I appreciate you trying to have a reasonable discussion, whereas some of the other guys go straight to the ad hominem attacks. At least one adult in the room.
First, when did I ever say we shouldn't expect to win 10 games? I expect to win 9 or 10, just like Vegas expects. When did I say the coach needs more time? I don't think he needs more time to win 9 or 10 games. I said not winning the ACCCG and not going to the playoffs is excusable. All 9-win teams and 2 10-win P5 teams from last season would not have made the playoffs. So I am being consistent with my logic.
Second, I feel you guys are just fed up with Mario, and unwilling to give him any breaks at all. Emotion is clouding your judgment. If Mario hadn't built up such a great, it is clear you would have thought it inexcusable we are headed into season 3 with him at barely .500. I would have agreed with you under these circumstances.
But Mario DID build up a quality great roster. And to me, BECAUSE he built up such a great roster, with more on the way in 2025, it makes no sense to say it is inexcusable for him if he doesn't win the ACCCG and make the playoffs. It is inevitable he will do both based on the talent he is accumulating.
You can point to Jimbo all you want, he's an outlier who thought of himself as an offensive genius and interfered with the OC play calling. He also didn't build nearly the level of cultural discipline that Miami has under Mario. Nor did he sustain talent acquisition and do it across positions at depth. Mario is doing this, IMO.
So for me, talent is king, and one or two historic outliers are irrelevant. Mario's roster talent will result in championships. We just need a little patience.
Emotion definitely isn't clouding my judgment because my judgment is very simple. Win games & stop trying to make excuses for not winning.
I never said he had to win the ACC & make the playoffs this year, however, the idea that he shouldn't be expected to at least make it to the ACCCG with this roster is simply nonsensical if you're saying we have the best roster on paper than any team we play on our schedule.
As far as giving Mario breaks, he's a big boy, he gets a really nice salary & his job as the HC is to win games. So if not making excuses for him not executing at what he gets paid to do is not giving him any breaks, then I guess so.
You're argument is that because he's acquiring talent that eventually its going to translate into success.
My argument is that, if that doesn't happen this year then its not going to happen any time soon, because the likelihood of finding a QB of this caliber is rare & if he can't succeed while having as good a QB as he has now, when the next great QB becomes available it'll be a much harder sell to convince that one to come here if this situation with Ward doesn't work.
We have a really good roster as it stands, with the exception of 2 positions groups, but even so still, we have more than enough talent to win 10+ this season. That’s just all there is to it.
So instead of reaching for excuses to safeguard the HC from criticism, all he has to do is his job & win, and he won't be criticized. It's that simple.
Having to wait until 2026, 2027, 2028 etc until we can expect a winning season is nothing short of complete & total Horsesh*t. He has everything he needs to win right now, this season.
There are no excuses. You can still try to make them if things go wrong, but they will be completely null & void.
Just get it done. Thats it.
