Postby Anteaters » Thu Oct 21, 2021 7:20 pm
steelman wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:54 pmSo yeah, I can't help with the comparisons and I guess I am trying to minimize Gruden's actions a little bit, although it's mostly just due to my feelings of words vs actions. I don't like the direction society is heading. While we don't need to tolerate hate speech, we do need to toughen up a little bit. There will always be hurtful words out there. There's arguably no such thing as a safe place, and do we even have the right to be safe from having our feelings hurt?
Gruden's words were not just words. They were a window into how his mind works, and how he makes decisions.
Gruden was a major decision maker in his organization. He was practically in charge of every hiring decision made by the team, or via his deep personal and professional connection with the owner he had incredible influence over who got hired and fired.
Once his words revealed him to be a bigot, it is fair to assume his deeply held bigoted beliefs influenced his hiring decisions. It's not surprising that none of the higher positions on his coaching staff were held by minorities. And never have been as far as I have researched. Compare that to someone like Pete Carroll, who has three minorities in the 6 highest coordinator positions. Or Belichick who regularly advances minorities to his top coordinator positions.
Gruden has never had a minority QB start a game for him, except for one early in TB when he inherited Shaun King who was the 3rd string QB and was forced into a start because of injuries. And since he got rid of King after that season, in a total of 15 seasons Gruden has never had another minority QB get on the field - not even on his roster until the ghost of Mariotta arrived in LV last season. I think you'd have to search far and wide to find another contemporary NFL head coach with 15 years of experience with a similar track record with minority QBs.
And that's just two windows into how his bigotry has possibly affected his management decisions. Who knows what more research would reveal? Given Gruden's racist comments about D Smith, it would be interesting to see how Gruden reacted to players who were represented by minority agents? How were women hired and promoted in his workplaces?
This isn't only about Gruden's words. His words reflect his beliefs, and his beliefs guide his actions. You can't separate the words from his hiring behavior. It's about how his words affect hiring decisions - both his own and others'. Other coaches/GMs/owners across the league who may have been influenced by Gruden's blatant bigotry to make similar bigoted hiring decisions. At a minimum, maybe Gruden influenced Bruce Allen's hiring decisions?
TEAM 1:
12 Team ppr w/20 keepers - start 1QB 2RB 3WR 1TE 1FLX 6IDP 1DEF
QB: Tua, Lamar, Levis
RB: Etienne, Pacheco, JavonteWms, JFord, CEH
WR: Lamb, JChase, Waddle, Pickens, MWilliams, Q Johnston
TE: Goedert, Friermuth
DEF: Cowboys, Ravens
IDP:(LB) Bolton, Greenlaw; (DE/DL) ZCollins, BJHill; (S/CB) Pitre, Bates, Witherspoon
2023 & 2022 Champion: 2020 third place: 2019 Champion
TEAM 2:
14 Team 30roster SF/ppr/TEP - QB/RB/WR/TE/5FLX/SF
QB: Tua, CJStroud, Carr, AOC, MWhite, Lock
RB: Etienne, Stevenson, GusE, AJD, Singletary, CEH, Spiller
WR: Amon-Ra, Kirk, Dell, Thielen, Gallup, Ch Jones
TE: Andrews, Waller, Taysom, Smythe, WMallory, JOliver
2023 semifinals loser