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February 4, 2019 at 11:09 pm in reply to: super bowl tweets … (look for the Orlovsky stuff in post 7) #97822
znModeratorNot the way we wanted to finish this year off but thank you Rams Nation for riding with us all year. Special group of players and coaches…We’ll be back. Thank you all #GoRams pic.twitter.com/mnro61080Y
— Jared Goff (@JaredGoff16) February 5, 2019
February 4, 2019 at 10:18 pm in reply to: articles & vids on SB … good stuff here including transcripts (Simms & Polian) #97820znModeratorBill Belichick exposed the Sean McVay question
https://nypost.com/2019/02/04/bill-belichick-exposed-the-sean-mcvay-question/
Sean McVay has been talked about for two years as the Golden Child of NFL coaches. Many teams with head-coaching openings last month chased the “next McVay.”
But in Super Bowl LIII on Sunday, the 33-year-old McVay was less Golden Child and more like an overmatched child facing an adult in Patriots coach Bill Belichick. The Rams coach did not have a strong game plan on offense and failed to adjust to what the Patriots threw at him as Belichick coached circles around him.
“Coach Belichick did an outstanding job. There is really no other way to put it,” McVay said after the game. “I’m pretty numb right now, but definitely, I got out-coached. I didn’t do nearly good enough for our football team.”
Now, one bad day against the greatest coach to ever wear a headset should not be enough to dismiss McVay as overhyped, but it did raise some questions. Belichick has proven to be the master of making in-game adjustments. McVay saw how the Patriots attacked his offense in the first half, shutting out the 11th-highest-scoring team in NFL history. He had an entire halftime, which is about three times longer at the Super Bowl than in regular-season games, to come up with something different.
McVay failed. He could not incorporate running back Todd Gurley, whom McVay and Gurley both said was fully healthy, into the flow of the game. He could not solve the Patriots’ pressure to give quarterback Jared Goff more time. All of it led to the 13-3 defeat that will be a blemish on his résumé unless he returns to the Super Bowl and wins it.
“This one is going to stick with you and it just stings in your gut,” McVay said.
McVay’s first two seasons as a head coach have been remarkable. He is 24-8 in the regular season with two trips to the playoffs and an NFC Championship this year.
The Patriots mixed coverages, showing more zone principles than usual and loading the line of scrimmage with pass rushers. It looked like the Patriots were almost in a goal-line defense at times because of how much they loaded the box to stop the run.
The Rams did not have an answer.
“They mixed it up,” McVay said. “They played almost exclusively some man coverage principles and decided to take away — really in the early downs, all they ended up was playing some single high buzz structures and some quarters principles. Third down, they had their designers and things like that. They did a great job. It was a great game plan. There is no other way to say it, but I got outcoached.”
Every team that loses the Super Bowl expects to return, and the Rams have a good young core, so they will be among the favorites to return to the game next year, but things don’t always go as planned. Getting to the Super Bowl requires a bit of luck as well as skill in terms of staying healthy and getting the ball to bounce your way.
The only teams to go to consecutive Super Bowls in the last 20 years are the Patriots twice (2016-18, 2003-04) and the Seahawks (2013-14). Teams like the 2015 Panthers, 2012 49ers and 2001 Rams looked like they would be perennial Super Bowl teams but did not make it back.
“I think the value of experience is something, this is a humbling game,” McVay said. “When you go look back and you look at every single game, you get a chance to learn from it. … Certainly, this is going to be a very humbling tough one that you learn from, but you have to demonstrate that mental toughness you talk about and that is all I know how to do.”
February 4, 2019 at 9:59 pm in reply to: articles & vids on SB … good stuff here including transcripts (Simms & Polian) #97819znModeratorFebruary 4, 2019 at 8:38 pm in reply to: articles & vids on SB … good stuff here including transcripts (Simms & Polian) #97817znModeratorPatriots Shut Down Rams in Unexpectedly Low-Scoring Super Bowl LIII
Whatever It Takes: The Patriots Out-Match and Out-Think the Rams for Title No. 6
You just witnessed the greatest defensive performance in Super Bowl history: Here’s how the Patriots did it
Bill Belichick’s scheming leaves Rams searching for offseason answers
Ego-less Patriots Figure It Out In Time Vs. Rams in ‘throwback’ Super Bowl
FMIA: Ego-less Patriots Figure It Out In Time Vs. Rams in ‘throwback’ Super Bowl
The Debrief: Super Bowl surprises; what’s next for Pats, Rams?
