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By the way, "holistic" coaching, including personnel, scheme, and motivation, got us past our doom and gloom moment last year... when we lost Mankins, the O-line was not ready for prime time, and we looked like ****.
The Great One had to make adjustments - but did. By season's end, before the SB, we were hearing about Carroll blowing the whistle in practice saying "if you don't get to him in 2.5 seconds you don't get to him..."
The word for Cincinatti was TRUST... that meant go through your reads fast, trust your man to be on time, scope the field regardless of the number on the jersey as you read through your progressions... and get the ball out decisively and fast. That continued to be the word for this season, in essence, until Tom had morphed once again into yet another kind of player - one who could disguise a dropoff in pass blocking with quicker reads and releases.
You can't keep disguising weaknesses without strengths, and the team clearly had strengths this same year -- including the horses in the ground game to make PA a serious threat again.
But it's more "chess not checkers." You can't ditch Vince while he's affordable... But you don't think the pros and cons of more aggressive penetrating DTs had been discussed? We'll see where we zig, when "zag" has been taken away.
Just think how easy it would be to lose an edge if you declared "THIS is the character of OUR team, we will ALWAYS have this character." You are one or two injuries away from each wasted season.
Far better to have "Oh, you prepped for last week's Patriots. This week it's different. Good luck!"
That carries through to how the Pats "heal" the gaps in the roster... Maximize talent with scheme, and go to war with the army you have against the enemy you face -- including all the pros and cons of both.
The Great One had to make adjustments - but did. By season's end, before the SB, we were hearing about Carroll blowing the whistle in practice saying "if you don't get to him in 2.5 seconds you don't get to him..."
The word for Cincinatti was TRUST... that meant go through your reads fast, trust your man to be on time, scope the field regardless of the number on the jersey as you read through your progressions... and get the ball out decisively and fast. That continued to be the word for this season, in essence, until Tom had morphed once again into yet another kind of player - one who could disguise a dropoff in pass blocking with quicker reads and releases.
You can't keep disguising weaknesses without strengths, and the team clearly had strengths this same year -- including the horses in the ground game to make PA a serious threat again.
But it's more "chess not checkers." You can't ditch Vince while he's affordable... But you don't think the pros and cons of more aggressive penetrating DTs had been discussed? We'll see where we zig, when "zag" has been taken away.
Just think how easy it would be to lose an edge if you declared "THIS is the character of OUR team, we will ALWAYS have this character." You are one or two injuries away from each wasted season.
Far better to have "Oh, you prepped for last week's Patriots. This week it's different. Good luck!"
That carries through to how the Pats "heal" the gaps in the roster... Maximize talent with scheme, and go to war with the army you have against the enemy you face -- including all the pros and cons of both.