Offensive playcalling is over-rated

[gimpy]

I've heard a lot of people complain about MM and many had valid points but playcalling isn't one of them. The problems we had on offense, poor blocking(run & pass), dropped passes, inconsisent play from the qbs, penalties, would make Bill Walsh look like Mike Shepperd. My point is, it shouldn't even matter if the opponent knows what is coming, if the players did their job, the play would be successful. It's like grinding out the clock late in a game, everyone in the stadium knows your going to run and good teams get it done.

[Slim]

Punting on first down doesnt help the cause....

[RedEyE]

2 yard dink passes on 3rd down when you need 6 is ****ing ******ed.

[RedEyE]

What about punting while in a FG formation. Playing not to win. Hate it.

[Slim]

What about punting while in a FG formation. Playing not to win. Hate it.


exactly.

[FirstDownBills]

I've heard a lot of people complain about MM and many had valid points but playcalling isn't one of them. The problems we had on offense, poor blocking(run & pass), dropped passes, inconsisent play from the qbs, penalties, would make Bill Walsh look like Mike Shepperd. My point is, it shouldn't even matter if the opponent knows what is coming, if the players did their job, the play would be successful. It's like grinding out the clock late in a game, everyone in the stadium knows your going to run and good teams get it done.


Bill Walsh needs to be our next head coach and GM.

[OpIv37]

I've heard a lot of people complain about MM and many had valid points but playcalling isn't one of them. The problems we had on offense, poor blocking(run & pass), dropped passes, inconsisent play from the qbs, penalties, would make Bill Walsh look like Mike Shepperd. My point is, it shouldn't even matter if the opponent knows what is coming, if the players did their job, the play would be successful. It's like grinding out the clock late in a game, everyone in the stadium knows your going to run and good teams get it done.

theres' no doubt that execution has had it's problems but the playcalling makes it worse. Like Redeye said- 3 yard passes on third and six, trick plays that kill momentum, giving up on the run too early, not taking shots down field- all that stuff makes it more difficult for the players to execute.

It's the players' responsibility to perform but the coach's responsibility to put them in a position to execute, and Mularkey and his staff don't do it.

[Philagape]

Playcalling has been a factor. MM tries to outsmart defenses and usually doesn't. Several trick plays have been executed correctly but didn't work because they didn't fool the defense.

[DaBills]

Whoa, gonna throw the challenge flag on this thread. (I have two left.)

Execution on both sides of the ball is always critical, yes. But NOT as much as playcalling.

Offense:

- The reverse/end-around. Especially against teams that are fast sideline to sideline, has almost netted little or no gains.

They excecute the play just fine, but the play is outdated for the speed of the game and is ALWAYS sniffed out. (Makes me actually long for the shuttle pass.)

- Lack of sticking with the run. WM and Shaud are better RBs than JP is a QB right now, so why not go with the run?

- After long drives, ONLY passing inside the red zone instead of running?

- How about a bootleg inside the redzone? We know JP has some speed. Defenses leave themselves open for it. Even Jim Kelly ran them.

- Play action. Where has it been?

- Running the no-huddle with no regularity.


Defense:

- This is a no-brainer: corners laying off WR's 5-10 yards at the line (no exaggeration).

- Limited blitzes out of disguised schemes. Has this team ever shown they can openly intimidate by flooding the box on a regular basis? You may get beat by blitzing like Pitt, but how do they know until they try?

It simply takes numbers and a coordinator willing to swarm opponents with numbers. Parcells does it. Cowher does it. Why can't we?


Special teams:

- Parrish sharing duties with McGhee on returns. Until Parrish shows he's as good, why is he out there?

- Practically zero onside attempts, fake punts or fake FG attempts.

The only reason our ST aren't a problem is because we have a very good punter and return guy in McGhee. But why not push it further? The D and the O certainly aren't helping.

[gimpy]

Whoa, gonna throw the challenge flag on this thread. (I have two left.)

I was speaking only on offensive playcalling, I agree 100% w/ you on D-playcalling.

Your points on the O:

Reverse/end around: The play isn't outdated, we just haven't sealed the corner properly. The bears ran it last night against a pretty fast falcon D.. they blocked well and it resluted in a big gain.

No-huddle is tough to run for long periods of time with a weak o-line.

Our run blocking has been very inconsistent.

I agree on the bootlegs.

Tough to run play action when you can't run in the first place.


If MM did eveything you mentioned, how many more games would we have won? Two? I agree MM could do things better, but my point was if you can't run block(run or pass) consistently the playoffs are a pipe dream.

