Gettleman not sold on read option

[teeray]

I hope people realize that to a certain extent, Gettleman has absolutely no say whether or not we use the read option. The personnel is there, so he can't influence that. The coaching staff is there, so he can't influence that either. The only way Gettleman can truly prevent us from running the read-option would be for it to fail us, give us a poor record and thus allow him to fire the coaching staff.

Regardless, to a certain extent I do agree with him. As big as Cam is, he's still a quarterback, and he's still less conditioned than any other offensive position to receive blows, thus increasing the chances of injury. The read option can never be both a long-term solution and a major part of the offense. If its long-term, the read option will have to become nothing more than a wrinkle. If its a major part of the offense, the quarterback simply won't survive to make it a long-term solution.

We shouldn't ignore Cam's elite athleticism, and we should design plays to utilize it. But I'd prefer if those plays were nothing more than change ups.

The read option and our offense hasn't been what has failed us these last two seasons. It is the other side and special teams that are killing us right now.

And if we do replace the coaches, Gettleman sure as hell will have a say in what type of offense we run when he makes a hire.

RG3 is the only QB that has gotten hurt. And that isn't because of the offense, it is because he was flipping over in the middle of the field and exposing his legs to flying defensemen instead of getting down and protecting himself. And he is only like 190 pounds with skinny legs.

[Khaki Lackey]

his worst injury was in the pocket...same with brady's...same with theisman's....same with many. the injuries that were the real potential threats to players careers came in the pocket.

the most dangerous place for a QB is in the pocket, focused on the field rather than the backfield. not only do they have to worry about defenders, but they have to worry about their own linemen getting pushed back into them. and no OL is immune to that.

And that's why running backs never get injured.

[FootballMaestro]

If you are right, and I think you are, I hope even more that Rivera and Shula can be successful, because if we go back to the ground and pound days, the days of having an exciting explosive offense is over. We will be relegated to just average until Cam fully develops.

We better beef up the defense and in a hurry, because traditional offenses don't really work anymore. Even Harbaugh saw the writing on the wall and went to the pistol read option type offense with Kap. Denver doesn't run a traditional offense, nor does New Orleans neither does Green bay, neither does New England. Those teams run more of a spread offense than we ever have, they just don't use a read option component (especially Den and NE). Seattle, SF, and Washington's offenses has been well documented.

The other teams in the playoffs this year may run more traditional offenses but most of those teams are just good enough to squeak into the playoffs and get beat and by and large got in on the merits of their defense or Adrian Peterson. The lone exception is the Ravens this season, although their defense is still pretty darn good, but they usually fall into that category of being just good enough to get to the playoffs.

The NFL is changing. And yet we are about to be stuck in the past.

I hope I am wrong. Hopefully Gettleman is not so stuck in his ways that he can't see the evolution of the game. But when you deal with 60+ year old that usually isn't the case.

Remember, JR probably, mainly hired Gettleman cause he was an older chap like himself. Gettleman alluded to this during his press conference. Marc Ross, was too young a Whiz Banger and Whipper Snapper, I guess, so JR passed?

Nonetheless, I think even Shula and Rivera would be smart enough to realize that the offense the team ran in 2011 and the end of 2012 (or a mixture of it, along with some conventional offense schemes) , is the way to go. They know what works and doesn't work. And Cam is a big part of that. Let's give them some credit now.

Remember, Gettleman can run his mouth all he wants. However, the offense and the team is going to be ran by the coaches; even ones desperately hanging by a string. If it succeeds; then they keep their jobs. If it doesn't. Then they lose their jobs. It's that simple.

[panthers55]

If you are right, and I think you are, I hope even more that Rivera and Shula can be successful, because if we go back to the ground and pound days, the days of having an exciting explosive offense is over. We will be relegated to just average until Cam fully develops.

We better beef up the defense and in a hurry, because traditional offenses don't really work anymore. Even Harbaugh saw the writing on the wall and went to the pistol read option type offense with Kap. Denver doesn't run a traditional offense, nor does New Orleans neither does Green bay, neither does New England. Those teams run more of a spread offense than we ever have, they just don't use a read option component (especially Den and NE). Seattle, SF, and Washington's offenses has been well documented.

The other teams in the playoffs this year may run more traditional offenses but most of those teams are just good enough to squeak into the playoffs and get beat and by and large got in on the merits of their defense or Adrian Peterson. The lone exception is the Ravens this season, although their defense is still pretty darn good, but they usually fall into that category of being just good enough to get to the playoffs.

The NFL is changing. And yet we are about to be stuck in the past.

I hope I am wrong. Hopefully Gettleman is not so stuck in his ways that he can't see the evolution of the game. But when you deal with 60+ year old that usually isn't the case.

I think in the hype over the read option, people forget that most teams in the playoffs this year did not run the read option at all. Of those teams that did, San Francisco is not really a read option team. They ran it against Green Bay because it works and the Packers didn't adjust to it. Notice that they did not run the read option more than 2 time against Atlanta. When they did Atlanta snuffed it.

