Hurney's message to all of us..

[bleys]

I 100% agree but do you see what is going on around here? We jsut traded a first rounder tackle from four years ago and people start hurney prop threads? lol. Right now I'm kind of pissed to be honest. I'm not 100% blaming hurney but I sure as hell am not giving him props.

I guess I'm not that mad about it because we are finally relieving ourselves from some of the last remnants of the John Fox era (that Rivera deemed unnecessary)... It was great when it started out, but towards the end JR gave free reign to Fox/Hurney to do whatever it took to win back to back seasons and failed. All of those trades are consistent with a GM trying to do whatever it took to bail water out of a sinking ship to help out a friend.

Can we blame Hurney for going out on a limb? No one with decent perspective would because Hurney/Fox were a team, and anyone willing to leave a teammate's head on the chopping block without trying to help is a man who deserves to go next.. Besides, JR cuts the checks on those decisions..

Let me point out some differences I've seen so far under Fox -vs- the short term of Rivera (and yes, quite unproven still, but the changes have occurred to some degree none-the-less)..

Certainly this isn't all black/white, but the point should be easy to understand for most:

In the Fox era, we saw players stick around for far too long. We also found out the truth: that winning "3 out of 4 games" is bad because there was obviously a losing mentality. We put up with players at positions that were neglected for years like WR, TE, and even an OL/RB for a while.. Our offense was as conservative as it could get, and our off the field strategy to find personnel was just as conservative. Still today people accuse JR of being cheap, while others come in to point out our FA acquisitions weren't successful enough to keep wasting money on failures... And why did Peppers leave? Clearly it wasn't the money, or Hurney finding a way to pay the man.. Oh, and we pretty much ignored special teams throughout the entire tenure of John Fox..

I see a trend in "Hurney" that seems to have changed with coaches..

Now, in this new era, half measures avail your ass getting cut or traded. Players are expected to perform. We somehow have options at receiver outside of Smitty; LaFell, Gettis, and Murphy can play on a NFL level when healthy. We traded for Olsen and absolutely raped Chicago in the process. We signed Shockey and provided a dual threat at TE, even if for a year- but the most important year for a rookie QB. We signed Tolbert who is going to be in positions to succeed on offense and special teams. FA acquisitions haven't been a total failure, and I like the last few drafts... Players have stayed and resigned. And a lot of attention is being put on special teams, at least changes are happening at this point instead of accepting mediocrity..

We will have to see how it all unfolds, but what we cannot deny is the shift from coaches, with the same GM. They look rather effective up until this point. So when I look at all the successes and failures of Hurney, it's just funny to me how certain aspects to the team that seemed like failures year in and year out with Fox appear to have improved (or at least not completely neglected) while Hurney is still here...

the main difference when it comes to trades/drafting is Hurney seems to work better when he isn't trying to gamble big to keep his coach safe from getting the axe...

so with that said, how many "bad decisions" can we really say was more Hurney's fault than Fox? Also, keep in mind if we are bashing Hurney for AE and Fox wasn't making draft decisions as reported, then LaFell/Gettis was a damn nice cover up...

By no means has Hurney been perfect, but I don't see many reasons to find him a real problem either...