Given you at least admit you don't know what the best option for an offensive game plan is from week to week, I cannot understand how you come to the conclusion O'Brien and the entire staff he collaborates with doesn't. That game plan changes somewhat from week to week depending on an opponents strengths and weaknesses and available personnel. It also changes depending on our own strengths and weaknesses and available personnel. More often than not we have faced opponents who can bring pressure, ergo the TE's are held in to block. Brady seldom has the time to find an open man beyond 5 yards, let alone a TE who is almost always being asked to at least chip someone on his way out. That his first two reads are generally his two elite receivers is not a shock. If they weren't that would be the real head scratcher. When they cannot get to Moss deep it's because of pressure and coverage, and to counter that they bring him into play by running him across the middle - but that is not his forte. Unfortunately absent a legitimate #3 to at least draw safety attention the deep game has become little more than a decoy that Brady takes a shot at two or three times a game hoping against hope Moss can make a big play in coverage be it a reception or PI or fending off a pick. He has to take that shot or the ruse is up alltogether.
I don't get the reluctance to admit that there is a talent gap here that is impacting this team's ability to execute efficiently. The don't run the ball (or rush opposing passers) well enough to rely on the run. They don't pass block well enough to beat coverage. As a unit their receiving corps don't run routes or read defenses well enough to get open consistently (Welker being the exception) or shift focus off Moss and Welker. Our 3rd and 4th receiver options are a couple of TE's coached primarily to block, two QB conversion projects who are also rookies to the league or this team - one battling a broken arm for several weeks after being pressed into service when the pro bowler he vaguely resembles went down and the other fresh off the PS where his focus was scout team QB before being pressed into service when nothing else was panning out, and a ST'er who is clearly little more than a decent 5th WR at best. As someone else observed, the problem isn't that these guys have no place on the team, it's that they have been pushed too far up the depth chart too fast.
The best any of the armchair geniuses here can apparently come up with is since we're not winning frequently or convincingly enough the OC is obviously incompetent... Apparently there is a little NEM in most of you. These players simply aren't collectively good enough. Whether they lack talent or experience or drive or their focus is intermittent, some of which they may develop over or correct in time, it's not there at this time and hasn't been there consistently at any point this season.
As an example, the Colts knew what they were up against heading into this season. They began working out the kinks in a plan to mitigate it in the spring. Manning worked extensively with two rookie receivers to complement Wayne and Clark. They added a second 1st round running back and beefed up their DL. They reshuffled an OL with a disappointing LT draftee. And they've been able to grind out 14 wins against fairly tepid competition while building a revamped foundation on offense on the fly.
NE approached this season believing getting Brady back would cure all. They ignored the nagging deficiencies on their OL under cover of Cassel. They added another aging RB with injury concerns and that bit them in the ass out of the gate. They replaced their established #3 WR whom they let walk over half a million with two veterans who had no experience in a read and react offense and watched them wash out in this system. That left them filling those roster spots with 2 QB conversion projects who most here felt were PS longshots at WR at best. Guys who had few if any reps with Brady throughout camp and pre season because he was focused on trying to build rapore with the veteran washouts. Oh, and Bill was focused on turning over the defense on the fly concurrently.
Yeah, it's got to be the inexperience of the OC at work...
FO Bill and his staff made some mistakes this season. They have every season. It's the nature of the job. What some here want them to do would only exacerbate that and luckily they know better than to. Bringing in a recognized NFL OC who was only available because he failed somewhere else (often repeatedly) who has no experience running this well established offense would be adding fuel to the fire. The beauty of system football is while talent comes and goes the system endures. We saw that result in 11 wins last season with a QB who hadn't started a football game since HS. The same people who want a more experienced OC wanted a more experienced backup QB, too. What they failed to recognize is there was no more system experienced backup on the planet. Ditto OC candidates - none better equipped to run this offense than those systematically groomed to.
Now, if you want to change the offense or the defense, if that's what you're really calling for when you decry the lack of "talent" at the coordinator position - that's a whole other argument. Charlie and RAC grew up in these systems and owe whatever success they have achieved in life to hard work and a guy willing to promote candidates from within to implement and run his systems. Same deal for Josh, Scott, Dimetroff and even Mangidiot (who has failed to achieve his own career aspirations, but like RAC and Charlie amassed a bank account that will mitigate personal disappointment somewhat).
The players have it right. Hard work and continuing to work on execution is the only avenue open to this team at this time. They can't replace or upgrade talent. It may not work and if so they will have to deal with that in the coming offseason. I hope for once they really do evaluate their talent across the board and in particular focus on both sides of the trenches. That would be the best way to ensure we have the capacity to utilize TE's and lean on the running game. Blockers and a pass rush. An OL that can block 3 and 4 rushers and a DL that can generate pressure with 3 and 4. Brady can do more with less again once he has that, and the OC here will again look like a genius.
