One of the biggest things I'd like to see next season is a change in situational coaching philosophy. I know it won't happen, but still.
We come out and it seems like we do the same thing, regardless of opponent and what their strengths and weaknesses are. I know I'm going to hear the "well, we've been to two Superbowls and we win a lot!", but I think we're starting to look at an NFC where we're going to be severely challenged to be the top dog for a long time. Arizona isn't going anywhere until Palmer either gets too old or retires, and the Panthers are a very good young team that has a QB that can now make his team better regardless of the personnel. Did anyone think that Carolina would be the top scoring team in the league with one of the worst WR corps in the league at the beginning of the year ? I sure didn't.
As examples, the Patriots are traditionally one of the best in the league at situational coaching. Belliichick's offensive philosophy is "whatever scores points". He's not married to running or passing, just whatever works. The Panthers are interesting, and it's been fascinating to watch Rivera's development as a head coach. They haven't had the best pass rush this year and coupled with a banged up and sadly lacking secondary, they looked ripe for Arizona's down field passing attack. But they came out and blitzed the hell out of Arizona, and once they started geting to Palmer, they crowded the line continually and then backed out into a base defense, leaning on their athletic Linebackers to get back to their zones in time.
In contrast, how many times have we seen Seattle bumble through an ineffective offensive and defense game plan for an entire first half, only to make good halftime adjustments and change the 2nd half ? We know we can make good halftime adjustments but it just seems like going into a game, and situationally, we do the same thing over and over and hope it works.
Seriousy, by the 3rd game most of us knew our secondary was poo. The mantra was "well, just wait until Chancellor gets backc and right" but we were unable to ever really cover a TE (no matter how poor he was) and at times struggled to get a pass rush. No matter how bad the secondary played, and no matter how poor the pass rush, it became a habit that we just wouldn't blitz the entire 1st half, then would come out blitzing in the 2nd half. This became a telling habit and teams picked up on it.
I guess this is just a long way of saying I'd like to see more dynamic changes in the game plan moving forward.
We come out and it seems like we do the same thing, regardless of opponent and what their strengths and weaknesses are. I know I'm going to hear the "well, we've been to two Superbowls and we win a lot!", but I think we're starting to look at an NFC where we're going to be severely challenged to be the top dog for a long time. Arizona isn't going anywhere until Palmer either gets too old or retires, and the Panthers are a very good young team that has a QB that can now make his team better regardless of the personnel. Did anyone think that Carolina would be the top scoring team in the league with one of the worst WR corps in the league at the beginning of the year ? I sure didn't.
As examples, the Patriots are traditionally one of the best in the league at situational coaching. Belliichick's offensive philosophy is "whatever scores points". He's not married to running or passing, just whatever works. The Panthers are interesting, and it's been fascinating to watch Rivera's development as a head coach. They haven't had the best pass rush this year and coupled with a banged up and sadly lacking secondary, they looked ripe for Arizona's down field passing attack. But they came out and blitzed the hell out of Arizona, and once they started geting to Palmer, they crowded the line continually and then backed out into a base defense, leaning on their athletic Linebackers to get back to their zones in time.
In contrast, how many times have we seen Seattle bumble through an ineffective offensive and defense game plan for an entire first half, only to make good halftime adjustments and change the 2nd half ? We know we can make good halftime adjustments but it just seems like going into a game, and situationally, we do the same thing over and over and hope it works.
Seriousy, by the 3rd game most of us knew our secondary was poo. The mantra was "well, just wait until Chancellor gets backc and right" but we were unable to ever really cover a TE (no matter how poor he was) and at times struggled to get a pass rush. No matter how bad the secondary played, and no matter how poor the pass rush, it became a habit that we just wouldn't blitz the entire 1st half, then would come out blitzing in the 2nd half. This became a telling habit and teams picked up on it.
I guess this is just a long way of saying I'd like to see more dynamic changes in the game plan moving forward.