How we got here

[JARROD]

Yeh Michael Oher going away and Cams injury has been the decline of the team.

greg little looks much better than I gave him credit for but his concussions mean he might not make it 2 seasons....

hopefully Moton can(and Rivera do it) take the left, Cam comes back healthy and that’s that.

I get the feeling we will be drafting a Tackle in the first round.... gee doesn’t it feel like we talk/argue about that every year?

 

[Mr. Scot]

35 minutes ago, Toomers said:

He hasn’t been close to 100% since he chased down Trovon Reed on an INT return while KB was looking for a hot dog vendor. Take away that play, and Cam just has minor injuries that he, and most players can play through. 

  That play and Michael Oher’s career ending concussion are the two most significant reasons for the decline since 2015. Just bad luck. No one to blame. 

  Now it’s Greg Little. I don’t recall him missing a game at Ole Miss and he is on his second trip to the protocol. If it wasn’t for bad luck, we wouldn’t have no luck at all. 

 

[Mr. Scot]

27 minutes ago, 1of10Charnatives said:

I watched the entire Joy of Bitching series with George Costanza. Not nearly as relaxing as Bob Ross’s Joy of Painting.

I remember the tagline for that one.

"There are no mistakes, just happy little @#$& ups" 

[Sgt Schultz]

I attribute the lack any attempt to transition as something between self-serving and lazy on Shula's part.  They were winning and it was easy.  Never mind that it was going to potentially shorten Cam's career, or his prime years, and a change was most likely inevitable as the league figured out the read option.

The 49ers were playing read option as their main offense in that same time frame, but Harbaugh said before his last season that they were going to try and develop Kaepernick beyond being just a read option QB.  Then War 56 breaking out between Harbaugh and the Yorks, and his successor, Mr. Dunkin Donuts 2016 didn't know a Quarterback from a quarter horse.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Shula was content to keep on keepin' on.

Let's put it this way: would you rather try to coax a 25 year old QB into a more complex system, or wait and try to do the same with a 29 or 30-year old?

As far as the argument that Shula was just adapting to his talent, part of his job is to develop that talent to a higher level and greater things.  Especially true of young talent.  The idea is to prepare everybody for the shift BEFORE your opponents put the kibosh on what you were doing, not wait for it to get stymied and then try to figure out what to do next. 

Shula wasn't even playing checkers on the chess board, he was playing tiddly winks.

[Mr. Scot]

3 minutes ago, Sgt Schultz said:

I attribute the lack any attempt to transition as something between self-serving and lazy on Shula's part.  They were winning and it was easy.  Never mind that it was going to potentially shorten Cam's career, or his prime years, and a change was most likely inevitable as the league figured out the read option.

The 49ers were playing read option as their main offense in that same time frame, but Harbaugh said before his last season that they were going to try and develop Kaepernick beyond being just a read option QB.  Then War 56 breaking out between Harbaugh and the Yorks, and his successor, Mr. Dunkin Donuts 2016 didn't know a Quarterback from a quarter horse.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Shula was content to keep on keepin' on.

Let's put it this way: would you rather try to coax a 25 year old QB into a more complex system, or wait and try to do the same with a 29 or 30-year old?

As far as the argument that Shula was just adapting to his talent, part of his job is to develop that talent to a higher level and greater things.  Especially true of young talent.  The idea is to prepare everybody for the shift BEFORE your opponents put the kibosh on what you were doing, not wait for it to get stymied and then try to figure out what to do next. 

Shula wasn't even playing checkers on the chess board, he was playing tiddly winks.

Very good take...

And to be fair to Shula (which takes effort) we know that an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude was certainly in place at the head coaching level.

(helped cost us a Super Bowl, but hey...)

[Raskle]

49 minutes ago, 1of10Charnatives said:

I watched the entire Joy of Bitching series with George Costanza. Not nearly as relaxing as Bob Ross’s Joy of Painting.

Just what is it exactly that makes those trees so damn happy?

 

(puff, puff, pass)

[Toomers]

10 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Very good take...

And to be fair to Shula (which takes effort) we know that an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude was certainly in place at the head coaching level.

(helped cost us a Super Bowl, but hey...)

