Make or break year for Shula (I hope)

[Mojo]

I think you are missing the big picture. The only reason we were 12-4 was largely due to the ELITE D. And i dont know about you, but I want to win the superbowl. Lets not get complacent here. 

 

If you want to beat the SEA's and SF's of the world consistently and take that next step, a vanilla unimaginative offense will not get done against other ELITE D's. 

 

Additionally, every unit of the team should strive and accept nothing less than excellence. Having an offense ranked in the bottom half of the league is not that. 

 

Totally agree with you.  I had mentioned this in another thread as well.  We finished 12-4 in spite of Shula, not because of him.  Our defense and some good bounces helped us to that record.  We overachieved to be honest.  Nothing wrong with wanting a more potent offense to go with a great D.  The offense was good in spells but we definitely need more of an offense in case our D has an off game.

 

Do people not remember how many times Shula drew up a long-developing play on 2nd or 3rd and 3?  Or how many times Cam himself had to bail us out?  Not to say there weren't bright spots but let's be real here.

[MedellinHeel]

That's a load of bull. No amount of offensive genius can cover up a lack of talent. Bill Walsh didn't do crap without his loaded 49ers squads. Shula wasn't the problem, the offense did what the offense was designed to do: control the ball and take pressure off Cam to do everything. We didn't squander loads of skill players, we made do with the hand dealt us and just didn't make all the plays we needed to move on.

 

Lol

 

What great talent did we have in Rivera's first year compared to Shula? 

 

You severely undermine / undervalue the effect of playcalling on football. 

[Jeremy Igo]

The talent on our offense was not average. It was well above average.

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[Mr. Scot]

The talent on our offense was not average. It was well above average.

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including the line and receivers?

 

[Jeremy Igo]

including the line and receivers?

No team is perfect at every position. But you can't tell me a team that has Newton, Smith, Tolbert, Olsen, Williams, Gross, Kalil, Ginn is average on offensive talent. Cam alone would make any offense average. Throw in the solid vets around him and the offensive talent was very much above average.

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[PandaPancake]

Shula has been poor everywhere he has called the plays.

At some point you gotta stop making excuses and do more with less.

After all, that is the mark of a great playcaller.

What? You don't see Hoodielord and UggMan out there doing more with less

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[Mojo]

Scheming and playcalling.  Our talent was sufficient and the line performed quite well.  The Patriots high ranked offense didn't have ANY receivers (when Amendola was injured which was most of the year) and all of a sudden you see a guy named Julian Edelman eating up chunks of yards where Wes Welker used to be.   

 

But we weren't lacking talent that's not accurate.

 

 

[Pox 08]

Not really hating on Shula right now.   It wasn't just our defense that was winning us games last season.                The slow pace of our offense,  helped our defense to rest in quite a few games last season.     It helped wear out opposing defenses.             They weren't flashy by any means,  but they got the job done.  If KB turns into a legit threat,  then our offense will get a tad more explosive. 

 

Shula though, is not a problem.

[Jeremy Igo]

Our below average receivers must still be waiting on teams to pick them up right? Or were they signed long ago? It seems the league may think more of them than most here.

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[top dawg]

No team is perfect at every position. But you can't tell me a team that has Newton, Smith, Tolbert, Olsen, Williams, Gross, Kalil, Ginn is average on offensive talent. Cam alone would make any offense average. Throw in the solid vets around him and the offensive talent was very much above average.

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Well, hell, I guess fans of many teams would say that.

 

Would you say that the Seahawks had better offensive talent...?

 

Well, if not, then why is that the Seahawks got the rings in 2014 and the Panthers didn't? There's got to be some difference, right?

[WhoAmI?]

All I know is that I sat through games last year where I wanted to puke watching our offense (Dolphins game, Falcons game, both Saints games, 49ers game, etc.) and it was largely due to the playcalling. You see other coordinators call rollout plays, RB draws, creative screens, double move routes, etc. while Shula ran the most basic plays. There is a reason why we struggled against even above average defenses because Shula is just not that good of a coordinator. Like someone said earlier, there is a reason he has sucked everywhere he has gone. Don't get me wrong, I get that we want a conservative offense, but it was one point where we were struggling to get first downs. If it weren't for Cam's amazing runs, our offense would be complete poo. That is just my take on the subject.

[fieryprophet]

No team is perfect at every position. But you can't tell me a team that has Newton, Smith, Tolbert, Olsen, Williams, Gross, Kalil, Ginn is average on offensive talent. Cam alone would make any offense average. Throw in the solid vets around him and the offensive talent was very much above average.

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Cam of last year was not Cam of 2011 going nuts with subpar talent. Cam was over conservative at times and still growing, which is exactly what he needed to do to complement our defense. And could we have gotten more out of that talent? Sure. But it might have been the difference between the 12th best offense vs 18th in scoring. We weren't going to set any records no matter who was at the helm.

[TheRumGone]

We were top ten in every meaningful stat besides yardage.

Shula is not a hindrance.

[TheRumGone]

Scheming and playcalling. Our talent was sufficient and the line performed quite well. The Patriots high ranked offense didn't have ANY receivers (when Amendola was injured which was most of the year) and all of a sudden you see a guy named Julian Edelman eating up chunks of yards where Wes Welker used to be.

But we weren't lacking talent that's not accurate.

Cam is not Tom Brady

Yet