Falcons: Amateur Opinion: our coordinators

[ggp]

I am a rank amatuer in football. Before I begin, I should define "amateur". The word is obviously from French and it means "lover." Someone who loves a particular past time but is not a professional is, by definition, an amateur.

Because I love the game of football and, in particular Falcon football, I am going to give you my opinion about the state of our Coordinators:


This franchise has seen a long list of pathetic coaches and coordinators. We seen everything from clowns (Glanville) to a child (Mora). And, we have seen some pretty stupid coordinators. Fortunately, things changed in 2008. This coaching staff (from top to bottom) is the best coaching staff this franchise has known. They have managed to build a cohesive unit from a fragmented pile of dung that was left behind by Petrino and Mora. They are the most organized and resourceful group of coaches that I have seen in red and black.

When I see posts that call for the firing of MM and BVG, I can't believe what I am reading. No one gives a single salient point to justify their calls for termination. All I see is an emotional plea for more "creative" play calling. As if creativity is all that is needed to trick opposing teams. Here is a reality check: to become "creative" you first have to take care of the fundamentals. Coordinators do not teach players the fundamentals of the game. They strategize and develop a plan of attack. If you look carefully at our roster, you will see glaring deficiencies at key positions. These deficiencies limit our coordinators' options.

On defense, we have had a patchwork group of DT's that sporadically provides a pass rush. Babs is terrific, but he has succumbed to inevitable injury. We also see a MLB that is stout against the run, but continues to be a liability in pass defense. You can not run a great Tampa-2 without pass-covering LB's. And, of course, we have a group of DB's that can not be trusted (the only exception might be Grimes).

BVG knows our deficiencies and does his best to limit big offensive plays. Hence, we watch teams dominate us between the twenties only to stall in the red zone. It is not an aggressive, scoring defense, but it is one that can limit the opposition's scoring. Heck, if our offense and special teams weren't so bad, our defense would have some of the best stats in the league.

On offense, we have a fine group of "skill players" but a suspect group of OL's. The two best OL's on the roster are Blalock and Clabo. Unfortunately, Clabo is playing out of his best position (OG). Yeah, I know he made the pro bowl last year. In my opinion, he would be a perennial pro bowler at OG. Imagine our rush offense if Blalock and Clabo bracketed McClure/Hawley. Yeah, you guessed it, we would be gutting teams with Turner and Snelling.

UNfortunately, Clabo has to play RT. We have another RT on the roster, but he has to play LT. Baker could be a very good RT. Draftniks talked about it in 2008 and performance has shown that he is made for the right side. So, what is MM supposed to do? Should he call a bunch of "EXPLOSIVE" deep routes? If he does, he knows that his QB will not last to Halloween. Can he call a power game? Really, with our present OC and RG, we can't count on a one-yard push.

Our coordinators are getting the best they can from our flawed personnel. Disasters and injuries are being limited. Our problems are still personnel. Our defense is getting better. We can all see the gradual improvement. The real problem is along the OL. The only thing we can do this year is go back to the max protect packages of previous seasons. We have to park Svitek next to Baker. Two TE sets are also another possibility. MM can't run three and four WR sets......that would be a recipe for disaster. It has been up to now.

LOOKING FORWARD: I believe that we will see a major turn around for this team. I truly think that Mike Smith will make the OL his first priority. Our coaches will find the right mix and our OL's will concentrate on giving Turner running lanes. Once that happens, our scoring will dramatically improve and our defense will be kept off the field.

[Peyton]

Good post. I am not qualified to evaluate these guys, but I will say this.

When you watch the offense, you can see that there are some plays that are missing from it. It may well be that our offensive personnel aren't proficient at certain plays.

Either way, I think the offense will get significantly better if we find some guys who can block.

On defense, I rarely find any credence in the complaints. There is nothing missing from the Falcons defensive playbook, we literally throw everything at an offense week to week.

