johnnyfever":3maeica6 said:
The reality is just do what we do regardless of the other team, and sometimes it works. I don't mind being a run first team, but as has been said, we have the tools here to adjust to win games.
I don't think he will change though. He is set in his ways, and convinced it will eventually work again once the young defense matures. He might be right, but it seems like a much lower probability of success than being able to slightly adapt to take advantage of opportunities when they arise.
If you rewatch the cowboys game, they didnt do anything creative. They just stacked the box and completely sold out to stop the run and contain wilson from running. The back end was always super sparse. As we saw in the 4th quarter, we easily took advantage of that, just wished we would have done it earlier.
Pete is nothing if not adaptable. Does he always adapt timely? NO.
Pete brings his philosophy and it is one that has worked for him for national titles and a Super Bowl win.
We saw this year how badly Pete was hamstrung by Bevell and Cable for YEARS due to Pete's excessively loyalty to the INCOMPETENT Tom Cable. (In hindsight it's hard to blame Bevell quite so much given the defective Cable O-Lines he had to work with to try to make playcalls work)
The interesting thing is that Pete was actually *right* about his approach, to this game, but Wagner and McDougald BOTH failing to tackle Dak short of the first down and force a field goal--that was an outlier occurrence. If they stop Prescott there, the Seahawks probably win. Then there was Tre Flowers losing contain on that Zeke 41 yard run leading to the Cowboys TD just prior to half--rookie mistake, guarantee he won't make again. However, the larger criticisms are still very valid. Seahawks O going 3 and out repeatedly left an average Seahawks defense out there too long, and they got tired and couldn't stop Dallas, with the most critical failure being the Dak run on 3rd and 14.
Pete's plan A did not allow enough margin for error. As TwistedHusky stated, Pete needed to go in with the plan that the offense needs to score 28 or more, because the D is ilkely to give up 21-24 points against that Dallas O. And really, Pete should have thought in terms of Dallas scoring 28, allowing for fluke plays, a pick 6, etc., and having a game plan/target to score 31, and adjusting in-game with more urgency when it was clear the run game was getting stuffed.
I guarantee Pete will review and reevaluate *everything* this offseason. Schotty will for sure be back, and that is a very good thing. Russell is progressing forward again. I think after Cable Pete may have learned his lesson on excessive loyalty to assistant coaches who are not performing.
The truth is that Pete is one of the most adaptable NFL Head Coaches EVER. Who is more adaptable? Only one comes to mind. Yeah, that guy. Look at all the non-adapting NFL head coaches who are long gone, that Pete has FAR outlasted.
It's HARD to adapt in real-time, in the heat of the moment, in a hard-fought physical battle, and Pete deluded himself, thinking "We're up 14-10 in the 4th, my plan is WORKING!!" I think Pete's adaptation to this year's playoff lesson will take multiple forms, which he will address primarily through offseason planning; yes, he will continue to improve the D; that's a given. Next year's D might be good enough to cover up a failed game plan like the Dallas game, like the '13 and '14 Seahawks D's were. I believe Pete will also work to improve game planning (wtih Schotty) and having a better-developed Plan B and Plan C for when Plan A isn't working, and will develop a better system, with his assistants, on when to switch to Plan B or Plan C during a game.
TwistedHusky had a fantastic analysis earlier in this thread. (Copied below) Maybe Pete will hire him as a game plan and n in-game QC coach, to be his Jiminy Cricket, telling Pete when it's time to cut bait and move to a different plan? Certainly, the game was a strategy and adjustment failure; when our strength (Run offense) failed to overpower their strength (Run defense), we did not adjust rapidly enough, to try a different strength (Russell's passing, and maybe even an up-tempo offense) and force Dallas to try to adapt to that strength.
TwistedHusky":3maeica6 said:
The best players play even better in the playoffs.
Our best player is Wilson.
Wouldn't it make sense to adjust our approach in order to allow him to have more impact on the game, knowing that his escalating his level of play gives us a much better chance to win.
I get playing the %s but you are playing bad math if you think putting the outcome of the game on lesser players is going to pan out for you.
We relied on our average defense to save the game (which made no sense) in hoping it would not give up scores. That was a mistake.
We expected our offense to be able to keep the game close and then allow Wilson to come back near the end. But that neglects the reality that each failed offensive possession in the interim is going to make you have to spin the wheel with your defense. Some of those possessions are going to result in the opposing offense scoring.
They did and people blamed the defense. But those people are morons. Because the defense did its job. It allowed scoring that was below the league average. The offense did not meet the league average in this game. Your magic # is 28.
28 pts is what a winner generally scores. Our defense gave up 24.
We seemed to be satisfied when we hit 14-10 but we were nowhere near on pace to hit 28 and our defense was assuredly going to give up additional scores. So we lost - because that is exactly what happened.
