How will Mike Shula change our offense?

[Zod]

Here you have a decent thread with different opinions, all backed up with legitimate reasons, and a few non contributing whiners that get butt hurt any time someone has the audacity to suggest that Shula is a big question mark. Of course Shula will be awesome, 'cause Belichick!

 

Notice how they take funny little jabs at me, crying for attention and validation. Sad really.

 

 

It goes from Shula being a huge question mark to "OMG you said Shula is the worst OC in history and has no chance of success!"

 

Mainly due to lack of reading comprehension skills, so I forgive it.

[rayzor]

We are having a discussion. This is what adults do when they have questions about something. We are gaining a better understaind of our offensive coordinator. No one is being stupid, quite the contrary. I see no reason for you to jump into this thread with that kind of bullshit unless you are just an asshole, which you seem to be.

 

But that joke about Zod was funny.

thanks for being respectful instead of taking the asshat route.  we need more of that.

 

seeing as how now the cool thing is to bitch about people expressing their concerns in a thread about the OC and what we re expecting, I'm out. 

 

I'm not going to waste time in pissing matches.

[TheRed]

I think there is a difference between having legitimate questions about a coach versus just throwing a temper tantrum and declaring the upcoming season a likely failure because the candidate you wanted didn't get hired.

[Woodie]

I think the issue of what he learned or didn't learn is overblown here. Shula was an NFL quarterback, he has worked in multiple systems, he has developed multiple quarterbacks. he has learned what to do.  He didn't have a great playbook but now he does.  

Everyone  agrees that the key to the offense is Newton, not what plays we run or what we do on third on 2. The best plays on paper fail if the quarterback can't execute them on the field  Shula has a history of improving Garrard and subsequently their offense. Last year we saw him improve Newton quite a lot and was credited with helping him start so hot when he was a rookie. Other than a early season stint last year where Chud got too cute and tried to show everyone how smart he was while attempting to land a head coaching job, the offense has been prolific and much of the success goes to Shula.  What he will do with Newton to continue to develop him and help him feel comfortable in our scheme will be the key to the offense's success.  

 

No doubt that execution conquers all.  But I think what we're talking about here is has Shula learned enough about offensive game management and play calling to be what we want him to be.  I totally agree that he has been successful at QB development, and I think it's logical to assume that he has learned a great deal and will have improved as an in-game OC.  But just like with any coach that hasn't done something in a long while, we will have to wait and see to know for certain just how much he has grown. 

 

For me, the issue is really that I don't get why people are getting so worked up over him being our OC based on what he did over a decade ago.  Particularly since he was in a situation that he probably didn't have as much control over as a seasoned OC would have.  Not being sold on him, I get, but being defeatist about his hire without taking into consideration the natural learning progression anyone would go through, I don't.  None of us knows for certain whether he will be good or bad for us, so why not wait until we see the results on the field before we proclaim him the second coming or next Jeff Davidson. 

[thunderraiden]

Here you have a decent thread with different opinions, all backed up with legitimate reasons, and a few non contributing whiners that get butt hurt any time someone has the audacity to suggest that Shula is a big question mark. Of course Shula will be awesome, 'cause Belichick!

 

Notice how they take funny little jabs at me, crying for attention and validation. Sad really.

 

 

It goes from Shula being a huge question mark to "OMG you said Shula is the worst OC in history and has no chance of success!"

 

Mainly due to lack of reading comprehension skills, so I forgive it.

Zod used to be a Buc's fan! IMPEACHMENT VOTE!

[rayzor]

I think there is a difference between having legitimate questions about a coach versus just throwing a temper tantrum and declaring the upcoming season a likely failure because the candidate you wanted didn't get hired.

 

who was throwing a temper tantrum? who was declaring "the upcoming season a likely failure because the candidate you wanted didn't get hired?"

[TheRed]

who was throwing a temper tantrum? who was declaring "the upcoming season a likely failure because the candidate you wanted didn't get hired?"

Quite a few people in not so many words. The day it was announced you'd have thought we forfeited the 2013 season. I didn't want him to be OC, and I made my feelings known but I got over it.

I like you, but you've been groaning about this for months.

[rayzor]

Quite a few people in not so many words. The day it was announced you'd have thought we forfeited the 2013 season. I didn't want him to he OC, and I made my feelings known but I got over it.

I like you, but you've been groaning about this for months.

 

so? it's not like i bring the subject up.

 

it's just a topic of discussion. so what? it's an area i don't feel good about that i want to feel good about. do we just quit discussing things when we disagree with others? a couple have said in this thread that they learned more about shula and some questions may have risen in their minds about the job he might do. is that a bad thing? or do we all need to be just jumping on board and riding it out?

