Is Juan Castillo the problem?

[gabefergy]

Castillo has made changes to the scheme and it does not fit the personnel we have . the entire oline including the running backs didn't forget how to play football,no did the oline forget how to block and how to open lanes for the backs. Harbaugh mentioned this several times in recent pressers that 'scheme issues" need to fixed . Prior to our run coordinator taking over we actually had a run game now we have no run game and a piss poor offense . that's not on the players that's on the coach .

All I have to yell you is that you are 100% incorrect. There has been no significant changes to the scheme. We have been using the ZBS dating back to 2011 when Rice had his best year. You can watch for yourself and see the plays bring run are the same.

[jimjim5]

UHHHHHH  Running QB's  is the major reason for the rushing numbers.  Just saying!!!!  That doesn't make him a guru on the line. 

 

This is the same line of thought that I have. Philly's running game has never scared anyone.

[ThePurpleWall]

Juan Castillo is not the problem

 

[runamuk]

All I have to yell you is that you are 100% incorrect. There has been no significant changes to the scheme. We have been using the ZBS dating back to 2011 when Rice had his best year. You can watch for yourself and see the plays bring run are the same.

so your saying that an entire offensive line over the period of one offseason has completely and totally forgotten how to play football and the coaching has nothing to do with it . you are entitled to your opinion, which btw is no more valid then anyone else's  Castillo has made changes and when those changes cause our 120 million dollar investment to  get injured then everyone will look back and say ahhh not such a bad idea to deliberately break that which was never broken . agree to disagree . Yes Gino is struggling but he's not the cause of this either.

[redravenfan]

No clue what the problem is but talking about it isn't helping ,,,,just needs to be fixed so we can get back to playing ravens football .

[good_n_purple]

I never liked Castillo .I'm not silly I think there is a direct correlation to our running backs not being productive and the entire o line not performing up to par.I can not believe that all at once the entire o line and the running backs are all playing poorly at once.....I don't think Castillo's scheme fits the strengths of our offensive players. Under Moller we had no issue protecting Joe or making holes etc ....

Castillo is at fault no matter how you look at it.  If Castillo's scheme is not at fault then he has done a poor job of getting his line to execute whatever the blocking scheme.  In addition, just accepting Gino is a hard worker, and sharp enough to learn at an acceptable rate he has not developed him to the point where he is competent at making the O-line calls.  So...its a lose, lose for everyone.

[SeaHawk]

All I have to yell you is that you are 100% incorrect. There has been no significant changes to the scheme. We have been using the ZBS dating back to 2011 when Rice had his best year. You can watch for yourself and see the plays bring run are the same.

 

Well your opinion may, or may not, be correct, but no need to "yell" it out man. Just smh!!

 

Lol... but seriously, I agree with this 100%. We have been using zone blocking for quite some time now. A few years ago, I remember reading that we were switching over to zone blocking, even before Castillo was named DC of the Eagles. Plus, Moeller is still the OL coach. Castillo, if anything, is just trying to help people with their techniques (which is quite admittedly failing imo). Moeller is still the guy in charge of the schemes and whatnot.

[SeaHawk]

Castillo is at fault no matter how you look at it.  If Castillo's scheme is not at fault then he has done a poor job of getting his line to execute whatever the blocking scheme.  In addition, just accepting Gino is a hard worker, and sharp enough to learn at an acceptable rate he has not developed him to the point where he is competent at making the O-line calls.  So...its a lose, lose for everyone.

 

Fact is, my friend, that Moeller is still the OL coach. He's the guy in charge of the schemes. So it's not "his" line. Castillo is only in charge of helping them improve their techniques, which I'll even admit that he's failing to do so.

[runamuk]

Castillo is at fault no matter how you look at it.  If Castillo's scheme is not at fault then he has done a poor job of getting his line to execute whatever the blocking scheme.  In addition, just accepting Gino is a hard worker, and sharp enough to learn at an acceptable rate he has not developed him to the point where he is competent at making the O-line calls.  So...its a lose, lose for everyone.

the funny thing ,,,last year these forums were going nuts we need to get younger , etc etc. Inexperience and mistakes come with the youth movement. I think Gino will improve just not with the coaching right now .I see no harm undoing any changes made and see what happens it can't hurt.

