Going up tempo

[bluephantom87]

 

I've been hard on Frank for being stubborn BUT he FINALLY changed some things up from the o-line, to HOW he used the wrs and by going up tempo for a change of pace.

So I tip my hat to him! That gameplan caught the Jags off guard. As a matter of fact the commentators said the Jags coaching staff EXPECTED the Colts to still be run heavy! Lol

 

Hopefully this game will become the spark that this team needs on offense to build their confidence and steer them in the direction of becoming a more explosive one.

[Smonroe]

They said Matt was getting the ball out on average at 2.4 seconds.  
 

“Average” takes into all the throws.  So that means those quick passes were about 1.5 seconds.  
 

You’re going to make your O line look good when they only have to hold a block that long.  And you’re going to frustrate their D.   No sacks, right?

[jbaron04]

13 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

They said Matt was getting the ball out on average at 2.4 seconds.  
 

“Average” takes into all the throws.  So that means those quick passes were about 1.5 seconds.  
 

You’re going to make your O line look good when they only have to hold a block that long.  And you’re going to frustrate their D.   No sacks, right?

Peyton did that for years with average oline

[FuedinHatfield]

This is the winning formula I believe with the current roster. Up tempo, ball out early, crosses and slants to your playmakers. Matt plays better this way. Any time we've went up tempo he's looked like an entirely different QB. 

6 minutes ago, jbaron04 said:

Peyton did that for years with average oline

Manning was that guy. He absolutely dared D coordinators to call a blitz. Absolutely surgical. Man I miss that guy.

[2006Coltsbestever]

That was great stuff today and we did it without Taylor and Hines. 

[FuedinHatfield]

1 minute ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

That was great stuff today and we did it with a Taylor and Hines. 

Whatever they we're calling for Jackson seemed like it worked. Hopefully they continue that with Taylor when he comes back. He's electric in space. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

2 minutes ago, FuedinHatfield said:

Whatever they we're calling for Jackson seemed like it worked. Hopefully they continue that with Taylor when he comes back. He's electric in space. 

I like this Jackson kid, he is tough and gritty. He made some good plays today.

[FuedinHatfield]

2 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I like this Jackson kid, he is tough and gritty. He made some good plays today.

Hopefully that injury wasn't to bad. Looked like ankle got rolled up on by the defender going to the ground. Taylor and Jackson are looking like a pretty good 1-2 punch. That goal line run was ANGRY.

[2006Coltsbestever]

Just now, FuedinHatfield said:

Hopefully that injury wasn't to bad. Looked like ankle got rolled up on by the defender going to the ground. Taylor and Jackson is looking like a pretty good 1-2 punch. That goal line run was ANGRY.

Yeah he looked like a machine on that run. He plays 100% balls out and that is all you can ask for.

[w87r]

2 minutes ago, FuedinHatfield said:

Hopefully that injury wasn't to bad. Looked like ankle got rolled up on by the defender going to the ground. Taylor and Jackson are looking like a pretty good 1-2 punch. That goal line run was ANGRY.

He came back in after it

[FuedinHatfield]

2 minutes ago, w87r said:

He came back in after it

Well that's good news.

[DougDew]

Good topic:

 

The offense is supposed to be short passes ball control and up tempo if needed.  Its not supposed to be run oriented too much.  

 

But, in the NFL as the saying goes...."you get the ball in the hands of your best player"...Exactly who has been our best player the past few seasons.....can you name one?

 

Rivers could run the offense this game.  Sam could run this offense (any question as to why he was elevated, no, it wasn't for gimmick plays).

 

Wentz could not/would not run this offense...and that's why he's gone..  And that's why Frank took the ball out of his hands and gave it to JT at times.

 

Hopefully Reich/ Matt don't return to the JT heavy focus of the O as Ryan gets more comfortable ( I don't think they ever wanted to be)  and Ryan can start to play quicker and look for the short throws sooner (It seemed to me he was scanning down the field a lot in previous games.)  We can have lots of big plays from short throws...if the Hines/JTs/ Jackson/Campbells of the world make a guy miss more often.