 

i think it's a major deal in how the team does. i don't trust the job he'll do anymore than i trust rivera.

 

i don't see why people get so worked up about people being unhappy about certain aspects of the team. do we have to tow the party line and support the status quo?

 

if the subject gets brought up, i'm going to discuss it, just like any other subject i feel like discussing. some areas i'm on board with, others i'm not.

[Ace_Aladdin]

Why would Ron Rivera hire him as the OC coordinator when this his do or die year ........he must have some kind of faith and knowledge about him that we don't know.

[TheRed]

so? it's not like i bring the subject up.

it's just a topic of discussion. so what? it's an area i don't feel good about that i want to feel good about. do we just quit discussing things when we disagree with others? a couple have said in this thread that they learned more about shula and some questions may have risen in their minds about the job he might do. is that a bad thing? or do we all need to be just jumping on board and riding it out?

i think it's a major deal in how the team does. i don't trust the job he'll do anymore than i trust rivera.

i don't see why people get so worked up about people being unhappy about certain aspects of the team. do we have to tow the party line and support the status quo?

if the subject gets brought up, i'm going to discuss it, just like any other subject i feel like discussing. some areas i'm on board with, others i'm not.

We all have concerns, and it's good to talk about them. At the end of the day though we're still just fans, and for good reason because most of us lead with emotion and knee jerk reactions. I have reservations about the entire staff, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt until I actually see some real football being played on a field.

[CRA]

Why would Ron Rivera hire him as the OC coordinator when this his do or die year ........he must have some kind of faith and knowledge about him that we don't know.

Ron has faith in Cam.  Shula can keep Cam doing what he has been doing since he arrived....and hopefully continue to help him grow since he knows Cam better than anyone on our staff.

[rayzor]

We all have concerns, and it's good to talk about them. At the end of the day though we're still just fans, and for good reason because most of us lead with emotion and knee jerk reactions. I have reservations about the entire staff, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt until I actually see some real football being played on a field.

 

this isn't a knee jerk reaction or going with emotion. it was well thought out when i first started looking at the possibility of him getting promoted and i never saw anything from anyone to make it look better to me, in fact the continued discussing has only strengthened my doubt.

 

but, like you, that notion and perception of him isn't going to change until we see some real football being played on the field. i just can't give him the benefit of the doubt when all i have are doubts.

[CRA]

this isn't a knee jerk reaction or going with emotion. it was well thought out when i first started looking at the possibility of him getting promoted and i never saw anything from anyone to make it look better to me, in fact the continued discussing has only strengthened my doubt.

 

but, like you, that notion and perception of him isn't going to change until we see some real football being played on the field. i just can't give him the benefit of the doubt when all i have are doubts.

 

not sure I have heard your specific take or maybe I missed it...

 

As an OC....did you think Shula actually had the talent or was in a position to do more in Tampa?

[rayzor]

not sure I have heard your specific take or maybe I missed it...

 

As an OC....did you think Shula actually had the talent or was in a position to do more in Tampa?

 

to be great? no. to do better than he did? absolutely. and it's not just based on tampa, but at his time in alabama where he ran pretty close to the same type offense and had the same type offensive woes as he did in tampa.

 

i would have liked to see even a glimmer of something good, but i didn't. all i've seen are excuses for the lack of production from both instances where he ran the offense.

 

could he be a victim of his situation in both efforts? absolutely, but i haven't seen anything to point to him being better than what he and his offenses produced.

 

not only have i looked at the numbers and then, in the case of tampa, looked at what happened when he was replaced, but i read what was being said about him and his offense from those who were there and/or those who were paying attention (and not just zod). what i saw was a lack of positive things being said. all signs were pointing to him just not being good. his offense was predictable, without much in terms of balance, and not only were in game decisions bad, they came slowly.

 

tbh, i wasn't crazy about him being named QB coach. i thought it was cool that he was shula's son, but when i looked at his track record as a QB coach i was much less than impressed. but i was impressed with how well he's apparently done with cam, tho i think cam came to the game pretty ready thanks to his natural talents and work that guys like whitfield and weinke and dorsey had done  early on and the scheme being tailored to his strengths.

 

my point is that he did better than i thought he would with cam so maybe he'll do better than i think as OC. it's just that i didn't see him fail as a QB coach. i saw failure in his offenses in tampa and alabama and the fact that he hasn't had really any interest in his OC talents or whatever until we handed him the job as a sign that no one else really saw much they wanted either. he might be better, bt i'm going to have to see it to believe it.