I keep going back to this simple question...what are we good at in the front office and/or coaching? Spending Jimmy's money isn't an answer.
I think this is probably a good question or angle to focus on with regards to how AB and KS have performed. So many factors can impact winning and losing seasons - from injuries to obviously trading for Watson which has been nothing short of disasterous.
On Berry:
1. I think you could say Berry has manipulated the salary cap. You can argue whether or not he's a genius or simply doing what any competant GM wuld do if the owner was willing to commit $$$ the same way. I tend not to want to give him a lot of credit here - but many do, so it's on the list.
2. I think Berry has shown himself to be a shrewd negotiator with trades. Full credit here. Additions like Jeudy and Cooper were big moves. Credit due.
3. On drafting players - I actually think he's poor. It's on the list because it's such an important part of his job. Newsome and JOK are the highlights out of some very MEH draft classes AB has put together. You could add Delphit once he was used properly, Jacob Philips and Emerson have contributed more than most others. Wills was a big whiff - Schwartz a disaster we clung on to forever - same with David Bell (Berry has been woeful at drafting WR).
4. On Watson - Berry owns a little part of the blame. Whether it was Jimmy who altimately decided to go all out or not, Berry must have been on board and must have been happy to overlook the way things ended in HOU with the hold out and numerour legal issues that were ongoing at that time. A massive gamble that failed.
On KS:
1. He outperformed the rest of the NFL during cvoid.
2. Like covid, he has shown an ability to outperform when expectations were low.
3. Personally on the flip side he seems to have chronically under performed when expectations we raised.
4. He's done great with 'back up' QBs like Brisset and Flacco.
5. Conversely he utterly failed to coach/mentor/protect Baker. We can agree that was an almost impossible challenge - but there are degrees of success/failure and the way it ended and the way the injury was handled was amateur hour and as big an F as imaginable.
6. He's been aggressive on play calling 4th downs - but we've seen the success rates of those calls have been below NFL average which means the high % of going for it combined with a lower success % is bad play calling.
7. I'd also argue he has shown a tendancy to get pass happy - even with Chubb in the backfield and rookie/back up QB's playing.
8. I'd argue he also calls plays like he is trying to out-smart and out-cute other NFL HC's - and he's come up losing out more often than winning those scenarios.
9. He's called some great games - and we've seen a tendancy to have more great first half play calling than the ability to adjust at half time.
As ever - all strictly my opinon. I wasn't in favor of the extensions when they happened. All we can do as fans is hope it works out for the best.
