The Throwback Screen

[RelaxImaPro]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

The play itself isn't the point.

This play was just one example of Turner using the defense's focus on McCaffrey against them. There's plenty of others. This one just happened to be the most fun.

Let's say you focus on McCaffrey. that means you're not paying as much attention to Cam Newton. Spy on Newton? Cool. You still have to account for McCaffrey.

It's been said many a time that Mike Shula did not know how to use a back like Christian McCaffrey. That's generally considered a big reason why he doesn't work here anymore.

Turner does know, and it shows.

I'm all for piling on Shula and I like Norv so far... but I'm not just gonna blindly do it.  Seriously, it was the exact same play used the exact same way.  The Patriots were keying in and focusing on McCaffrey and Shula took advantage of it by faking to McCaffrey (who had nearly the entire defense flowing to his side of the field) and getting the ball to the wide open Fozzy with an entourage of blockers.

[Mr. Scot]

15 minutes ago, RelaxImaPro said:

I'm all for piling on Shula and I like Norv so far... but I'm not just gonna blindly do it.  Seriously, it was the exact same play used the exact same way.  The Patriots were keying in and focusing on McCaffrey and Shula took advantage of it by faking to McCaffrey (who had nearly the entire defense flowing to his side of the field) and getting the ball to the wide open Fozzy with an entourage of blockers.

Wrote the thread to talk about the play and the ideas behind it, not to bash Mike Shula (he's not even mentioned in the OP).

But since we're going that route, it's about consistency.

We all know the phrase "nobody's perfect", but the flipside of that is also true. Nobody is always incompetent. Heck, I'm sure Marty Mornhinweg made his fair share of good coaching decisions when he was running the Lions.

But not enough.

If you wanted to cherry-pick, it would be pretty easy to put together a highlight reel of good plays that occurred under Shula to support the argument that he's a good OC (I know that's not what you're trying to do here, just saying). Reality though is that he just wasn't good enough overall.

So far, Turner is better. This particular play is a micro look but the OC comparison is a macro one. At that level, the results are pretty positive so far.

We all hope that continues to be true.

[Khyber53]

It was a perfectly executed play, even if it was one we did last year. I imagine we'll see it roll out again in the fourth quarter of the season. 

Overall, Norv has put a major emphasis on CMC being our major weapon and has done a good job of playing Cam as a running QB and a pocket passer (this does nothing but put the game in Cam's control, imo, as he can dictate the rhythm of the game and keep it unpredictable).

Our receivers play and getting good plays going for them seems to be lagging behind. There are a lot of new cogs in that machine, for sure, but I'm still waiting on him to hit the accelerator in using that group. We were all stoked at the possibilities this group gave us at the start of the season, but short of DJ's Smitty-like catch and run for the TD against Atlanta, it hasn't been as great as I had hoped. It's not terrible, but it's not really remarkable. 

Maybe the loss of Olsen has put a bit of a kink into the plans. But thank goodness the short game has been stellar.

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, Khyber53 said:

It was a perfectly executed play, even if it was one we did last year. I imagine we'll see it roll out again in the fourth quarter of the season. 

Overall, Norv has put a major emphasis on CMC being our major weapon and has done a good job of playing Cam as a running QB and a pocket passer (this does nothing but put the game in Cam's control, imo, as he can dictate the rhythm of the game and keep it unpredictable).

Our receivers play and getting good plays going for them seems to be lagging behind. There are a lot of new cogs in that machine, for sure, but I'm still waiting on him to hit the accelerator in using that group. We were all stoked at the possibilities this group gave us at the start of the season, but short of DJ's Smitty-like catch and run for the TD against Atlanta, it hasn't been as great as I had hoped. It's not terrible, but it's not really remarkable. 

Maybe the loss of Olsen has put a bit of a kink into the plans. But thank goodness the short game has been stellar.

The thing about hitting the accelerator with our current crop of receivers is that most of the healthy ones don't have the  kind of gas pedal that the others do. The one who does hasn't been as effective as we'd hoped.

Besides Olsen, we all want to see what happens when Samuel and Byrd get healthy, but I have to admit I'm starting to let some doubt creep in as to whether that's going to happen.

[run-run-pass-punt]

Easily the prettiest offensive play of the season thus far.

[Khyber53]

2 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

The thing about hitting the accelerator with our current crop of receivers is that most of the healthy ones don't have the  kind of gas pedal that the others do. The one who does hasn't been as effective as we'd hoped.

Besides Olsen, we all want to see what happens when Samuel and Byrd get healthy, but I have to admit I'm starting to let some doubt creep in as to whether that's going to happen.

I have my doubts there, too. And I don't want them to trade lifelong health for a couple of pro games. Byrd just seems fragile, but he is a small player, while Samuel's recent health issue is even more worrisome. 

On paper, we should have speedy receivers in Smith and DJ, and good possession guys in Funchess and Wright, but none of them seemed to have caught fire yet, even with a spark or two here and there. Maybe the learning curve with Norv's system is a bit steeper than they were used to. Wright and Smith are new to the team, DJ is still a raw rookie and Funchess was a little slow to start when he first got here. Sure hoping they catch on quick. Of course, having a TE that can just tear up the middle of field would help...

 

[Mr. Scot]

6 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

I have my doubts there, too. And I don't want them to trade lifelong health for a couple of pro games. Byrd just seems fragile, but he is a small player, while Samuel's recent health issue is even more worrisome. 

On paper, we should have speedy receivers in Smith and DJ, and good possession guys in Funchess and Wright, but none of them seemed to have caught fire yet, even with a spark or two here and there. Maybe the learning curve with Norv's system is a bit steeper than they were used to. Wright and Smith are new to the team, DJ is still a raw rookie and Funchess was a little slow to start when he first got here. Sure hoping they catch on quick. Of course, having a TE that can just tear up the middle of field would help...

Well, Greg Olsen talked about it being a lot different than before, and implied it was kind of challenging because Norv wants things done "a certain way" and he's kind of a perfectionist.

Olsen's probably one of the smartest players we've got.  If he finds it challenging, then yeah...

[BrianS]

Actually, the best thing about this play is that it's actually two plays.

If the defense chooses NOT to honor Cmac, because they saw film, and instead reacts to the flat where CJ is setting up Cam can instead pitch it to Cmac.  It can become an option, which makes it even MORE difficult to defend.

[TheSpecialJuan]

8 hours ago, KB_fan said:

THIS THIS THIS!!!!  Our offense is just totally the opposite of the pretty predictable and stale team we'd become in 2016 & 2017.  It was already evident yesterday just how much Norv's ability and willingness to adapt made a difference.  Cincy was expecting CMC to catch passes.  That's how they structured their D.  Surprise!  Leaving all kinds of room for us to run all over the field!

I'm so eagerly anticipating the Norv vs. Shurmur/Shula showdown and to see how Ron & Eric Washington do in attacking the Giants' Offense.  

Exactly 

[Mr. Scot]

36 minutes ago, BrianS said:

Actually, the best thing about this play is that it's actually two plays.

If the defense chooses NOT to honor Cmac, because they saw film, and instead reacts to the flat where CJ is setting up Cam can instead pitch it to Cmac.  It can become an option, which makes it even MORE difficult to defend.

Valid.