John Harbaugh's Fears

[Dfence4champs2052]

I didn't buy this before but I'm starting to believe this now.

Rodney Harrison called us soft on PFT. Harsh, but he might be right. Harbaugh stripped the team of its toughness.

I humbly say this isn't really debatable. Look at how they got pushed around and whipped Year One of the REAL Harbaugh era. Sad, sad team.

[Dfence4champs2052]

I think the idea that Harbaugh has somehow made this team soft is laughable. There are a lot of things that went wrong this year, but I didn't see a team that was soft. They competed to the very end of every game.

The last two games are the clearest evidence of soft! They got blown out at home by the Pats and weren't even pissed off about it just "disappointed." Zero motivation the next game. I depise the Pats and Stealers period, but best believe their respective coaches would have had them responding the next week. Team was soft and mentally weak this year. Only the end of the Minnesota game (bounce back) and the houston game (found other ways to win with subpar offense) could even begin to dispute this.

[Dr. Kelley]

[quote name="gabefergy" post="1729782" timestamp="1388462085"]
Im not sure what you are inferring, but it seems extreme to me. Wasn't Harbaugh the guy who "handed the keys" to Flacco in last years AFCCG? Also he made the decision to go all pass vs Buffalo, because we couldn't run the ball.

Harbs is going to do what it takes to win, bottom line.[/quote]As long as "whatever it takes" involves not firing his buddy and has everyone agreeing with him.

The reason we couldn't run the ball in buffalo was because he turned our run game over to his buddy juan, who then destroyed it. We didn't have a choice but to pass the ball.

And harbaugh has subsequently taken back the keys from flacco on this offense.

[quote name="gabefergy" post="1729792" timestamp="1388462333"]
I think the idea that Harbaugh has somehow made this team soft is laughable. There are a lot of things that went wrong this year, but I didn't see a team that was soft. They competed to the very end of every game.[/quote]If the defense quitting in the fourth quarter is your definition of competing to the end, then I guess you have a valid point.

[jimmypowder]

If the defense quitting in the fourth quarter is your definition of competing to the end, then I guess you have a valid point.

Yep. The games typically went like this ;Offense starts very slow ,defense plays well in the 1st half.

Offense improves in the second half and the game gets tied or close .Defense gives up a 50 minute drive(just kidding)

immediately after the offense gets us back in the game and we lose.

 

Even after saying this ,not making the playoffs is  mostly on the offense and not being able to get the run game going.

[TSizzle00]

I think the idea that Harbaugh has somehow made this team soft is laughable. There are a lot of things that went wrong this year, but I didn't see a team that was soft. They competed to the very end of every game.

 

Only game it seemed like they rolled over was the NE game. Other then that they were fighting hard despite injuries, phantom penalties etc

[arnie_uk]

Laughable? Completely idiotic is more like it.

I've started to entertain the thoughts that Harbs is behind our offensive issues, but then I remember that he was actually the head coach when Flacco was let loose. If this theory were true, would Flacco have been let loose like he was after Cam got fired?

he let him loose in the AFCCG down at half time. Do you need see the bigger picture? Your head coach shouldn't have to let anyone loose at all. He was clearly the one playing the conservative game and Caldwell and joe couldn't adjust ubtil harbs say so.

He's a control freak that loves to run the ball play conservatively and good d. Thats worked previously. But he has to get with the times. Give the reigns to flacco and a new oc and let the dominoes fall.

By all accounts bill was in bradys earlier years as well.

[jazz1988]

he seems to like his buddys alot.

 

intrestingly castillo officially came with the ravens just  a week or 2 before the SB.

he got his buddy a nice shinny ring and then asked him to break what worked for us....

 

he asked his other buddy spagnuolo to become a senior defensive assistent and all we see right now are these predictable basic 4 man pass rush...

 

ravens used to blitz from all angles but now QBs have all time because its easy to know what is going on.

you wanna know why the pass rush faded later in the season?

after a few games you could already figure out what they would do lol.

brady had his easiest game against us in a while....

 

i loved for someone to explain to me why on earth we have so many assistants....

 

I think overall  most  of us have just become stubborn fans . When Harbaugh hired Castillo and  Spagnuolo theres no way in  the world any one could say it  was a bad hired at the time if you consider  their resume.  Spagnuolo  was famous for his blitzing scheme and when he was the  giants defensive coordinator they had  a  total of 53 sacks in 2007 ( the most they have ever had in history  ). I don't see how  Harbaugh wouldn't  want to hire Spagnuolo to help out the pass rush besides the Ravens total of sacks were better this year than last year(slightly) so you can't say we regressed in the sack department  but at the end of the day Spagnuolo isn't the defensive coordinator.

