Jealous

[Preacherman0]

Watching the Panthers and Bucs last night, I found myself being very envious of Carolina.  Stewart and Williams are great, but that wasn't it.  The offensive line is great, but that wasn't it.

I was jealous that they have an o-coordinator who is creative with the run game. 

I hate to keep beating this horse, but the lack of imagination in every aspect of our run game is infuriating.  I know we don't have Stewart and Williams--FWP is a shadow of his normal self, no Mendenhall, and MM is not exactly a "change of pace" from what we normally have.  But the three guys we have aren't chump change, and they've all had some pretty good games.  It's certainly not as if they are absolutely incompetent.

I watched the formations, blocking schemes, etc. that Carolina used last night.  It was unbelievably impressive.  They used single back, extra TEs, fullback, two in the backfield, THREE in the backfield, various formations.  They are the polar opposite of the Bruce Arians bunch-TE sweep.

Sorry to be so negative on the heels of a victory, but I am really concerned that our offense is going to cost us a sixth ring this year.  At one point, I thought it was all the offensive line and the players (OL STILL needs huge improvements).  But the more I watch, the more I am convinced it is weak leadership and game planning on the offensive side.  I'm also beginning to think that Ben is causing his fair share of problems in how he handles the football.

Again, I apologize for peeing in everyone's corn flakes this morning, but I really would like to see us take some cues from the Panthers' playbook.

[aj_law]

Totally get what you're sayin', Preach.

I'd love to have some offensive eyebrow raising moments during a game.  Something that makes me go "whoa, nice play call" or "sweet call, where'd that come from?"  There might be a few plays that make you say that, but it's nowhere near as many as it should be.  And, at this point in the game (speaking from a 50K foot view here), there's no excuse for that.  Ben isn't a rook, "game manager," he's a seasoned vet now.  The system has been in place for awhile now and there hasn't been a lot of turnover in terms of coaching and/or player personnel. 

So, what's the deal?  They should be getting better, not worse.  IMO, the only area that I've seen improvement in the last month and change is on the offensive line.  That group seems to be playing better, collectively.

I keep going back to what I said awhile back about the offense.  Almost everything about it seems very forced.  There's no rhythm and everything seems very improvised; like it's drawn up in the dirt on the sidelines.  And again, IMO, they're very predictable.  Rarely do we see plays where the defense is fooled or they're looking for one thing and get something totally different. 

Maybe they need to change up their signals? 
Maybe the defense is intercepting that stuff and knows what's coming? 
Maybe they need to do a better job of disguising the play? 
Maybe they're doing something that's tipping off the defense?
Maybe they need to do a better job of reading defenses and adjusting the calls?
Maybe Arians needs to get a better vantage point on what's going on and move up to the booth instead of standing on the sidelines?

I dunno.

What I do know is that something needs to change.  I am sick and MF'ing tired of watching other teams, even shitty teams, be able to look competent on offense, while this group goes from top 3rd in '06, to middle 3rd in '07, to now bottom 3rd in '08.  Statistically worse than the Bills?  The Bears?  The Dolphins?  The Niners  The Chiefs!!!

IMHGDMFO, that's inexcuseable.

[Preacherman0]

Almost everything about it seems very forced.  There's no rhythm and everything seems very improvised; like it's drawn up in the dirt on the sidelines.

That's a great way of phrasing it, actually.  We seem to stumble into good plays rather than making things happen.  I actually think we look better when Ben is calling stuff at the line, making it up as he goes, rather than trying to follow the game plan.  Problem is, you will eventually come up on a place where "winging it" won't get the job done.

As a preacher, you can give me a passage of scripture and I can at least SOUND intelligent about it for 10-15 minutes.  But, if you want to get anything worthwhile out of it, I need to take time to prepare.  Same with our offense...we're getting by, but we are not well-prepared.

And I agree completely about the oline.  They don't look nearly as inept as they did at the beginning of the year.  I even think that Colon has showed marked improvement.  But they still aren't a spectacular group, and we continue to fail at putting them into situations where they can be successful.

[LambertsFrontTeeth]

Is it possible that the league changes -- to allow the headset to a defensive player -- is helping defensive teams this year?  Maybe at least part of the reason that we can't score?

Could also be another reason that LeBeau's boys have been off the charts this year.  No way for opponents to steal signals, etc.

[Finnegans Wake]

Is it possible that the league changes -- to allow the headset to a defensive player -- is helping defensive teams this year?  Maybe at least part of the reason that we can't score?

Could also be another reason that LeBeau's boys have been off the charts this year.  No way for opponents to steal signals, etc.

Intersting observation, but it doesn't explain why other teams are still having success, being innovative, etc.