NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - Off Season

[Al B. Sure!]

Or could the sudden increased passing in 2008 and 2009 have to do with LT's rapid decline and the decline of the Charger's rushing attack in general:

San Diego Rushing yardage:
2006: 2578 yards
2007: 2039 yards (note how the passing yardage increased by 200 yards when the rushing declined by 500)
2008: 1726 yards (300 yard rushing decline corresponding to 400 yard passing increase)
2009: 1423 yards (300 more yards decline and another 400 yard passing increase)

Between 2006 and 2009, the Chargers lost 1100 yards in rushing per season and increased their passing yardage by 1000. That does not mean the offense improved! It just means it changed! Jackson didn't make the offense better. His emergence corresponded to the Chargers being forced to pass the ball more with the decline in LT and the loss of Michael Turner.

You are so wrong in anything you throw at me

[snoopy369]

Not to agree with Ben, but I think I'll write off Brandon Marshall having a 1200 yard season right now. Miami is a rush-first, rush-second, play-action-rush third, RB-screen fourth, pass fifth team. With their offensive scheme, the mediocre talent at QB, and the mediocre talent at WR outside of Marshall, he was never going to get 1200 yards, and people drafting him in the top ten at WR are a bunch of idiots. Jerry Rice in his prime wouldn't get 1200 yards in that offense. A single great WR can be wildly successful with a good to great QB in a pass-oriented offense, but Marshall has neither a good to great QB (yet, anyway) nor a pass-oriented offense. He'll be lucky to get 60 yards a game, not 80, and particularly not playing in the hardest division in the NFL. Maybe against the Bills he'll get 120 a game, but the 40 he gets against the Pats and Jets will offset that easily.

[snoopy369]

Other than that, though, I do agree that Marshall is probably better than VJ. VJ is a very good WR. Marshall appeared to be a great WR in Denver - even capable of making Orton look good. VJ was good at catching balls thrown well to him - not an unimportant skill by any means. Marshall was good at getting open in double coverage and catching balls thrown where only he could get them - which is why I am still quite positive on Cutler in Chicago, and why Marshall is a great #1 WR. I'd happily have either player on my team, but if I had a team of one, I'd have to take Marshall every time.

[Al B. Sure!]

Not to agree with Ben, but I think I'll write off Brandon Marshall having a 1200 yard season right now. Miami is a rush-first, rush-second, play-action-rush third, RB-screen fourth, pass fifth team. With their offensive scheme, the mediocre talent at QB, and the mediocre talent at WR outside of Marshall, he was never going to get 1200 yards, and people drafting him in the top ten at WR are a bunch of idiots. Jerry Rice in his prime wouldn't get 1200 yards in that offense. A single great WR can be wildly successful with a good to great QB in a pass-oriented offense, but Marshall has neither a good to great QB (yet, anyway) nor a pass-oriented offense. He'll be lucky to get 60 yards a game, not 80, and particularly not playing in the hardest division in the NFL. Maybe against the Bills he'll get 120 a game, but the 40 he gets against the Pats and Jets will offset that easily.

You forget they have the injury-prone Ronnie Brown at HB.

How did Chad Henne's stats look when Brown went down... well he had games where he passed for 335 yards against New England, 349 against Tennessee, and 322 against Houston.

Did you forget that the Dolphins went all-in with the pass at the end of last season?

Ronnie Brown gets hurt and he most assuredly will, and the Dolphins will air it out like the Saints.

[Ben Kenobi]

That does not mean the offense improved! It just means it changed!

The passing offense improved, and that's the only part that VJ can influence.

Ronnie Brown gets hurt and he most assuredly will, and the Dolphins will air it out like the Saints.

You know, you aren't helping your case here.

[Al B. Sure!]

The passing offense improved because Rivers improved and because the running game sucked. The Chargers had no choice but to pass when LT started sucking.

The overall offense was BETTER with Keenan McCardell and Eric Parker at WR than it was with Vincent Jackson and Chris Chambers. Note, 4th best offense in terms of yardage in 2006.

And what does my comment about Ronnie Brown have to do with anything? How is it not helping my case? It's neutral to me.

And who the hell is Eric Parker? I know Samie Parker from the Chiefs. I have never heard of this Eric Parker before. What happened to him?

[Ben Kenobi]

The passing offense improved because Rivers improved

Or because Vincent Jackson improved?

The overall offense was BETTER with LT in his Prime

FTFY.

And what does my comment about Ronnie Brown have to do with anything? How is it not helping my case? It's neutral to me.

You're basically admitting that Marshall is dependent on injury to have a great year.

What happened to him?

He 's on Chargers staff.

[snoopy369]

You forget they have the injury-prone Ronnie Brown at HB.

How did Chad Henne's stats look when Brown went down... well he had games where he passed for 335 yards against New England, 349 against Tennessee, and 322 against Houston.

Did you forget that the Dolphins went all-in with the pass at the end of last season?

Ronnie Brown gets hurt and he most assuredly will, and the Dolphins will air it out like the Saints.

Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams, Patrick Cobb (who's an excellent blocker and adequately speedy to be a great change of pace from Ricky if Ronnie gets hurt), and Polite at fullback. If all four of them went down, they'd sign somebody else. The Dolphins are a run-oriented team in terms of line, coaching, and strategy, and that won't change regardless of who gets hurt - and if it does, it will mean they've lost any chance at competing in the AFC East. You don't take a run-oriented team, with strong run blocking guards and tackles, and ask them to suddenly pass forty times a game - it ends up in disaster. Marshall could get 1200, but that would be his maximum potential, and I think it's likely he does less.