Rams fall short of Super Bowl title, but likely contenders for years to come
How Belichick’s Master Plan Unfolded
The Rams Went All In to Beat the Patriots—and It Still Wasn’t Enough
February 4, 2019 at 8:29 pm in reply to: super bowl tweets … (look for the Orlovsky stuff in post 7) #97816znModeratorPer @NextGenStats Jason McCourty was 19.2 (!!!) yards away from Brandin Cooks when Jared Goff released this pass pic.twitter.com/krJDeZoNtV
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) February 5, 2019
February 4, 2019 at 8:16 pm in reply to: super bowl tweets … (look for the Orlovsky stuff in post 7) #97815znModeratorLouis Riddick@LRiddickESPN
Super Bowl tape review tells me 2 things about #Rams offense: 1)Their run game was destroyed by #Patriots DL with basic , fundamental technique and effort. 2) Rams OL had zero answers for the interior games that #Patriots ran up front. It was a mismatch entire game.I love good secondary play more than anyone, but the #Patriots front 7 are the real #MVP’s. They kicked a$$ all. Game. Long.
znModeratorIf you listen to Gurley and McVay’s post game interviews they both claim he’s healthy not one word about inflammation flaring up Gurley didn’t ask out. I guess we’ll hear about it if he gets scoped but I would think they would be on that pretty quickly now. Why wouldn’t they tell us? I had inflammation in my knee once, it was gout and it sucks, big as a basketball it was.
They have already talked about inflammation, on Dec 27th, and have not taken that back. The cat is out of the bag.
It’s documented, out there, and in the open.
Since they talked about it there have been regular reports about whether he could practice or not or how much etc.
If it’s something like floating cartilage that kind of thing does not just go away overnight,
February 4, 2019 at 7:05 pm in reply to: super bowl tweets … (look for the Orlovsky stuff in post 7) #97812znModeratorDan Orlovsky@danorlovsky7
the Cooks bomb down the middle that McCourty broke up is much more a kudos to the @Patriots and their coverage disguise (video coming from Get Up this morning) than it was Goff being so late like all think he was. Credit the D on it! #SuperBowl53Last nights game swung on 2 plays:
-Gronk catch down seam. Pats waited till they got cov they wanted-pounced
-Goff INT to Gilmore. @Patriots timed blitz off play-clock perfectly. Never left Goff time to check play.I have no doubt @JaredGoff16 will learn from last nights #SuperBowlLIII and be better for it. He isn’t the first QB the @Patriots have confused and flustered and won’t be the last. The kids made of the right stuff. @RamsNFL will be plenty good with him!
February 4, 2019 at 6:09 pm in reply to: super bowl tweets … (look for the Orlovsky stuff in post 7) #97804znModeratorbillster1212
I watched Eric Mangini just say how NE did dictate the game and let the rams bunch up near the LOS so they had the advantage.
Mangini said the fact we did not try anything completely different from this season was a factor. He went on to say that McVay lost to a brilliant pliable mind that adjusts to whatever you can do. If McVay learned anything last night (and I think he did) its that you cannot depend on the other team to be predictable, if you do, that one is on YOU.
znModeratorThat’s what bothers me. If it is a nagging tendonitis,high ankle sprain or anything else end the speculation be honest and tell us. Belichik didn’t take away Gurley he took the big pass plays away. McVay took Gurley away.
But they did tell us. They said inflammation of the knee.
They had MRI and found no structural damage. So we know that too.
It’s like;y they don;t know the exact cause. Not without a scope.
And McVay didn’t take Gurley away. Gurley’s nagging condition took Gurley away. It’s the kind of thing where you can think he’s good when the game starts but it doesn’t stay that way. He says himself, he can go out and play but doesn;’t know how long he can last with it.
==
Left knee initially bothered Rams’ Todd Gurley after season opener
Lindsey Thiry
Dec 27, 2018
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25627677/todd-gurley-los-angeles-rams-knee-first-issue-week-1
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay said Thursday that Todd Gurley’s left knee hasn’t just bothered the star running back recently.
Gurley’s knee also was an issue after a season-opening victory over the Oakland Raiders, when Gurley rushed for 108 yards and caught three passes for 39 yards and a touchdown.
“It was a similar situation,” McVay said.
Gurley said Thursday that he, “Felt like s—” after the Monday night game in Week 1.
“It was bad,” Gurley said. “I was contemplating on giving the Rams back their money and everything. It was bad. It was real bad.”
