Post by grizz299 on Dec 8, 2017 3:34:48 GMT -5
Brandt is highly critical of the coaching. Calls Evan E. virtually uncoverable and "why is he blocking 300 lb. defenders.?"
I am always reluctant to criticize specific coaching decisions, feeling that they know so much more than us, and even that there's a touch of posturizing and aggrandizement involved in those criticisms. But Mac's decisions seem so wacky, so remarkably counter-productive that I think it's fair to look at them.
JR gave him a strong and capable TE - who seemed invisible even after the injuries should have catapulted him into importance. Once Marshall, Shep and OBJ went down, wouldn't it have made sense to put both TE's on the field and use E.E. split as a WR - even if it was as WR who could occasionally come down on a defensive lineman?. If you wanted to occasionally buttress the running game and even help the offensive tackles couldn't we have gone double TE with Ellison and Adams and still kept EE wide and forcing mismatches.?
Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see that - or at least didn't see it as much as seems appropriate. Yes, I'm sure it meant putting a rookie in a strange position, but damn he was always a receiver before he was an offensive tackle. I think employing the two tight ends that way might have made up for the decimation of the WR corp. And it seems so damn obvious.
It reinforces my sense of things, and a sense that's persisted for a while. From the clipboard to the put-downs of his quarterback, we've been witness to something very strange and almost unaccountably so. We've seen an offense add tools and get consistently and relentlessly worse. He had Marshall, OBJ, Shep, E. E., Vereen and Ellison in the pre-season and went something like 10 quarters before they crossed the goal line. That's damn near impossible, particularly with an experienced top of the line QB. Again, I understand poor running backs and a weak line, but we went backwards with better players and with players who should have - just by dint of having another year - been better.
Again, I know the critics are going to say that the O line was porous but that's the same line that helped the offense to the tenth best in the league in TC's last year and they should have been better just by learning to shave.
Well it's over now and postmortems and hindsight always make geniuses out of couch potatoes, but I think we've been witness to something strange and almost unaccountably so. I don't, even in retrospect, understand how it could have been so bad.
But the best thing is, I still think there's a wealth of talent on this roster and talented teams don't usually get to pick in the top five. And when you extend that to the second and third round we could be posed for some really fun years. The NFL's ability to move a team from bad to good in a single year keeps you interested in a way that no other sport can engage your attention and assuage your frustration. Even if you're a Brown's fan, ".hope springs eternal in the human breast." (Alex. Pope) and the damn league manages to keep you coming back year after year.
I am always reluctant to criticize specific coaching decisions, feeling that they know so much more than us, and even that there's a touch of posturizing and aggrandizement involved in those criticisms. But Mac's decisions seem so wacky, so remarkably counter-productive that I think it's fair to look at them.
JR gave him a strong and capable TE - who seemed invisible even after the injuries should have catapulted him into importance. Once Marshall, Shep and OBJ went down, wouldn't it have made sense to put both TE's on the field and use E.E. split as a WR - even if it was as WR who could occasionally come down on a defensive lineman?. If you wanted to occasionally buttress the running game and even help the offensive tackles couldn't we have gone double TE with Ellison and Adams and still kept EE wide and forcing mismatches.?
Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see that - or at least didn't see it as much as seems appropriate. Yes, I'm sure it meant putting a rookie in a strange position, but damn he was always a receiver before he was an offensive tackle. I think employing the two tight ends that way might have made up for the decimation of the WR corp. And it seems so damn obvious.
It reinforces my sense of things, and a sense that's persisted for a while. From the clipboard to the put-downs of his quarterback, we've been witness to something very strange and almost unaccountably so. We've seen an offense add tools and get consistently and relentlessly worse. He had Marshall, OBJ, Shep, E. E., Vereen and Ellison in the pre-season and went something like 10 quarters before they crossed the goal line. That's damn near impossible, particularly with an experienced top of the line QB. Again, I understand poor running backs and a weak line, but we went backwards with better players and with players who should have - just by dint of having another year - been better.
Again, I know the critics are going to say that the O line was porous but that's the same line that helped the offense to the tenth best in the league in TC's last year and they should have been better just by learning to shave.
Well it's over now and postmortems and hindsight always make geniuses out of couch potatoes, but I think we've been witness to something strange and almost unaccountably so. I don't, even in retrospect, understand how it could have been so bad.
But the best thing is, I still think there's a wealth of talent on this roster and talented teams don't usually get to pick in the top five. And when you extend that to the second and third round we could be posed for some really fun years. The NFL's ability to move a team from bad to good in a single year keeps you interested in a way that no other sport can engage your attention and assuage your frustration. Even if you're a Brown's fan, ".hope springs eternal in the human breast." (Alex. Pope) and the damn league manages to keep you coming back year after year.