 

     Castillo was recognize as one of the best offensive line coaches in the league when he was with the Eagles. In 2006 Donovan McNabb was only sacked 21 times(he missed some games) and the offensive line as a whole only gave up 28 sacks .. The Eagles passing attack was ranked number 3 at the time and  had a rushing attack ranked 11th; In my opinion Harbaugh had every reason to try to add Castillo base off such information but I know for sure I would love for Joe Flacco to be sacked 21 times only . We all know  Flacco is at his best when he's protected very well especially in this offense because it requires consistent solid pass protection a lot more than other offensive schemes.

 

 Overall the Castillo and Spagnuolo ( a lot more  Castillo then anything )experiment didn't  reach the expectation that Harbaugh or the ravens fans may have like but because it didn't work out this year doesn't mean Harbaugh only hired these guys to destroy  our team or to do them a favor by hiring them with out even considering the logical facts on why they were hired.

[kassaiscool]

It has been proposed that the reason the Ravens have maintained a certain playbook or offensive philsophy is more Harbaugh's fault than the OC.  It seems clear that the OC does not have free reign to do what they do despite Harbaugh's lack of experience on that side of the ball.

 

We've seen issues crop up with strong personalities of the players, and it's possibly that also happened with coaches (I'm thinking Hue Jackson mainly), to the point where we jettisoned everyone who was outspoken except for Suggs, who for the most part is outspoken touting the company line.

 

Is it possible that Harbaugh won't allow an OC with a philosophy, a plan, and experience to come in because it challenges his authority?  We can gloss over the mutiny as a turning point last season, but perhaps it's a sign of deeper philosophical problems in the organization.

I think Harbaugh gets involved in the offense and defense but not to a point were he doesn't give his coordinators enough freedom. Where Harbaugh does make mistakes is he hires his best friends who are not needed. When you have to many coaches coaching players not everyone will have the same philosophy. It will cause confusion and disruption with the flow of the team. Coaches that are friends that he hired would include, Cam Cameron coached together with John, Juan castillo coached and was friends together while at the eagles, Steve Spagnuolo friends while coaching with the eagles, and Greg Mattison who coached under Jack Harbaugh at western Michigan.

[The Raven]

he let him loose in the AFCCG down at half time. Do you need see the bigger picture? Your head coach shouldn't have to let anyone loose at all. He was clearly the one playing the conservative game and Caldwell and joe couldn't adjust ubtil harbs say so.

He's a control freak that loves to run the ball play conservatively and good d. Thats worked previously. But he has to get with the times. Give the reigns to flacco and a new oc and let the dominoes fall.

By all accounts bill was in bradys earlier years as well.

 

Where's the proof that Harbs had to make that call and not Caldwell? Everything I heard was that it was a decision made by Harbs, Caldwell, and Joe to go with more shotgun passing. 

[arnie_uk]

Where's the proof that Harbs had to make that call and not Caldwell? Everything I heard was that it was a decision made by Harbs, Caldwell, and Joe to go with more shotgun passing.

your own previous post said it was harbs, now you've changed your tune because you've been challenged. All reports I've ever seen said it was harbs, it's always been harbs decision, there may even have been a thread praising harbs for doing it. Every one knows it was harbs decision to open it up.

[The Raven]

your own previous post said it was harbs, now you've changed your tune because you've been challenged. All reports I've ever seen said it was harbs, it's always been harbs decision, there may even have been a thread praising harbs for doing it. Every one knows it was harbs decision to open it up.

 

"but then I remember that he was actually the head coach when Flacco was let loose. If this theory were true, would Flacco have been let loose like he was after Cam got fired?"

 

I didn't say anything about him making the call, just that he was coach when it happened.

 

And okay, so what if it was just him that made the call? He made a brilliant decision. Even Belichick comes out with conservative game plans that he has to adjust in the second half.

[bpytnjr58]

Harbaugh did make a few bad decisions on the field this season but in the end it came down to lack of execution injuries and most of all failure to protect the QB and open up running lanes.

[Tru11]

2006  eagles gave up 28 sacks 

2007 it was 49

2008 it was 23

2009 it was 38

2010 it was 49

 

castillo then became the defensive coord.....

 

spags well cant say much cause i dont have much of an idea what he exactly did with the ravens lol

his resume does say he knows how to get sacks.

his resume also says he knows how to get them from a 4-3 scheme with players who fit that scheme...

