shula responds to criticism

[mav1234]

that's so true. I would have LOVED to lose 30-35 or 63-68, but not 7-12 no way :)

 

damn its annoying being the smartest person everywhere I go. makes it impossible to conversate with those slow-witted 

 

If we lost 30-35 or lol 63-68 after being totally blown out every preseason game on defense we'd be bitching about how bad the defense is, and with good reason...

[Cyberjag]

So to sum up, a lot of people were concerned that based on his history, Shula was not the best hire out there, and would be too conservative.  I'm included in that number, for what it's worth.  And since the hire, our concerns were more or less shouted down by those that know better, who insisted that he's learned a lot, continuity would be good, he's never had a QB like Cam, this time it would be different, etc...

 

In the pre-season, we did virtually nothing on offense.  And the concerns were raised again.  And they were shouted down again, with lots of statements about how we weren't going to give anything away, that our playbook was being kept under wraps.

 

So now we've played a game.  It was very conservative on offense.  The plays looked a lot like what we saw in the pre-season.  And we eked out a grand total of 7 points, somehow limiting our previously prolific QB to 125 yards passing.

 

I dunno, smells like execution problems to me.  Good thing that all of those people who know better are here to tell me how great a game Shula actually called, or I might think he was too conservative or something...

 

 

 

[AceBoogie]

The time for excuses and explanations has passed. The preseason it was "we are holding back the play book" now it's something else. It's all meaningless excuse making. Why do we always seem to let our opponent dictate what we do? I am ready for the Panthers to dictate how our opponent should react. Good coaches and good teams force the hand of their opponent.

Rivera said what they do is based on what they see in the defense.

[mav1234]

I have broken this game down every which way I know how.  I've watched it a couple of times seeing what I can see, broken down the statistics.

 

The tape and the statistics don't show me some terrible game plan or bad playcalling

 

It just isn't there.

 

7 points right?  Well if we had 14 possessions (like some games) and 14 points would we have played better offense then having 7 points in 7 possessions?

 

After all 14>7

 

One of the reasons we had only 7 possessions was because of the pace of the game we were calling, too.

[rayzor]

The Huddle is in full panic mode. I guess it really isn't too surprising.

 

What I saw was a hard fought game against a good opponent that came down to who made the fewest mistakes. Of course it sucks to lose. Everybody understands that. But this is a whole different set of circumstances than opening day last year. Sure, both were losses, but this one left me encouraged while the Tampa game left me totally discouraged.

 

As to the 7 points, no, that's not going to get it done. Everyone understands that. If we continue to struggle with points vs Buffalo, then perhaps I'll join the chorus of those wanting Shula's head. But I saw a pretty good game plan given who we were playing and their strengths and weaknesses.

 

And before I am thrown into the Rivera/Shula hugger category, please know that I was calling for Rivera's head at the end of last season and did not like the Shula hire. However, last Sunday did not convince me of anything yet as far as this season goes. It is just too early, and there were plenty of things to like about what we did.

 

the biggest fear that i and most others who hated the shula hire was that he would manage the offense the same way he did in tampa and at alabama...slow paced, conservative, low scoring, slow to get the call to the QB, "safe"  but ultimately ineffective football.

 

the "rah rah" types were saying that we were just being paranoid and there's no reason to think that the offense would look the same way it did in his other two locales. the hope from his detractors was that the rah rah types were right because no one wants the offense to be ineffective.

 

then preseason happens and the offense looks pretty much as feared. but the rah rah types said we never look good in preseason, the offense was going to be holding things close to their chest as to what they were going to do and despite saying that the ravens game was going to be a good glimpse into what the offense would look like, it didn't look very good/prolific. but...hey, it's just preseason. wait until the first game of the season when it counts.

 

so we wait to see just how much shula has improved in his game management. we wait to see just how this more balanced offense would change and improve.

 

and what do we see when the first game of the season plays? 7 points and a poo ton of excuses about how it wasn't as bad as it looks and everything else.

 

for those of us who were hoping that we were wrong about a shula run offense being weak, a losing 7 point game. sorry if that just doesn't alleve any fears among those who think that the shula hire was a mistake. sorry that it didn't exactly promote confidence in us. sorry if it looks exactly like we thought it would by the results of the game.

 

until proven otherwise, which i hope happens, he is the same ineffective game manager that he was in tampa and bama with a lot of promises that things will be better and excuses following his trail of losses and poor showings on offense.

 

i hope things are better going forward. i hope that my fears are unfounded. i just haven't seen anything yet to show that they are.

[PhillyB]

i actually think my biggest criticism of the offense - aside from the obvious drops/fumbles - was the pace.

[Cyberjag]

the biggest fear that i and most others who hated the shula hire was that he would manage the offense the same way he did in tampa and at alabama...slow paced, conservative, low scoring, slow to get the call to the QB, "safe"  but ultimately ineffective football.

 

the "rah rah" types were saying that we were just being paranoid and there's no reason to think that the offense would look the same way it did in his other two locales. the hope from his detractors was that the rah rah types were right because no one wants the offense to be ineffective.