[papachaz]

as for amateur, i'm as amateur as it gets. I didn't even play football in high school, i was always too small. so when it comes to someone not knowing anything about football other than i love to watch it, i qualify.

that being said, i have one word to describe mike mularky - predictable

all the 'skill' players you talk about, great point. mediocre or worse offensive line, again, great point. but when someone who has no more football knowledge than i do can sit in my living room and watch a game on tv and call the next play based on what i've seen from our OC in his first two years (yes i started calling plays based on formations last year) then we are too predictable. If i can do it, then players who've played their whole lives, and co-ordinators opposing us can do the same thing.

and if you'd read every post in every thread, there are tons of them that DO give specifics on why the poster things MM should be fired. it's not all just 'i don't like him' or 'we need to be more creative'. there are actually people here who DO have great football knowledge and say why they think our co-ordinators should be replaced.

i'm personally giving BVG some leeway after seeing his reaction to peters jumping offsides, though that is purely my love for a good reaction coming through

[RnB]

Great post.

Here is a Falcoholic article from the ticker at the top. It goes into the same thing I have said to several people this season: the long-term perspective is what we need to focus on. We have a great team that is having some correctable problems early in the season due to a scheme change, the doom and gloom is just silly at this point.

Not Sensationalist Garbage

[Jesus]

Nice to hear someone say something reasonable around here. The first thing fans say when things go bad is fire the coordinators. When a head coach starts to see things go sour the first thing he does is fire the coordinators. Of course neither of these solves the problem. While in Denver Shanahan fired coordinators left and right after losing seasons but the problems were never solved. Consistency is the key to success in the NFL.

Everyone is down on the coordinators when the team loses but no one ever lauds them when the team succeeds. Did you not see the reaction by Van Gorder when Peters jumped offsides? It wasn't BVG's fault in Tampa it was the player, but people will blame Van Gorder. In fact the Defense looked real good on Sunday.

Its fun to read the chat room on Sundays. When we try a reverse and it doesn't work everyone gets on Mularky, but when it works the response is always nice run. Mularky calls the play in but if it isn't executed right its not his fault.

As for predictably in the NFL you either run or pass. So you can sit there on your couch and be right 50% of the time. Remember the 90's Cowboys were probably the most predictable offense ever. They had a small playbook and ran the same plays over and over again. The difference was no one could stop them because they executed them perfectly. Jimmy Johnson won 2 SB's with that offense. A well prepared team will know what play you are running and what your weaknesses are. Its all about execution. Always has been, always will be.

[takeitdown]

Without getting into all the reasons I think coordinators are a big deal, I'll just mention a few things.

1) If Mularkey knows his offense can't be run because we lack the interior OL to hold up...it's his job to make that clear to the FO, so we get him the players he needs to run his offense. He's not just an innocent bystander...he needs to know that's why they can't run plays

2) Talent is much more equal in the NFL than it used to be, and scheme has become a huge deal. The Eagles have traded numerous QBs over the last decade for picks because they looked great in Philly, only to have them look pedestrian elsewhere. They have a great system for QBs. Denver used to do the same with RBs. Those are just two examples of scheme trumping talent. Belicheck changes his type of offense and defense often to fit his personnel...he's considered a great coach because he adjusts his schemes to fit his personnel and give them a great chance of winning.

3) For a specific instance, if you recall when we played the Eagles last year, their OL was in tatters. We were supposed to dominate them. They knew that and hit us with misdirections for the first quarter, to slow down our pass rush. It worked. That's a clear example of minimizing a weakness, a matchup problem, through scheming.


So, I don't want to get into what I think should be done by each coordinator, and sometimes it is very difficult to tell without coach tape, but I think it's important to realize just how big of a deal scheme and playcalls make in this league. The coaches have become more and more important as the talent has become more even. Execution matters because nothing works without it, but putting your guys in a scheme to succeed, makes them much more likely to execute effectively.

[Paulitik]

(09-28-2011 01:53 PM)takeitdown Wrote:  Without getting into all the reasons I think coordinators are a big deal, I'll just mention a few things.