It took a lot of effort to make CMC look like an average RB. That was the main reason I didn’t like his value as a top 10 pick.(still chewing crow as I type) 

[1of10Charnatives]

Just now, Raskle said:

Just what is it exactly that makes those trees so damn happy?

 

(puff, puff, pass)

photosynthesis.

 

[SmokinwithWilly]

1 hour ago, Bartin said:

People always blame the Steelers game and the TJ Watt hit but truth is that Cam had already been on the injury report for 3 weeks with the shoulder before that game and in the Ravens game got subbed out for a Hail Mary attempt. His shoulder was already dead well before that game and hit.

We did try a couple deep passes in the opener against the Cowboys then again at Atlanta to Torrey but they were wildly off and we went away from it completely after that. He also tried one against the Redskins on a scramble drill that was underthrown and intercepted. Not to mention that Cam played well in the two games after the Steelers game against the Lions and Seahawks.

The real turning point in the season was when defenses realized that Cam had zero ability to throw down the field so they focused entirely on shutting down our short game. There were reports after the season of DBs laughing at our WRs and straight up telling them that they knew that Cam can’t throw deep. Cam’s arm got a little weaker as the season went on but the true turning point was the defenses picking up on it and taking away the dink and dunk he was so successful with in the first half of the year.

Totally agree with this. It's one of the things that's so hard to understand. We're fans and it's obvious to us that Cam isn't 100%. Does the coaching staff really believe that other teams don't see it? Then they focus on taking away what Cam can do and it's like Ron has that deer in the headlights look of "how did they figure it out?" I just don't get it. 

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

Totally agree with this. It's one of the things that's so hard to understand. We're fans and it's obvious to us that Cam isn't 100%. Does the coaching staff really believe that other teams don't see it? Then they focus on taking away what Cam can do and it's like Ron has that deer in the headlights look of "how did they figure it out?" I just don't get it. 

That's where the Checkers vs. Chess analogy comes in.

I've heard more than one successful coach say that they don't just think about adjustments, but they also consider what adjustments their opponents might make and plan how to adjust to those.

I could probably see Norv doing that. It's a little tougher to picture it with Rivera or Shula.

[JARROD]

Meanwhile Bruce Arians is working wonders with Winston,...

it would have been nice to have him work with Cam instead of Carson and Winston.

 

[SmokinwithWilly]

1 minute ago, Mr. Scot said:

That's where the Checkers vs. Chess analogy comes in.

I've heard more than one successful coach say that they don't just think about adjustments, but they also consider what adjustments their opponents might make and plan how to adjust to those.

I could probably see Norv doing that. It's a little tougher to picture it with Rivera or Shula.

I get that part of it, but man, it was just downright hard to watch in 16, the end of last year and the beginning of this. Sometimes you can make adjustments for certain things, but when Cam's arm is like a wet noodle at the end of a game and a 20 yard pass is considered a bomb from him, you have to wonder, how much more adjusting is there really available. 

It's kind of like watching videos of people trying to do crazy stunts. You say to yourself they aren't really gonna do that are they? Then boom they do, and you're left cringing. 

[Khaki Lackey]

2 hours ago, Bartin said:

People always blame the Steelers game and the TJ Watt hit but truth is that Cam had already been on the injury report for 3 weeks with the shoulder before that game and in the Ravens game got subbed out for a Hail Mary attempt. His shoulder was already dead well before that game and hit.

We did try a couple deep passes in the opener against the Cowboys then again at Atlanta to Torrey but they were wildly off and we went away from it completely after that. He also tried one against the Redskins on a scramble drill that was underthrown and intercepted. Not to mention that Cam played well in the two games after the Steelers game against the Lions and Seahawks.

The real turning point in the season was when defenses realized that Cam had zero ability to throw down the field so they focused entirely on shutting down our short game. There were reports after the season of DBs laughing at our WRs and straight up telling them that they knew that Cam can’t throw deep. Cam’s arm got a little weaker as the season went on but the true turning point was the defenses picking up on it and taking away the dink and dunk he was so successful with in the first half of the year.

Yep. The minute he got subbed out for the Hail Mary was when the entire league realized they could load the box and not have to cover past 10 yards. 

[jackson113]

In In 2011 Cam had two tight ends, Shockey and Olsen with Chud as OC. He had multiple 400 or close in yard games.  Shula dumb down the playbook for Shula..in mg own opinion.