Coach wants, What a Team Needs?

12 Sunday Aug 2018

Posted by in Pre-Season

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18-08-12 Hue Jackson

Image Credit: wikipedia.org

We have our first week of pre-season football. I’ve watched the first episode of Hard Knocks and more importantly I have seen Andrew Luck throw passes in game for the first time since January 1st 2017.

My offseason was dominated by getting a book published so it was only a couple of weeks ago that I finally watched the Dallas Cowboys’ All or Nothing series and when you combine that with Hard Knocks then I have naturally started to think about coaching.

“You get what you demand,
you encourage what you tolerate.”

Tom Landry

This is a quote that I was already familiar with but caught my eye as a reminder in one of the meeting rooms at the Cowboys facility and is one of those things that I think is just as apt for management in a business as it is in sports.

One of the surest things in management is that a player or employee will spot an inauthentic approach from a manager or coach, but there is more than one way to demand what you want or excellence.

There was a really interesting discussion about this week’s Hard Knock on The Ringer’s GM Street podcast as Michael Lombardi explained his problems with Hue Jackson’s approach to getting his team ready. This largely focussed around a coach’s table discussion that had started with the training staff informing Jackson who would and wouldn’t be practising that day. There are several members of that coaching staff with Super Bowl experience who questioning whether players who had not achieved anything in the NFL should be getting days off when there was so much to do, and one coach who was asking for them to be dressed and make it look like the reps decision came from the coach. Jackson listened and was firm about not wanting to get players injured and tried to establish that he understood their position but the view was different from his chair and they moved on.

I can’t give the insight on how it affects the coaching staff having never been in an NFL building yet alone on a football coaching staff so go listen to the pod but it did set me thinking. What Lombardi’s concern was about not only keeping the coaching staff together, but how to breed toughness in a team.

I think there are multiple ways to do this. It doesn’t have to be about shouting and rah-rah speeches. Toughness can be quietly getting on with your job under difficult circumstances. Certainly Hue Jackson was trying to demonstrate that when he told some of his coaches in a film session that his mother had just died and then went straight back to discussing the tape. It was hard to watch him trying to pull himself together after the front office staff had gathered round to support him having lost both his brother and his mother in the space of two weeks. An hour later he is back on the training field and working with his team.

This is where we circle back to how he is coaching. It is undeniable that Bill Belichick is a great football coach and he has a particular way of doing things that is built around a culture of fear and negative reinforcement but that’s not the only way to do it. What Pete Carrol has done in Seattle is still built around competition but there is a completely different approach and presentation with his positivity and encouragement for players to be vocal and themselves. In Hard Knocks you got to see the very different way that Gregg Williams runs his room to Jackson and I’m sure there are players that will thrive with that approach and those on who that approach will grate.

In a lot of ways American football is still a very conservative game but how long coaches can maintain some of the old school approaches in the face of modern training methods and as players change I don’t know.

“He needs to be challenged intellectually so he doesn’t get bored,” Jim Mora told Peter King. “He’s a millennial. He wants to know why. Millennials, once they know why, they’re good. Josh has a lot of interests in life. If you can hold his concentration level and focus only on football for a few years, he will set the world on fire. He has so much ability, and he’s a really good kid.”

This was Jim Mora talking about the Arizona Cardinals’ rookie quarterback Josh Rosen ahead of the draft and whilst I don’t think the culture of football will change overnight, it has to and will continue to adapt as the game changes and players evolve.

The interesting interaction between Hue Jackson and rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield is a case in point. Jackson was asking about what time he got in and was comparing it to Tyrod Taylor. It was something that Michael Lombardi commented on that Jackson didn’t demand Mayfield came in at 05:30 and whilst no, he didn’t demand he did set a seed. I don’t know which way would be more effective, it depends on the player and how they feel about their coach. Only time will tell.

Hue Jackson has a 1-31 record in the last two seasons so it is not like he is starting from a position of strength but he has been in the league a long time. He has to be true to his beliefs but in the world of sport, those beliefs get tested against one thing, the results of the football team. It won’t matter that he’s dealing with multiple bereavements, or that he turned a comment about jumping into a lake if his team failed to win a game last season into a cleansing ritual in aid of his foundation that is trying to support efforts to combat human trafficking in Cleveland. What matters as far as the team is concerned is results. He has a new GM that didn’t pick him so if Jackson doesn’t win more games this season it is hard to see him staying on as head coach.

There’s a lot of nuance to coaching and you can only do so much without the right level of talent, but in sports your record is your record despite all the things that go into it. The pre-season is about preparing your team for the regular season, although a lot of coaches are as concerned about getting their team to the start of the season healthy. The ultimate decider on how well you balanced those needs is your record, but that ignores if you quarterback missteps and tears his knees up. There is plenty of luck involved for a team and whilst we build some coaches up and tear others down, they are only human and even in a game as built around coaching as the American football, you can only control so much. However, you have to have a lot of trust or faith in the bank to get you through a rough patch and for Hue Jackson, time is running out for him to get results.