The Day the Offense Died

[Pat_Nasty]

I think he OVER uses it. For examples, on many situation where they only need , say 4 or 5 yards on 3rd down, McDaniels goes to the spread formation almost all the time.

By doing this, with no back left in the backfield, he is, for all intents and purposes, telling the defenes that we are going to pass. There is NO GUESSWORK for them to even think about.

But, leave a man in the backfield, go under center instead of shotgun, and the defense now has to think, and throw in a little play action, and it stops their rush for just a brief second, and that slight time factor could be the difference in a successful play.

Even after the play action fake, yu can still send the back out into the flat as a safety valve, or on a screen.

But going spread, no back held in the backfield, you are just telegraphing to opposing defenses that its a pass play...and sorry, but that is dumb play calling.

First of all, the Pats going empty backfield is pretty rare -- the vast majority of the time the Pats have used the spread offense, they've left Faulk (or sometimes Maroney) in the backfield. This leaves open the possibility of a draw, screen, or dump off. Occasionally, they'll motion Faulk wide, but that's just different way of making the defense have to think.

As for going play-action on 3rd and 4 -- that's just not advisable. 3rd and medium-long is generally considered a passing down. (While the average rush in the NFL is ~4 yards, the MEDIAN rush is closer to a 2 yard gain.) It's unlikely the defense will bite much on a run fake in that situation -- and it's likely they'll be sending a blitzer, in which they'll likely be reaching Brady around the time he's turning around from the playfake.

 

[AzPatsFan]

My complaint during those drives was the lack of agressiveness in the red zone, and on too many occasions we had to settle for three points instead of seven. The numbers prove it out.

6 TD's in 32 attempts.

NEM,

You must know that it is a blind spot that you have regarding regarding ANY Offensive Coordinator. You hate them all.

With your comment above, then how can you criticize Josh McDaniels now? Forty Seven possessions in the Red zone and 30 TDs scored for the second highest TD % in the league at 63.8%. The 47 red zone opportunities is tied for the second highest number of times any Offense in the league has marched down into the red zone, as well.

In summary, McDaniel's play calling gets them into the Red zone frequently, and converts to TDs when the Pats do get there.

And its not that Bill Belichick didn't know exactly what he was getting either befroe he appointed him OC. He auditioned him all last season, making him the de facto but not de jure OC, precisely to allow him to fail if he was too young; it was also to head off all the misplaced criticism.

All in all a very, very, good record.

 

[AzPatsFan]

My comments, concerning the red zone, were not directed at McDaniels....If you go back and re-read the posts prior to mine, you will see that I was responding to a comment about a couple of seasons when Weis was OC, not McDaniels. Thank you.

My fault, sorry.

 

[Brownfan80]

My comments, concerning the red zone, were not directed at McDaniels....If you go back and re-read the posts prior to mine, you will see that I was responding to a comment about a couple of seasons when Weis was OC, not McDaniels. Thank you.

Then, after reading through all this, please explain what it is that you hate about McDaniels.

We've:

A) Moved the ball well and piled up yards.
B) Gotten into the redzone frequently.
C) Scored TDs frequently when in the redzone.
D) Scored alot of points in general.
E) Won the TOP battle frequently.
F) Have a 9-3 record.
G) The main problem with the offense this season has been turnovers, which are an execution problem and not tied to the OC's performance.

So you've cleared up what you didn't like about Weis, but now we see that the offense under McDaniels has done those same things well. So then, shouldn't you LIKE McDaniels?

 

[adamprez]

From an outsider's perspective there is something off with your offense from previous years but I dont think playcalling is that much a part of it. The receiving crew you have brought in is made of serviceable players but noone that is going to take over a game when needed. I'm not sure losing Givens hurt but losing Branch certainly hurt in a big way. Caldwell is playing well for you guys but he's a number 2 receiver. I'm a little surprised that Gabriel hasnt been a bigger part of your offense. I thought he wouldve done a little more this year.

Add to that that your offensive line is good but not overpowering and it's going to take away from your running game effectiveness against good run defenses.

You guys have a good offense but its not great and I think its more to do with having a bunch of good players but no standouts other then Brady and Maroney. Koppen, Mankins and Light are a good Left side but your right side can be blown up

Anyways, you really dont have weaknesses on offenses its simply you lack the firepower of previous years. Your playcalling however has maximized your talent about as much as can be done considering the talent at least IMO

 

[Poll]

Then, after reading through all this, please explain what it is that you hate about McDaniels.

We've:

A) Moved the ball well and piled up yards.
B) Gotten into the redzone frequently.
C) Scored TDs frequently when in the redzone.
D) Scored alot of points in general.
E) Won the TOP battle frequently.
F) Have a 9-3 record.
G) The main problem with the offense this season has been turnovers, which are an execution problem and not tied to the OC's performance.

So you've cleared up what you didn't like about Weis, but now we see that the offense under McDaniels has done those same things well. So then, shouldn't you LIKE McDaniels?

The running game sucks though. I believe we could do better.
Maybe Maroney needs more chances; I don't know.
That's another discussion.