Before the season, the Rams awarded Gurley, the defending NFL Offensive Player of the Year, a four-year extension worth $60 million, with $45 million guaranteed, to make him the highest-paid running back in NFL history.
Despite the pain, Gurley felt in the aftermath of the opener, he said that his knee felt better two days later.
That hasn’t been the case with his latest knee issue, which includes inflammation and soreness that has lingered since a Week 15 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Gurley was inactive last Sunday in a road win over the Arizona Cardinals, and his status is again in question for the regular-season finale against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at home. A victory over the 49ers would secure the Rams a first-round bye in the playoffs.
“Some days you wake up feeling pain,” Gurley said. “Some days you wake up feeling much better.”
Gurley was sidelined for a series in the third quarter before he returned to the field in a 30-23 loss to the Eagles. He said there was no single play that caused the discomfort in his knee.
“Came back on the sidelines and just you can tell when something doesn’t feel right, you know your body,” said Gurley, who has rushed for 1,251 yards this season. “Obviously, kind of went back in the game and played. Did what I could do and then just kind of dealt with the consequences the next day.”
Gurley sat out of practice last week but participated in a pregame workout ahead of last Sunday’s game in Arizona. After the workout, Gurley and the Rams’ medical staff determined it was in his best interest to sit out.
“I could’ve played,” said Gurley, who has scored a league-best 21 touchdowns. “But who knows how long I would’ve been able to play.”
In his absence, the Rams started veteran C.J. Anderson, whom they had signed only five days earlier. Anderson rushed for 167 yards and a touchdown.
Gurley has not practiced this week, and it’s uncertain if he will test his knee before pregame warmups Sunday.
“It’s just one of those day-by-day things,” Gurley said. “I’m just going to have to see when Sunday gets here.
February 4, 2019 at 1:22 pm in reply to: articles & vids on SB … good stuff here including transcripts (Simms & Polian) #97794znModeratorFrom MMQB:
The idea on defense, through what Flores and Belichick planned, was to force Jared Goff to think on the fly. It’s well-documented that McVay uses to the coach-to-quarterback communication to adjust calls based on what the defense is showing, up to the point where that communication cuts off, with 15 seconds left on the play clock.
The Patriots wanted to negate that creative advantage, so they essentially sent in two calls on every play. One was what they’d show before the snap. The other was what they’d switch into post-snap. And if you want to see how it worked, go back and watch how Goff held the ball, and doubted what he was looking at, over and over and over.
“We wanted to make it tough on him,” Devin McCourty said. “We knew we couldn’t just give him the same looks, because he does a good job with McVay of being able to lead defenses and get to the play they want. So we knew if we switched it up and made it tough, it would give us a chance.”
That, of course, was in play with a blitz-happy front. It was also there on the back end. The Patriots are best as a man cover defense, but, again, the idea here was get Goff’s mind racing, so the priority was to multiply what Goff saw everywhere.
“Definitely more zone than we played throughout the entire playoffs,” said corner Jason McCourty. “Toward the end of the season we became a strictly man team, and I think that’s exactly what they were anticipating. We knew our coaching staff did a great job of studying them and putting together a great game plan. We executed and mixed up our looks.”
znModeratorWhat I don’t understand is why – if Gurley was well enough for 10 or 12 touches – why isn’t he good for 20?
Because with a nagging condition like that, you can inflame it by playing. He can start out fairly okay and get worse after a few runs. Or, sometimes, not. It’s a completely “in the moment” thing. When I had tendinitis of the elbow, for example, there were days when I couldn’t do anything, even type on a keyboard. There were days when I could do lots of things, though there was lingering lowkey pain. And there were days when I would start out able to do lots of things, but it would wear down fast and I would have to quit doing whatever was making it worse.
znModeratorThe Gurley thing is wearing on me. If he is really fine and you don’t use him that is inept coaching and now the Superbowl is over there is no reason to hide an injury to anyone yet both McVay and Gurley continue to deny.
He’s very likely hurting.
I’ve forgotten the game, but I think it happened when he was tackled pretty far out of bounds, pulled down from the neck with his legs, and especially his ankles, out of whack.
I’m guessing it’s a high ankle sprain. They’re notorious for lingering.
He was hurt initially in the Oakland game.
Sounds like a minor nagging issue. It’s not an INJURY per se. No one is denying anything–they have already talked about inflammation. Sometimes he can go, sometimes he’s less effective. There was an MRI so there’s no structural damage. That leaves a lot of possibilities…tendinitis, a floating fragment, a lingering sprain. All of which means he can play but not be 100%.
