If next season isn't much better than this one(which is a real possibility), he and Saleh will be canned. The scary thing is thinking about how Woody will pick their successors. He had a search firm provide help after firing Tanny and two ex GM's who had been out of the league for a while after Idzik got the boot.
Yeah…thanks for posting this I don’t think JD is an idiot, but I will say the bloom is a bit off the rose with me now. I do think he knows what the problems are in terms of player position groups…which is basically OL and WR. He’s had mixed results in his drafts and free agents, though with the free agents he’s spent a lot of money on players who have just sucked so not as good here. But he hired Saleh and so that’s on him too. If I had to start, I’d get a new HC first…Saleh is likeable and all that, but a HC owns the WHOLE team, not just the defense, and he just looks totally lost on O. I’m not sure how much better other coaches would do with our shit OL and QB situation, but I’m thinking a Sean McVay type would have had a better O instead of bottom of the league. Still, if the decision was to fire both I’d be fine with it too…
I am going to restrain myself and assume (pray) that this was a humorous response and there was more to it than that. I hope (pray).
Here is the full presser. Unlike Saleh's one, it just feels like at least JD understands where he went wrong, that he wasn't good enough and specific areas, and even what what he needs to do better, like he specifically mentioned back-up QB, WR, OL, that he has to deliver more for the coaches, that winning is everything, he even said his record sucks. I feel like he will give his best shot, I just don't know if he is capable of delivering based on record, but at least based on the presser he identified the direction he needs to move towards, and will attempt to move the team in the right direction. Saleh, on the other hand, was completely clueless, worse than Gase. Even listening to JD, I get a feeling based on this answer, that if it were truly up to him, he would get rid of Saleh. But right now it is just a little too late. Both of them are tied at the hip, and really should have been already gone, but survived somehow. JD appears to understand that he got lucky to survive by the skin of his teeth with a second lease on life as a gift and appears to at least try to change things for the better, while Saleh is like, yeah it's all good, everyone did great, which is why we are coming back. Stark difference between someone who understands the situation even if he may not be good enough to turn this around and someone who is a total fool and is completely oblivious to the reality around him.
I heard a clip of Saleh pointing out all the successes (broke the streak, beat the Eagles for the first time, embarrassed a few good QBs) and seriously wondered what strain of weed he had bonged before the interview.
No wonder JD had nothing to say when asked why he should be the coach. The problem is that JD didn't have any success at all with two coaches now and should himself been fired, so he can't really fire Saleh and hire another coach now. The only thing he can do now is to get Saleh enough talent and hope Rodgers plays like a HOF QB and we win. Gotta keep hope alive. The only way JD stays and Saleh is fired is if Saleh shows up on Epstein's list.
Everything you just said pretty much provides concrete proof that he doesn't have the autonomy to fire the coach. It would be completely pointless for him to hang onto the entire coaching staff if he felt they weren't getting the job done. Woody can fire him and everyone, or Douglas can stay and choose to keep or fire everyone else, but there is no reason for a GM whose job is supposedly safe to hold onto a bad coach. If he was truly looking to save his job, it's an easy call, clean house and move on. But of course Aaron Rodgers has Woody all enchanted and this is the result.
Yeah I took away a couple things from JD’s presser after watching the full conference 1. He mentioned winning a LOT…I think it’s pretty clear he understands they need to WIN NOW 2. He mentioned the obvious areas…OL (said maybe he should’ve kept 10 OL instead of 9 on the opening roster), WR, and backup QB 3. Sure sounds to me like he’s moving on from Zach The only thing that gives me pause and he had NO answer for is to the question of why he thinks Saleh is the right coach…all he said was bullshit crap like he loves the energy, he’s the right guy, etc. Nothing he said was concrete or meaningful…didn’t talk about how he teaches players, or schemes, or anything tangible. That’s why I do think he sees the holes and he’ll try and fix them Saleh…meh…I have ZERO confidence that he has any clue on how to improve the offense…he backs his piece of shit coaches in Hackett and the OL guy, he points to stupid crap like breaking the Pats streak, whatever. The only hope he has on O is to have AR play and let him fix the offense. I have less faith in Saleh than I ever had…
I think it is more like he can't admit right now that Saleh stinks, because he hired him and now could not win with two coaches. Not that Woody is telling him he can't fire Saleh. If he admits it, then he should be gone too. And the truth is: both should be gone right now. But, to have a chance to survive himself, he needs to keep Saleh too. At least right now.
What's disturbing to hear in this is evident in the first fifteen seconds. Why is this guy so surprised by what he heard today in the exit interviews? Where the hell has he been? Is everybody there doing a Pro Bowl job of covering their asses? Could he really have believed for four months that everything would have been okay without the bad luck of some injuries?
If Douglas were allowed to fire Saleh it would mean that he's going to be given an extension at least. It wouldn't make sense to allow a GM who might well be gone after next season to hire a HC that the new GM would be saddled with. Well, if we had a non-ignorant football owner that would be true anyway.
It's all well and good that Douglas knows where he screwed up, but it's not like these all occurred this past year. These were persistent and repeated failures. How often do you have to make the same mistakes to finally learn from them? While it's true that the answer to that is that it takes some people longer than others, it's also true that Douglas was paid a ton of money to come here and fix things based on the presumption that he had learned a lot from his previous jobs. But based upon his results here, that was a bad assumption. I was a big JD supporter up until this year, but the reality that most of his moves have failed to turn this team into a winning one after 5 years can't be ignored. The only thing that would keep me from calling for him being fired is that Woody would still be the guy deciding who would replace him, and he clearly has proven himself incompetent in that regard. In any case, with Woody's commitment to the whole F.O. and CS it's a moot point. But I somehow have a flickering glimmer of hope that Woody might change his mind and decide to hire a proven winning football guy as VP (or Pres.) of Football Ops who would be given carte blanche - with a guarantee of no interference from Woody at any time for any reason - who would be free to fire the whole bunch and get people in who know how to build a winning team. But as it stands, I'm resigned to not GAF for the foreseeable future.
The bold is annoying because these were pretty much the same issues surrounding the Saleh hire in the first place. He was hired because he was a "leader" and a "CEO-type." I will never forget people citing Saleh being animated on the sidelines in SF as evidence he'd be a good HC. It was absurd even at the time, without all the evidence we now have of his time here. There was little in the way of nuanced, concrete analysis of his actual skill as a football mind. JD is not a smart football mind. He is an antiquated thinker. The Cook signing is further evidence: https://x.com/Michael_Nania/status/1744724256527978560?s=20 Cook was very clearly not a "safe" acquisition. No aging RB is. We've known this for many years. Our GM is way behind the times and we're paying the price for it.
Can we HOPE that Woodruff shows up on that list? Now THAT would be cause for the NFL to force that fucker to sell this team to ANYONE that has a modicum of football acumen!!!!
