I think the biggest problem I really could have with the relatively small sample size of the MM era is that it seems like we actually regressed in this game.
I mean shit, we had the #2 ranked defense in week 3. Granted, the opponents weren't powerhouses.
Several people have mentioned it in scattered posts - particularly game day - but the first 3/4 of yesterday's game felt alot like a PC era game to me, including the nailbiter - "can you win a game in the 4th quarter?!" - finish.
Now, maybe it's the fact that after a few games, opposing teams have some film on the MM/Grub system. That's entirely possible. Like a backup quarterback you're facing - you don't have alot of intel on WTF he's going to do, so they end up looking like superstars.
What I saw: We stayed in Zone on D for FAR too long. And got burned for it - badly. You could see it, as soon as we switched to more man coverage - good things started to happen. And I honestly think on O that Grub either got to fancy - or didn't adjust properly. Shit, if we would have run the offense that was partially being run against us, and countered their rushes with a decent uptempo screen game to the outside - we would have done ALOT better. And, that's the offense that we got for the last 3/4 of the 3rd quarter - and by gosh - it worked!
Some off it's learning, granted. Some of it takes time. But I didn't like the regression. Felt a bit like Waldron for a while there - just bang our heads against the same wall hoping for a different result. And the amount of rushing attempts for K9 - kinda laughable. Now maybe we're in the dark, and he's not as healed as he could be or something - but that reeked of bad scheming to me.
If we have Oline problems. If Geno has, for some reason, for 6 years running at the position, only 1.8 seconds to get the ball out, then for heaven's sake - design the offense around the weakness.
And, as much as I've lauded MM for the "I'll cut you right now" - we were right back to missed tackles and a bunch of whiffs, and 4 guys to bring someone down yesterday. Which felt like regression to me - and is SQARELY on MM. He's calling the D. And don't get me STARTED on the run D. Jesus - you could drive a Tasty Freeze truck through the center of our D line! Said to the wife during the game: "AAAAnd, another 20 yards, and another 20 yards, and another 20 yards.".
Not ranting. Not out of control here - but I'd like to see us adjusting better in game. Which was one of my primary problems for the last few years of the PC era.
It's fixable - but yesterday was quite frustrating on a variety of fronts. Yes, it was a game with "You flip 3 plays and it's a different outcome" - but that's not what I primarily saw. I didn't see a Seahawks vs. Lions effort. I saw a Seahawks vs. Jacksonville play down to their level effort.
And, I don't know everything, and I'm shutting up now
Last thing: if the Cards can beat the Whiners - so can we.
