Following the purge of the Packers defensive coaching staff, special teams coach, and strength coach, a purge that resembled a college freshman’s first introduction to keg stands, Mike McCarthy has been on the lookout for a new Defensive Coordinator. Presumably, this new coordinator will be expected to put a slightly higher amount of pressure on opposing QBs, than outgoing coordinator, Bob Sanders. McCarthy and Ted Thompson have made Sanders and Mike Stock the fall guys for the Packers embarrassing drop from NFL elite to a team to a team with a top ten draft pick.Being a Fall Guy isn’t easy, the daily grind of being a movie stuntman, a job where the only acknowledgement you get is in the closing credits of movie, followed by moonlighting as a bounty hunter takes its toll. Your bones creak, your face looks like a tenderized piece of beef, your defensive line consistently fails at bringing any type of pressure, you wreck your cars over and over, your linebacking corps is constantly out of position and pushed around, your punter couldn't have beat the 12-13 year olds in the Punt, Pass, and Kick competition, and you used to be the Six Million Dollar Man. This stuff is not easy to deal with. It eats at you.
I may have muddled that up a bit but you get my drift. Do I think it was the right move to let Sanders, Stock, and the other go? Absolutely. But behind every Fall Guy, there should be a more thorough examination of what led to their termination. In the case of Mike Stock and Bob Sanders, you need only look to this man. Now admittedly, Matt Mosley clowns on White a bit (I’m sure he was corrected by people with knowledge of Tracy White’s career and life accomplishments Update: He was suspended for a week by ESPN for this transgression and forced to watch clips of Tracy White’s play), but the quote says it all. Thanks, Jarrett Bush for effing that play up. When the greatest special teams player in the history of football is released mid-season, you know the Special Teams coach is sure to follow once the unit’s production suffers accordingly. Following his forced retirement, Stock had this to say about White, “He was kind of a quiet leader, because he’d take guys into the video room and sit and talk and discuss the various different aspects of the Big Four, if you will, of the return aspects and the coverage aspects of the game with the young guys.”
White’s release also lead to the termination of Sanders as well. Once Nick Barnett got hurt, Tracy White filled in admirably for him on defense….oh wait, that is what should have happened. Oh well, bye-bye, Bob Sanders.
Let’s hope in the future that Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy are better judges of talent AND leadership AND world-dominating play, or at least listen to the new coaches’ opinions on the matter. After all, what’s the point of hiring them if you cut their legs out mid-season?
I may have muddled that up a bit but you get my drift. Do I think it was the right move to let Sanders, Stock, and the other go? Absolutely. But behind every Fall Guy, there should be a more thorough examination of what led to their termination. In the case of Mike Stock and Bob Sanders, you need only look to this man. Now admittedly, Matt Mosley clowns on White a bit (I’m sure he was corrected by people with knowledge of Tracy White’s career and life accomplishments Update: He was suspended for a week by ESPN for this transgression and forced to watch clips of Tracy White’s play), but the quote says it all. Thanks, Jarrett Bush for effing that play up. When the greatest special teams player in the history of football is released mid-season, you know the Special Teams coach is sure to follow once the unit’s production suffers accordingly. Following his forced retirement, Stock had this to say about White, “He was kind of a quiet leader, because he’d take guys into the video room and sit and talk and discuss the various different aspects of the Big Four, if you will, of the return aspects and the coverage aspects of the game with the young guys.”
White’s release also lead to the termination of Sanders as well. Once Nick Barnett got hurt, Tracy White filled in admirably for him on defense….oh wait, that is what should have happened. Oh well, bye-bye, Bob Sanders.
Let’s hope in the future that Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy are better judges of talent AND leadership AND world-dominating play, or at least listen to the new coaches’ opinions on the matter. After all, what’s the point of hiring them if you cut their legs out mid-season?
Tracy White fact of the Day: Tracy White is the reason the Eagles are in the NFC Championship Game.
Tracy White will have his revenge - in this life or the next.
ReplyDeleteIt will come silent and swift...then it will be done, and his spirit can rest in peace in Valhalla.
ReplyDelete