DJ Moore comments

[Basbear]

On 9/29/2022 at 8:52 PM, LinvilleGorge said:

I'd go off on the media if I was a player. Why are y'all always trying to start poo. Always trying to get a guy to say something controversial? Try to twist their words into something controversial anyway if they don't? Go fug yourself. Go get a real job.

Id cuss out both person and newson, I cannot image having to constastly answer their bait/dumbass questions. Maybe if I thought it out, Id go Billacheat on them....

[AlphabetsEnd]

While doing laundry yesterday, I rewatched the past three games on All22 and condensed, and there is a lot going on that is poor about the offense and DJ is most certainly one of the factors. No aspect of the offense is playing even "good" each down, every drive, each game. The unit is not working together well, yet. 

Any comment about Mayfield being unwilling to throw to DJ for contested catches is just not simply supported by the tape. Pretty much every throw to DJ that Mayfield has thrown this season was contested (except his TD, when his DB tripped). Whether this is on DJ for not getting separation, Mayfield throwing late or choosing the wrong read, a combination, or good secondary play, I can't say, as I don't know the specific plays and assignments, but holistically, across three games, it looks like scheme/route issues. 

Regardless, DJ is just not winning contested catches, for whatever reason that's causing him to be blanketed. 

All told, for my part, having watched way too much film of this offense now, the scheme is the number one issue - routes are doing no one any favors (there is a literally a third down in the Giants game where McAdoo schemed 3-4 routes to between the numbers - who is gonna be open there?) The number of times that receivers are looking away from the QB, as the QB works through his progressions is somewhat hilarious. One might put that on players, or even coaching, but it looks like scheme to me, if you're seeing it on the regular. How is a QB supposed to do a dump off when a blitz gets past, and his receivers are facing away (watch the first sack in the Saints game for this). 

Beyond scheme, it seems to be execution. If this team executes this poor scheme well, it maybe produces. But if the players drag, or Mayfield and his WR timing is off, this offense will continue to produce poorly. 

Personally, something is off between Mayfield and DJ on the routes and timing. They seem to have the worst connection of all the receivers. Shi Smith quiting on routes or dropping passes has underplayed the connection between him and Mayfield, who seem to find each other. DJ and Mayfield though, it seems Mayfield is expecting DJ to be somewhere else, and when Mayfield does target DJ, it's a contested catch or a short gain, or Mayfield overthrows because the line is collapsed and in his face, with arms up. 

It's reminding me of Mayfield and OBJ - and not in the way most people think. OBJ was lazy and played outside Stefanski's scheme, but Mayfield seemed to feel pressured to target and look for him, and it hurt the offense as the open receiver was deprioritized to try and feed Obj. When OBJ went down with injury in 2020, Mayfield's splits drastically improved. Ironically, OBJ got the same usage/splits with the LARams, only more redzone targets, which in CLE went to Hunt or the TEs, usually. 

I hope that's not the case for DJ and Mayfield, but rewatching the tape, it was starting to look a little familiar. 

[LinvilleGorge]

14 minutes ago, AlphabetsEnd said:

there is a literally a third down in the Giants game where McAdoo schemed 3-4 routes to between the numbers - who is gonna be open there

There's no shortage of these types of plays.

One particular third down play against the Saints prompted this post out of me

 

[AlphabetsEnd]

3 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

There's no shortage of these types of plays.

One particular third down play against the Saints prompted this post out of me

 

I mean, that can't be on the players, like how does an entire receiving corp run the wrong route - multiple times, across multiple games. 

There were a few plays I noted also, watching, where DJ was wide open running his route, right into the DB or safety brought over from another route runner. If the progression timing is not set to hit DJ in the 1/4 second he's open there, it's not gonna work as a designed play. And you can see the QB's head is not looking at that spot, so... 

[LinvilleGorge]

8 minutes ago, AlphabetsEnd said:

I mean, that can't be on the players, like how does an entire receiving corp run the wrong route - multiple times, across multiple games. 

There were a few plays I noted also, watching, where DJ was wide open running his route, right into the DB or safety brought over from another route runner. If the progression timing is not set to hit DJ in the 1/4 second he's open there, it's not gonna work as a designed play. And you can see the QB's head is not looking at that spot, so... 

IMO, McAdoo's preferred scheme just doesn't fit our personnel at all and this his attempt to adjust his scheme to fit our personnel. The end result is just a flat out broken offense.

[AlphabetsEnd]

Thus far, I think you're right. In rewatching, it didn't seem like anyone on offense was particularly confident in what they were doing. It looks like preseason, still - except it's against first unit defenses now...