NFL 2014 - 2015 Season Thread

Chanur_sl said:

The 49ers seem to think someone is going to come in and bring them more success than 3 consecutive trips to the NFC championship game and one Superbowl in three years. I look forward to the bewilderment when this success does not reappear.

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I don't actually think they believe this at all. I think this is another redskins situation where front office doesn't get along with him and hes telling them to fuck off so they want him gone.

Aside from losing a head coach and having to find another do they lose anything from a monetary standpoint by firing him or is it just like normal firing at a job?

They have to buy out the contract. So Harbaugh still gets his money.

Holy shit. Cutler took me to a fantasy championship now I have to get a guy off waivers!

Chanur_sl said:

The 49ers seem to think someone is going to come in and bring them more success than 3 consecutive trips to the NFC championship game and one Superbowl in three years. I look forward to the bewilderment when this success does not reappear.

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Moresuccess? No, I don't think anybody really buys that. However, I don't think it's going to take a prodigy level coach to make the 49ers successful. Especially with the level of talent they have.

What, exactly, has Harbaugh won? The only thing he's "won" is that he isn't Singletary, Nolan, or Erickson. So what? At the end of the season, the result is the same, except we have a worse draft position. Also, I attribute a lot of Harbaugh's success to the talent on the field, compared to the players those other coaches had. Those weren't just bad coaches, those were bad TEAMS. Jim Harbaugh is responsible for being a good co-worker as well as coach. If he's creating a toxic environment and is difficult to work with, winning percentage doesn't excuse that. It'smuchharder to replace a GM like Baalke in this league, than it is to replace a coach like Harbaugh with somebody "average", yet still have similar success. Baalke took over GMing duties late in '10 (officially got the title in '11), yet it's Harbaugh who gets the "73% winning percentage!" stat attributed to him. Look at Carroll as a glaring example of a great GM helping make a coach look like a savant. Carroll was the epitome of a mediocre HC during his first stint in the NFL. The 49ers "turnaround" lines up just as well with Baalke's promotion to GM as it does with Harbaugh coming in to coach.

I'm not saying he shouldn't continue being the coach, but after years and years of surrounding a guy with talent, when do you get to say that Super Bowl/NFC Championship appearances without anything to show for it isn't enough? For Andy Reid that was 5 appearances and over a decade. Harbaugh likely won't get that luxury because he's so grating.

Sterling_sl said:

Holy shit. Cutler took me to a fantasy championship now I have to get a guy off waivers!

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How in the fuck did Cutler get you to a championship? I'd say you got there in spite of him.

Gravy_sl said:

How in the fuck did Cutler get you to a championship? I'd say you got there in spite of him.

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His opponents probably had cutler every week.

Alex_sl said:

They have to buy out the contract. So Harbaugh still gets his money.

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Isn't some/all of that buyout negated if he gets another job?

Gravy_sl said:

How in the fuck did Cutler get you to a championship? I'd say you got there in spite of him.

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Cutler throws picks and all but he's still a top 10 fantasy QB because he kills it in garbage time. Cutler averages more points per week than Rivers, Romo, Eli, Flacco, Stafford, Newton, Kaep, and Dalton.

Downside is he's more likely than any of them to follow up a 30 point week with a 7 point week. But yeah, making the playoffs with him and even winning last week(he scored 25 in standard) isn't as crazy as it sounds.

I had Cutler on one of my teams, and even though my team ended up performing like shit, it was more due to my RB's shitting the bed and not really having a TE all year than bad performances from Cutler. Granted, this league is 6 pts per TD, but he was still good for 20+ points 9 out of 14 weeks (with 19 in one week also).

Jovec_sl said:

Isn't some/all of that buyout negated if he gets another job?

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Most coaches' contracts have 'offsets' built-in, which basically means that the old team is still on the hook for the difference. E.g. I had $3Mil a year guaranteed, I get a new job that pays me $1Mil a year, the original team still has to pay $2Mil a year to get me back to the guarantee.

And it's been a while since the Madness of Al Davis years, but I believe that while Harbaugh's money is guaranteed, his job duties are not. If SF really wanted him gone (and Harbaugh wasn't agreeing to a new team), they could demote him to 3rd shift laundry assistant, as long as they still paid him $X per year.