 

Having said this, 58 pass attempts is too many for normal circumstances.  So more runs to JT (and a lot more swing passes if he can handle them) would be my desire.  And this level of up tempo is too much for normal circumstances

 

And of course, you don't really want up tempo when you are milking the clock, so you have to be able to run the 4 minute offense successfully.

[krunk]

21 minutes ago, FuedinHatfield said:

Whatever they we're calling for Jackson seemed like it worked. Hopefully they continue that with Taylor when he comes back. He's electric in space. 

Yeah when he catches the ball.  He's been good at it in the past but this year Taylor has dropped just about every short pass Matt threw to him.  This is where Jackson has been better than him. 

[krunk]

6 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Good topic:

 

The offense is supposed to be short passes ball control and up tempo if needed.  Its not supposed to be run oriented too much.  

 

But, in the NFL as the saying goes...."you get the ball in the hands of your best player"...Exactly who has been our best player the past few seasons.....can you name one?

 

Rivers could run the offense this game.  Sam could run this offense (any question as to why he was elevated, no, it wasn't for gimmick plays).

 

Wentz could not/would not run this offense...and that's why he's gone.

 

Hopefully Reich/ Matt don't return to the JT heavy focus of the O ( I don't think they ever wanted to be)  and Ryan can start to play quicker and look for the short throws sooner (It seemed to me he was scanning down the field a lot in previous games.)  We can have lots of big plays from short throws...if the Hines/JTs/ Jackson/Campbells of the world make a guy miss more often.

 

Having said this, 58 pass attempts is too many for normal circumstances.  So more runs to JT (and a lot more swing passes if he can handle them) would be my desire.  And this level of up tempo is too much for normal circumstances

 

And of course, you don't really want up tempo when you are milking the clock, so you have to be able to run the 4 minute offense successfully.

Frank came to this team saying that he wanted to be top 5-10 rushing the football.  And that's what they were in Philly.

Difference is their offense wasn't built around one back.  It was RBBC like it was up until we got Taylor.  Sometimes I think he gets a little too enamored with JT.

[bluephantom87]

8 hours ago, DougDew said:

Good topic:

 

The offense is supposed to be short passes ball control and up tempo if needed.  Its not supposed to be run oriented too much.  

 

But, in the NFL as the saying goes...."you get the ball in the hands of your best player"...Exactly who has been our best player the past few seasons.....can you name one?

 

Rivers could run the offense this game.  Sam could run this offense (any question as to why he was elevated, no, it wasn't for gimmick plays).

 

Wentz could not/would not run this offense...and that's why he's gone..  And that's why Frank took the ball out of his hands and gave it to JT at times.

 

Hopefully Reich/ Matt don't return to the JT heavy focus of the O as Ryan gets more comfortable ( I don't think they ever wanted to be)  and Ryan can start to play quicker and look for the short throws sooner (It seemed to me he was scanning down the field a lot in previous games.)  We can have lots of big plays from short throws...if the Hines/JTs/ Jackson/Campbells of the world make a guy miss more often.

 

Having said this, 58 pass attempts is too many for normal circumstances.  So more runs to JT (and a lot more swing passes if he can handle them) would be my desire.  And this level of up tempo is too much for normal circumstances

 

And of course, you don't really want up tempo when you are milking the clock, so you have to be able to run the 4 minute offense successfully.

 

Of course Doug running an up tempo offense cannot be sustained for a whole ballgame or even most which is why no team does it! Nor does having your qb attempt nearly 40 passes in the first half alone but it did for THIS game! My point was to give Frank CREDIT for trying something different against THESE Jags who by the way had outscored the Colts 50 - 11 in the last two games alone which didn't even seem that close. 

