I think I'm one of the few in the "anti-Ron" camp that is not overly worried about his time management and in-game decision making. He should improve in this area. Hopefully, he will have gained enough experience to be a bit more aggressive in squeaking out points at the end of the half.
It's the offensive staff I'm worried about. In my opinion, Chud cost us a winning record this year. His early season play calling was atrocious. There was no commitment to the running game, he had the o-line in a 2 point stance playing from their heels, and we tried to finesse our way to victories. It failed miserably, as we all saw.
If I was certain that Chud had learned his lessons about the need for more balance, about the importance of getting the o-line and the backs in a rhythm, and about the need for shorter passing routes when the other team is getting pressure, then I would feel differently about him. And if I knew that we could count on Chud going forward, I would be okay with Rivera's return. Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that Chud won't revert to his tendency to out-think himself, and there is no reason to believe that Ron will either replace him or effectively control him. And it's a damn shame because I love our defensive staff and hate to start over there if we decide to part ways with Ron.
Maybe it is me, but who in their right mind wouldn't see the way we hit on all cylinders at the end of the year and say that is what we are going to do all year next season.
As for the running game lets see whether we keep Stewart and Williams before we go down that road.
As you say I have been waiting for an aggressive defense that runs a Jim Johnson style defense for a decade. I would hate to see that go in favor of a bend don't break defense as in years past. I would hope that McDermott could do it on his own but there is no guarantee he won't go with Rivera who I suspect could get another head coaching job this year with all the vacancies out there.
