Quote:
Originally Posted by 44Deezel
Seriously. I don't care how bad the O line was, 12 points a game over the last 8 is putrid. How can anyone see signs of greatness in last year's performance?
Reasons he may not even be a good offensive coordinator:
1) Couldn't get production out of the rooks when other teams were doing it all over the league. If the Eagles could get almost 1000 yards from that knucklehead Desean Jackson, Zorn should have been able to get more out of Davis, Kelly and Thomas. Don't tell me they can't read playbooks. They read playbooks well enough to be high draft picks in the NFL. Simplify if need be, and get the guys to produce on the field.
2) The running game - 342 carries for a guy who's best run went for 31 yards? The best running teams use multiple weapons out of the backfield. We had good enough talent, but Zorn chose to run Portis into the ground instead of developing weapons out of the other guys.
3) Passing game - weak and uncreative. Like someone else said, where were the no huddle plays? The trick plays? The roll-outs to give Campbell more time to throw? Teams like the Chargers and Dolphins regularly threw to their running backs for huge gains. Our RBs were non-existent in the passing game, making it all that much easier to defend the offense.
4) Mike Sellers on the goal-line. I don't care what he says, Zorn gave those carries to Sellers, because he was miffed with Portis. He let his personal feelings get the better of him. Not what great coaches do.
5) Nobody else wanted him even as an offensive coordinator. Are we supposed to think the FO knows something the rest of the league doesn't? Why? Because of their stellar track record?
I am one who thinks the 6-2 start last year was more of a fluke than an indication of what Zorn can do on a long term basis with a healthy team. I believe other teams figured him out once there was enough film to be studied and he was unable to adjust. There were some first year coaches that did show signs of greatness last year (Harbaugh, Sparano, Smith). Unfortunately, Zorn wasn't one of them (In my opinion).
But I hope you guys are right. I'd gladly eat crow over this one.
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I can see your point of view on most of your sentiments and some I agee with and some I don't.
Having said that I want to focus on the items that I bolded in your post.
First of all running trick plays is a little more difficult than people think. To be able to run trick plays you have to be able to execute your basic plays on a regular basis. The defense has to believe and commit to what they see to bite on a trick play. Plain and simple, we couldn't execute basic plays, there was no chance for a trick play.
Second involving your backs in the passing game requires the one element that we didn't have last year...time. The running back in a passing play is usually the 3rd read or later in the QB's progression. The exception to that rule is the screen play. I believe that we could use some more of these. JC didn't have enough time to hit his hot reads on many occasions; how in the world was he supposed to hit the 3rd, 4th, or 5th reads?
Essentially both of these areas can be inproved upon with improved pass protection and offensive execution in general.