Quote:
Originally Posted by popanot
It's becoming increasingly apparent that Kubiak doesn't have the nads to make the difficult decision based on his failure to fire/demote Smith when he had the man he wanted all along on his staff for the past 2 years. All this while watching his defense get torched beyond recognition for the most part. Sweet... We waisted two years on the Smith experiment.
Personally, I don't have problem with Bush if that's who Kubiak wants and feels is the best man for the job. I do have a problem with Kubiak not making the move sooner, however. This would concern me greatly if I were Bob McNair.
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I think it's pretty unfair to say that Kubiak can't make a tough decision because he lt Smith hae a full season. Hypothetically speaking, if Kubiak held onto Smith and the defense was above average next year, maybe bordering on top ten or better, then all the talk would be about how much courage it took for Kubiak to have the necessary patience to let Smith get the right players in and his scheme going. Dungy was too nice and Coughlin was too mean...until they both won Super Bowls.
We had an unually large number of injuries on the defense Smith's first year. He was given the benefit of the doubt. The defense was poor again the next year, but actually finished strong over the last part of the season. That improvement late in the season probably saved his job. Another poor year and he gets the ax. I'm sure that Smith knew his job was on the line, and have no problem with Kubiak letting him go the whole season to try and save it.
There's not enough time mid-season to make dramatic changes to a defense. Sure, they could have let Bush call a couple of games late, but we still wouldn't have seen what he brings because he would only have time to make minor changes to Smith's framework late in the season. Besides, it's entirely possible that Bush was given a little more control over the defense for the last few games...and the fact that the defense seemed to play a little better could be part of the reason he was hired (total speculation on my part though).
I think a new coordinator is better off coming in clean in the off season anyway. Players are more likely to buy in in the off season then they are trying to adjust mid-stream.