February 4, 2019 at 11:33 am in reply to: super bowl tweets … (look for the Orlovsky stuff in post 7) #97784znModeratorVincent Bonsignore@VinnyBonsignore
For Jared Goff, the key now is making sure Sunday’s performance in #SuperBowlLIII isn’t in vain. He needs to learn from his struggles and use them as fuel.Gerald Everett@lightningstrk12
not the outcome we wanted of course but we will grow & move forward. Year 2 was for sure one to remember!! Horns up.Sam Farmer@LATimesfarmer
The game wasn’t over for three seconds, I swear, when I got a text from Mark Davis reminding me the Raiders are the only Los Angeles team to have won a Super Bowl.Rich Hammond@Rich_Hammond
The game that really wobbled the Rams was Detroit. The Lions threw that quarters/zone defense at them and executed it well. Chicago followed the next week. Different personnel but similar results. You think Matt Patricia and Belichick perhaps talked a bit?J.B. Long@JB_Long
First time #LARams have been shut out in a 1st half under Sean McVay, and it comes in #SBLlll.Dan Orlovsky@danorlovsky7
Sooo the team that played more man-to-man defense than anyone in the #NFL this year, naturally comes out in #SuperBowl53 and runs 80-90% zone coverage???!?!?Belichick game plan even better than I thought.
-early Downs played 6 guys at the line of scrimmage. Allowed most guys to get 1 on 1’s and penetrate up front. Hightower could play slow at the 1 MLB spot and respect play-action
-3rd down rush pkg had 1 DL on fieldThe @Patriots controlled the ball all game. Owned T.O.P to get @RamsNFL DL as tired as possible. Than went empty at the perfect moment-knowing the rush wouldn’t be what it was early on-3 straight plays outta empty. Zone=check down Man=Gronk shot. #timing #SuperBowl53
Classic Belichick-forcing the @RamsNFL to go on tons of long drives. Are you patient enough to out-grind him/them? #SuperBowl53
I’m younger than most-but I grew up in the @Patriots run/domination. In my opinion, this is the greatest coaching job Bill Belichick has ever done.
Goff needed to play way more boring-take completions. Low to high-get ball out. Throws were there. #SuperBowl53
==
.@danorlovsky7 would've liked to have seen Sean McVay establish the run more by getting Todd Gurley involved. pic.twitter.com/j7duCqi0cQ
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) February 4, 2019
February 4, 2019 at 9:14 am in reply to: articles & vids on SB … good stuff here including transcripts (Simms & Polian) #97774znModeratorFebruary 4, 2019 at 8:58 am in reply to: super bowl tweets … (look for the Orlovsky stuff in post 7) #97771znModerator
znModeratorDeadpool
A few thought on the SB
1. I am a bit disappointed, but overall it didn’t emotionally cripple me. I think its because this team is young and this is just 1 more step in winning the big one. This team isn’t building a 1 and done. Not for a core as young as this team is.
2. The refs had little to nothing to do with the outcome of this game.
3. The Rams were in this thing and had their chances.
a. That holding call on Sully on the Gurley run basically wiped out a run that put the Rams in FG range at a minimum to take the lead.
b. The late throw from Goff to Cooks in the back of the endzone. Literally 1 second earlier and thats 7.
c. Cooks dropping that dime for a TD.
d. heck even at the end they were knocking on the door before the zero blitz INT.
Its not like they got their doors blown off, they represented well. Never lost their cool. It just wasn’t in the cards tonight.4. Gurley – he needs to get healthy in the offseason. You combine his injury along with Kupp and they were missing 50% of their weapons and it was just too much to overcome with two weeks of game planning. If he isn’t injured then whatever is going on between him and McVay needs to get fixed.
5. TEs targeted 1 time? I have no idea what to say there.
6. The OTs played well according to Seth Walder: Rams offensive tackles Rob Havenstein and Andrew Whitworth had excellent pass blocking games, posting pass block win rates (the percentage of pass plays they sustained their blocks for at least 2.5 seconds) of 94% and 91%, respectively, well above the league average for an offensive tackle of 81%.
7. The defense played outstanding and basically giving up 10 points to the 4th highest scoring team and holding Brady to no TDs is a win. Esp. being behind the eight ball on field position all game long and losing the ToP battle.
