Sicilian

I'm not really concerned with the offense being explosive. I want the offense to be EFFICIENT. I want to see us avoiding 3rd downs, unless they are 3rd and short. I want to see drives that wear down the defense, rather than striking quickly. Ball control (which does not necessarily mean running the ball, just controlling the tempo), low turnovers, and field position.

If we have that, it will help our defense a great deal.

TommyBrady12

i think bill o'brien's inxperience or incompetence (whichever way you wan to look at it) will be an even bigger problem. he needs to make the offense less predictable as that was a big reason why we lost to teams we should have beaten last year.

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"He’s the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. He goes from being a rookie that nobody is expecting anything from, to taking over with people saying he can’t do it, to winning three Super Bowls....It should already be obvious he’s the greatest quarterback to ever have played. "

- Steelers S Troy Polamalu on Tom Brady

Brady2Welker

Our offense was explosive last year, we relied on the big play. We could get 60 yard TD passes. What we couldn't do was complete on short distance downs. And that's what I want to see.

AndyJohnson

Why can't ________ offense be as explosive as the best ever? Because it isnt.

JoeShmoe

This

Last year our playcalling stank. ShotGun-Throw to Wes, Shotgun-Throw to Wes, Shotgun-Draw to Faulk. Repeat for the entire second half

Whether it was a personnel thing, an O'Brien/Brady thing or what we need much more variety as teams knew what was coming. We ran that draw play so often Baltimore even knew the signals

We need to do the following

• Use Moss more creatively and get him in the game
• Use the running game more and get better OL run blocking
• Use RB's in the passing game, esp Maroney and Morris as well as Faulk
• Get the new TE's involved
• Get Brady under center more often
• Hope Wes is fit soon and that Tate, Holt and Price are a big step up at #3 and #4 (assuming Edelman is #2 start of the season)

TBradyOwnsYou

Simple answer? Wes being injured/gone is why we can't be as explosive as 2007.

RayClay

I'd much rather win the last game of the season by one point.

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Don Kipines

It's funny, just yesterday I was watching an NFL network replay of our home game last year against the Dolphins. Not a great game, but we were driving down the field the whole game almost without effort. Playcalling-wise it was basically spread offense/shotgun the whole way and no apologies about it, and it was working pretty easily.

The problems; they kept getting bogged down in the red zone, and Sam Aiken was usually the uncovered guy. I was thinking to myself, "If Brady wasn't throwing to special-teamers, and was just a little sharper, this would be the same offense as 2007."

It seems to me this offense, by the end of the year, could be right up there with 2007 -- maybe not quite as prolific (some luck went into all those TDs instead of field goals), but just as dangerous. I'm especially excited about the young tight ends because that potentially addresses a big problem they had last year -- they just weren't getting over the hump inside the 20. One play in particular from the Dolphins game caught my eye; a third down inside the 20 where Green-Ellis was lined up in the backfield split wide like an H-back and sprinted out to the end zone wide open, where he dropped a diving catch. Result: 3 points instead of seven.

You put a big pass-catcher like Hernandez in that formation and a) you've got a better blocker if it's a blitz and b) he's less likely to drop that ball. And from what I've seen of Hernandez, he's probably just as dangerous as a back on a swing pass.

I'd feel even more confident if they had upgraded at running back, but adding those two tight ends, plus a great hands guy in Holt, makes me feel a lot better about the red zone. Between the 20s, they may have some new issues while they wait for Welker to get back. But once he does, if they fix that red zone problem, they should be much improved I think.

mgteich

As you pointed out, One the key factors is health. Another issue is the contract situation of Mankins. Please post again when Neal, Mankins, Welker are all back and playing at 100%.

Many here may believe that Mankins will be playing at 100% with no training camp reps and no preseason. I don't believe that this is possible. I think we need to extend him or sign him to a one-year deal as we did for Samuel. I don't think Mankins will sit out of the season, but he won't be 100%. He might even sit out a game or two of he isn't signed.

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Personally, I do believe the OL can be as good as in 2007. We have added Vollmer and expect to have blocking tight ends.

DaBruinz

While Bill O'Brien was a problem, a bigger problem last year was Brady's propensity to audible. And it cost them on numerous occasions.. One of the biggest was when LeVoir was sent on as a eligible receiver to block in a running formation, Brady audibled out of it, LeVoir didn't hear it and LeVoir got called on a penalty..

That stemmed from Brady not having confidence in O'Brien.. We can only hope that there is more confidence in the play calling.

As for being predictable. How can a formation, where there are literally hundreds of different possibilities in terms of the route running, be predictable?

Were there parts that were predictable? Yes.. Like running the ball with Maroney 90% of the time he was on the field.. But, that's not a bad thing.. As long as they mix in the Play-action with it.. Which they didn't do a lot of.. Because they never stuck with the run enough..