Very Discouraged By Rhule and His Comments After the Game

[Proudiddy]

I appreciate his ownership of our shortcomings, but as I've watched the last two weeks, after believing we may have had a master tactician at the them after some of the calls he made last season, I am not encouraged at all.

The Belichick-like calls on 4th downs, crafty ways of time management, and the obvious halftime adjustments from last season are long gone.  Instead, we have Fox and Rivera redux.  No aggression, no attacking, no proactive measures...  just us curled up in the corner of the squared circle, taking hook, after hook, after uppercut with no way to defend ourselves.

I have been a believer in Rhule.  I have kept quiet when others criticized him for his collegial leanings.  Again, I was encouraged by what we saw last season - but this guy, perhaps more entrenched and comfortable as his system is further cemented in year two, is not the coach from last season.

I couldn't help but be troubled by the continued flat affect our team displayed, yet again, in the 3rd quarter today, and pretty much the entire second half as well.  It continues the troubling trend of us clearly getting hit with halftime adjustments from our opponent's coaching staff, while our staff flails around haplessly unprepared, leaving our players to wander aimlessly with no sense of what direction is up or forward.  I was really bothered for a couple of reasons.  The first being that Rhule has already acknowledged each game that we struggled in the second half it was because the other team made adjustments and implemented things we hadn't seen yet or prepared for.  So he acknowledges we were both outcoached and unprepared on multiple occasions now, with no backup plan in place.  Number two, the overwhelming tone of the decisions made in these second halves, particularly today, was among the most conservative approaches I've ever seen in professional coaching.  The aggression and attacking style he displayed last season with numerous conversion attempts on 4th down, including fake punts are nowhere to be found.  But, John Fox-like-calls, electing to punt with his place kicker for a punt netting 20 yards are here, and so is electing to punt on 4th and 2 near midfield with the league's worst punter, who also nets about 30-35 yards on his attempt.  And lastly, I'm brought back to opponents summarizing our team under Rivera as one that doesn't adjust, doesn't make changes, doesn't evolve, but is going to caveman it out on the field and do exactly what you saw on tape and hope you don't stop it.  For all that I thought was different about Rhule, he is illustrating it is all very much the same.

Even more troubling than seeing all of this, was Rhule stating in his presser that winning football is about running the ball and controlling the line of scrimmage.  I, and anyone knowledgeable of football whatsoever, would agree that controlling the line is an absolute must for winning football.  But the overall tone, and the emphasis on running the ball - it just reeked of Fox and Rivera in retrospect of what took place on the tried today in the second half, as well as the games that preceded it in the same fashion.  What it tells me, is yes, our staff is being outcoached and not able to counter adjustments made by the opponents; but, it also tells me that some of that is by design due to our staff's antiquated views on modern winning football.  A running game helps, but getting a small lead and believing you can just old-school your way into a win for an entire half by pounding the opponent into submission with a smashmouth running game, with a porous offensive line no less, is absolutely mind-blowing.  He is telling on himself both in what he says and how he is managing these games - he thinks he can win the game by bogging the game down and hanging onto a marginal lead before our grip gives way.  

It is troubling, because again, for all of the shiny new things we saw last season that led us to believe, we may finally have a cutting-edge, analytics-heavy, forward-thinking coach and staff...  we don't.  We have a guy cut from the same cloth as his predecessors who believes a punt is a good play and we can ride a defense until the wheels fall off.  Sigh.

[Fox007]

Quote

 we may finally have a cutting-edge, analytics-heavy, forward-thinking coach and staff.

Know how funny this looks atm...

Doesn't seem to be able to analyze his way out of a wet paper bag.

[LinvilleGorge]

Honestly, I think I saw the coaching staff's confidence in Darnold crack today and the back breaking final INT might just reinforce that. We really took the ball out of his hands when we were desperately trying to hang on before the Eagles took the lead.

[TheBigKat]

TLDR

[Proudiddy]

Just now, LinvilleGorge said:

Honestly, I think I saw the coaching staff's confidence in Darnold crack today and the back breaking final INT might just reinforce that. We really took the ball out of his hands when we were desperately trying to hang on before the Eagles took the lead.

I agree, and perhaps the old-school, run-heavy philosophy Rhule is preaching now is more about limiting Sam than actual belief that it leads to wins.

[Proudiddy]

1 minute ago, TheBigKat said:

TLDR

Let me know when you run into a book.

[Fox007]

2 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Honestly, I think I saw the coaching staff's confidence in Darnold crack today and the back breaking final INT might just reinforce that. We really took the ball out of his hands when we were desperately trying to hang on before the Eagles took the lead.

So what we were doing when they ran the ball up the gut on 3rd and two with a backup RB...

They just think they are smarter than they actually are.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Fox007

[Smithers]

Yeah, at this point I’m not sure Rhule is an NFL head coach.  

[uncfan888]

1 minute ago, Proudiddy said:

Let me know when you run into a book.

When you're handed everything in your life, you don't have to worry about reading books 

[LinvilleGorge]

1 minute ago, Proudiddy said:

I agree, and perhaps the old-school, run-heavy philosophy Rhule is preaching now is more about limiting Sam than actual belief that it leads to wins.

The picks he's thrown over the last two games are so bad. Some picks happen. Balls get tipped. Sometimes defenders make unreal plays. But damn, he's hitting defenders between the numbers like they're the intended receivers.

[Fox007]

Remember last year when we ran a dive up the gut with a Full Back to not get a 4th and 1 to lose a game......yea they so smart. 

[LinvilleGorge]

1 minute ago, Fox007 said:

So what we were doing when they ran the ball up the gut on 3rd and two with a backup RB...

They just think they are smarter than they actually are.

Not trusting Darnold to throw the ball.

[Fox007]

Just now, LinvilleGorge said:

Not trusting Darnold to throw the ball.

But trusting him to hit Robby for a first down later in the game? Only for him to drop it. Na they just have no idea wtf they are doing. There is no rhyme or reason and there isn't a distrust of Darnold. You're actually trying to think about it which is something they aren't doing clearly.

[kungfoodude]

Let's at least give this, we have a coaching staff that at least recognizes their own shortcomings. It's on them to correct those but remember the previous two HC'S and how quick they were to deflect blame.

Edited October 10, 2021 by kungfoodude