They Have Figured Out Paul Johnson's Offense

[MWBATL]

Even if D's played honest, I'm not convinced that's all it would take. We're still missing a ton of blocks we normally make. It's not all safeties in the box.

With this I completely agree. Perhaps this thread i making it sound like it's all one way (passing) or another (dive runs up the middle). We need both and the more effective each phase of the offense is, the better we are as a team. I am fully satisfied with passing between 20-25% of the time. It is not the amount of passes we throw, it is having a credible threat. We are primarily a running team, and I want us to stay that way. No doubt our blocking needs to improve. It has to in order to run effectively.

All I am arguing is that we MUST have BOTH a credible passing game as well as a solid running game.

I suppose right now, one could argue we have neither and all we are quibbling about is which deficiency we focus on first.

So, I generally see most of us being in violent agreement, overall.

Me, I still would prefer to see some 3 step drops and passes. You can miss 5 blocks on such a play and still get off an effective pass. You likely only need one decent block outside and some luck with a shifty A back or WR to make a few years. (not that we have had many "decent blocks on the outside" so far this year...I know, I know...) I do NOT want to see us do many 5 step drops (and no 7 step drops please!) I think we will and should continue to work on improving our blocking game. Please don't think I am advocating we switch to the Run n'Shoot in mid-season!

Peace out.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

With this I completely agree. Perhaps this thread i making it sound like it's all one way (passing) or another (dive runs up the middle). We need both and the more effective each phase of the offense is, the better we are as a team. I am fully satisfied with passing between 20-25% of the time. It is not the amount of passes we throw, it is having a credible threat. We are primarily a running team, and I want us to stay that way. No doubt our blocking needs to improve. It has to in order to run effectively.

All I am arguing is that we MUST have BOTH a credible passing game as well as a solid running game.

I suppose right now, one could argue we have neither and all we are quibbling about is which deficiency we focus on first.

So, I generally see most of us being in violent agreement, overall.

Me, I still would prefer to see some 3 step drops and passes. You can miss 5 blocks on such a play and still get off an effective pass. You likely only need one decent block outside and some luck with a shifty A back or WR to make a few years. (not that we have had many "decent blocks on the outside" so far this year...I know, I know...) I do NOT want to see us do many 5 step drops (and no 7 step drops please!) I think we will and should continue to work on improving our blocking game. Please don't think I am advocating we switch to the Run n'Shoot in mid-season!

Peace out.

I agree on the 3 step drop throws, heck, give me the pivot and fire to the wideout smoke route. I'd also be ok with rolling JT out, if we are indeed seeing cover zero defense, it won't matter one bit shrinking the field a bit.

 

[GTRX7]

Even if D's played honest, I'm not convinced that's all it would take. We're still missing a ton of blocks we normally make. It's not all safeties in the box.

Oh, I agree. Fixing assignments and blocking is priority 1, 2, and 3. I was trying to address something that I think is a bit of a myth regarding playing D against us -- i.e., that teams can just "cheat" and put more guys in the box to stop the run. While they can have safeties help and move them up, they still have to have players cover our wide receivers and a-backs on passing routs. My point was just that nobody is so unconcerned with our passing game that they are putting 11 in the box. The numbers game is currently there if we block it right, and nothing Duke or ND did changed that. The only "cheating" is that they can leave our receivers in 1 on 1 coverage without safety help. To be at our best, we need to at least have the threat to take advantage of that, even if we don't pass a lot. I don't think anybody disagrees with that. I am with you that we don't need to throw more, just more efficiently than we are this year (as we did last season).