LOL....while I am not an Ireland supporter, he did assemble the same team that beat the Patriots two weeks ago.....and they looked pretty good.
I'm sure it is natural to want to pin this season on a particular person.....but I'm not sure it is as simple as that. But since we are talking about Ireland, here is what I see.
QB - We all were happy going into the season with RT and Moore as the backup....along with Devlin on the practice squad.
RB - Miller, Thomas and Gisellee were all ok to start the season
Wide Outs - Hartline, Wallace, Gibson, Keller....not a bad lineup
Line - Pouncey is solid at center. You have a pro-bowler next to him in Incognito. You have Jerry and Garner on the other side of Pouncey....again, not bad. The question marks were the tackles, but he brought in Clabo on the right side (former starter in Atlanta) and Martin on the left side. I think it was 50/50 that Martin would be successful. There was no way to anticipate that Clabo would be awful the first half of the season. However, Clabo has played well the 2nd half of the season.
In pre-season, I was very optimistic about the team he put on the field. Whether it was coaching, the Martin/Incognito fiasco, the injuries to Keller and Gibson....I don't know, but it felt good to begin with.
Now, I only addressed the offense, as it was our biggest problem again this year. On the defensive side of the all....
It is extremely fair to question the judgement of giving up Dansby and Burnett for Ellerbe and Wheeler. We have really weakened our run defense.....but, he did put a much better team on the field against the pass. Grimes in particular has been outstanding.
Just my two cents. I can argue either side of keeping or getting rid of Ireland.
