I finished the final episode tonight. Where to begin?
First, they did not dig into some of the real issues or moments with the team. We don't see Fisher get the news from management that he is fired. Nor do we get many interviews, much less interesting ones, from some of the teams biggest stars: Gurley, Goff, Donald, etc. A great deal of this show seemed very, very scripted to me. I'll give my examples below.
DEMOFF & SNEAD
Full disclosure: I can't stand these guys. I want them fired yesterday. I'm sure all you body language experts could visibly see what a dishonest, lying snake Demoff is ... his conversation with Fassel comes off staged. It was awful and filled with lies. He can barely look Fassel in the eye; shifting away from eye contact the entire time he say's " we don't see you as an interim coach, this is your team now". Demoff is a HUGE problem in this organization. Mark it down. Dude makes my skin crawl.
I'm not sure what Les Snead is doing there. He seems like a puppet at best. Just like Hard Knocks he is rarely seen until the very end. How do you do a show about a franchise that is moving across the country and not interview the General Manager?? Not a fan of Snead...... I think he likes Les more than anyone else.
GOFF
Literally nothing is given as to 'why' he wasn't ready. No in depth conversations or coaches meetings. The basically gloss the entire subject IMO. What was he missing? Were they concerned about the offensive line? Was he not picking up the playbook? Nothing.
I really liked seeing him make several attempts to be a leader, including a sideline rant (I believe it was the Carolina game?). His teammates seemed to respect him and like him. I think this board was way too hard on the kid; he showed flashes during games. I'm excited to see what McVay can do with him.
MANNION
He looks like a guy that wants to be on another team. Rarely saw him, but when you did, he just looked like a guy that knew he was stuck being a back up.
AUSTIN
Barely a subject in this series. Pretty lame considering his huge contract deal. They seemed to avoid him all together. He has one emotional sideline rant, but he seems hard to take seriously. His brick hands showed up..... grim reminder of a guy I just don't see doing much past a few flash plays now and then. HUGE mistake signing him to that contract. He will be a massive regret soon enough.
ROBINSON
Not interviewed, not touched on.....non-existent. One of the best moments of the entire series is when Saffold and him are going to the line of scrimmage and you hear Roger tell him "they're coming, okay?' He then says something to reemphasize it. It is very brief and in an early episode, but it made me LOL .... Saffold was coaching him on the way to the line of scrimmage. UGH......such a BUST.
SAFFOLD & OGLETREE
Two guys I ended up liking even more after this series. They seem to really care. Both good family guys and try to lead by example.
DONALD
One of my favorite observations was that Aaron Donald always sits in the back of the room at meetings. I'll let everyone else decipher that the way they want, but I like it. He is always watching.
Incidentally, he was one guy that didn't seem to broke up about Fisher being fired. Sure, it's a brief and with editing, but he didn't seem to busted up about it. He is the best player on the team in a landslide. An absolute force week in and week out. He's unreal. We are lucky to have drafted him. His teammates seem to love him.
QUINN
I really came away wondering about him. He didn't seem himself when the cameras would catch up to him. He seemed disinterested. No fire. Not vocal. I expected more from him and maybe it hit the editing room floor, but he sure didn't seem very interested in the team. He was another one that didn't seem to emotional about Fisher getting the ax.
GLAD THEY'RE GONE!!
Kenny Britt....ugh, so glad he's gone... not a good teammate IMO. Brian Quick, Lance Kendricks and Greg Robinson. Cody Davis was literally chewing his nails and daydreaming during the Fisher goodbye.
COACHES
Fisher ran a Club Med. The team was getting slaughtered on Sundays and he would be right back on the practice field yucking it up the next day. Awful. He acted like a lame duck coach.
Call me weird, but I was not a big fan of seeing almost the entire coaching staff wearing flip flops on the field and in meeting rooms. What is this, vacation??
Boras -- in WAY over his head .. high school coach at best
Groh -- oh boy, that was coaching?
Boudreau -- non existent
Brandon Fisher -- what did he DO exactly??
Williams -- the only guy acting like a psycho football coach. He seemed to really care, whatever you may think about him. The rest didn't.
Fassel -- good guy, loved by his players, in WAY over his head those last three weeks. I personally think they made him interim by design and I don't think it was all above board. Demoff was sickening.
FISHER FIRING
Honestly, it's just my take......but he seemed like a guy that was relieved. I'm sure he does miss the players and other things, but I just came away feeling like he saw it coming and was glad it was over. Making $7 million dollars a year has a way of doing that to you. He lacked any real fire or intensity outside of game day. The game where he couldn't find his challenge flag was cringe worthy.
True to character, watching Mike Singletary get out of his seat and shake his hand with a 'thank you' was the most compelling thing about his firing.
In the end, it was like watching a car crash. I, for one, am very, VERY glad to at least see an attempt at a culture change. However, with Demoff and Snead still there, I have serious doubts. I'm also glad to see guys like GRob, Britt, Quick and Kendricks long gone.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2017 10:50PM by Ram49.