[Al B. Sure!]

Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams, Patrick Cobb (who's an excellent blocker and adequately speedy to be a great change of pace from Ricky if Ronnie gets hurt), and Polite at fullback. If all four of them went down, they'd sign somebody else. The Dolphins are a run-oriented team in terms of line, coaching, and strategy, and that won't change regardless of who gets hurt - and if it does, it will mean they've lost any chance at competing in the AFC East. You don't take a run-oriented team, with strong run blocking guards and tackles, and ask them to suddenly pass forty times a game - it ends up in disaster. Marshall could get 1200, but that would be his maximum potential, and I think it's likely he does less.

snoopy, but the Dolphins DID change! All it took was Ronnie Brown getting hurt and they immediately went pass first. Chad Henne threw it 52 times against NE, 46 against TEN, and 55 against HOU.

You clearly paid absolutely no attention to the Dolphins at the end of last season. They were pass first all the way.

Granted, in those three games, they went 1-2 but they were very close games... They beat NE 22-21 and lost to TEN and HOU 24-27 and 20-27 respectively. This wasn't either a case of slinging it when you're behind. The offense wasn't going to give Ricky the ball 25 times a game.

It's documented. Last year is the proof that Tony Sparano will change the Dolphins to a pass-first team overnight if Ronnie goes down.

[snoopy369]

I don't think they'll do that this year. I think they did it last year out of desperation; they're in a much better place this year, and will stick to what works.

[Al B. Sure!]

I don't think they'll do that this year. I think they did it last year out of desperation; they're in a much better place this year, and will stick to what works.

So why even bring in Marshall? Why spend the big bucks on him if he's going to be a secondary weapon in the offense? I'll admit that if Ronnie is healthy all season, this will still be a run-first team but the moment he gets hurt, Marshall's value skyrockets in my book.

[Donegeal]

Lovie Smith: The Figure Head Coach

Offense
The only thing he had to do with the offense was deciding when to go for it on fourth down or when to kick a field goal. For the past 6 years, his decisions have always been the conservative ones. Now, in 2010, with the hiring of Martz (a choice that needed the approval of the QB, I might add), the Bears are all wild and going for it on 4th and a foot from goal while down by 1 with under 9 minutes left to play. Yeah, sure, that was Lovie's call. I'd stake my house on the fact that that call was made by Martz, the risk taking innovating Offensive Coordinator, because Lovie no longer has the authority to stop him.

Defense
In 2008, under lackey pushover Def Coord Babich, the Bears sucked, didn't blitz and didn't make adjustments. At the end of that season, Lovie said that he was going to take over def coord duties and that the def was going to be improved and to "trust" him. Well, 2009 was a mimic of 2009. No blitzing, no adjustments and the def sucked. It did two things: It showed that Lovie was def coord in 2008 as well as 2009 and it showed the he sucks as a def coord. Now, in 2010, Lovie got the Def coord responsibilities removed from under him and it is now Marinelli job. What do we see? Some blitzing (not as much as I'd like, but more than last year) and defensive adjustments. Something unheard of since Ron Rivera left.

Special Teams
Lovie has never had anything to do with Special teams other than to say "time to punt" (which usually came after a 5 yard pass on 3rd and 15). Tough to screw this one up as a head coach and Vince Tobin being the mastermind behind the Bears Special Teams for years, but he did manage to with player personal. I'll get into that in a bit.

Player Personal
Let’s review Lovie’s Player Personal choices for a bit here:
2005: Super Bowl year. Had a probowl 1,000+ yard rusher in Thomas Jones. Workhorse. Good character guy. Great leader and good in the locker room. He also had a million dollar backup who was all talk and no flash. Held out in his rookie camp and was generally not a very good fellow. Lovie choice in 2006 was to release the probowl character guy and go with trouble maker who’s only carry in the Super Bowl was a fumble near the end zone. Let’s go with more on 2005 Super Bowl into 2006:
2005 Alex Brown at DE. Maybe not a probowler, but solid. Good at pass rushing and good at stopping the run. An overall DE.
2006 Mark Anderson. Anderson was a rookie pass rush specialist. He was unknown and only came in to get the QB. Not very good a run stopping. Lovie bench the solid guy for a pass rush specialist. Guess what happened at left end that season?
2006: Adam Archuleta. No need to say anything else.
2003-2007: “Rex is our Quarterback.” Loyalty is nice but COME ON!!!
2008: Lovie gets LT Chris Williams in the first round, even though he is known to have a back injury. Guess what? Chris Williams misses his rookie year with an injury! In 2009, Williams plays sparingly. Now, in the revamped O-line, Lovie’s last bit of player personal power was to say “Chris is our Left Tackle.” When the Bears played against Dallas, Williams got hurt, there-by allowing O-line coach Mike Tice to play the line like he wants to. What happened in that game? The o-line came together and performed very well.

Bottom line is if you take Lovie out of the picture, the Bears do well. Lovie Smith, the Bears Figure Head Coach.

[Donegeal]

Sorry... had to get that off my chest. Lovie has been bugging me horribly as a Head Coach since the 2006 playoff run to the Superbowl. Whew. I feel better now.

[Al B. Sure!]

Did you write that? Player Personal? You mean Personnel?

[Donegeal]

Someone else actually writes my reports from dictation into a tape recorder.