Intelligent-ish writeup of our Offense -

[CallMeADawg]

I'm always off the belief that a lot of the time early season - and particularly against non-conference opponents - what Pete Carroll teams do in the first half and early third quarter is put plays out to be put on tape as much as it is to win the game. That's not to say we aren't trying to win the game, but ultimately you want to save your best plays for when they matter and that's either when the game is close in the 4th quarter, or when you're up against a divisional opponent or high-ranking conference opponent.

A 4 game stretch where we play 3 AFC North Teams and the bottom-ranked Cardinals isn't the time to whip out your cleverest plays. Sure it would have been nice to go 3-1 or 4-0 during that period, but as it was we went 2-2, and were pretty close to beating the Bengals. I'm also not ignoring the fact that we simply haven't played well offensively during that span bar the Cardinals game. Geno has been making poor decisions and off-throws and our offensive line has struggled massively, all of which is going to contribute to a poor showing on top of a more simplistic playbook.

But as it stands, now you have another 2 winnable games where you shouldn't need to dig too deep if everybody can play above average, meanwhile your closest rivals have got to travel to the other side of the country for a 10am game against one of the league's hottest teams. So 2 weeks from now you could very well be sitting at 7-3 vs a 6-4 divisional opponent, with a 4 game stretch that gives you the opportunity to open up a huge lead. That's when you want your 10 weeks of putting loads of stuff on tape to give you your edge.

Olympic level mental gymnastics on display here.

 

[CalgaryFan05]

Been saying it since week 4. The problem isn't Geno. It's that the OC and scheme are tired and rather than actually adapting what they are doing, they are trying to disguise the same bunch of plays in variations of formations and presnap motion. When they haven't done this, they've been effective.

Geno is something more than a game manager. Something less than elite. But if you guve the guy protection and plays that help to put pressure on a defense, he can do some really great things. If the playcalling is solid, he won't be the week link.

I've also been saying for weeks that he's squeezed about as much juice out of the tired plays we run as he can. As the film recap of the Raven game in another thread showed, he needs to be just about perfect on passes just to get completions. That's how well defenses know our plays. And it's not just the Ravens.

Against Cleveland, outside of the open scripted plays and the last drive, they knew what was coming.

I'd love to think they are just trying to get by on a limited script to keep the prized ammo on reserve for later in the season, because they've done that before, but that's just wishful thinking. They need to get their crap together and stop pushing out the same, barely disguised crap.

Well said.

I keep coming back to Waldron and the playcalling. Or Pete in the background - 'whoever' is calling it after the first scripted stuff.

The glaring discrepancy between the scripted portion and the actual called during the game plays is, well - 'glaring'.

Been meaning to watch the all 22 on the Ravens beatdown since it was posted. I'll try and catch it today.

 

[scutterhawk]

Waldron isn't the one holding on the ball too long, fumbling, or throwing interceptions.

No, but it is Waldron who is drawing up the far too many LOOOONG developing plays that require a bunged-up Offen-sieve line that is supposed to UNREALISTICALLY Pass Block against speedy bullrush attackers who are adept at slapping the ball out of the Quarterback's hand (see Boye Mafe & Lamar Jackson play for example)
SOME of Geno's ill-advised passes that are being intercepted ARE on him, and is where he has to do a hell of a lot better job of taking care of the ball.

 

[Titus Pullo]

No, but it is Waldron who is drawing up the far too many LOOOONG developing plays that require a bunged-up Offen-sieve line that is supposed to UNREALISTICALLY Pass Block against speedy bullrush attackers who are adept at slapping the ball out of the Quarterback's hand (see Boye Mafe & Lamar Jackson play for example)
SOME of Geno's ill-advised passes that are being intercepted ARE on him, and is where he has to do a hell of a lot better job of taking care of the ball.

Don't forget how many times Geno had throws batted down.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Thank you for putting it in simple terms. I really appreciate it. This is much easier to read than your previous treatises on the subject, which I had to study for hours to transcribe them into digestible bullet points. I will never forget the grace you've shown me.

I can (and will) dispute that they've always been boring and unimaginative. If you want true boring and unimaginative offense, throw on random.org and set the roll from 20 to 32. Run it, and then pull up the yardage rankings for any given year. You'll probably find an actual boring and unimaginative offense.

These offenses have had far, far too much success over the years to make the first two sentences of your post true here. Period. As Nathanial Hackett showed you, Russ kinda requires some scheming, so that in and of itself indicates some well-thought-out structure. 2022 was not a boring offense. 2018, 2019, most of 2020, not boring. 2012, not boring, even a little bit. 2015? You wanna call 2015 boring?

You may think I have no claim to dispute this, but logic would dictate that an offense that's been mostly above average for a decade and a half with 4 separate coordinators and a fully turned over set of assistant coaches can't be that unimaginative. Perhaps they were just "sticking with what worked," hmm?

Oh Lawd a'mighty, I give up. You're a great example of how many humans just believe what they want to believe, regardless of contrary evidence. We could have been a dynasty if Pete had not forced simplistic offenses.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

 

[Wheetie]

That sounds like speculation. Waldron. Is the guy with the playsheet on the sideline.

But who's the writer of the playsheet?

 

[keasley45]

Don't forget how many times Geno had throws batted down.

Was at the game and the first three times I took video of the game - 2 batted passes and the INt. So you can blame me.

 

[keasley45]

But who's the writer of the playsheet?

Pete would never author a playsheet that saw us run 30% of the time.

And there's a crap ton of plays that fit within the ' be safe with the ball ' mantra that gets applied to him.

As the Detroit game showed, we can be very diverse in our routes.

And as the Ravens game showed, we are ok throwing across the middle - DKs 50yard catch came on a deep over.

So if we've run a diverse attack in the past, why aren't we doing it regularly?