Quote
Ram Fan Teacher
9er,

I would love to argue your point about acquiring talent but I would be wrong when we look at the results. I can't argue with that and you're correct even if I don't want to believe it

Would you say that there are better players on the team now than with Spags or Linehan? That has to be obvious.

So would you say that the reason for the results is Fisher and Co. in your opinion? Obviously yes.

It's an interesting question. Harder to compare with Linehan because of the years that passed between him and Fisher, but easier with Spags. The first thing I think you have to look at is that the talent that contributed the most to Fisher's first 7-8-1 season was largely already on the roster when he and Snead arrived. It could be argued that Spags simply wasn't given enough time, though I wouldn't make that argument. I think it was pretty obvious he needed to go when he did.

It could also be argued that Fisher got the benefit of Quinn coming into his own in his 2nd season and combining with Long for a nice DE tandem, Bradford staying healthy for a full season and with a couple seasons of seasoning under his belt and a couple short term improvements on defense added in Hayes, Dunbar and Finnegan. But the bottom line is, whatever upgrades in health and talent and coaching that occurred between the 2011 and 2012 seasons appears to have gone dormant since that time. You do have to leave room for random variance when it comes to single season results or the fluctuation that can occur from one season to another, i.e small sample sizes, that may not be entirely attributable to the brain-trust. However, when you have 4 full years of data and consistent results, it all but excludes that as a meaningful contributor in the analysis.