 

then preseason happens and the offense looks pretty much as feared. but the rah rah types said we never look good in preseason, the offense was going to be holding things close to their chest as to what they were going to do and despite saying that the ravens game was going to be a good glimpse into what the offense would look like, it didn't look very good/prolific. but...hey, it's just preseason. wait until the first game of the season when it counts.

 

so we wait to see just how much shula has improved in his game management. we wait to see just how this more balanced offense would change and improve.

 

and what do we see when the first game of the season plays? 7 points and a poo ton of excuses about how it wasn't as bad as it looks and everything else.

 

for those of us who were hoping that we were wrong about a shula run offense being weak, a losing 7 point game. sorry if that just doesn't alleve any fears among those who think that the shula hire was a mistake. sorry that it didn't exactly promote confidence in us. sorry if it looks exactly like we thought it would by the results of the game.

 

until proven otherwise, which i hope happens, he is the same ineffective game manager that he was in tampa and bama with a lot of promises that things will be better and excuses following his trail of losses and poor showings on offense.

 

i hope things are better going forward. i hope that my fears are unfounded. i just haven't seen anything yet to show that they are.

 

Ever feel like you're arguing with a "Shula is great because SHUT UP!" crowd? :D

 

[AceBoogie]

Everybody remember when I kept saying in the preseason that I wanted to see our offense put together a complete drive? Something they didn't do for the entire preseason!!

What did you guys say "it's just preseason" I was called a whiner, negative nancy, Debbie downer, all of that.

Now you guys are freaking out because what happened in the preseason is showing up in the regular season just like I was afraid of. Welcome to the dark side

With that being said chill out it was the first game against a top 3 defense. We will get better.

[PhillyB]

Ever feel like you're arguing with a "Shula is great because SHUT UP!" crowd? :D

 

 

so who exactly is saying this?

[mav1234]

this is a forum, people post, get annoyed, etc.

 

few of us want shula fired RIGHT THIS FREAKING SECOND but we are basically afraid that he is exactly what we thought he was (lol) and have had no evidence to the contrary.

 

...the same actually applies to Rivera, but yeah.

[rayzor]

i actually think my biggest criticism of the offense - aside from the obvious drops/fumbles - was the pace.

 

yeah, that was one of the things i was really fearing as well. the talk about how they were going to streamline the offense to get the call in quicker and the play off faster had me feeling pretty good, esp. in an era that has begun in which offenses are going no huddle/hurry up quite often and we've got to compete.

 

chud was horrible at getting the play in and it seemed we were constantly up against the :00 mark on the clock so i was optimistic that this time it would be better, but we were actually worse.

 

that slow pace was definitely a factor in us not having more possessions. we ate up the clock doing nothing and it left us with less time at the end.

 

[nosuchthingasapanther]

i don't remember anyone saying shula was or is going to be great.

i just don't see how this game can be pinned on the play calling.

the seahawks and panthers were mirror images of each other on sunday. the difference being seattle capitalized on carolina's lack of execution.

[BBQ&Beer]

the biggest fear that i and most others who hated the shula hire was that he would manage the offense the same way he did in tampa and at alabama...slow paced, conservative, low scoring, slow to get the call to the QB, "safe"  but ultimately ineffective football.

 

the "rah rah" types were saying that we were just being paranoid and there's no reason to think that the offense would look the same way it did in his other two locales. the hope from his detractors was that the rah rah types were right because no one wants the offense to be ineffective.

 

then preseason happens and the offense looks pretty much as feared. but the rah rah types said we never look good in preseason, the offense was going to be holding things close to their chest as to what they were going to do and despite saying that the ravens game was going to be a good glimpse into what the offense would look like, it didn't look very good/prolific. but...hey, it's just preseason. wait until the first game of the season when it counts.

 

so we wait to see just how much shula has improved in his game management. we wait to see just how this more balanced offense would change and improve.

 

and what do we see when the first game of the season plays? 7 points and a poo ton of excuses about how it wasn't as bad as it looks and everything else.

 

for those of us who were hoping that we were wrong about a shula run offense being weak, a losing 7 point game. sorry if that just doesn't alleve any fears among those who think that the shula hire was a mistake. sorry that it didn't exactly promote confidence in us. sorry if it looks exactly like we thought it would by the results of the game.

 

until proven otherwise, which i hope happens, he is the same ineffective game manager that he was in tampa and bama with a lot of promises that things will be better and excuses following his trail of losses and poor showings on offense.

 

i hope things are better going forward. i hope that my fears are unfounded. i just haven't seen anything yet to show that they are.

 

Exactly. Maybe this was the best plan for for the Seahawks &... well fug, they just happened to be the first team we played & we came up short...

 

But this plan seems to come up with Shula a lot going by his history.

[mav1234]

We weren't mirror images of the Seahawks...

 

Pretty sure if our offense had put up 3 scores and 400 yards of offense, you wouldn't see this level of bitching about Shula, even if we had still lost by 5 points.