Quote Originally Posted by texaspackerbacker View Post
All that sounds good, but it might also be that LaFleur wanted to keep Barry and he got told, lose him or go with him.
Only person who can do that is Murphy, and I don't think Murphy wants to meddle like that. Firing MLF would have been a big headline and a bad move, he called some good games in the latter part of the season and kept a young locker room together when they were in danger of circling the drain.
I doubt they would play that kind of brinksmanship.

I do wonder, based on Gute's comments after the draft, if there was some kind of discussion b/t Murphy, Gute and MLF about the defense last Spring along the lines of - we have a young offense, we have a lot of high draft picks on defense; if the defense can't hold the fort and win some games Barry has to go. It's fair to say by the 3/4 point of the season the offense was carrying the defense, not the other way around. Expectations for the defense were higher this year, and I don't think they performed significantly better.... getting a warning and still not meeting the expectations can be grounds for termination in a cutthroat field like coaching.