Best Treat Last 2 Weeks????

[Flugel]

We have had Dan Fouts telling us EVERYTHING that is wrong with our passign game via the eyes of a Hall of Fame QB that played for Don Coryell's passing game. For those that understand the origen of the WCO - it combined ideas and philosophies of Paul Brown, Sid Gillman and Don Coryell at least according to Bill Walsh.

2 weeks ago: Fouts announced near the end of the 3rd quarter I haven't seen ANY downfield receiving routes all day - too much dink and donk. Guess what 11 men in the box does vrs a bunch of backup RBs? It confines the runnign game to about 2 yards per carry while it makes every 5 yard slant a traffic jam.

Yesterday, he tried to be politically correct and nice in saying Greg Little is raw. Translation: Completely lost. Aside from that, Fouts and his other analyst calling the game showed replays and described a guy getting ZERO seperation. In particular, there was a deep pass with too much air under it - their first thought was not the same as McCoy's biggest critics. It was - the DB remained in better position for the pass the entire length of the route and saying this was just 1 of many replays showing zero seperation from Little. He made 1 circus catch that bailed out a crappy throw. I looked at the guy's frame in preseason thinking he'd be a beast in traffic. He's been just the opposite and scared to fight for the ball except that 1 exception to the rule. He never comes BACK to the ball especially in traffic. That INT was NOT an underthrow - it was a clueless WR thinking our QB had time to pick his nose while Greg runs another 30 yards deeper. Anyone else wondering why Cribbs had 3 TD reeceptions, MoMass has 2 and Evan Moore has 1 while Greg Little remains tied with Robiskie for 0 TD receptions here? I'll give you a hint, it's knowing what the fucksies we dosies on the fieldsies, at least part of the time since I include MoMass. He's lost too though but he can at least seprate on the occasions he he runs the right route.

The BIGGEST thing Fouts repeated yesterday if you didn't have the volume off was "I can't believe they have no hot routes for this young QB the way he's getting hit and planted every play." That only invites more blitz knowing there's no lifeline. So let me ask - HOW does Greg Little's absolute cluelessness help out McCoy?

There is NO goto guy our young QB can count on in between all the time his spine gets turf slammed by 270-340 pound guys with full heads of steam. I woulda thought I would have seen Jordan Norwood in the first or second quarter considering he's coming off a game with 5 receptions. Gee, why start making sense now? Cribbs ended up with 5 receptions and a TD after somebody reminded me we could afford to send him packing next year at 29 years of age.

For those of us that don't take snack breaks and potty runs durign special teams, did you see who made tackles on kickoffs? Did you see one of his returns crossing the 50? I don't know HOW anyone looks at this guy and concludes, "yaaa, he's really getting in the way of all our Jerry Rices on board."

So now that we've changed Offensive Coordinators to see Miami has more total points than our offense, I'd like you to role play for me. You're Colt McCoy. We handed off again on first down for another wonderful 1 yard gain. On 2nd down, one of our Tackles false starts so it's now 2nd and 14 so we fool them with draw paly into 11 men in the box and it's 3rd and 10. They're blitzing. The RG is Shawn Lauvao and we're back to Hicks at RT. Greg Little has to run a 5 yard slant on 3rd and 10 because that's what no eyes looking down and wiring into the ear of our OC/HC leads to. There's less than 2 seconds to throw the ball. Cribbs now has a Safety on 1 side and a corner on the other - what do you in under 2 seconds when there's only 1 Aaron Rodgers in the world and you're not him?

You PRAY the brass sticks another poor basterd out there or gives you a more reliable WR than Greg Little. Understandably, this is not the poised, confident QB I witnessed vrs NE, New Orleans and the NY Jets in 2010. It's a poor basterd that got thrown into shark infested waters with blood all over him. And NO, Jake Delhomme didn't handle the gorgeous opportunity ANY better when we last saw him drowing in Buffalo last year.

If I'm being honest, our passing game is worse than it was in 1999. Kevin Johnson was a ROOKIE WR with 66 receptions, 986 yards and 8 TDs. I use such a relevant example because he had the EXACT same college position change to WR Greg Little had in terms of how long he played the position. He was an option QB part way into his soph season and we drafted him after his junior season at SU. Aside from those fans that are just here to post we have the wrong QB, is anyone seeing flashes of promise that can generate a smidgeon of confidence out of Little? What is it the asset that will get him to overcome when there's ZERO evidence of learning taking place? In the meantime, sticking WITH him sends the message to the rest of the team you do NOT have to earn reps here if you are a golden child or chosen one. Shawn Lauvao says Thank God to that as we speak. BTW, while we're stuck looking at Hicks again - Pitt signed Max Starks and they've been ALOT BETTER since then.

This is another episode of hotshots coming into to town and telling fans that have been here since the 60s and maybe even longer - they're just going to have to be patient enough to see our 10 year plan out. If Andrew Luck came here - the brain trust will kill him faster than Julius Ceasar's Senate could. I'm done trying to figure this franchise out. Yuck!

[golfer704u]

great post Flugs!

To bring in a few points from another thread. For all those showing how much the roster has turned over from last year. Is that really a good thing? was couting on Pashos and Lavau really a good idea?

I still blame more of this ineptitiude on offense on Shurmur shoulders. As Fouts said, no deep routes and no hot routes. Shurmur is so faciniated with the "spacing and timing" of the quick hit WCO style that he's not realizing that our current WRs just don't have the skill sets or mindsets to run it properly. I'd love to get my hands on the all 22 cam and I bet it would show many times where there are supposed to be 2 wrs on one side of the field with a specific separation created by precise routes and if one of them rounds off or cuts short his route, it runis the whole progression fro that half of the field. And when your oline is as bad as our is, the QB only has a chance to read half the field before hes dead.