 

Your points are valid if you're making excuses for Frank but my push back would be that he's had these SAME receivers since mini / training camp and like many on this board have pointed out Frank was not utilizing their skillset properly nor was he putting an AGING Matt in the best position to thrive because it seemed to me that Matt looked best when the team went up tempo at the END of ballgames mostly out of NECESSITY because they were trailing big. He's also had different personal to chose from to shake up that atrocious o-line too which by the way looked that way in training camp AND preseason but the narrative was that everything was fine. Frank had become too up the gut run centric which lead to lazy playcalling and gave opposing defenses easy gameplans to stop.

 

To your point about Wentz. If he couldn't run this COMPLICATED (  ) offense then WHY did Frank want him or Nick Foles?! (who apparently has been demoted to 3rd string now) Frank has had Sam a couple of seasons now in a league where they throw young guys in on a regular. Maybe it was Ballard's call to elevate the man he drafted in Sam because he has SEEN what our FORMER oc (in title only) Nick S has done as hc and playcaller in Philly with a mobile Jalen Hurts at qb. Try a playoff berth in his first season and has the only undefeated team so far this season.

[Myles]

10 hours ago, DougDew said:

Good topic:

 

The offense is supposed to be short passes ball control and up tempo if needed.  Its not supposed to be run oriented too much.  

 

But, in the NFL as the saying goes...."you get the ball in the hands of your best player"...Exactly who has been our best player the past few seasons.....can you name one?

 

Rivers could run the offense this game.  Sam could run this offense (any question as to why he was elevated, no, it wasn't for gimmick plays).

 

Wentz could not/would not run this offense...and that's why he's gone..  And that's why Frank took the ball out of his hands and gave it to JT at times.

 

Hopefully Reich/ Matt don't return to the JT heavy focus of the O as Ryan gets more comfortable ( I don't think they ever wanted to be)  and Ryan can start to play quicker and look for the short throws sooner (It seemed to me he was scanning down the field a lot in previous games.)  We can have lots of big plays from short throws...if the Hines/JTs/ Jackson/Campbells of the world make a guy miss more often.

 

Having said this, 58 pass attempts is too many for normal circumstances.  So more runs to JT (and a lot more swing passes if he can handle them) would be my desire.  And this level of up tempo is too much for normal circumstances

 

And of course, you don't really want up tempo when you are milking the clock, so you have to be able to run the 4 minute offense successfully.

This worked out great for this game and I hope they continue with it.   I'm not letting Frank of the hook because of 1 game.  I hope he learned something and can see that switching things up and using your players abilities is a good thing.   Let's see where we go from here.  I hope Irsay/Ballard had a talk with him about how he has been running this offense.   

[lollygagger8]

I really believe it has been more Matt Ryan taking over the offense than Reich changing anything up.

I still can't stand the RB routes that stop at the line of scrimmage. 

 

Or, if it was Reich actually changing it up (I hope, but not convinced), then he's gotten told by Ballard/Irsay to do so. 

[Solid84]

11 hours ago, krunk said:

Frank came to this team saying that he wanted to be top 5-10 rushing the football.  And that's what they were in Philly.

Difference is their offense wasn't built around one back.  It was RBBC like it was up until we got Taylor.  Sometimes I think he gets a little too enamored with JT.

I think it's a lack of talent. Hines doesn't do anything JT doesn't do. Jackson may be the better RB2 for us.

[FuedinHatfield]

11 hours ago, krunk said:

Yeah when he catches the ball.  He's been good at it in the past but this year Taylor has dropped just about every short pass Matt threw to him.  This is where Jackson has been better than him. 

I actually hadn't looked into his drop rate till you commented. Wow. Definitely not Edge like.

 

 I wonder how much of that is concentration drops vs his hands just not being on the level the rest of his game is? I know coming out of Wisconsin he probably wasn't asked to do much catching out of the backfield.

 

If his hands are the issue then that should be something the staff could get him some reps on to elevate his game even more. Make him more of a consistent dual threat. That would be hard to defend against.

