Time to bench Brunell? (Mega Man Merge)

[Monkeydad]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

I don't think you can put Brunell's inefficiency on Portis missing in the backfield. No doubt, Portis is a huge part of our offense - huge! However, Brunell couldn't get the ball to his receivers, that's not a function of Portis not lining up behind you. Brunell floated the ball and never took it deep, that's not a function of Portis not lining up behind you. He often scrambled into the pass rush or his release was either late or too early, nothing to do with Portis behind the QB.

He can't get the ball to the receivers because the defenses KNOW we can't run the ball and are playing pass on every play. They're also sending blitzes because they aren't buying the playactions...and they shouldn't. Extra coverage and a pass rush that is sure they're going to get the the QB is not an easy thing to overcome for ANYONE. Add in that Betts can't block and that's a nightmare for Brunell. Saunders wanted to go deep, but Brunell didn't have the time to wait for the receivers to get downfield AND get open in double-coverage.

Proof - SIX sacks by Dallas, would've been a couple more if Brunell hadn't ducked and ran away from a few.