Al Saunders on the way out?

[SBXVII]

Be honest here. The Defense was the problem also. Are defense is predicatated on 3 and outs. If a team finds a way to move the ball we are screwed. The players either looked un-conditioned or maybe it's we hired smaller players for speed and they are getting no push and exhausted on long drives. I know we were 8th in the league but look at second half adjustments. Other teams made them GW did not. He lined up his men and said beat me. When we were getting beat he rarely made adjustments or atleast it looked like we did nothing. Fall into a zone and get beat everytime.

I like Saunders. His system works and is proven. Why does it not work here? Is it we have the wrong players for the system? Gibbs always liked big blocking linemen, does Saunders system require smaller faster linemen? Is it the blocking style? Gibbs always lined up his men and played mostly man to man blocking. Al's looks more like zone blocking similar to what Denver uses. If we stay in Al's offense we need a coulple of big WR. He needs total control. GW needs to get lineman who can get pressure up the middle.

I'm not sure who the best coach for the job is but I look at both sides of the ball and see a rusty old classic car with a dent in the door and needs 4 new tires. Yes, I know the dent can be pulled and the rust blasted off and the tires changed which leaves us with a pricless car worth alot but do we have the ability to do it?

[DiehardSkin88]

How was our defense the problem dumbass

[SFREDSKIN]

The only choices would be Cameron or Lazor and possibly Musgrave. Cameron was here with Norv before he worked for Marty and it's a Coryell type offense, forget Fassell he's a West Coast Offense type of guy. Musgrave also is a West Coast kind of guy but was here for a couple of years so maybe he learned something?

[DiehardSkin88]

I wouldnt mind promoting lazor to OC.. Granted he is un proven as being OC but he and JC have a great relationship and has been around for awhile and knows the players

[SBXVII]

Simply put...our defense dominates first half games. how many times did teams come back in the fourth quarter? thats called A D J U S T M E N T S. GW failed to do that a lot in the 4th quarter. Prevent sucks. Prevent, prevents you from winning.

[DiehardSkin88]

He was playing prevent mainly when sean taylor was playing because he knew that most teams wouldnt have the balls to throw it deep on them.. and when they did it would usually turn out bad for that team. Now, when he passed away greg williams completely changed his defense, becoming more pressure based.. forcing quarterbacks to make quick throws and make mistakes, which worked out very well for us down the stretch. I agree that it is partly our defenses fault for allowing teams tocome back. But, the same could be said for the offense, if the offense keeps going 3 and out then the defense is going to be on the field most of the game, which is what was happening to us losing those half time leads.

[DiehardSkin88]

You cant expect the defense to stop them everytime, without the offense putting the games away there is always a chance for the other team to come back.

[SBXVII]

I did not say it was only the defenses fault. Yes we were a 3 and out team also on offense. we need big WR's I said that. Someone to throw a ball up to in the end zone. We need to do something about our blocking. I said that also. I simply said GW needs to do something about the second half let downs and get better push up the middle. I also like Carter a lot but he was man handled in Seattle. Maybe it's just a couple of spots we need to fix but it's not all Saunders who is the problem is all I was saying.

[MTK]

I won't be surprised if Saunders gets dumped especially if GW takes over. Let's face it, other than the 4 game streak his offense was disappointing to say the least.

[SBXVII]

I'll agree with that. I would imagine GW would want a top 10 offense. Al did not produce that at all for us. I would ask again why this is? Al's offense has produced with other teams why was it a flop with us? and will one more year bring it full circle? Do we give him one more year? or do we say adios and go with another OC.

[SmootSmack]

If Saunders goes, and Schwartz comes aboard as head coach (or even as Williams' top dog), you think they might make a run at Texas Tech coach Mike Leach? A buddy of mine who's a Titans fan tipped me off to this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/magazine/04coach.html

At least one N.F.L. head coach had taken a special interest in the Texas Tech offense and had been ordering its game tapes on Monday mornings. At least one N.F.L. defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz of the Tennessee Titans, had stumbled upon Texas Tech accidentally and said, Oh, my. The surprise runner-up in the search earlier this year for a new San Francisco 49ers head coach, Schwartz had scrambled to answer a question: if he got the 49ers job, whom should he hire? He was just in his mid-30's, and his football career stopped at Georgetown (where he graduated with honors in economics), so he really hadn't thought about this before.

The 49ers had not bothered to interview college coaches for the head-coaching job in part because its front-office analysis found that most of the college coaches hired in the past 20 years to run N.F.L. teams had failed. But in Schwartz's view, college coaches tended to fail in the N.F.L. mainly because the pros hired the famous coaches from the old-money schools, on the premise that those who won the most games were the best coaches. But was this smart? Notre Dame might have a good football team, but how much of its success came from the desire of every Catholic in the country to play for Notre Dame?

Looking for fresh coaching talent, Schwartz analyzed the offensive and defensive statistics of what he called the "midlevel schools" in search of any that had enjoyed success out of proportion to their stature. On offense, Texas Tech's numbers leapt out as positively freakish: a midlevel school, playing against the toughest football schools in the country, with the nation's highest scoring offense.

But when Schwartz studied videotape of the Texas Tech offense, what he saw unsettled him. The offensive linemen positioned themselves between three and six feet apart - on extreme occasions, the five linemen stretched a good 15 yards across the field. At times it was difficult to tell the linemen from the receivers. Strictly speaking, they were not a line at all, just a row of dots. "The offensive line splits - you look at them, and you're just shocked," Schwartz said. "It scares people to see splits that are that wide."

The big gaps between the linemen made the quarterback seem more vulnerable - some defenders could seemingly run right between the blockers - but he wasn't. Stretching out the offensive line stretched out the defensive line too, forcing the most ferocious pass rushers several yards farther from the quarterback. It also opened up wide passing lanes through which even a short quarterback could see the whole field clearly. Leach spread out his receivers and backs too. The look was more flag than tackle football: a truly fantastic number of players racing around trying to catch passes on every play, and a quarterback surprisingly able to keep an eye on all of them

[Redskins247]

That's interesting...you have to admire the homework he put into that research. But as you know, these "gimmick" type offenses just usually don't work in the NFL with the speed and agility of the players at that level. Although...it does seem that the run and shoot, is almost making a little bit of a comeback now....just set up a little differently now.

[squrrelco3]

In Al's defense ...

His plays worked when the receivers weren't dropping sure money catches all over the place, Jason wasn't throwing it right to the other teams defenders, and Portis wasn't trying to run into the biggest pile of people he could find on the field...

I think he deserves at least one more year to try and make it right...he can call the perfect plays but the players still have to execute them properly.

[Defensewins]

Originally Posted by squrrelco3

In Al's defense ...

His plays worked when the receivers weren't dropping sure money catches all over the place, Jason wasn't throwing it right to the other teams defenders, and Portis wasn't trying to run into the biggest pile of people he could find on the field...

I think he deserves at least one more year to try and make it right...he can call the perfect plays but the players still have to execute them properly.

Nice post. You are right, Al Saunders should not be the fall guy. I guess Snyder wants to put his touch on the offense like when he hired Steve Spurrier.

[rk3025]

If I were Al, I would get ahead coaching job and take Todd and Rocky with me whom can read 700 pages and want to learn more

Originally Posted by squrrelco3

In Al's defense ...

His plays worked when the receivers weren't dropping sure money catches all over the place, Jason wasn't throwing it right to the other teams defenders, and Portis wasn't trying to run into the biggest pile of people he could find on the field...

I think he deserves at least one more year to try and make it right...he can call the perfect plays but the players still have to execute them properly.