Mothman wrote: I didn't share the pessimism about Frazier that permeates the board
I get that, and I'm fine with it. And this is not directed at you, but for instance Frazier's latest quote (when asked about Josh Freeman) is so typically head-scratching for me it drives me nuts, and I'm pointing all this out to say how tired I was of his approach to things and how Zimmer provides hope for improvement, as I don't believe he is Frazier-like in the least.
from
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... h/related/
“[W]e made a decision to try to figure out where Christian Ponder was and also take a look at Matt Cassel as well, as we tried to determine and get some questions answered at our quarterback position,” Frazier said. “Josh got caught up in the shuffle of that. It probably wasn’t the fairest situation for him, made it difficult for him, made it difficult for all of us as we were trying to evaluate quarterbacks in an NFL season. That’s not a wise thing. But nothing to do with Josh. He prepared and worked as hard as he could to get on the field. It just didn’t work out.”
Seriously? Let me pick this apart:
“[W]e made a decision to try to figure out where Christian Ponder was" ... "as we tried to determine and get some questions answered at our quarterback position"
Hey coach, by the time you picked up Josh Freeman, Ponder had 30 starts under his belt. That wasn't enough to find out "where he was"? What questions remained? You just signed a FA QB and you did NOT know where you stood with your starter, like if he was going to be The Man moving forward? C'mon man.
"and also take a look at Matt Cassel as well"
Matt was in the first year of a two year contract, veteran fodder who could probably give you chances to win games here and there. You really needed to "take a look" at him? For what?
“Josh got caught up in the shuffle of that"
OK. Seriously, as a veteran of many years in the NFL, I find it hard to believe this struck you as a weird outcome of bringing in Freeman. Be that as it may, if Josh was truly "caught up in the shuffle", why in the world start him against NY after two weeks? And you SERIOUSLY picked up a FA QB in the middle of the season and claim you had [unanswered] questions about Ponder? I would say signing Freeman indicated all questions about Ponder had been fully answered. There is simply no other reason to make such an unconventional signing at QB.
"we were trying to evaluate quarterbacks in an NFL season. That’s not a wise thing"
True (to put it kindly), but that wasn't apparent at any point in Ponder's prior 30 games, or Cassell's recent career?
"[Josh] prepared and worked as hard as he could to get on the field. It just didn’t work out.”
Why not? If he truly prepared and worked that hard - something the players themselves dispute BTW, shouldn't he have gotten some minutes if he was any good - or if you coached him up to be good? I just LOVE the "it just didn't work out" reasoning, as if aliens were at the helm of the fates here.
IMO they were hopelessly lost at the QB position and had absolutely zero clue how to turn Freeman into a productive player. He is young and he certainly has been productive at times in his career. I think our old staff simply did not have a clue how to proceed with him. THAT would have been a more honest answer for Frazier to give IMO.
And for the life of me I cannot figure out where "we put the best players on the field each week and Josh wasn't one of them" logic may have gone off to. I am betting Zimmer has more of that take on things than the dancing "it didn't work out" crap. And before anyone goes to the "that doesn't help win games", oh I beg to differ, in a HUGE way. It's called accountability.
ps, this got VERY long and I wasn't going to post it but my "keystrokes and minutes" counter pretty much dictated I couldn't delete it at this point.
