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MTK · 03-07-2004, 01:53 PM

Daseal, I'm not sure why you feel the need to defend Spurrier all the time. The guy was a total flop at the NFL level. Once Lewis left he was completely lost. And the most telling thing was the offense regressed in his second year despite having more talent. Check out the numbers from 2002 compared to 2003, the offense was much worse across the board.

2002
2003

Some important stats to note:

Points per game:
2002: 19.2
2003: 17.9

Passing yards per game:
2002: 203.4
2003: 187.9

Rushing yards per game:
2002: 118.1
2003: 103.3

Third down %:
2002: 39.8
2003: 34

Penalties:
2002: 116-972
2003: 124-1038

First downs:
2002: 303
2003: 272

He couldn't protect the QB, he refused to committ to running the ball, he wavered back and forth between doing things his way one week, then the next week he would have another "gameplan", and the well documented discipline problems were just inexcusable.

He is a great college coach but at the NFL level he just couldn't cut it. His gimmicky offense was quickly diagnosed and eaten alive by NFL defenses. The only way he would have had success was if he scrapped his fun 'n' gun and went with a more traditional pro style of offense, and ultimately that's what led to him walking away, he realized he wasn't going to be successful doing it "his way", so why bother?

The arguement that Gibbs has more pull so that's why he's put together a better staff doesn't hold much water to me. If Spurrier did his homework on putting together a staff Snyder would have gotten him the guys he needed. Instead, Spurrier had no clue how important coaching was at this level and went about "promoting" his college staff to the NFL where they were equally unqualified and out of their element as he was.

Spurrier didn't even know how to run a training camp for gods' sake, Lewis was here in year 1 to basically be his mentor, (smart move by Snyder by the way). It's no surprise to me that the team fell apart after Lewis left, he was the glue that was holding things together.

The thing about Spurrier is he never really seemed dedicated to learning the ropes of the NFL and putting in the blood, sweat and tears to make it happen. He assumed he could bring his high flying offense to the NFL and that would overcome everything else like coaching and leadership. He was in way over his head in the NFL and he all but admitted that by quitting after 2 seasons and leaving $15M on the table.

And there's no comparison to him and guys like Jimmy Johnson who also struggled initially. The huge difference lies in their work ethics, or in Spurrier's case his lack thereof.

The one thing I can respect about Spurrier is he realized this "experiment" wasn't working and he handed the keys back to Snyder and said go find someone who can make this work.

03-07-2004, 01:53 PM	#23
MTK \m/ Join Date: Feb 2004 Age: 52 Posts: 99,831	Daseal, I'm not sure why you feel the need to defend Spurrier all the time. The guy was a total flop at the NFL level. Once Lewis left he was completely lost. And the most telling thing was the offense regressed in his second year despite having more talent. Check out the numbers from 2002 compared to 2003, the offense was much worse across the board. 2002 2003 Some important stats to note: Points per game: 2002: 19.2 2003: 17.9 Passing yards per game: 2002: 203.4 2003: 187.9 Rushing yards per game: 2002: 118.1 2003: 103.3 Third down %: 2002: 39.8 2003: 34 Penalties: 2002: 116-972 2003: 124-1038 First downs: 2002: 303 2003: 272 He couldn't protect the QB, he refused to committ to running the ball, he wavered back and forth between doing things his way one week, then the next week he would have another "gameplan", and the well documented discipline problems were just inexcusable. He is a great college coach but at the NFL level he just couldn't cut it. His gimmicky offense was quickly diagnosed and eaten alive by NFL defenses. The only way he would have had success was if he scrapped his fun 'n' gun and went with a more traditional pro style of offense, and ultimately that's what led to him walking away, he realized he wasn't going to be successful doing it "his way", so why bother? The arguement that Gibbs has more pull so that's why he's put together a better staff doesn't hold much water to me. If Spurrier did his homework on putting together a staff Snyder would have gotten him the guys he needed. Instead, Spurrier had no clue how important coaching was at this level and went about "promoting" his college staff to the NFL where they were equally unqualified and out of their element as he was. Spurrier didn't even know how to run a training camp for gods' sake, Lewis was here in year 1 to basically be his mentor, (smart move by Snyder by the way). It's no surprise to me that the team fell apart after Lewis left, he was the glue that was holding things together. The thing about Spurrier is he never really seemed dedicated to learning the ropes of the NFL and putting in the blood, sweat and tears to make it happen. He assumed he could bring his high flying offense to the NFL and that would overcome everything else like coaching and leadership. He was in way over his head in the NFL and he all but admitted that by quitting after 2 seasons and leaving $15M on the table. And there's no comparison to him and guys like Jimmy Johnson who also struggled initially. The huge difference lies in their work ethics, or in Spurrier's case his lack thereof. The one thing I can respect about Spurrier is he realized this "experiment" wasn't working and he handed the keys back to Snyder and said go find someone who can make this work.