Things that must change this season...

Sports Hernia":2fqzp8ge said:

Offensive play calling needs to be much better, especially in the first half. Less bubble screens and less empty sets.

Offensive line needs to be better.

Jimmy Graham is not a blocking TE, realize this fact, and use him like they did in NO.

Covering the TE MUST BE BETTER!

Russ at times needs to realize that a play is dead (usually due to horrific blocking) and don't turn a loss into a huge loss.

Clock management needs to be better.

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FlyingGreg":2da5v79a said:

I have started re-watching last season in detail. A few things have jumped out:

COVERING TIGHT ENDS

I know we discussed this a lot last season, but holy crap we were TERRIBLE; worse than I thought. TE's were wide open all the time! We were lucky to have the pressure we got from Bennett and Avril in many of those games or it could have even been worse.

What's worse is that it was essentially the same play we got burned on each time. I think BBrowner's new role as a hybrid is an attempt to address that.

Bad, bad, bad. There were reasons, for sure... Kam's holdout, Earl clearly not at 100%, Cary Williams, etc.

But, it lasted all season. Schematically, our coaching staff did a really bad job of fixing this. I have to think when they re-watched last season's film this off-season they took that to heart and we will see huge improvement this season.

You could say that the slowness with which the coaching staff responded to all problems was illustrative of most of last season.

JUSTIN BRITT...

Yikes. He really is a revolving door at times. To be fair, he does do a serviceable job in spots. But that is definitely an area where we need to shore up protection. There was tons of A gap pressure all season.

I can't imagine Britt starting at center Game 1. I just don't see it.

Along those lines, I have no idea how they thought Drew Nowak was the right choice to start at center. Nowak and Britt next to each other was lethally ineffective.

DITTO

DEFENSIVE CREATIVITY

I know Pete's approach is to play their game and rely on his defenders to make plays. But I would really like to see some more creativity on defense. We rarely ever see a corner or safety blitz. One memorable play last season was Williams sacking Nick Foles in the first game against St. Louis, forcing the fumble and then returning it for a TD that put us up 31-24. However, in reviewing that game that does not look like a called corner blitz...it just looked like Williams saw the opportunity and reacted instinctively, not unlike Richard Sherman vs the Jets a few years ago.

Anyways, would love to show some wrinkles. Teams seem like they really know how to attack the soft spots of our zone better and better now.

I think this is spot-on, we have become too predictable on defense.

KILLER INSTINCT

It is painful to watch our defense give up late leads over and over last season. They really lacked a killer instinct, which was a bad combination with all of the other factors combined.

I sense that the D wants some redemption this season, just from comments and quotes I have read the last few months. I think they are fired up.

One positive...if we can pass protect better this season, this offense has the potential to score 30 a game. There were receivers open everywhere but Russ barely had a chance to blink let alone find people. Once they adjusted to a quick-strike passing game, the offense really took off (as has been well documented).

Speaking of Wilson. Any other QB in the league on our team last season (outside of maybe Cam Newton), and we are probably 6-10 or 7-9 at best. His escapability is tuly Houdini-ish. He saved us from so many negative plays. Amazing.

He is our savior and gives us hope for the next ten years if we can provide him w/a supporting cast.

P.S. Man we are going to miss Beast! His tenacity and power was incredible. Thomas Rawls has some big cleats to fill.

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chris98251":33cbuqgb said:

To predictable and not creative has us as the top 5 defenses yet that's not good enough, you after really remember the handicapped secondary last year with Williams and Kam out early on, that limits your creativity yet we still were in the top in many categories, not having to deal with the hold out and Williams along with fatigue and hangover I think we would have been fine.

Only way some people will be happy is a turnover every possession and a TD return I guess. At least you wouldn't need to see bad clock management and Britt then.

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chris98251":19nxx0rd said:

To predictable and not creative has us as the top 5 defenses yet that's not good enough, you after really remember the handicapped secondary last year with Williams and Kam out early on, that limits your creativity yet we still were in the top in many categories, not having to deal with the hold out and Williams along with fatigue and hangover I think we would have been fine.

Only way some people will be happy is a turnover every possession and a TD return I guess. At least you wouldn't need to see bad clock management and Britt then.

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dogorama":1duemj6e said:

chris98251":1duemj6e said:

To predictable and not creative has us as the top 5 defenses yet that's not good enough, you after really remember the handicapped secondary last year with Williams and Kam out early on, that limits your creativity yet we still were in the top in many categories, not having to deal with the hold out and Williams along with fatigue and hangover I think we would have been fine.

Only way some people will be happy is a turnover every possession and a TD return I guess. At least you wouldn't need to see bad clock management and Britt then.

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Your point is well taken and don't take me wrong, I believe we have great DB's BUT but particularly as regards the TE play and late comebacks, teams have identified weaknesses. Kam was two games and not everything else can be blamed on Williams, it was certainly more than that.

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sutz":3s3fmabr said:

I think maybe just change the schedule so we don't have 5 of the first 6 games against playoff teams and 4 of the first 6 on the road.

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Willyeye":1c77aew3 said:

I get that Kam held out and Cary Williams was not a good fit, but I also got the feeling that maybe Kris Richard was a bit inexperienced at running the entire defense and at playcalling. I could easily be wrong here...just a thought.

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suppaball":1w84pcmh said:

For me the thing that needs to change the most is our hawks don't seem to come out swinging, like a prize fighter. I think and feel that if our boys come out and put a hurt on opposing teams to start a game( SB48 for example) no team can compete with us.

So for me it's that, we need to start the game with a boom carry that boom through the game and then finish with the same boom .

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