 

[krunk]

23 minutes ago, FuedinHatfield said:

I actually hadn't looked into his drop rate till you commented. Wow. Definitely not Edge like.

 

 I wonder how much of that is concentration drops vs his hands just not being on the level the rest of his game is? I know coming out of Wisconsin he probably wasn't asked to do much catching out of the backfield.

 

If his hands are the issue then that should be something the staff could get him some reps on to elevate his game even more. Make him more of a consistent dual threat. That would be hard to defend against.

 

He hasnt been that bad overall, but this year hes dropped a number of them. Look at how many passes Ryan threw to Jackson. If we are going with the short passing approach and getting the backs more involved in the passing game then JT coming back might be somewhat of a negative in that regard unless he cleans it up. His game will go to the next level if he can regularly be a trusted receiving option from the backfield. Im not talking Hines like but more like what Jackson did yesterday.

[FuedinHatfield]

2 minutes ago, krunk said:

He hasnt been that bad overall, but this year hes dropped a number of them. Look at how many passes Ryan threw to Jackson. If we are going with the short passing approach and getting the backs more involved in the passing game then JT coming back might be somewhat of a negative in that regard unless he cleans it up. His game will go to the next level if he can regularly be a trusted receiving option from the backfield. Im not talking Hines like but more like what Jackson did yesterday.

Definitely not Hines like. More of a reliable safety valve. Totally agree.

[w87r]

Some interesting post going on here.

 

2022 drops:

Hines - 2

Taylor - 0

 

Career catch %:

Hines - 77.8%

Taylor - 80.2%

 

Drop rate:(2022)

Hines - 9.5%

Taylor - 0%

 

Drop rate career:

Hines - 

2018 - 4.9%

2019 - 3.4%

2020 - 1.3%

2021 - 3.5%

2022 - 9.5%

Taylor - 

2020 - 2.6%

2021 - 9.8%

2022 - 0%

[w87r]

12 hours ago, krunk said:

Yeah when he catches the ball.  He's been good at it in the past but this year Taylor has dropped just about every short pass Matt threw to him.  This is where Jackson has been better than him. 

He hasn't had a drop all season.

[krunk]

3 minutes ago, w87r said:

Some interesting post going on here.

 

2022 drops:

Hines - 2

Taylor - 0

 

Career catch %:

Hines - 77.8%

Taylor - 80.2%

 

Drop rate:(2022)

Hines - 9.5%

Taylor - 0%

 

Drop rate career:

Hines - 

2018 - 4.9%

2019 - 3.4%

2020 - 1.3%

2021 - 3.5%

2022 - 9.5%

Taylor - 

2020 - 2.6%

2021 - 9.8%

2022 - 0%

Your numbers are off JT has definitely dropoed more than zero balls this year. Definitely

1 minute ago, w87r said:

He hasn't had a drop all season.

Your numbers are wrong. Film can be pulled to show it

[w87r]

Just now, krunk said:

Your numbers are off JT has definitely dropoed more than zero balls this year. Definitely

Nope

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/TaylJo02.htm

 

Scroll down and open advanced rushing and receiving.

 

 

 

 

https://scores.nbcsports.com/fb/leaders.asp?range=AFC&type=Receiving&rank=232&year=

 

 

Everyone's numbers wrong but yours?

[w87r]

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HineNy00.htm

 

There's Hines, if you want to look at his too

 

Facts are facts.

[krunk]

2 minutes ago, w87r said:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HineNy00.htm

 

There's Hines, if you want to look at his too

 

Facts are facts.

The numbers are wrong. Other posters will tell you that eventually. And they will probably show you the film.  And next you will tell us he didnt fumble that ball against Tenn too.

[w87r]

Just now, krunk said:

The numbers are wrong. Other posters will tell you that eventually. And they will probably show you the film. 

Okay.

 

I don't need film. He doesn't have an official drop pass, but tell your self whatever makes you happy.

 

I don't know why it's so hard for people to just acknowledge they are wrong. Even more so when presented the facts.

