nice read galliford. those are some pretty interesting stat lines on evans. way to dig it up!

I would argue that throwing the ball early was a good idea, even though it didn’t work out. One of the biggest complaints about Fairchild was how predictable the offense was. The problem in the first 2 series was not the play selection; it was the fact that Hardy could not catch the ball. I am not trying to rip the guy. He is a rookie and some of the passes were not on target, but they were still thrown his way and he couldn’t catch them.

The second quarter is where I think the play calling needed to change. Turk should have had enough time to realize that we could not handle the blitzes we were seeing. Maybe he could not change the blocking scheme until half time, but he could have called more of the plays we saw in the second half of the game in the second quarter.

Lastly, if Peters had one bad play or penalty, we would not be giving him this much heat. The fact is that he killed at least 2 drives (Ron?) through penalties at critical times and got beat like a boy named Sue on several occasions, which almost got Edwards killed. He needs to improve quickly, no more excuses!!!

Way to go Brian – Evans is certainly a player other teams need to game plan against. Not sure AZ’s corners and safeties can take him away this week either.

I do think we went at the Rams using the Pass to set up the run. This made us vulnerable to blitzes and pressure in 1st half. When we came out in 2nd half we ran from the spread and had more success.

With Roscoe out our strength is in the 2 headed monster of Beast Mode / Play Action Jackson – and we should try to keep both players on the field on early downs to avoid 3rd and long. Running an end around to either back from a split position will prevent some of the run blitzes and backside pursuit we saw this past Sunday.

Look at the highlight of TD and 1st play toss to Lee. I formation, play action, 8 in the box trying to stop the run – and we called the right play to Lee with single coverage. It bears noting that TE audibled away from pass on 3rd and 5 before TD to Lee that resulted in Lynch’s 11 yd 1st down scamper. The game gets simpler when one can run on pass looks and throw on run looks.

To preserve Trent would like to see more Max Protect out of I formation look and also roll him out more on short to intermediate routes.

In rewatching the game did Hardy’s non-catches look more like he didn’t pull the ball in or it was exceptional coverage by a young secondary. The few times they threw to him he looked covered but he had his chance.

Great post.

I think the simple answer revolves around the play of the OL. Once again, they were quite poor in the first half, and our major struggles occurred then. If they can up their game and play more consistently, we’ll see run game improvements and Trent will be getting hit less.

I don’t think saying other teams are throwing different schemes at us is a good way to explain the struggles. They are the reason we start slow, maybe, but at some point the team has to learn to beat different schemes earlier in games. We’re going to see different looks all year and can’t continue playing poorly for a half before turning it around. Well maybe we can, but it’s not what I want to see or a good way to keep winning. I know you said that we’re going to continue seeing them, this is up to Schonert devising different schemes/blocking and the players (mostly OL) playing MUCH better. I also think Trent has looked a lot less comfortable in the first half of games. Whether that’s due to the increased pressure that has gotten to him or something else, we need him to play a little more consistently earlier. Of course, if he’s going to play well in games, I’ll take the 2nd half each time.

I think we need to run off-tackle so much more than we have. All offseason we talked about getting the ball to Lynch and Jackson in more space, we can do that in the run game by running outside more. HOpefully with some success. I’d like to see us run a few plays like the Rams, designed cutbacks. They seem to run a few plays where they hand it to Jackson looking to go left, but he immediately cuts it right. The RT takes the DE outside, while the majority of the flow is on the left side, generating a decent hole for the RB. I’d like to see something similar. Play to our strengths in the run game Turk! Off tackle!

Good stats on Evans. That’s part of the reason I want to see us get him involved early. Just off the top of my head, his biggest games are the ones where he sees the ball early and often. I know it’s easier said than done, but it’d be a wise idea to devise ways to get it to him early. Quick slants, bubble screens, hitches, etc… I want to go the TO, Randy Moss route and get him the ball early to keep him involved. I think it just helps open up the rest of the offense if our top WR is involved in the action early. And obviously in Evans’ case, often enough to get him 50 yards!! I guess that’s not a huge surprise since the games we lost last year, our O seemed to be overmatched for most of them….

I personally want to see Evans get more touches. The 88 yards against STL was fine, but only 2 catches just isn’t enough. Come on Turk, find a way!

I am most concerned about Evan’s involvement. I am all for giving him the extension and keeping him here but they have to find a way to let him take over a game and we know he can. Hopefully as our other WR’s continue to develop things can open up for Lee.

I agree that key to this is protecting Edwards. He appeared in 10 games last year (started 9) and was sacked a total of 12 times. This year, in 4 games, he has been sacked 11 times. I would attribute this to our conservative approach last year (less sacks) but I am excited to see what this offense can do as they continue to improve this season.

According to Pat Kirwan of NFL.com, Edwards is second in the NFL with 8 dropped passes. Only Cutler and McNabb have more at 10. 8 may not seem like much but that could be the continuation of a drive or getting into field goal postion.

Also Trent is third in the leage in 4th quarter efficiency behind only Favre and Rivers. That is pretty good company.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80b3a83f&template=with-video&confirm=true

Thats been the biggest and happiest thing I’ve seen all year is those bombs to Lee. Agreed, we MUST do a better job as an O to get him the ball much earlier and much more often no matter how whether its downfield on a play action pass or screens, etc, just get him into it.

Hardy’s struggles will continue, he is a rookie who is raw playing in the NFL his first year, nothing else. He wasn’t known as a precise route runner in college nor a heady player as far as on the fly adjustments. I just wish McKlevin’s attack attack attack attitude would rub off on Hardy so he’ll use that big 6’5" frame to abuse DBs. But, I think he’ll come on near the end of the season, the time out in Training Camp probably hasn’t helped.

Teams are over pursuing our RBs and we need to run more misdirection and counter plays to take advantage of them. The reason is quite simple, while Turk is a much more capable OC than SFM ever was, he is still using some of the same tactics, lets run up the gut, lets run outside in a predictable manner. He needs to take a line from the Rams as K mentioned and start stealing the cut back lane concept, or go watch film of the Broncos from ‘95-’05 and get the big uglies up front moving guys off the ball that way, it may even make up for Fowler’s very poor run blocking to an extent.

Overall, I just think the O needs to adjust a little better in the first quarter (more audibles for Trent maybe?) and get Lee the ball more early. We also need to keep Trent upright and I don’t want to hear anymore crap about Trent’s lack of arm strength, kid is getting it done! We will see improvement after the Bye I think, and we should start pounding teams earlier in the game. I hope we go 5-0 but with the roller coaster ride of an O we have right now, I might get 5 ulcers instead!