February 4, 2019 at 1:34 am in reply to: Sorry Rams, there's a problem with Todd Gurley and there's no denying it #97757znModeratorThere’s all this debate about Gurley. I don’t get it. It seems pretty clear. He’s not 100% and the knee goes in and out of being a problem that prevents him from taking the field.
Not being 100%, though, does not mean he qualifies as injured. Just subpar, ie. in relation to his own standard.
And, they don’t know day to day what he will be when he plays.
He can qualify as not injured and be eligible to play, and still not be hampered and not his full self. Which is what I think we’ve been seeing.
I mean, they already said this year that he has inflammation in the knee. They already said it was a problem that started in the Oakland game. It’s not enough to qualify him as injured but in any given game his performance can be changed by it. Could be tendonitis. Could be a little fragment is floating around in there.
Who knows what it is. Maybe a LONG rest cures it, maybe he needs a scope (which is far short of a full-on surgical procedure to repair a structurally damaged knee.)
znModeratorYeah, it’s pretty difficult to suss that out. How do we know if it’s a lousy play call, or a lousy game-plan, versus just a failure to execute, one way or another?
Well if we honestly DON’T know, then, we can’t say that he WASN’T outcoached either.
In the spirit of “differences are welcome” I’m going to come down on the side of “outcoached.” The rule of thumb on seeing if a team is outcoached is if they are continually stymied in ways that look like the other team has their number. It wasn’t just the OL, the secondary was all over the Rams receivers too.
I think that the dominant narrative of this game out there is, and will be, that the Patz figured the Rams offense out, and the offense had no answer, and that that was coaching.
Is it such a stretch that one of the best coaches in the game beat a 2nd year 33 year old head coach? It just looks like the Rams had the hardest time this year against old savvy veteran D coordinators. That includes Detroit, Chicago, Phil, and the Patz. They are a step ahead of him…right now. Doubt that lasts. My hope, and it’s not that hard to imagine it will happen, is that McV will learn from this and the Rams will be better next time around.
February 3, 2019 at 11:14 pm in reply to: super bowl tweets … (look for the Orlovsky stuff in post 7) #97743znModeratorMatt Bowen@MattBowen41
Could have given the MVP award to Gilmore, or that entire #Patriots secondary. #SBLIIIAndrew Whitworth@awhitworth77
Hurts! Not ending we wanted. Couldn’t love my team more! Feel Blessed and Proud to have had this opportunity! Thankful to our fans! We dont blame things we can’t control and look internally for how we could be better.
On 2 better days!Steve Politi@StevePoliti
Belichick said “oh my god” twice when asked about Jason McCourty’s pass break up. “McCourty came out of nowhere to make that play.”Ross Tucker@RossTuckerNFL
“We probably played more zone tonight than we did all year.” – Devin McCourtyFebruary 3, 2019 at 11:04 pm in reply to: super bowl tweets … (look for the Orlovsky stuff in post 7) #97741znModeratorJoe Curley@vcsjoecurley
Patriots beat Rams 13-3 in lowest scoring Super Bowl everVincent Bonsignore@VinnyBonsignore
Sean McVay: “I’m numb. I got out-coached”Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
“I know there’s a handful of decisions I’m going to want back.” – Sean McVayMike Reiss@MikeReiss
On the key strategy shift to go big personnel on offense, Josh McDaniels tells me they finally found something that worked as the key was getting the Rams into a base defense. So throwing with big personnel on the field, against base defense, was the change that sparked lone TD.Geoff Schwartz@geoffschwartz
I just don’t understand why Gurley’s reps were cut if he was healthy. Something had to happen behind the scenes.The MMQB@theMMQB
So many expected Super Bowl LIII to be an offensive shootout, but instead it was a schematic fight between two of the game’s best coachesDan Orlovsky@danorlovsky7
The @Patriots won this game off adjustments and timing. The adjustment on that 4tg qtr drive to have first play in base D by @RamsNFL go tempo-and run same play 3 times in a row. Score. The timing to run their 0 blitz, once, all game, and get the pick. #SuperBowl53Greg Beacham@gregbeacham
Brandin Cooks is not crying PI on that late INT: “I’m great enough to make that play, and I’ve got to make it, no matter what.”Kevin Patra@kpatra
Andrew Whitworth on if SB loss was last game: “I really don’t know…”Greg Beacham@gregbeacham
Andrew Whitworth: “The first thing Julian Edelman said to me is, ‘You guys are going to be really good for a really long time.’”znModeratorRich Hammond@Rich_Hammond
I’m not buying, for a minute, this idea going around today that CJ Anderson is going to have a bigger role than Todd Gurley. If I’m wrong, I’ll own up, but that just makes zero sense to me on any level.If you think Gurley’s knee is injured to any notable extent, then what you’re saying it that Gurley and the Rams have been flat-out lying, in their injury reports and public statements, for two weeks. And maybe that’s what you think, but I just want to be clarifying on this.Rich Hammond added,
David J. Chao, MD@ProFootballDoc
#Gronk moving well.
