BoltonWanderer
Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2014
- Messages
- 81
- Reaction score
- 4
I understand a lot of people are very down about Schotty's play calling yesterday and whilst I'm generally a bit more supportive, I absolutely see where people are coming from. However, as someone who will likely be seen as a defender of his, there is no question that next year, we need to make a few changes:
1. There has to be more flexibility with the scheme. Carson was brilliant all season and whilst I think he looked tired yesterday, a point which I think isn't being stated enough, you can't just rely on that one tool over and over. If you want to stick to the running game, fine, but not always straight through the middle, be creative with it. The Seahawks had some really nice running plays throughout the season but these went out of the window yesterday, for whatever reason.
2. Russell Wilson has to run the ball more. The lack of carries for such a potent threat is bizarre, there probably isn't a more consistent threat on our offence that Wilson's running game just because it's so easy and so reliable, so why do we see so little of it? He should be running the ball as often as Trubisky does. The opposition should see Wilson as a threat both with his arm and feet, rather than Wilson just occasionally saving our bacon with his legs when he can't find his passing target.
3. The 3rd and long play calling is atrocious. As I said at the start, I'm not against Schottenheimer but this? It's appalling to watch. The 3rd and 17 yesterday was such a ridiculous call, I don't know what they were expecting. I don't just dislike these calls because they have no chance of succeeding, I hate them because there's such a small time, weak, cowardly mentality behind them that has no faith in Russell Wilson to pull off a fairly long throw when needed.
4. As much as I love our running game, it needs to be mixed up a bit more. The run, run, pass pattern is such a predictable one, it's playing right into the defence's hands. If I'm an opposing DC, I know that Carson is going to carry the ball first off and if he doesn't get 6 yards, he'll run it again. This is too predictable, and if Carson wasn't such a rugged, hard RB who is very difficult to stop, it just wouldn't work. Our running game is the product of Solari, the O-Line and Carson, it's not the play calling which is hard. Our running game is like Joe Frazier, overly reliant on one thing and easy to predict but, like Frazier's left hook, Carson will keep coming. It can, however, be helped with more play action calls.
As I started off the topic with, I'm not here to hate on anyone and I'm proud of what the team has done this year but the above 4 points should not be controversial, they're just obvious, and I hope that Carroll and Schottenheimer see this. We've got the bedrock for a very good team but the play calling with the ball needs to be more nuanced and can utilise the talent we have better than we saw yesterday. That game was there to be won and we lost through our own mistakes. That's the bad news, the good news is that our mistakes are easily corrected.
1. There has to be more flexibility with the scheme. Carson was brilliant all season and whilst I think he looked tired yesterday, a point which I think isn't being stated enough, you can't just rely on that one tool over and over. If you want to stick to the running game, fine, but not always straight through the middle, be creative with it. The Seahawks had some really nice running plays throughout the season but these went out of the window yesterday, for whatever reason.
2. Russell Wilson has to run the ball more. The lack of carries for such a potent threat is bizarre, there probably isn't a more consistent threat on our offence that Wilson's running game just because it's so easy and so reliable, so why do we see so little of it? He should be running the ball as often as Trubisky does. The opposition should see Wilson as a threat both with his arm and feet, rather than Wilson just occasionally saving our bacon with his legs when he can't find his passing target.
3. The 3rd and long play calling is atrocious. As I said at the start, I'm not against Schottenheimer but this? It's appalling to watch. The 3rd and 17 yesterday was such a ridiculous call, I don't know what they were expecting. I don't just dislike these calls because they have no chance of succeeding, I hate them because there's such a small time, weak, cowardly mentality behind them that has no faith in Russell Wilson to pull off a fairly long throw when needed.
4. As much as I love our running game, it needs to be mixed up a bit more. The run, run, pass pattern is such a predictable one, it's playing right into the defence's hands. If I'm an opposing DC, I know that Carson is going to carry the ball first off and if he doesn't get 6 yards, he'll run it again. This is too predictable, and if Carson wasn't such a rugged, hard RB who is very difficult to stop, it just wouldn't work. Our running game is the product of Solari, the O-Line and Carson, it's not the play calling which is hard. Our running game is like Joe Frazier, overly reliant on one thing and easy to predict but, like Frazier's left hook, Carson will keep coming. It can, however, be helped with more play action calls.
As I started off the topic with, I'm not here to hate on anyone and I'm proud of what the team has done this year but the above 4 points should not be controversial, they're just obvious, and I hope that Carroll and Schottenheimer see this. We've got the bedrock for a very good team but the play calling with the ball needs to be more nuanced and can utilise the talent we have better than we saw yesterday. That game was there to be won and we lost through our own mistakes. That's the bad news, the good news is that our mistakes are easily corrected.