[Throne Logic]

I was speaking only on offensive playcalling, I agree 100% w/ you on D-playcalling.
Your points on the O:
Reverse/end around: The play isn't outdated, we just haven't sealed the corner properly. The bears ran it last night against a pretty fast falcon D.. they blocked well and it resluted in a big gain.
No-huddle is tough to run for long periods of time with a weak o-line.
Our run blocking has been very inconsistent.
I agree on the bootlegs.
Tough to run play action when you can't run in the first place.
If MM did eveything you mentioned, how many more games would we have won? Two? I agree MM could do things better, but my point was if you can't run block(run or pass) consistently the playoffs are a pipe dream.

I believe DaBills was refering to the timing of the end around play during the coarse of the game. There is a time and a place to run a play like this. For instance, you set up runs and screens toward one side of the field, if the defense starts to cheat toward that side of the field, they you toss in the reverse/end around to take advantage of the situation.

Good offenses have a general plan as to how they would like to move the ball against a particular defense. This plan is typically developed by taking your team's offensive "identity" (i.e. smashmouth running, dink & dunk passing attack, etc.) and molding it into a gameplan that you feel will best take advantage of your opponent's weaknesses. The plan should include a number of "set-up" plays. For example, you have Moulds run an 11 yard route that breaks to the side line for a quick out pass. He does this 4 or 5 times, you might never actually throw the ball to him. Then, on the 6th time, he hitches - faking that break off, then turns the route upfield for the long ball pass. Another example would be the Play Action Pass. Even if you don't gain a single yard on 8 carries, if you actually create a subtle pattern regarding how and when you make your run calls (they don't need to be the same play or even consecutive), the defense may very well bite on that 9th play that is your Play Action. Buffalo's coaching staff has not shown that they are able to do any of this with any kind of proficiency. There is no apparent rhyme or reason for the sequence of plays beyond the first 10 - 15 scripted plays. Play calling appears to be totally random, with little regard for the actual situation the team faces. A monkey with a dartboard might yield similar results.

The inablility to make in-game adjustments is another huge problem this coaching staff faces. After the initial scripted plays, they seem to get very confused. Part of this goes back to their lack of a gameplan and part of it is related to the complete lack of that "identity" I mentioned earlier - they have nothing to fall back on - no "old reliable" play. Buffalo has been successful on their first drive with certain things working well. Naturally, opponent's defenses look at the pictures, talk amongst themselves, and make adjustments. Buffalo's coaches don't seem to do this. They just stand around looking baffled as to why those same plays are suddenly no longer working. Do I even need to bring up Half-Time adjustment? I've never seen a team worse at Half-Time adjustments than the 2005 Buffalo Bills. In fact, I wonder what they talk about. At this point in the season, it really shouldn't come as any surprise that Buffalo gets creamed in the second half. It happens every week.

Just the basic facts, as I see them.

[DaBills]

"A monkey with a dartboard might yield similar results."

On face value, this isn't too bad of an idea.


;-p

throne -

As far as timing, I hadn't thought of it in the context of the overall game, but that makes sense. Like you said, the coaches seem to have no ryhme or reason for why and when they call things. My biggest peeve re: speed on that play is that when we all watch it develop, you can just see a disciplined LB stay home and wait for Moulds to come back his way. If we can see it, then surely our great coaching staff ca... wait, strike that.

I think the plays that are designed to 'set-up' a D so they will bite on the deeper route later are a good thing. (Lord knows we bite when it comes to any deep play this year.) But those deep hits require that you keep drives alive and convert on 3rd, otherwise, the D can't get sucked into a rythym of defending the shorter play.

A steady diet of 3-and-out does two things: gives the D confidence and takes it away from the O. That would be bad. 35-foot twinkie bad.


Gimp -

I hear you on the block part. But there are times when we execute a quick slant perfectly, but it happened to be on 3rd and 15 and we ran a play designed to gain 4-6. It's almost as if the coaches hope that these smaller plays will break open into bigger ones, which is stupid, unless you have great playmakers that can turn 4 yards into 25. Then you can run those type plays. We don't.

As far as the no-huddle, I gave up hope of them running it for a long period of time. Thing is, they don't even seem to be able to run it two plays in a row.

It's also not about MM doing these things, but more about what he shouldn't keep doing. Addition by subtraction imo, if he would just stop repeating the same ineffectivenss.

Two other things in all of this mess so far: 1) Ralph has been mysteriously quiet on all this, and 2) Has Sam Wysche been advising MM to at least help him with better play selection? Who on staff has more HC experience than Sam, why waste it.