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Christopher and Woody should avoid this . . .
Giants co-owner John Mara made news today.
“I think our roster is good enough to make the playoffs,” Mara told the New York Post.
When owners answer this kind of question, it puts extra heat on the coach, because they are essentially saying that the GM has done his job building the roster, and now it’s up to the coach to get the team to the playoffs.
Woody caused a stir after the Jets started 0-3 in 2003 under Head Coach Herman Edwards.
Woody was asked a trap question if he thought fans should have lower expectations with the roster turnover (including an injury to QB Chad Pennington) after making the AFC Divisional round for the second consecutive year.
“Are you kidding me?” Woody said. “No excuses. We will win with the team we have, whatever that team is. We can, absolutely. If you look at the talent on this team, it’s equal to or better than anything out there.”
The media went wild with this quote, forcing Johnson to address the media again a few days later to put out the firestorm.
“I don’t how you guys took what I said and converted it into what you converted it into, but I want to say here unequivocally that you misinterpreted what I said,” Johnson said. ”I’m here to tell you that I have 100 percent confidence in Herm Edwards.
”I have 100 percent confidence in Herm and the coaching staff.”
Chris and Woody should avoid making any playoff predictions or mandates or any season predictions. Don’t fall for the trap. Let Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh do their thing, sans predictions in the media.
They should also avoid evaluating young quarterbacks in the press like Mara did.
“Every single one of our coaches loves the kid (Daniel Jones), and believes he has the talent to win a championship,” Mara said. “He really wants to be great, you can see that. … I believe the sky’s the limit with him.”
Woody and Christopher, I recommend avoiding going down this path.
First of all, it’s kind of irrelevant that coaches, paid by the Mara (and his co-owners), tell Mara, that they think Jones “has the talent to win a championship.” What are they supposed to say to Mara: “Daniel is average, move on.”
Also, wanting to be great is terrific, but that doesn’t guarantee greatness. I have covered a lot of young quarterbacks who wanted to be great, and worked their tails off, but that didn’t help their pocket presence or field vision on game day. Because what you do during the week preparing for a game, is minus an opponent throwing disguised defenses at you, and with pass rushers trying to take your head off, so to speak.
Last year, Christopher was asked a bunch of questions about Sam Darnold after the team’s 0-1 start.
“I have every confidence in Sam,” Christopher said last September. “I really do. I think we’re going to see him turn into that quarterback that we all expected, shortly. I really do. I think he is an absolutely sterling quarterback.”
An owner can’t will his young quarterback to be great with kind words in the press.
I wouldn’t go there anymore. I would let Joe and Robert evaluate and comment on the young QB, publicly.
Look, Woody and Christopher can say or do what they want. I don’t want to come across as arrogant telling them what to do.
But if I were them, I’d avoid the media trap questions at all costs.
In fact, I’m not sure, if I were them, if I’d even talk to the media, which includes some people who consistently go out of their way to try and make them look bad. Let Saleh and Douglas deal with the press, it’s one of the reasons you are paying them big bucks. It isn’t written anywhere, NFL owners need to speak to the press. The late Paul Allen in Seattle never did. Other owners speak very, very rarely, perhaps just on special occasions (like the hiring of a coach).
March 29, 2021
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