 

 

This conversation isn't worth my time any no longer. 

[RollerColt]

12 hours ago, DougDew said:

Good topic:

 

The offense is supposed to be short passes ball control and up tempo if needed.  Its not supposed to be run oriented too much.  

 

But, in the NFL as the saying goes...."you get the ball in the hands of your best player"...Exactly who has been our best player the past few seasons.....can you name one?

 

Rivers could run the offense this game.  Sam could run this offense (any question as to why he was elevated, no, it wasn't for gimmick plays).

 

Wentz could not/would not run this offense...and that's why he's gone..  And that's why Frank took the ball out of his hands and gave it to JT at times.

 

Hopefully Reich/ Matt don't return to the JT heavy focus of the O as Ryan gets more comfortable ( I don't think they ever wanted to be)  and Ryan can start to play quicker and look for the short throws sooner (It seemed to me he was scanning down the field a lot in previous games.)  We can have lots of big plays from short throws...if the Hines/JTs/ Jackson/Campbells of the world make a guy miss more often.

 

Having said this, 58 pass attempts is too many for normal circumstances.  So more runs to JT (and a lot more swing passes if he can handle them) would be my desire.  And this level of up tempo is too much for normal circumstances

 

And of course, you don't really want up tempo when you are milking the clock, so you have to be able to run the 4 minute offense successfully.

The beauty of the no huddle is they can still milk the clock if they want. Hopefully Ryan is getting more comfortable in this offense. 

[DougDew]

12 hours ago, krunk said:

Frank came to this team saying that he wanted to be top 5-10 rushing the football.  And that's what they were in Philly.

Difference is their offense wasn't built around one back.  It was RBBC like it was up until we got Taylor.  Sometimes I think he gets a little too enamored with JT.

I don't disagree with getting too enamored with JT.  But, running him up the gut he was the reason we won 9 games last year.  Frank has used Hines in the lateral plays as well as up the gut over the past 4-5 years and Hines hasn't had a whole lot of success, IIRC.  

 

JT should be able to catch swing passes and run to the corner.  I hope he does more of it.  Somebody said that Frank tried that early JTs rookie year and that it did not go well, but maybe a second bite at the apple is in order now.  Maybe Ryan will force it.

 

It seems that Frank knows the value of the swing pass.  If it isn't called much with JT on the field, then I have to think it has more to do with JT than Frank, but who knows.

[DougDew]

12 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

The beauty of the no huddle is they can still milk the clock if they want. Hopefully Ryan is getting more comfortable in this offense. 

Right, No huddle.  Not exactly up tempo.

 

But, that takes the "situational personnel packages" out of the strategy somewhat in that the same players are on the field for the entire series, so you need RBs that can do more than run up the gut and TEs that can both catch AND block.....not just a bunch of situational Johnny One-Notes.

 

Hopefully the no huddle/up tempo still works after defenses look at tape and adjust from what Jax didn't do right.

 

Edit: the value of the up tempo/ no huddle is not really the tempo itself, but the fact that the defense can't substitute.  But your offensive players need to be experienced in versatility within the offense.

[RollerColt]

Just now, DougDew said:

Right, No huddle.  Not exactly up tempo.

 

But, that takes the "situational personnel packages" out of the strategy somewhat in that the same players are on the field for the entire series, so you need RBs that can do more than run up the gut and TEs that can both catch AND block.....not just a bunch of situational Johnny One-Notes.

 

Hopefully the no huddle/up tempo still works after defenses look at tape and adjust from what Jax didn't do right.

Agreed. Our boys need to diversify. That's how you win in this league. Interesting enough some our backups seem to be more capable of this compared to the starters. 

[DougDew]

2 hours ago, Myles said:

This worked out great for this game and I hope they continue with it.   I'm not letting Frank of the hook because of 1 game.  I hope he learned something and can see that switching things up and using your players abilities is a good thing.   Let's see where we go from here.  I hope Irsay/Ballard had a talk with him about how he has been running this offense.   