1) If Mularkey knows his offense can't be run because we lack the interior OL to hold up...it's his job to make that clear to the FO, so we get him the players he needs to run his offense. He's not just an innocent bystander...he needs to know that's why they can't run plays

2) Talent is much more equal in the NFL than it used to be, and scheme has become a huge deal. The Eagles have traded numerous QBs over the last decade for picks because they looked great in Philly, only to have them look pedestrian elsewhere. They have a great system for QBs. Denver used to do the same with RBs. Those are just two examples of scheme trumping talent. Belicheck changes his type of offense and defense often to fit his personnel...he's considered a great coach because he adjusts his schemes to fit his personnel and give them a great chance of winning.

3) For a specific instance, if you recall when we played the Eagles last year, their OL was in tatters. We were supposed to dominate them. They knew that and hit us with misdirections for the first quarter, to slow down our pass rush. It worked. That's a clear example of minimizing a weakness, a matchup problem, through scheming.


So, I don't want to get into what I think should be done by each coordinator, and sometimes it is very difficult to tell without coach tape, but I think it's important to realize just how big of a deal scheme and playcalls make in this league. The coaches have become more and more important as the talent has become more even. Execution matters because nothing works without it, but putting your guys in a scheme to succeed, makes them much more likely to execute effectively.

Great post.

[ggp]

Of course, we don't know what was discussed during the offseason, but I bet MM expressed concern about his OL. TD saw how often Svitek was needed to help Baker over the course of the last two seasons. The priority should have been to acquire an upgrade at LT....not just this offseason, but the past two years.

Instead, the cool aide-induced mantra was: Explosion.

What I am saying is that scheme options are severely limited, on offense, by the quality of the OL. If we had a good LT, Baker could be a good RT and Clabo would be a great RG. Ryan would actually have a comfortable pocket to pick apart defenes. Then, MM would be less predictable with his play calling. As it stands, MM must use formations and plays that will lessen the risk to Ryan.

[Paulitik]

(09-28-2011 04:06 PM)ggp Wrote:  Of course, we don't know what was discussed during the offseason, but I bet MM expressed concern about his OL. TD saw how often Svitek was needed to help Baker over the course of the last two seasons. The priority should have been to acquire an upgrade at LT....not just this offseason, but the past two years.

Instead, the cool aide-induced mantra was: Explosion.

What I am saying is that scheme options are severely limited, on offense, by the quality of the OL. If we had a good LT, Baker could be a good RT and Clabo would be a great RG. Ryan would actually have a comfortable pocket to pick apart defenes. Then, MM would be less predictable with his play calling. As it stands, MM must use formations and plays that will lessen the risk to Ryan.

I'll be honest, as bad as Baker has played, I don't really want him anywhere. Moving him to G or RT was something I'd have considered before this season, but if he doesn't improve significantly this week, I'm ready to cut bait.

[takeitdown]

(09-28-2011 04:06 PM)ggp Wrote:  Of course, we don't know what was discussed during the offseason, but I bet MM expressed concern about his OL. TD saw how often Svitek was needed to help Baker over the course of the last two seasons. The priority should have been to acquire an upgrade at LT....not just this offseason, but the past two years.

Instead, the cool aide-induced mantra was: Explosion.

What I am saying is that scheme options are severely limited, on offense, by the quality of the OL. If we had a good LT, Baker could be a good RT and Clabo would be a great RG. Ryan would actually have a comfortable pocket to pick apart defenes. Then, MM would be less predictable with his play calling. As it stands, MM must use formations and plays that will lessen the risk to Ryan.

I agree the OL, as it has been the first 3 games, is a big impediment to any system...more because of the interior pressure than because of Baker, even though he has sucked.

I do think if the interior were a bit better (like last year) we could have more routes open up in the short area. Green Bay and other teams have used quick hitting patterns with multiple receivers as a way to combat pressure. I don't think our OC is adept at that.

But, no matter what is said, the interior OL has to improve a lot for this to be a good team.