I argued this same point from the time ge said something. Mike Riley was a joke and the nice guy and class thing is way over blown. He was a con artistNate Gerry took a lot of heat from the fans. And it wasn't totally undeserved.
But a LOT of people jumped on his comments and took them as a way to point the finger at the players instead of Riley's coaches. And it turns out that Gerry was right, as is alluded to in this tweet and was obvious after last year. In fact, Gerry was falling on his sword (so to speak) in pointing the blame at the players when it would have been rightfully directed at the coaches.
This all feels very different than anything in years. It's crazy.