#Gurley running and cutting smoothly.
#Zuerlein hit a FG from 60 yards.
All look good in pregame warmups.=-=
The Rams’ uniforms are so good pic.twitter.com/SYFNxJfY22
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) February 3, 2019
znModeratorGreat to have @theblood85 on the #LARams sideline for #SBLlll. He’s got the winning look. pic.twitter.com/XAp8DRY333
— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) February 3, 2019
znModeratorGreg the Leg from 60 with ease. #LARams #SBLlll pic.twitter.com/taI1RLuDDi
— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) February 3, 2019
znModeratorAdam Schefter@AdamSchefter
Next season’s opener could well be a conference championship game rematch, no matter what happens in Super Bowl LIII today.If Rams win today, they could open 2019 regular season vs Saints, per a league source.
If Patriots win today, they could open next season vs. Chiefs.
znModeratorLindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
But, but, but… that knee. Look for Sean McVay to get Todd Gurley involved earlyRams kicker Greg Zuerlein, who has been nursing a left foot (plant foot) injury since the NFC Championship game, connected on field goals from 61 and 59 yards during Super Bowl warmups.
After a week in Atlanta, I’m standing by my official pick #SuperBowl pick filed to ESPN on Monday: Rams 28, Patriots 24
The narrative on Jared Goff hasn’t always been kind, but this is certainly notable: Goff is the first quarterback taken 1st overall to reach the Super Bowl within his first 3 seasons, per Elias.
Jared Goff will become just the second quarterback to start in a Super Bowl after losing each of his first 7 starts. The other is Troy Aikman, who reached 3 Super Bowls, and won all of them, per @ESPNStatsInfo.
znModeratorGurley getting warm for his first #SuperBowl 💪 (via @RamsNFL) pic.twitter.com/P1x2sdSZdp
— ESPN (@espn) February 3, 2019
znModeratorBegin forwarded message:
From: William Arkin
Date: January 2, 2019 at 11:32:20 AM PSTSubject: My goodbye letter to NBC
January 4 is my last day at NBC News and I’d like to say goodbye to my friends, hopefully not for good. This isn’t the first time I’ve left NBC, but this time the parting is more bittersweet, the world and the state of journalism in tandem crisis. My expertise, though seeming to be all the more central to the challenges and dangers we face, also seems to be less valued at the moment. And I find myself completely out of synch with the network, being neither a day-to-day reporter nor interested in the Trump circus.
I first started my association with NBC 30 years ago, feeding Cold War stories to Bob Windrem and Fred Francis at the Pentagon. I became an on-air analyst during the 1999 Kosovo War, continuing to work thereafter with Nightly News, delighting and oftentimes annoying in my peculiar position of being a mere civilian amongst THE GENERALS and former government officials. A scholar at heart, I also found myself an often lone voice that was anti-nuclear and even anti-military, anti-military for me meaning opinionated but also highly knowledgeable, somewhat akin to a movie critic, loving my subject but also not shy about making judgements regarding the flops and the losers.
When the attacks of 9/11 came, I was called back to NBC. I spent weeks on and off the air talking about al Qaeda and the various wars we were rushing into, arguing that airpower and drones would be the centerpiece not troops. In the new martial environment where only one war cry was sanctioned I was out of sync then as well. I retreated somewhat to writing a column for the Los Angeles Times, but even there I had to fight editors who couldn’t believe that there would be a war in Iraq. And I spoke up about the absence of any sort of strategy for actually defeating terrorism, annoying the increasing gaggles of those who seemed to accept that a state of perpetual war was a necessity.
I thought then that there was great danger in the embrace of process and officialdom over values and public longing, and I wrote about the increasing power of the national security community. Long before Trump and “deep state” became an expression, I produced one ginormous investigation – Top Secret America – for the Washington Post and I wrote a nasty book – American Coup – about the creeping fascism of homeland security.
Looking back now they were both harbingers for what President Obama (and then Trump) faced in terms of largely failing to make enduring change.
