How much are you actually blaming the defense and offense for the last 3 losses ?

[Hoenheim]

 

We've all heard Rhules thoughts but what are yours? Is it mostly offense or defense or do you lay equal blame  

I blame mostly the offense..They try to play the entire game with no urgency like they have a 28 point lead and they wait until late in the 4th to play well. That and the 3rd quarter problems in particular  lead me to believe it's primarily a coaching problem. We see the offense Actually light up late in games but they are lackadaisical  otherwise.  

 

It think its bs that rule is blaming the defense so much.  They kept all opponents not named Dallas or Minnesota to 21 points or less. Even against Dallas and Minnesota  they kept these teams to low point totals through the entire first half of the game and I believe they got gassed by an inept offense constantly putting them on the field. They aren't totally exempt from blame (I'm looking at that big drop-off in sacks  and run D in particular) but given the circumstances  the defense has been mostly good imo.  And do they allow Vikings and Dallas to score that many points if the offense wasn't committing egregious  turnovers and constantly going 3 and out? Probably not .

Edited October 20, 2021 by Hoenheim

[SmokinwithWilly]

I blame Brady and coaches mostly. Dallas was a tough game against a team that looks really good right now. But the other 2 our offense looked unprepared, pedestrian and just plain boring. Obviously some falls onto Darnold and our WR, but all in all, the team looked unprepared. Can't expect a defense to hold out forever. Offense has to score points. It's a lot easier to win when you can score 30 points. 

[OneBadCat]

I don’t really blame the defense much at all. Run defense has left more to be desired but they gave the offense so many opportunities to seal the game and just blew it.

[Snake]

I blame the offensive line. Thus I blame Brady and Rhule. 

[Khyber53]

Brady is beginning to remind me of Chudzinski in his second season. An overly complicated, "look-at-what-I-can-do", offensive "genius" gameplan week in and week out that never plays to the teams current strengths or covers for their weaknesses. It gets old fast and dooms a team in the long run. It's basically a season-long resume` effort. And like Chudzinski, with luck he'll get hired somewhere else and we can get back to creating a solid offense. (Remember Chud? Did he even make it through his first season as a HC?)

So, I'm holding the offense more at stake here. They ran roughshod over some unprepared/injury depleted teams but folded against even moderate defensive pressure. Lack of offensive line development is a big problem for both the coaching staff and a GM who has "been on every deal" but hasn't picked up a real winner yet. He's been busy for sure, but Fit hasn't struck gold or silver even yet. The jury is still out on his draft, one which we all marveled over at the time, especially in comparison to picks he could have made.

The defense has been more aggressive and it has helped. We're overcoming the weaker/less prepared teams handily, putting up a fight against teams of our standing and getting walked over by obviously better teams so far. This is, believe it or not, way better than last year. Now, though, we can't seem to get off the field, stop the runs up the middle or create turnovers. 550+ yards of offense to a competent, not great, Minnesota team last week was bad and there was no gas left in the tank for overtime heroics. Key injuries are playing havoc right now, but the return of Shaq Thompson should help when he makes it back. They could be greatly helped by an offense that grinds out some first downs and takes control of the time of possession stat again. Fast twitch, high energy, lots of motion defenses need time to catch their breath.

And special teams? That blocked punt for a touchdown was just wonderful to see. And that's about all the good we've had from our special teams. We've had three kickers and two punters since training camp. 'nuff said.

TL;DR Offense overly complicated and stinks to boot. Defense aggressive and overachieving but running out of stamina and warm bodies. Special teams, get rid of Chase Blackburn.

[Panther1iDawg]

Coaching and equal blame.

[Dave Gettleman's Shorts]

I blame the coaches for not putting the players in the best position on the field and trying to act cute with schemes. Snow using 5 DB's packages vs Dallas jumbo packages and Brady continuing to abandon the run and opting for long developing pass plays when the o-line is struggling. Teams are figuring us out and the coaches continue to not adapt or adjust. Every week they come with same BS and expect different results.

[Waldo]

I blame almost everyone at this point. It's not the 2nd year I was hoping to see but more of a 1b...

[LinvilleGorge]

It's rarely any one person or one unit's fault, but I'mma be honest... the OL and Darnold are trash. But last week, our receivers put together about the worst game I've ever seen at the NFL level. So, yeah...

[Brooklyn 3.0]

LOL who else are you going to blame?

[Harbingers]

Coaches > Offense >(just barely) defense. 

[mav1234]

Rhule has said these are team losses, that Sam needs to play better, and that failing to get stops near end of games is rough given what we've invested in the D.  Did he say equal blame etc?

I don't think he blames the D equally or more than the O for our losses.  He has blamed Darnolds play a lot more.  He is changing our entire offensive philosophy because we aren't getting it done.

I mostly blame the O, but the D has had opportunities to get stops they didn't... Which did contribute to losses.  Does that make them MORE at fault?? No.  Not at all.

[Fox007]

5 minutes ago, mav1234 said:

Rhule has said these are team losses, that Sam needs to play better, and that failing to get stops near end of games is rough given what we've invested in the D.  Did he say equal blame etc?

I don't think he blames the D equally or more than the O for our losses.  He has blamed Darnolds play a lot more.  He is changing our entire offensive philosophy because we aren't getting it done.

I mostly blame the O, but the D has had opportunities to get stops they didn't... Which did contribute to losses.  Does that make them MORE at fault?? No.  Not at all.

Yea the D gets no pass what so ever we have all the resources there including an entire historic draft, best FAs, and trades. Hell yea you best stop someone. 

A lot of what you see may also be attributed to youth which is a valid excuse as of right now but if it continues to be then it'll mean another ding on the coaching staff if they don't put it all together. We've seen units gel and others never actually get over the "youth" part of making mistakes so a lot is very much in the air but the talent is there. 

[Sean Payton's Vicodin]

In order

1. Rhule

2. Brady

3. Darnold

 

All three have to go