This was a surprise to Jax and the league.  Defenses will adjust.  And when that happens, people will go right back to slamming Frank about play calling within the up tempo game plan.  lol.

 

And no matter what, we can't sustain 58 pass attempts.  You'll see more JT up the middle than you saw Jackson up the middle (and you should), and when it doesn't work, people will slam the play call wondering why we did not run a swing pass instead.

[DougDew]

8 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

Agreed. Our boys need to diversify. That's how you win in this league. Interesting enough some our backups seem to be more capable of this compared to the starters. 

I have not been enamored with Hines since he was drafted.  I didn't see the shiftiness and lateral balance that I would think an APB who gets the ball in space should have.  In previous seasons, I always thought Mack was more shifty even though he never caught the ball much.

 

It is sad to see that this is the first times we have really seen Jackson.  I suppose it has to do with him being an inexperienced PS player up until now (pass blocking/blitz pick up?), and Hines making $6mill.   I hope we see more of DJax and JT in the passing game going forward.

 

If not Frank directly calling it as a first read, then Ryan coming off his first read quickly and tossing the layup to the RBs.

[Myles]

5 minutes ago, DougDew said:

This was a surprise to Jax and the league.  Defenses will adjust.  And when that happens, people will go right back to slamming Frank about play calling within the up tempo game plan.  lol.

 

And no matter what, we can't sustain 58 pass attempts.  You'll see more JT up the middle than you saw Jackson up the middle (and you should), and when it doesn't work, people will slam the play call wondering why we did not run a swing pass instead.

the "slamming" of Reich's play calling and his game plan have been justified.   He changed it up this time and it worked so good for him.   Much of the play calling failures is plays here and there.  If he goes for it on 4th and 3 from the Colts 48 yard line and he runs Hines up the gut, damn certain he should hear criticism.

[DougDew]

6 minutes ago, Myles said:

the "slamming" of Reich's play calling and his game plan have been justified.   He changed it up this time and it worked so good for him.   Much of the play calling failures is plays here and there.  If he goes for it on 4th and 3 from the Colts 48 yard line and he runs Hines up the gut, damn certain he should hear criticism.

I think people have compared this last game to the Rivers' season offense...who was noted for using Hines (the RB) more in passing and generally delivering the ball quicker.  This just in....the QB matters.

 

Its what they thought they were getting with Wentz, who apparently refuses to do that.  So you take the ball out of his hands and hand it to JT.  JT broke a few big plays and we ended up winning 9 games until that weird patched together offense collapsed late last season.

 

Last night DAL went for it on 4th and 1 from their own 38 and threw a bad pass where the QB was nearly sacked.  They failed, but the defense stepped up and held Philly to a FG.  It happens around the league...and if the play you called didn't work, then you should have called the other one (no guarantee it would have worked any better though)

[chad72]

8 minutes ago, DougDew said:

I think people have compared this last game to the Rivers' season offense...who was noted for using Hines (the RB) more in passing and generally delivering the ball quicker.  This just in....the QB matters.

 

 

100% right on the QB mattering but also, the quick hitter emphasis could have been emphasized to Ryan earlier by Frank too. Ryan was still mastering the nuances of the offense and the OL protections with a new team, so Frank could have made it easier. It took a lot of criticism and talk about seats on the hot seat etc. to bring about changes that like you inferred, made it look like the Rivers led offense.

[DougDew]

2 hours ago, bluephantom87 said:

Your points are valid if you're making excuses for Frank but my push back would be that he's had these SAME receivers since mini / training camp and like many on this board have pointed out Frank was not utilizing their skillset properly nor was he putting an AGING Matt in the best position to thrive because it seemed to me that Matt looked best when the team went up tempo at the END of ballgames mostly out of NECESSITY because they were trailing big. He's also had different personal to chose from to shake up that atrocious o-line too which by the way looked that way in training camp AND preseason but the narrative was that everything was fine. Frank had become too up the gut run centric which lead to lazy playcalling and gave opposing defenses easy gameplans to stop.

