"Tough guys that like to play hard"

[Jeremy Igo]

Matt Rhule on yesterday's conference call. 

"I'm just trying to find tough guys that like to play hard" He said. 

"If I can find a bunch guys that are tough and like to play hard. You know, we have enough stars. We have enough high end talent guys. What we need is a gritty tough team that loves to play the game. 

"I want a gritty team". 

 

This may sound like coach speak, but I think it is a little bit more than that. It seems to be the opposite of what Ron and Marty did over the past few years. Ron and Marty would constantly look for guys that can play a specific sub package under specific conditions. 

Matt seems to like a different approach. Surround his elite players with high energy guys that love the game. Teach them the rest. 

I find this refreshing. 

 

[NAS]

That’s the brand of football one can be proud of whether you win or lose

[top dawg]

I don't care if a game has been played, the Chip Kelly comparisons appear more and more ludicrous everyday!

[TylerDurden]

That is what we've been missing almost every year during the Cam Luke era...  which is why it sucks we couldn't win a SB with them.  Most teams struggle to find ONE franchise player...  we had two, maybe 3 generational talents and possibly 4 HOF'ers during the last few seasons...  what we were always missing was the meat of the roster -those middle of the roster to back end roster guys that improve the overall play and quality of your team as a whole. 

 

But hey, Colin Jones gave it his all.

[top dawg]

3 minutes ago, Proudiddy said:

That is what we've been missing almost every year during the Cam Luke era...  which is why it sucks we couldn't win a SB with them.  Most teams struggle to find ONE franchise player...  we had two, maybe 3 generational talents and possibly 4 HOF'ers during the last few seasons...  what we were always missing was the meat of the roster -those middle of the roster to back end roster guys that improve the overall play and quality of your team as a whole. 

 

But hey, Colin Jones gave it his all.

I liked Colin Jones as that type of guy for the most part. 

Every player ages and outlives his usefulness.

[Riverboat Ron]

"Tough guys that like to play hard"

 

- Mark Martin Feb 20th, 2005

 

[PootieNunu]

https://dailysnark.com/2020/07/29/chad-ochocinco-says-he-took-viagra-before-every-game-cant-stop-me-running-on-3-legs/#:~:text=The former NFL star and,not breaking any PED rules.&text=Ochocinco also hilariously added that,him running on three legs.

He took playing hard to a different level

[pantherj]

Give me a team full of stars and I'll beat the poop out of a gritty try hard team, but Matt has to crank out X amount coach speak per week, so it is what it is.

[kungfoodude]

10 minutes ago, pantherj said:

Give me a team full of stars and I'll beat the poop out of a gritty try hard team, but Matt has to crank out X amount coach speak per week, so it is what it is.

It's mixture of both. You can be as gritty as you want but if the talent disparity is too great, it's going to be harder to win. By the same token, you can be stacked end to end in elite talent and if they don't want to play hard or compete, you aren't going to win as much as you should. 

At the end of the day, you want your high end talent guys to work hard too and you want to have enough high end talent to be a matchup nightmare for other teams. The margin for error is a lot smaller when you have less talent. 

[nosuchthingasapanther]

1 hour ago, Jeremy Igo said:

Matt Rhule on yesterday's conference call. 

"I'm just trying to find tough guys that like to play hard" He said. 

"If I can find a bunch guys that are tough and like to play hard. You know, we have enough stars. We have enough high end talent guys. What we need is a gritty tough team that loves to play the game. 

"I want a gritty team". 

 

This may sound like coach speak, but I think it is a little bit more than that. It seems to be the opposite of what Ron and Marty did over the past few years. Ron and Marty would constantly look for guys that can play a specific sub package under specific conditions. 

Matt seems to like a different approach. Surround his elite players with high energy guys that love the game. Teach them the rest. 

I find this refreshing. 

 

it's been a while, but isn't this what the early john fox era was built on?

[hepcat]

Time to get gritty

 

[Ricky Spanish]

3 hours ago, Proudiddy said:

That is what we've been missing almost every year during the Cam Luke era...  which is why it sucks we couldn't win a SB with them.  Most teams struggle to find ONE franchise player...  we had two, maybe 3 generational talents and possibly 4 HOF'ers during the last few seasons...  what we were always missing was the meat of the roster -those middle of the roster to back end roster guys that improve the overall play and quality of your team as a whole. 

 

But hey, Colin Jones gave it his all.

So...The rosters that Gettleman put together?

poo on him all you want for being an A-hole or not being the one that found the "Star Talent" but dude found cheap, hungry guys that came in and supported the superstars very well, and gave us solid depth throughout the roster.

Hurney came back and there has been a void of supporting talent and potential behind the starters, yet again. 

[top dawg]

9 minutes ago, Ricky Spanish said:

So...The rosters that Gettleman put together?

poo on him all you want for being an A-hole or not being the one that found the "Star Talent" but dude found cheap, hungry guys that came in and supported the superstars very well, and gave us solid depth throughout the roster.

Hurney came back and there has been a void of supporting talent and potential behind the starters, yet again. 

B.S. much!

[Ricky Spanish]

11 minutes ago, top dawg said:

B.S. much!

One found us Kurt Coleman to support the secondary, one found us Haruki Nakamura.

One put together 4 playoff rosters over 5 years with Rivera as head coach, one had 3 playoff rosters over 13 years, none with Rivera.

I'll Give Hurney the benefit of finding studs like Cam, Luke, Kalil, etc, but dude could not build a roster top to bottom. That's my biggest gripe with him. I don't even care about drafting poorly as long as you supplement the lack of solid young depth with FAs who can contribute at low cost, but he doesn't do that well. Hell, maybe Rivera didn't do it well either, but it sure seemed like we brought in better supporting FA's (Not stud, flashy, all world guys) for a solid 5 years there. 

Hopefully, Rhule and company can actually identify and evaluate talent better than the previous regime. I appreciate everything Ron did but he sure didn't really develop a lot of the guys we drafted for the purpose of development.

Plus it's been, what, a a few months since we've had a good Gettleman v Hurney debate? We're overdue. After this we can talk about uniforms.