The Dowdle Mirage - Play Calling Problems

[Khyber53]

21 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

There is no easy way to "measure" it like you ask, it's not scientific of course, but it's almost easiest to judge it by your frustration levels throughout the game at what is going on.

In terms of player performance, it's things like how often you see Bryce throwing uncatchable passes, whether sailing them or because they are thrown into the ground.  For WRs, it's are they making catches, are they dropping it, just how they look out there, etc.

But for me, the big thing this thread was about, was specifically play calling and not to think we had a great called game just because we won and Rico had 200+ yards.

How many times did we line up on 1st and 10 and say to yourself, "welp, here comes another run for 2 yards" and then that's exactly what happened?

Or say a 3rd and 8 on our own 30 and you say, "here comes a screen pass that will only get 5 yards" and then that's exactly what happens?

Canales' play calling seems very predictable, stale, and with little imagination in play design (and many others have felt this same way since last year too).  To me, that is the big reason this game was a "bad win" because it's not like we did anything differently that made us appear to be a better team.  

It's why I say the 200+ yard game is because Rico made great plays, not because Canales called a great game that kept the defense on their heels and it allowed consistent 5-8 yard chunk runs throughout the game.

To that last point, I just saw that of his 206 yards, 169 of them were after contact.  Yet again, more proof that he didn't get his 200 yards because of a well called game by Canales, but by great individual efforts by him (it also pokes the hole in the argument someone made yesterday that said our OL was dominating theirs, as clearly it wasn't based on that stat).

If we come out this week and have unexpected play calling that keeps getting us chunk yards because the Cowboys don't know what is coming next, I'll be the first to congratulate Canales on a well planned and called game that showed marked improvement, regardless of whether or not we won or lost the game.

Look, I've been pounding on the Canales shouldn't be calling the offensive plays thing since last year. He's first off, not very versatile and makes Ron Rivera look like a master of mid-game adjustments. Also, because I think you really, really need to be calling the offensive plays from the booth with a better view of the whole field. 

A coach on the field cannot grasp how the opposing sideline WR is doing in coverage while also checking the two receivers on his side, plus keep up with how the line is doing and if the RB is in the groove. Heck, for the line alone he doesn't have the best view of where the RB is going to see success and how to best exploit it. Hence Rico saying, Yo coach, keep running this. 

Still, all these things in there, no matter how hard I'm banging on that drum, I can't let it drown out my joy in getting one of those rare Ws. Even coaches can learn and grow from them. I sure hope he will.

[tukafan21]

5 minutes ago, Basbear said:

 

I fully understand the questioning of Dave and BY, just the timing of your concerns is my problem.

NFL is ultra hard to pull off the perfect game. In all my years Ive never seen a HC have the perfect game plan and have great play call after great play call. 

Tmac has helped in every game, honestly more than I thought he was going to show. It does look like he was in fact the reason to trade AT and allow Tamc to feast on his targets. I have re-watched the wins, I have seen Tmac get red zone looks. Brother, he's about the 80-90% of passing attack. Dave is young inexperienced HC and he's learning on the job, hope he improves along with BYs confidence. 

 

Its going to be alllllll right, trust me as your co-pilot. 

 

It's not about calling a perfect game, it's about not calling a terrible one, something Canales has basically done in every game he's been our coach (there may have been a couple good ones scattered in there last year, but it hasn't been this year).

And the timing isn't new, I've said it after every game because it's been crap from the start, so not like I just jumped on it after a win.

The point of the thread was really just to not see the 200 yard rushing game and think the coaching staff all of a sudden figured poo out.  It was a Rico effort, not a coaching staff gameplan, 169 of his yards were after contact.

But everyone just took it as "oh you're just upset T-Mac isn't getting 25 catches a game and 19 TDs so far"

[Basbear]

7 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

It's not about calling a perfect game, it's about not calling a terrible one, something Canales has basically done in every game he's been our coach (there may have been a couple good ones scattered in there last year, but it hasn't been this year).

And the timing isn't new, I've said it after every game because it's been crap from the start, so not like I just jumped on it after a win.

The point of the thread was really just to not see the 200 yard rushing game and think the coaching staff all of a sudden figured poo out.  It was a Rico effort, not a coaching staff gameplan, 169 of his yards were after contact.

But everyone just took it as "oh you're just upset T-Mac isn't getting 25 catches a game and 19 TDs so far"

 

Not that I want to prolong this thread, tuk21..............Your rep is completely tied to Tmac, posters already know you are his agent and by far his #1 fan. You have just reached unhealthy standards, its not helping you going circles with the same comments. The thread will never end if you bring up concerns with Dave and BY. Then if Dave is fired and BY is replaced, it will not solve your concerns either.

Its ok!

 

Edited October 7, 2025 by Basbear