[good_n_purple]

Fact is, my friend, that Moeller is still the OL coach. He's the guy in charge of the schemes. So it's not "his" line. Castillo is only in charge of helping them improve their techniques, which I'll even admit that he's failing to do so.

Well thanks for the clarification "chum"...I don't see this Moeller-Castillo production working at all whomever is actually in charge or how it is being managed.

[jimmypowder]

If we haven't changed our blocking scheme then why are folks like Mike Preston and Vinny on The Fan , who know more then I do about football schemes, saying we have changed it ? Unless I thought they said it and they didn't. Could someone answer this who knows a lot about football .

[redravenfan]

If we haven't changed our blocking scheme then why are folks like Mike Preston and Vinny on The Fan , who know more then I do about football schemes, saying we have changed it ? Unless I thought they said it and they didn't. Could someone answer this who knows a lot about football .

they did say that and discussed it at length  your correct . they probably know more about football then allot of folks on these forums  including myself .

[jimmypowder]

Yep . Didn't Vinny play or coach for the 49 ers?

[redravenfan]

Yep . Didn't Vinny play or coach for the 49 ers?

He was director of scouting and then was promoted to director of player personnel for the niners. He explained on the show that "coaches modify or changes various schemes to suit the personnel they have ".

[berad]

Yep . Didn't Vinny play or coach for the 49 ers?

 

Not a coahc but he was a Front Office guy; not sure his exact title in San Fran but he was GM for the Redskins a few years ago.

[The Raven]

If we haven't changed our blocking scheme then why are folks like Mike Preston and Vinny on The Fan , who know more then I do about football schemes, saying we have changed it ? Unless I thought they said it and they didn't. Could someone answer this who knows a lot about football .

 

We didn't change it really, just added some wrinkles.

[jimmypowder]

Yeah bad wrinkles !

[gabefergy]

so your saying that an entire offensive line over the period of one offseason has completely and totally forgotten how to play football and the coaching has nothing to do with it . you are entitled to your opinion, which btw is no more valid then anyone else's  Castillo has made changes and when those changes cause our 120 million dollar investment to  get injured then everyone will look back and say ahhh not such a bad idea to deliberately break that which was never broken . agree to disagree . Yes Gino is struggling but he's not the cause of this either.

Ok, I don't mean that the OL forgot how to play, but I also can't just assign all of the blame to Castillo either. What changes he has made have been very minor. There are probably small things regarding assignments along the OL and maybe slight alterations in technique. These are not things that should make the OL suddenly become the worst in the league. This has nothing to do with my opinion. I watch the tape and can definitively tell you there are no major differences in the running scheme. Harbaugh came out and said the same thing himself.

 

Now, on to what is different. While the line is the same as what we used in the playoffs last year ( minus Birk ), it is entirely different from the line we had throughout the whole of 2012. In fact, the only player playing the same position as last year is Yanda. In case you have forgotten, out OL actually wasnt very good at run-blocking last postseason either. We ran the ball well against Indy (who had a horrible defense btw) but every other team we struggled to run the ball against. So in reality, this isnt anything new, and I think the biggest problem has been McKinnie who just looks pathetic out there when asked to run block. Gino hasn't been great either and for whatever reason Oher is having a terrible year as well. In fact Oher has the worst run-blocking grade of any tackle in the NFL.

[runamuk]

Ok, I don't mean that the OL forgot how to play, but I also can't just assign all of the blame to Castillo either. What changes he has made have been very minor. There are probably small things regarding assignments along the OL and maybe slight alterations in technique. These are not things that should make the OL suddenly become the worst in the league. This has nothing to do with my opinion. I watch the tape and can definitively tell you there are no major differences in the running scheme. Harbaugh came out and said the same thing himself.