Kirun, you don't turn it around that fast without at least some level of talent on the team already. Also, Alex Smith.

Wombat_sl said:

Most coaches' contracts have 'offsets' built-in, which basically means that the old team is still on the hook for the difference. E.g. I had $3Mil a year guaranteed, I get a new job that pays me $1Mil a year, the original team still has to pay $2Mil a year to get me back to the guarantee.

And it's been a while since the Madness of Al Davis years, but I believe that while Harbaugh's money is guaranteed, his job duties are not. If SF really wanted him gone (and Harbaugh wasn't agreeing to a new team), they could demote him to 3rd shift laundry assistant, as long as they still paid him $X per year.

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He seems the type to coach the Rams for a dollar to screw San Francisco as much as possible.

radditsu_sl said:

He seems the type to coach the Rams for a dollar to screw San Francisco as much as possible.

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No thanks. We'll keep master troll Jeff Fisher for now. If we had a real RB or a healthy (read: not Sam Glassford) QB we would have been in the playoffs this year no doubt about it.

Edit: Tre Mason did fairly well in the second half of the season but he's still not a franchise RB.

moontayle_sl said:

Kirun, you don't turn it around that fast without at least some level of talent on the team already. Also, Alex Smith.

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Which was exactly my point? That's why I said Baalke can be credited just as easily as Harbaugh for turning the 49ers around. Late in 2010 is when he took over GM duties and he got the official title in 2011.

A PM from just after this year's fantasy draft. For the lulz.

Araysar_sl said:

AngryGerbil_sl said:

I'm sitting here, last night, drafting my FF team. I have a nice group of starters that I think can fetch me plenty of points. I waited to draft a QB too early and I am happy with that decision. I made a priority for backup RB's and WR's this year because my bench tends to fuck me in some way each year. I'm quite happy with where I'm sitting when it comes to me in round 11. I decide this round is time for my backup QB. I am faced with two realistic options. Cutler, or Romo?

107 Jay Cutler, Chi QB Eli's Chromosomes
108 Broncos D/ST D/ST Surrounded By Idiots
109 Tony Romo, Dal QB Self-Cleaning Beaver Traps

I am Eli's Chromosomes. After that pick I yell into chat, "Cutler over Romo!!!" and within seconds two people ask if I am Araysar haha!

This surly emotionless flat-faced little bastard better produce! You've convinced me and now I hold you personally responsible for anything that happens!

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hahaha, you know Cutler is gonna have a landmark year. I think Romo will have a decent, typical Romo year. But with Jeffery, Marshall, Forte, Martellus Bennett and Marquess Wilson coming back in week 5 - Bears are going to have one of the best, if not the best O-line in the league and the best receiver corps by far. This team will be a scoring juggernaut.

You will not be disappointed.

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Statistically he's having one of the best years of his career. But he's not getting those stats at times when it matters the most (unless you count interceptions), and that defense isn't doing them any favors. I don't know what benching him is going to accomplish outside of making sure he doesn't get hurt so he's healthy for a trade. He's already appears to not give a shit, so if they're benching him to make a point I'll take the under on it working.

Wow, if Kirun's posts are a reflection of how Niners fans as a whole really feel, it's going to be glorious when they're bottom feeders again. I'm not sure what "talent" you think the new guy is coming into. Maybe when Harbaugh took over you could make the argument that it was a roster filled with talent, but now it's not even close.

I think you're severely underestimating what Harbaugh brings. As a Redskins fan, I can tell you that the coaches absolutely make a HUGE difference. We've had so much turnover that it becomes very apparent. A top 5 defense with the same players can drop to the bottom of the league with a new guy.

Teams that consistently make the playoffs tells me more about their coaches than ones that just win the Super Bowl. This is mostly addressing your comment about Pete Carroll. It could also be said about those Giants teams that won. Winning a Championship comes down to luck more than anything. It's about the team catching some fire and having the bounces go their way. That's why you can go in and win and then the next year miss the playoffs entirely. But taking a team to the conference championship game several years in a row like Belichick and Harbaugh? That says something. As a fan (or really, a team), would you much rather have the scenario where you win it all and miss the playoffs the next year? Fuck yes. But throwing out your coach who gives you a shot and hoping the next guy can repeat is a pretty long shot.