Somewhere in all of that, and particularly as the social media wave began, it was clear that NBC (like the rest of the news media) could no longer keep up with the world. Added to that was the intellectual challenge of how to report our new kind of wars when there were no real fronts and no actual measures of success. To me there is also a larger problem: though they produce nothing that resembles actual safety and security, the national security leaders and generals we have are allowed to do their thing unmolested. Despite being at “war,” no great wartime leaders or visionaries are emerging. There is not a soul in Washington who can say that they have won or stopped any conflict. And though there might be the beloved perfumed princes in the form of the Petraeus’ and Wes Clarks’, or the so-called warrior monks like Mattis and McMaster, we’ve had more than a generation of national security leaders who sadly and fraudulently have done little of consequence. And yet we (and others) embrace them, even the highly partisan formers who masquerade as “analysts”. We do so ignoring the empirical truth of what they have wrought: There is not one country in the Middle East that is safer today than it was 18 years ago. Indeed the world becomes ever more polarized and dangerous.
As perpetual war has become accepted as a given in our lives, I’m proud to say that I’ve never deviated in my argument at NBC (or at my newspaper gigs) that terrorists will never bedefeated until we better understand why they are driven to fighting. And I have maintained my central view that airpower (in its broadest sense including space and cyber) is not just the future but the enabler and the tool of war today.
Seeking refuge in its political horse race roots, NBC (and others) meanwhile report the story of war as one of Rumsfeld vs. the Generals, as Wolfowitz vs. Shinseki, as the CIA vs. Cheney, as the bad torturers vs. the more refined, about numbers of troops and number of deaths, and even then Obama vs. the Congress, poor Obama who couldn’t close Guantanamo or reduce nuclear weapons or stand up to Putin because it was just so difficult. We have contributed to turning the world national security into this sort of political story. I find it disheartening that we do not report the failures of the generals and national security leaders. I find it shocking that we essentially condone continued American bumbling in the Middle East and now Africa through our ho-hum reporting.
I’m a difficult guy, not prone to either protocol or procedure and I give NBC credit that it tolerated me through my various incarnations. I hope people will say in the early days that I made Brokaw and company smarter about nuclear weapons, about airpower, and even about al Qaeda. And I’m proud to say that I also was one of the few to report that there weren’t any WMD in Iraq and remember fondly presenting that conclusion to an incredulous NBC editorial board. I argued endlessly with MSNBC about all things national security for years, doing the daily blah, blah, blah in Secaucus, but also poking at the conventional wisdom of everyone from Matthews to Hockenberry. And yet I feel like I’ve failed to convey this larger truth about the hopelessness of our way of doing things, especially disheartened to watch NBC and much of the rest of the news media somehow become a defender of Washington and the system.
Windrem again convinced me to return to NBC to join the new investigative unit in the early days of the 2016 presidential campaign. I thought that the mission was to break through the machine of perpetual war acceptance and conventional wisdom to challenge Hillary Clinton’s hawkishness. It was also an interesting moment at NBC because everyone was looking over their shoulder at Vice and other upstarts creeping up on the mainstream. But then Trump got elected and Investigations got sucked into the tweeting vortex, increasingly lost in a directionless adrenaline rush, the national security and political version of leading the broadcast with every snow storm. And I would assert that in many ways NBC just began emulating the national security state itself – busy and profitable. No wars won but the ball is kept in play.
I’d argue that under Trump, the national security establishmentnot only hasn’t missed a beat but indeed has gained dangerous strength. Now it is ever more autonomous and practically impervious to criticism. I’d also argue, ever so gingerly, that NBC has become somewhat lost in its own verve, proxies of boring moderation and conventional wisdom, defender of the government against Trump, cheerleader for open and subtlethreat mongering, in love with procedure and protocol over all else (including results). I accept that there’s a lot to report here, but I’m more worried about how much we are missing. Hence my desire to take a step back and think why so little changes with regard to America’s wars.
I know it is characteristic of our overexcited moment to blast away at former employers and mainstream institutions, but all I can say is that despite many frustrations, my time at NBC has been gratifying. Working with Cynthia McFadden has been the experience of a lifetime. I’ve learned a ton about television from her and Kevin Monahan, the secret insider tricks of the trade and the very big picture of what makes for original stories (and how powerful they can be). The young reporters at NBC are also universally excellent. Thanks to Noah Oppenheim for hissupport of my contrarian and disruptive presence. And to Janelle Rodriguez, who supported deep expertise. The Nightly crew has also been a constant fan of my too long stories and a great team. I continue to marvel as Phil Griffin carries out his diabolical plan for the cable network to take over the world.