[Tru11]

I think overall  most  of us have just become stubborn fans . When Harbaugh hired Castillo and  Spagnuolo theres no way in  the world any one could say it  was a bad hired at the time if you consider  their resume.  Spagnuolo  was famous for his blitzing scheme and when he was the  giants defensive coordinator they had  a  total of 53 sacks in 2007 ( the most they have ever had in history  ). I don't see how  Harbaugh wouldn't  want to hire Spagnuolo to help out the pass rush besides the Ravens total of sacks were better this year than last year(slightly) so you can't say we regressed in the sack department  but at the end of the day Spagnuolo isn't the defensive coordinator.

 

     Castillo was recognize as one of the best offensive line coaches in the league when he was with the Eagles. In 2006 Donovan McNabb was only sacked 21 times(he missed some games) and the offensive line as a whole only gave up 28 sacks .. The Eagles passing attack was ranked number 3 at the time and  had a rushing attack ranked 11th; In my opinion Harbaugh had every reason to try to add Castillo base off such information but I know for sure I would love for Joe Flacco to be sacked 21 times only . We all know  Flacco is at his best when he's protected very well especially in this offense because it requires consistent solid pass protection a lot more than other offensive schemes.

 

 Overall the Castillo and Spagnuolo ( a lot more  Castillo then anything )experiment didn't  reach the expectation that Harbaugh or the ravens fans may have like but because it didn't work out this year doesn't mean Harbaugh only hired these guys to destroy  our team or to do them a favor by hiring them with out even considering the logical facts on why they were hired.

 

 

2006 eagles gave up 28 sacks

2007 it was 49

2008 it was 23

2009 it was 38

2010 it was 49

 

castillo then became the defensive coord.....

 

spags well cant say much cause i dont have much of an idea what he exactly did with the ravens lol

his resume does say he knows how to get sacks.

his resume also says he knows how to get them from a 4-3 scheme with players who fit that scheme...

[arnie_uk]

"but then I remember that he was actually the head coach when Flacco was let loose. If this theory were true, would Flacco have been let loose like he was after Cam got fired?"
 
I didn't say anything about him making the call, just that he was coach when it happened.
 
And okay, so what if it was just him that made the call? He made a brilliant decision. Even Belichick comes out with conservative game plans that he has to adjust in the second half.

he did make a brilliant decision I said that at the time. But he shouldn't have to make that decision, we should be playing "open" football all the time. It gives us the best option to win.

What's up with your font lol?

[gabefergy]

The last two games are the clearest evidence of soft! They got blown out at home by the Pats and weren't even pissed off about it just "disappointed." Zero motivation the next game. I depise the Pats and Stealers period, but best believe their respective coaches would have had them responding the next week. Team was soft and mentally weak this year. Only the end of the Minnesota game (bounce back) and the houston game (found other ways to win with subpar offense) could even begin to dispute this.

They were so soft that they battled back late in each game? Soft is a term to describe teams that run away and hide when the going gets tough. I saw just the opposite. Just because you didn't like the outcome, doesn't mean the team was soft.

[gabefergy]

As long as "whatever it takes" involves not firing his buddy and has everyone agreeing with him.

The reason we couldn't run the ball in buffalo was because he turned our run game over to his buddy juan, who then destroyed it. We didn't have a choice but to pass the ball.

And harbaugh has subsequently taken back the keys from flacco on this offense.

How has Harbaugh taken back the keys from Flacco? I call BS on that. They actually leaned on Flacco all season to carry the offense, which he did because there was no other choice. The outcome was not great but that had everything to do with personnel and nothing to do with handcuffing Flacco.

[gabefergy]

Only game it seemed like they rolled over was the NE game. Other then that they were fighting hard despite injuries, phantom penalties etc

NE's last drive after we turned it over once again on downs I will agree. But that wasn't until there was 5 min left in the game and it was clearly out of hand.

[Ravensfan23]

Harbs is a system guy plain and simple. The coaches change but the system never does. We are running the same defensive scheme that we've always run, we just allow the coaches to call it their own way. Rex and Chuck were very aggressive with it, while Mattison and Pees weren't as aggressive. However the defensive system doesn't change.

 

The same holds true for the offense. The philosophy on offense hasn't changed in over 10 years and it's a case of if it works well enough don't try to fix it, just tweak it enough to make it more efficient. Harbs loves structure. The structure of the Baltimore Ravens has proven to be a winning structure even in years where we might not have done so well. Play strong defense and special team, run the ball on offense and limit mistakes. Sadly as bad as things were this year, we still almost made the playoffs so chances are we'll just see some tweaks to the offensive system but it'll stay the same.