 

Now, on to what is different. While the line is the same as what we used in the playoffs last year ( minus Birk ), it is entirely different from the line we had throughout the whole of 2012. In fact, the only player playing the same position as last year is Yanda. In case you have forgotten, out OL actually wasnt very good at run-blocking last postseason either. We ran the ball well against Indy (who had a horrible defense btw) but every other team we struggled to run the ball against. So in reality, this isnt anything new, and I think the biggest problem has been McKinnie who just looks pathetic out there when asked to run block. Gino hasn't been great either and for whatever reason Oher is having a terrible year as well. In fact Oher has the worst run-blocking grade of any tackle in the NFL.

I actually agree with most of what you said . I think my dislike of Castillo may color my opinions. for an entire oline to not be able to block open lanes can't do anything right your right the players have allot of the blame . I think in time gino will excel I watched him, Texans game, he won allot of his one on one matchups, he pancaked watt, without help straight up so there's promise there.

[SeaHawk]

Well thanks for the clarification "chum"...I don't see this Moeller-Castillo production working at all whomever is actually in charge or how it is being managed.

 

You're welcome buddy.

[TwinRivers]

Well, just like 95% of the time when a team struggles, it comes down to players doing their jobs.
It is rare that a coach is to blame for an entire unit failing, collectively and individually.

It's always the coaches fault. They pick the players and then coach them so who's responsibility is it?

[TwinRivers]

John Harbaugh hired an offensive coordinator that went 1 and 15 his previous year, fired him just prior to the Superbowl run, and inserted an offensive coordinator that went 1 and 15 HIS previous year. We win on defense and special teams. Something we have to live with.

[izvoodoo]

It's always the coaches fault. They pick the players and then coach them so who's responsibility is it?

You can blame management.  

[jimmypowder]

That's right . I blame management . While Ozzie may be the best GM in the game , He's not perfect . The oline problems go all the way up the management ladder ,

[izvoodoo]

That's right . I blame management . While Ozzie may be the best GM in the game , He's not perfect . The oline problems go all the way up the management ladder ,

Yeah, also alot of pieces are young.  But I think the Monroe trade shows he knows what he's doing.

[flynismo]

It's always the coaches fault. They pick the players and then coach them so who's responsibility is it?

Um....the players, maybe?

[jimmypowder]

[quote name="izvoodoo" post="1612766" timestamp="1380926327"] Yeah, also alot of pieces are young. But I think the Monroe trade shows he knows what he's doing.[/quote] The Monroe trade is an acknowledgement that they were wrong in resigning McKinnie . Maybe they should have brought Birk back for one more year too . I heard he was considering coming back .

[berad]

The Monroe trade is an acknowledgement that they were wrong in resigning McKinnie . Maybe they should have brought Birk back for one more year too . I heard he was considering coming back .

They practically had to beg him to come back in 2012, I'd be surprised if he wanted to return.

[Hey Diddle]

Cant wait to see our new o-line in action, I think McKinney was the pollution of our run game. It will return in a big way when he is out! I hope!

[Grapple Raven]

FYI: If anyone is interested these are some recent discussions about Castillo and ZBS with audio links so you can hear it for yourself.

 

Luke Jones WNST Ravens Report:  http://bit.ly/19RdMXu  Juan Castillo is the Offensive Line Coach and Andy Moeller is his assistant Line Coach and discussion about scheme, begins at 4 min. mark.

 

Link for McKinnie reference in the above discussion:  http://bit.ly/16aPyMs  McKinnie talks about new techniques implemented for Browns game, and at halftime they made a change to game plan to go back to what they were doing before, begins at 2:25 min. mark.

(Really neat discussion included with Marlon Brown too)

 

 

Wally Williams (Former Raven OL)  http://bit.ly/150JQtN  Discussion of O-line scheme, lack of screens, counters and traps, communication issues, and young center's lack of blocking, and Williams defines zone blocking scheme, begins at 1:25 min. mark.

(Really good discussion from a former Raven's perspective)