I want a new playcaller

The biggest issue I had was how consistently we ran it on first down with 8-10 players in the box. It was obvious, we never went away from it, and it led to 1.8 YPC on first down. Then on the screen passes, the Dolphins were all up close to the line, so of course we aren't going to get a positive play, even if they weren't blitzing.

1) We call games not to lose instead of trying to win. I can guarentee if the Pats or Packers were in our situation at the end of the game Brady/Rodgers are throwing it down the field to score a touchdown, not milk the clock and hope we can get in FG range.

2) We are too conservative. Again, if the Pats/Packers were on their 38 yard line with a 4th and 1 like we had a few times, they are going to go for it. Instead we punt it to be safe. It's great whoever makes the decision to do that trusts our defense, but equal trust needs to be in our offense.

3) Stop sticking with what isn't working even if it is 'who we are.' The perfect example in this thread was the 49ers game where they aired it out on the Bears. RW was TORCHING their defense in the second half and yet we continued to run directly at their best players up in the middle. Marshawn's best run of the day was when we actually kicked it outside.... The blame can be placed on our O-line, sure, they didn't play well, but then why did we stick with it if they were frequently getting beat?

4) If Bevell is going to call a soft game, I hope RW is allowed to call his own audibles from here on out. When they have 9 defenders in the box and Bevell calls in a run up the middle, I really really hope RW has the ability to audible into a quick slant or out. Keep doing those plays until they stop loading the box, then run it up the middle all you want. It sounds like it is common sense, but I have yet to see that happen.

Also, please bring Norv Turner in to be our O coordinator/QB coach. He would do wonders for RW and could focus only on offense.

Unless Pete has Bevell on a tight leash, in which case this is Pete's fault, Bevell gets the majority of the blame for this game. Yes o-line play stunk, but those matchups weren't changing so change the plays.

The only good thing we have that came from Minnesota is Rice.

CaptainSkybeard":w8obeuhd said:

The only good thing we have that came from Minnesota is Rice.

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And the movie Fargo. Don't forget that.

CaptainSkybeard":28mmj9rx said:

Unless Pete has Bevell on a tight leash, in which case this is Pete's fault, Bevell gets the majority of the blame for this game. Yes o-line play stunk, but those matchups weren't changing so change the plays.

The only good thing we have that came from Minnesota is Rice.

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Rice was definitely a good pickup and hopefully he'll stay healthy for a long time. I'm still holding hope that Bevell will develop into a very good offensive coordinator. He's got the mind and the pedigree. He just needs to open up his offense like he did with Brett Favre. There were some good signs in recent games that he is headed that route. I'm a Bevell critic but I've watched and cheered for his teams since I lived most of my life in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

His coaching influences can be traced to Barry Alvarez (UW-Madison), Brad Childress (Minnesota) and indirectly to Holmgren's WC offense (via Mike Sherman and Childress). A son of a coach, Bevell was a bright young qb coming out of highschool and developed a relationship with Childress who recruited him while coach at NAU. Prior to Childress's stint at NAU he was an assistant coach at Madison for Barry Alvarez. Needless to say that Bevell got Childress's blessings when he chose to walk on at UW-Madison and eventually starting all 4 years culminating in two Rose Bowl appearances and two passing records. He was a very efficient game-manager type qb in college and the Alvarez passing game/offense was as frustrating to watch many of these Bevell offenses. Wisconsin had an excuse because they couldn't recruit top passers despite having some very good talents at offensive line, running back and receivers. The offense was predicated on a physically superior line and great running talent. The game-manager type quarterback was necessary because the philosophy was ball-control and to minimize turnovers--sound familiar? During Bevell's stint as OC in Minnesota the offensive philosophy was still to establish the run first and win the time of possession. After Brett Favre arrived in Minnesota to immense fanfare and huge expections we saw early struggles similar to what Seattle has seen this year. There was similar talk in Minnesota even with a HOF quarterback about how much should we open the passing game and what was the best run/pass ratios. This talk isn't new to Bevell's ears. In Minnesota he eventually worked with Brett to open up the offense which resulted in some very creative plays for Brett, Rice and Harvin.
That is why I hold onto hope. I just have to weather this dull playcalling and hope it doesn't do in the Seahawks as it did the Vikings in the NFC championship against and aggressive Saints team.

Oh and although the Wisconsin badgers were okay with a game-manager type qb for all those years, last year badger fans were gifted a great talent in Russell Wilson and now realize how much we've been missing on offense. Wisconsin's offense hasn't been the same this year without RW. Now there's talk in some forums about firing the OC and maybe getting Bevell back to Madtown as OC with coach Beleima which won't happen.

Cool. Many thanks for the background, Willstrong. It's funny how things make more sense when you get a little history.