 

I've said for a while that Caldwell's hands have been tied and I still believe it. Imo Caldwell is a guy who wants to allow his QB to run the show from the LOS and he be able to provide input from the skybox on things that the QB just might not be able to see. This is what happened in the NYG, 2nd Half of AFCCG and Superbowl last year. This is why our in game adjustments were so much better then and it looked like Caldwell was the man to get this offense into the top10. However this year much like control was seemingly taken away from Flacco it was also taken away from Caldwell. I strongly feel Harbs was more then willing to allow the offensive change to take place and even though the overall system wasn't to change, you could still the difference of philosophy Caldwell had opposed to Cam. 

 

However, the loss of Boldin, injuries to Coby and Pitta early really put this offense in a tough spot and after the misery that was the Bills game, Harbs appeared to make the decision to go back to that comfortable structure that has made us successful despite being ugly at times. Much like Mr. B, Harbs is the type of guy that's just gonna allow his assistants to do the job they are paid to do. He puts full faith into his coaches to do their job, but he also asks them to do it withing "The Ravens Way". I'm hoping that this season was the season that we make some improvements to "The Ravens Way". Because while a win is a win, you can't expect to do everything the hard and ugly way and just try to pass it off as the other team being great and the Ravens being fighters.

 

I personally hope Caldwell stays on and he's allowed to run "his" offense and not "the" offense. Allow him to seek out the coaches he'd like to teach his WRs, oline and RBs how to run "his" system. Not just force him to work with what he is given. It's like you are basically asking Caldwell to teach the offense to players and coaches because everybody was used to doing it the way Cam wanted to do it. That's a little bit off topic and i'll go much deeper into it in another thread, but this was one of the biggest problems and because of it Harbs chose winning over allowing the offense to sink or swim. The Ravens Way, despite being ugly is a winning formula for the most part and that's what Harbs banked on to get us through this season. imo.

[gabefergy]

Harbs is a system guy plain and simple. The coaches change but the system never does. We are running the same defensive scheme that we've always run, we just allow the coaches to call it their own way. Rex and Chuck were very aggressive with it, while Mattison and Pees weren't as aggressive. However the defensive system doesn't change.

The same holds true for the offense. The philosophy on offense hasn't changed in over 10 years and it's a case of if it works well enough don't try to fix it, just tweak it enough to make it more efficient. Harbs loves structure. The structure of the Baltimore Ravens has proven to be a winning structure even in years where we might not have done so well. Play strong defense and special team, run the ball on offense and limit mistakes. Sadly as bad as things were this year, we still almost made the playoffs so chances are we'll just see some tweaks to the offensive system but it'll stay the same.

I've said for a while that Caldwell's hands have been tied and I still believe it. Imo Caldwell is a guy who wants to allow his QB to run the show from the LOS and he be able to provide input from the skybox on things that the QB just might not be able to see. This is what happened in the NYG, 2nd Half of AFCCG and Superbowl last year. This is why our in game adjustments were so much better then and it looked like Caldwell was the man to get this offense into the top10. However this year much like control was seemingly taken away from Flacco it was also taken away from Caldwell. I strongly feel Harbs was more then willing to allow the offensive change to take place and even though the overall system wasn't to change, you could still the difference of philosophy Caldwell had opposed to Cam.

However, the loss of Boldin, injuries to Coby and Pitta early really put this offense in a tough spot and after the misery that was the Bills game, Harbs appeared to make the decision to go back to that comfortable structure that has made us successful despite being ugly at times. Much like Mr. B, Harbs is the type of guy that's just gonna allow his assistants to do the job they are paid to do. He puts full faith into his coaches to do their job, but he also asks them to do it withing "The Ravens Way". I'm hoping that this season was the season that we make some improvements to "The Ravens Way". Because while a win is a win, you can't expect to do everything the hard and ugly way and just try to pass it off as the other team being great and the Ravens being fighters.

I personally hope Caldwell stays on and he's allowed to run "his" offense and not "the" offense. Allow him to seek out the coaches he'd like to teach his WRs, oline and RBs how to run "his" system. Not just force him to work with what he is given. It's like you are basically asking Caldwell to teach the offense to players and coaches because everybody was used to doing it the way Cam wanted to do it. That's a little bit off topic and i'll go much deeper into it in another thread, but this was one of the biggest problems and because of it Harbs chose winning over allowing the offense to sink or swim. The Ravens Way, despite being ugly is a winning formula for the most part and that's what Harbs banked on to get us through this season. imo.