A few thoughts as to why we did not attempt an up tempo 58 pass game plan the first 5 games:

 

Our best player on offense is JT.  He's more of a straight ahead runner (if you want to ask why we never throw more to JT, I understand...but...we will still never throw as much to him like we did DJax because we will never have a 58 pass attempt game plan). 

 

For some reason, Hines is thought of as the pass catching RB and we put him in when we want to throw to the RBs.  I don't get that and never did.

 

Romo even said that it takes about 6 weeks to get comfortable.  A lot of those throws were contested catches that if not thrown perfectly would have been intercepted or tipped up.  

 

The Ballard $6million Pryor OT experiement has hopefully seen its last game.  

 

BTW, most teams get a lot of garbage yards at the end of games.  That doesn't mean that game plan would have worked the first 3.5 quarters.

 

2 hours ago, bluephantom87 said:

To your point about Wentz. If he couldn't run this COMPLICATED (  ) offense then WHY did Frank want him or Nick Foles?! (who apparently has been demoted to 3rd string now) Frank has had Sam a couple of seasons now in a league where they throw young guys in on a regular. Maybe it was Ballard's call to elevate the man he drafted in Sam because he has SEEN what our FORMER oc (in title only) Nick S has done as hc and playcaller in Philly with a mobile Jalen Hurts at qb. Try a playoff berth in his first season and has the only undefeated team so far this season.

Wentz seems like the type of QB who does what he wants...plays how he wants to...and he doesn't want to dink and dunk.  I guess it was a mistake to think that he could run the offense like Rivers did the year before...only with more mobility and A LOT better arm talent.  I suppose Frank being wrong about this is why he said he apologized to Irsay.

 

Siranni was criticized as a bad play caller last season.  Philly got into the playoffs by taking the ball out of Hurts hands and making the offense a running offense.  Another year in the system, another year of Davonta Smith, and adding AJ Brown now helps Hurts to look like a normal NFL passer.

 

I don't think the light bulb went off about Sam just because of what they see with Hurts.  I think they drafted Sam because they like him for what the offense wants to be...and why they did not cut him....which is not the offense it was last season when Frank took the ball out of Wentz hands and gave it to JT.

 

As far as Foles, I suppose what they said about Sam was true...he was not ready to be the backup, so Foles is a decent option...he's not really a long baller himself.  Sam is probably at least one season behind Hurts considering how their skills stacked up....noting where they were each drafted  (not saying that he will be as good, just saying it takes him more time to get to where he is)

 

[chad72]

14 hours ago, Smonroe said:

They said Matt was getting the ball out on average at 2.4 seconds.  
 

“Average” takes into all the throws.  So that means those quick passes were about 1.5 seconds.  
 

You’re going to make your O line look good when they only have to hold a block that long.  And you’re going to frustrate their D.   No sacks, right?

 

Absolutely it was about time that Frank and Matt chose to do that to account for the OL issues.

[DougDew]

15 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

100% right on the QB mattering but also, the quick hitter emphasis could have been emphasized to Ryan earlier by Frank too. Ryan was still mastering the nuances of the offense and the OL protections with a new team, so Frank could have made it easier. It took a lot of criticism and talk about seats on the hot seat etc. to bring about changes that like you inferred, made it look like the Rivers led offense.

Yep.  No doubt.  I would also say that the Pryor at OT experiment set things back.  And continuing to center the offense around JT still makes sense until it shows to not work.  

 

Those routes that Ryan threw were pretty contested from what I saw.  A lot of perfect passes.  Getting the timing down takes time, so maybe running last year's offense until the timing works out was the better approach.

 

I think we will see some up tempo/no huddle in a few series going forward.  I don't expect a lot of changes to the game plans.  I do expect Ryan to find AP and Woods more both on short plays and down the field...if the oline holds up. And I hope (but don't expect) Jackson to be elevated/used more than Hines.