Shumur's offensive plan seems more intent on making these WRs run those patterns over and over to get them right, than he is in winning games. Unfortunately that's something yu need to do in practice with the QB in a red jersey and NOT in game situations where your QB is a target that the oposing blitzing DB actually misses sometimes because he's so shocked he wasn't even blocked.

Then, you take a 4th string RB guy who was on a practice squad and use THIS game to try and "establish the run"?? really?

Hopefully Shurmur's a genius and I am a moron and doing this now will make them much better next year. I don't buy it. I also don't buy changing the parts in this offense will magically make it better. It will be like adding new rims to a set of 4 flat tires, man they look pretty, but they still won't roll.

[Enigmatic Evil]

GREAT post Flugs and you're 100% on the money.

Riffer's been losing his patients with Greg Little too but I honestly ask if anyone is going out of their way to SHOW Greg Little HOW to use his body properly, technique that will benefit him. You can't expect a guy in his second year of playing a skill position to just "pick it up" without some proper coaching. That's like asking any average joe to pick up his job without any kind of training. Most jobs, banal as they may be, require MINIMAL training to perform the required duties. Are we doing more harm than good with Little, god I hope not but you have to wonder.

THIS is why I've been saying you can't pin it ALL on McCoy, you can't pin it ALL on Shurmur, or the OL, or the WR corps. This is a TEAM game, from coaches to the players, everyone needs to be on the same page. Our brass felt it was okay to leave Pachos in for another season with NO plan B and see how well that's worked out for us, meanwhile the Lauvao experiment is failing IMO. He's not a starting NFL caliber guard. There's too many broken and missing peices to this puzzle for any hope (at least for me) of salvaging this season IMO.

Do we go back to the drawing board? No. We need to recruit some SKILL PLAYERS not just "Athletes" this is the same argument that seems to be drawn every off-season. Skill FOOTBALL Players vs Sick Athletes. It seems like Little fell a bit too far into the latter rather than the former. Cribbs is doing everything he knows how because he IS a Football player and the guys like Cribbs should be helping Little, showing him every little damn trick in the book because if Shurmur, the COACH is coming off like he isn't even helping McCoy, i cant imagine he's trickled any nuggets of wisdom down for a 2nd year WR in his Rookie NFL season.

It seems telling to me that the closest thing to a bona fide playmaker that we have, (Josh Cribbs) keeps making plays for us and yet guys like MoMass and Robo really hasn't done anything this season, for the former it's injuries and for the latter... can you blame being cut on poor stats?

ANY way you look at it. The offense is garbage.

[Riffer X]

Great post Flugs!

[Thaid_Up]

Nice post, Flugel. Just another example of the quality posters on this board. You guys and at least 1 gal truly know your stuff. I'm just looking forward to the day you guys can post some glowing reports about how this team is clicking on all gears because after yesterday I'm running out of reasons for any positive vibes. Yes to the rational ones there was little justification to think there would be big change for the good this year but the way this offense is digressing can make the thirstiest kool aid drinker want to chug a bottle of Jack. I remember in the prediction thread my main concern was the lack of depth throughout this team would be the killer (and then I called for a injury free 11-5 season ) and we're seeing the results of that. WR's gone, RB's gone, O-line a shell of itself. Thank God for Cribbs, he shows us what a real football player is. OK I'm done whining, Let's do some business in the 2nd half of the season. Show me something, guys. Need a reason to look forward to more than the just the draft.

[hiwaygal]

Originally Posted by Flugel

We have had Dan Fouts telling us EVERYTHING that is wrong with our passign game via the eyes of a Hall of Fame QB that played for Don Coryell's passing game. For those that understand the origen of the WCO - it combined ideas and philosophies of Paul Brown, Sid Gillman and Don Coryell at least according to Bill Walsh.

Aren't these guys all OLD? And maybe even dead?

Bet they haven't watched a football game in a LOOOOOOOOONG time.

[mikeyP]

I love you Tom. No homo.

[King of Kings]

Fouts was schooling the hell out of the playcalling and offense yesterday.

[Brown Warrior]

I ran out of reasons we suck yesterday. I was really struggling to find something to build on... not just this year, but next. Phil Taylor's gonna get schooled in stretch run offenses because he's a NT being asked to play 3-tech because we don't have a 3-tech. Our best rookie is a LDE... not exactly the most impactful position on the field.

I think I like DQJ, Haden, Sheard, Thomas, Mack, Watson, and Moore. That's really it. Nobody else is very good at all.

[Greythan]

Quit snubbing Cribbs Shep. He should at the top of that list in terms of what he does for this team.

That said, I get your point. Its pretty hard to find guys consistently good.

Oh, and I saw way too much of DQJ being EASILY sealed on the wrong side of a huge running lane yesterday. Its just too damn hard to isolate fault at this point. The scheme/team looks horrid.

[Riffer X]

Originally Posted by Greythan

Quit snubbing Cribbs Shep. He should at the top of that list in terms of what he does for this team.

That said, I get your point. Its pretty hard to find guys consistently good.

Oh, and I saw way too much of DQJ being EASILY sealed on the wrong side of a huge running lane yesterday. Its just too damn hard to isolate fault at this point. The scheme/team looks horrid.

Apparently you have to understand football to appreciate Cribbs. I figured any idiot off the street could watch a game and easily come to the conclusion that Cribbs is our best player and the heart and soul of the team.

Boggles my mind. This team sucks so bad our fans have become fucking morons on top of it.

[hiwaygal]

I'm Tweedle Dee!!! He's the smart one!!!