I’m proud of the work I’ve done with my team and know that there’s more to do. But for now it’s time to take a break. I’m ever so happy to return to writing and thinking without the officiousness of editorial tyrants or corporate standards. And of course I yearn to go back to my first love, which is writing boring reports about secret programs, grateful that the American government so graciously obliges in its constant supply. And I particularly feel like the world is moving so quickly that even in just the little national security world I inhabit, I need more time to sit back and think. And to replenish.
In our day-to-day whirlwind and hostage status as prisoners of Donald Trump, I think – like everyone else does – that we miss so much. People who don’t understand the medium, or the pressures, loudly opine that it’s corporate control or even worse, that it’s partisan. Sometimes I quip in response to friends on the outside (and to government sources) that if they mean by the word partisan that it is New Yorkers and Washingtonians against the rest of the country then they are right.
For me I realized how out of step I was when I looked at Trump’s various bumbling intuitions: his desire to improve relations with Russia, to denuclearize North Korea, to get out of the Middle East, to question why we are fighting in Africa, even in his attacks on the intelligence community and the FBI. Of course he is an ignorant and incompetent impostor. And yet I’m alarmed at how quick NBC is to mechanically argue the contrary, to be in favor of policies that just spell more conflict and more war. Really? We shouldn’t get out Syria? We shouldn’t go for the bold move of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula? Even on Russia, though we should be concerned about the brittleness of our democracy that it is so vulnerable to manipulation, do we really yearn for the Cold War? And don’t even get me started with the FBI: What? We now lionize this historically destructive institution?
Even without Trump, our biggest challenge as we move forward is that we have become exhausted parents of our infant (and infantile) social media children. And because of the “cycle,” we at NBC (and all others in the field of journalism) suffer from a really bad case of not being able to ever take a breath. We are a long way from resolving the rules of the road in this age, whether it be with regard to our personal conduct or anything related to hard news. I also don’t think that we are on a straight line towards digital nirvana, that is, that all of this information will democratize and improve society. I sense that there is already smartphone and social media fatigue creeping across the land, and my guess is that nothing we currently see – nothing that is snappy or chatty – will solve our horrific challenges of information overload or the role (and nature) of journalism. AndI am sure that once Trump leaves center stage, society will have a gigantic media hangover. Thus for NBC – and for everyone else – there is challenge and opportunity ahead. I’d particularly like to think and write more about that.
There’s a saying about consultants, that organizations hire them to hear exactly what they want to hear. I’m proud to say that NBC didn’t do that when it came to me. Similarly I can say that I’m proud that I’m not guilty of giving my employers what they wanted. Still, the things this and most organizations fear most – variability, disturbance, difference – those things that are also the primary drivers of creativity – are not really the things that I see valued in the reporting ranks.
I’m happy to go back to writing and commentary. This winter, I’m proud to say that I’ve put the finishing touches on a 9/11 conspiracy novel that I’ve been toiling on for over a decade. It’s a novel, but it meditates on the question of how to understand terrorists in a different way. And I’m undertaking two new book-writing projects, one fiction about a lone reporter and his magical source that hopes to delve into secrecy and the nature of television. And, If you read this far, I am writing a non-fiction book, an extended essay about national security and why we never seem to end our now perpetual state of war. There is lots of media critique out there, tons of analysis of leadership and the Presidency. But on the state of our national security? Not so much. Hopefully I will find myself thinking beyond the current fire and fury and actually suggest a viable alternative. Wish me luck.
Sent from my iPhone
znModeratorHe was cut. Rams released him early in the 2016 off-season, after a couple of injury-laden years where he wasn’t himself.
He went first to the Patz (as you probably know) then in 2017 to the Eagles.
As a result he has 2 rings. One from NE and one from Phil.
znModeratorI unfortunately have a cold.
So whatever plans I THOUGHT I had have been lost. They will have to wait for the next Rams superbowl. Unless getting a cold when the Rams are in the superbowl turns out to be an annual tradition.
So for me? Chicken noodle soup. And lots of it too. Fortunately, as you know the Portland area does not lack for eateries, and a lot of the nearby places like making soup. So I got a bunch at one place. In fact, the place where I got it calls their chicken soup “the flu chaser.” It’s good. I am content.
Let the game begin.
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