Just curious, in what way do you feel that control was taken away from Caldwell and Flacco?

IMO, the only thing taken away was the run game early on when it was handed over to Castillo. After a few weeks of that failed experiment, we went back to Caldwell.

[Tatelli]

Truth is Harbs and company keep things under cover so much the fans have nothing better to do than speculate. Habs is the HC and that's where it needs to start, if he wants to keep thng's hush to the fans then he needs to be pointed at the most.He has the finale say on the field, he continues to bring in his buddies and they continue to fail (speculate) at which time he never changes or admits his mistake until maybe forced to by the FO (speculate). Take off your purple glasses because this team has been a playoff team the last 4-5 yrs . What your seeing now is a HC showing poor clock and game mangagement, which is fine if the staff he puts in place can do their jobs. Now what happens when they do not do their jobs well........2013!

 

Flacco...He got his big contract!!

I know the O line has been terrible this year Costllio (speculate) but come on how many games have you seen Flacco miss a blitz off the edge by a saftey?? These are not knew thing's (AKA Troy) how many times until joe walks up to the line and points it out, instead he just runs the play and bam either the back gets hit behind the line or he gets sacked or worse yet rushed into a INT. How many times have we seen Joe throw into Double and triple coverage....Come on man, while I admit he has a great arm, this is the NFL where everybody is fast. I myself am tired of this  "were giving a play it's up to us to exacute it", what happens when the D called a play that is not suited for ours. Heck Joe for a 120 mil change the dog gone play, if it goes against your coach prove to him that you read the D and you knew what you needed to succeed. Enough with this drop back and throw 35 yrds down field....Take what is given and move the darn chains!!!

 

Harbs,Castillo and Flacco should be hearing it from the fans....Heck we have no idea who is calling what, why so NSA with this??????

[Ravensfan23]

Just curious, in what way do you feel that control was taken away from Caldwell and Flacco?

 

Imo it's not the same way that many others view it as. I just think because of injuries, poor play and guys struggling to adjust to the system that the decision was made to move away from the new system a bit and focus more on what we are comfortable with. As far as play calling and design.

 

Early in the season Caldwell focused on our short passing game, which he said he'd do in the offseason. You could see it at practice, when i was fortunate enough to attend, you could see it in the early games. This is why I feel guys like Doss and Brown started to come on strong and even Torrey was looking like a legit #1. We were running a lot more rubs, picks, slants, option route and bunch formations. However for some reason we went away from that towards the middle of the season and didn't really start to get back to it until Pitta returned.

 

While I'm sure Caldwell wasn't stripped of any duties or anything, I just think it was agreed upon to move back to more of a conservative offense to limit game changing mistake and hope we could hang around games long enough to make plays at the end and win it. It's honestly the only reason I can come up with for why we were so conservative early in games and didn't open things up until i'll back were against the wall.

[gabefergy]

Imo it's not the same way that many others view it as. I just think because of injuries, poor play and guys struggling to adjust to the system that the decision was made to move away from the new system a bit and focus more on what we are comfortable with. As far as play calling and design.

Early in the season Caldwell focused on our short passing game, which he said he'd do in the offseason. You could see it at practice, when i was fortunate enough to attend, you could see it in the early games. This is why I feel guys like Doss and Brown started to come on strong and even Torrey was looking like a legit #1. We were running a lot more rubs, picks, slants, option route and bunch formations. However for some reason we went away from that towards the middle of the season and didn't really start to get back to it until Pitta returned.

While I'm sure Caldwell wasn't stripped of any duties or anything, I just think it was agreed upon to move back to more of a conservative offense to limit game changing mistake and hope we could hang around games long enough to make plays at the end and win it. It's honestly the only reason I can come up with for why we were so conservative early in games and didn't open things up until i'll back were against the wall.

Its funny because to me it felt like our offense was super conservative at the beginning of the season. we had this predictable run-run-pass playcalling, and because our run game was broken it just didnt work. Flacco was a bit outspoken about it, and I saw a change in the offense. We went from a run first offense to more passing primarily out of the shotgun, and when we ran it was out if shotgun or pistol. In the end neither approach really worked, but that is mostly because we simply lacked the playmakers.

[The Raven]

he did make a brilliant decision I said that at the time. But he shouldn't have to make that decision, we should be playing "open" football all the time. It gives us the best option to win.