You are right in saying that we shouldn't get rid of the running threat at quarterback and you might want to run a couple of times so that the threat is there. The reason that Gore had such a great day against Atlanta was because they keyed on the quarterback to the point that they ignored the running back and he just ran through them like they were not there because honestly they weren't. Don't assume that the passing attack will be old school and that we won't be creative. I think we will keep the things Newton does well which frankly is passing the ball. If the defense doesn't pay attention to him he will run and make them pay. I just think that we won't run it as a main staple because even this year teams were figuring out how to defend it. By next year I suspect teams will even have a better handle on it.

But teams that are balanced and have a passing attack and running attack are still the best. It just doesn't always have to be the quarterback doing the running.

[Khaki Lackey]

It's interesting to me that exposing the QB more increased in popularity right around the same time as the new CBA.

Even if the defenses can't figure it out. Rookie QBs might figure out that its not in their bast interest.

Any if these "new breed" QBs get a career ending injury before their first contract renewal and the fad will abruptly diminish.

[panthers55]

Gettleman won't be running specific plays but from what I have read he absolutely will be involved in what the team runs and their basic philosophy. He has said in every conversation that he wants to protect the quarterback (you can read that as - beef up the line and keep him in the pocket the vast majority of the time). He is not going to want Newton running like he did this year and last. Rivera is not a big read option guy either and Shula isn't as well. So I don't know why people think that Gettleman won't influence this because he will. The read option guy is gone to Cleveland. But don't get your panties in a wad, maybe Stewart, Williams or both will finally earn their money. And Newton will still run and break big plays, it just won't be on that many designed runs.

Tell me the 10 best offenses based on yards per game and how many use the read option. Yeah that would be Washington. And people forget that they had a 1600 yard rusher and it wasn't RG3. Traditional offenses make up the large majority of successful offenses in the NFL by far.

[CamNewton316]

I think we ran more pistol because you really cant defend the pistol like the read option here read this and u will see what i am talking about http://www.footballnation.com/content/the-pistol-and-the-read-option-big-difference/20967/

[rayzor]

And that's why running backs never get injured.

did i say it was safe?

[X-Clown]

What was being addressed were read option plays and the frequency of their use. It had nothing to do with how many rushing yards or attempts overall Newton had.

Now, if instead you were making the point that limiting the use of the read option did not hurt Cam's yardage, then I agree 100%.

My post was just to kind of confirm what TeeRay was saying and I was genuinely interested to know. No hidden agendas here.

[rayzor]

I'm not going to read through 10 pages but you guys do realize he said, make it a STAPLE of the offense right? Doesn't mean getting rid of it. Just means don't make your whole offense based off of it. Which is right as we saw at the start of this season.

yep.

pretty much why 99% of this discussion, including my part, is pretty pointless.

he's not telling the team to quit running the read option.

[FootballMaestro]

Gettleman won't be running specific plays but from what I have read he absolutely will be involved in what the team runs and their basic philosophy. He has said in every conversation that he wants to protect the quarterback (you can read that as - beef up the line and keep him in the pocket the vast majority of the time). He is not going to want Newton running like he did this year and last. Rivera is not a big read option guy either and Shula isn't as well. So I don't know why people think that Gettleman won't influence this because he will. The read option guy is gone to Cleveland. But don't get your panties in a wad, maybe Stewart, Williams or both will finally earn their money. And Newton will still run and break big plays, it just won't be on that many designed runs.

Tell me the 10 best offenses based on yards per game and how many use the read option. Yeah that would be Washington. And people forget that they had a 1600 yard rusher and it wasn't RG3. Traditional offenses make up the large majority of successful offenses in the NFL by far.

And the Panthers were one of them, along with top 5-8 in offensive DVOA. Let's not forget.

Nonetheless, that's just the genius of Cam and one of the reasons why Chud used him too much.

I agree, the other offenses have good 1000yd rushers. Not sure if we're ever going to get that with Cam, Tolbert, D'Angelo and Stewart all sharing the ball, till you get rid of either D'Angelo or Stewart. I'm all fine with the offense of 2011, with Cam accumulating 500-700 yds rushing--mainly off pocket breakaways and 3-5 planned runs a game, along with 4200+ yards passing.

PS: You wrote a good piece, response earlier to Teeray.

[CatMan72]

Keyword: "staple"

[Doc Holiday]

I can't get behind doing away with it. That threat needs to be there.

Limiting it? Sure.

if you mean by keeping the defense honest via Cam, I would say Cam's ability to scramble will do that by itself, for your logic to work there would have to never be a broken play where Cam could just gash the Defense and that's just not going to happen, so regardless defenses will have to gameplay for it and look out for it on throughout the game. aka keeping them honest and less likely to rush the passer

[Doc Holiday]

this would be a bad thing and leave a ton of points off the table and games put on the L column.

the threat has to be there. he has to make it be there. designed runs have to be a part of the scheme, not a significant part, but they have to be there none-the-less.

The threat is already there, it's always there and will always be there as long as Cam is our QB. As I told Scot only way your logic works is if Cam will never scramble on a broken play again, and that's just not going to happen he's going to scramble designed or not, your fear is predicated on a fallacy.