Quote
Ekern55
My uncle, who did well financially for a farmer—and did well in the stock market—used to ask me about my dallying in stocks: Are you an investor or are you a gambler? Since this is about McVay, I’ll skip what I think I am.
But the question comes to mind with McVay. An investor is someone who, by his research, is going to look for sure fire opportunities that will grow largely by compounding. A gambler is the guy (and he may appreciate investing) that takes whatever money he has, does his research as well, but is looking for an immediate return on a small cost basis that is hardly leveraged.
I think McVay appreciates coaches like Shanahan whom I assess more as an investor,
But then he sees Mike McDaniels’ Dolphins rack up 70 points and 700+ yards and thinks, “I want that.”
I think McVay is much more of a gambler than an investor. But this year, with the change in offensive lineman profile, I think he’s become more of an investor. I agree with you, 70s, that he needs to do more for the defensive line.
But I don’t think he’s ever NOT going to be a gambler. And I think it will hold him back. He clearly gets his teams to buy in and play competitive football. But he puts huge stress on them by wanting it all right now: the chunk play followed by more chunk plays. His offensive lines are exposed to defensive lines who pin their ears back and play a game of who can sack the QB first.
So, he either changes—goes to the equivalent of coaches gamblers anonymous—or he gets the studs on his team that can handle the high torque type of stress his gambling urge places on them.
Incidentally the Bengals’ game was right after the Dolphins put up 70, so I had a premonition that McVay was going to like that and try to replicate it.
Great post, Ekern.
I've said this as well- McVay gets in these "Max Q" modes, and tries to lean on his squad executing perfectly to get the drives he wants. He's gambling. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I think what frustrates people is that he keeps rolling the dice when it keeps coming up snake eyes. I literally turned the Bengals game off with five minutes left because I couldn't watch him keep laying Stafford out to get killed, running the same plays out over and over. When everyone in the building knows what's coming next, it's impossible to successfully execute. Fortunately, I do see McVay as a very young man who's still growing, and it's my hope he learns from these incidents. But, as you say, he'll always be a gambler. It's who he is.