What's up with your font lol?

 

I ctrl copied what I said and it goofed it all up, lol. 

 

We tried to play open football this season. We had three wides most plays. We just didn't execute, really.

[mdrsharon]

I would agree that behind closed doors we have no idea what is really happening.

 

Bottom line - we couldn't  pull out the wins this year, where last year we made it happen. Due to injury and lots of bad officiating, among other things ,

we are out of the playoffs.

 

Time to change things up, and keep Flacco protected.

Watching other games, other QBs seem like they have all day to make the play. Not us.

 

Let's go and make a run next year.

[PerpetuallyBored74]

Now Harbs is claiming he doesn't know why Ray Rice was benched in our final game against the Bengals:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-harbaugh-cant-explain-rice-being-sidelined-in-cincinnati-says-he-should-have-been-out-there-20131231,0,5335649.story

 

How does a head coach NOT know that?

 

(yeah, I strongly doubt he's telling the truth)

[K-Dog]

I read
"That's none of your business. "

[Ravensfan23]

Its funny because to me it felt like our offense was super conservative at the beginning of the season. we had this predictable run-run-pass playcalling, and because our run game was broken it just didnt work. Flacco was a bit outspoken about it, and I saw a change in the offense. We went from a run first offense to more passing primarily out of the shotgun, and when we ran it was out if shotgun or pistol. In the end neither approach really worked, but that is mostly because we simply lacked the playmakers.

 

Imo we didn't go to the run first style until after the Bills game which was still pretty early in the season. Then after the bye week things seemed to change and we got back to more of what Caldwell and Flacco wanted to do but overall the offense was just bad so it's hard to pinpoint one thing or another as the reason why things didn't work out.

[frozen joe flacco fan]

Now Harbs is claiming he doesn't know why Ray Rice was benched in our final game against the Bengals:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-harbaugh-cant-explain-rice-being-sidelined-in-cincinnati-says-he-should-have-been-out-there-20131231,0,5335649.story

 

How does a head coach NOT know that?

 

(yeah, I strongly doubt he's telling the truth)

 

That's just it! It is the Head Coach's responsibility to know who's playing and who's not. If Ray was benched for some reason and the HC isn't aware of it, we have two really big problems here in BMore. First, we have coach speak if John was aware and won't accept ultimate responsibility for the decision. Secondly, if he wasn't aware, we have what is called Leading from Behind, which isn't good either. Its letting others take responsibility for things that don't work out well. Sounds familiar, huh? He might have learned it from a role model who is a Chicago Bears fan. What is needed, of course, is shared responsibility. AND voluntary cooperation is always better than malicious obedience.  

 

On the subject of softness, I'm not sure I would say the team is soft but we seem to have lost the ability to impose our will on our opponents defensively and our opponents can see it. They no longer "Fear the Raven." We have to get back to that reputation as a physically dominant and intimidating team on defense while being a more balanced, finesse team on offense.

We can start by trying to keep as much of the defensive unit intact as possible, e.g., keeping Smith, Graham, Ihedigbo, Nagata, Dummerville, Webb et al, and revamping the O-line as well as adding another legitimate WR and a beast TE. I know that's a tall order given our salary cap challenges but I think it can be done with some creative restructuring of contracts, the draft and free agency.

 

Its easy to see why Joe's numbers went south this year. His long receptions declined and there were a lot of dropped passes, especially earlier in the season. Torrey's TD numbers went down while his receiving yardage went up because he essentially became Joe's Go-To guy to replace Boldin. Once the other teams figured out that he was Joe's primary weapon and the running game wasn't working, it was easy for them to design gameplans to stop us. Its not rocket science. The amazing story is that Joe performed as well as he did with two of his biggest weapons gone. Were it not for some very unsound and untimely coaching decisions by a fearful, panicky Head Coach, we could have gone 11-5 and all this would be a moot issue.

 

The good news is we have a slightly softer schedule next year and we should have some better draft picks. Unless we just maintain the status quo in the offseason, we should be right back in the hunt next year. Goodbye and good luck, Coach Caldwell!    

[cursona pirate]

I think sometimes we are afraid to change or do something different. We have success in the past with it so why don't we keep doing it mentality. I don't know. If the case above is true wouldn't the defense also be super vanilla and easy to read? I don't think Dean Pees is the best but the offensive playbook was like 80 year olds playing Madden for the 1st time. Something has to give somewhere. However we don't know how long this will take.