Shula: Tell me why this time it will be different

[Zod]

A lot of posters seem to feel that Shula's offense will be productive, if not prolific.  They cite the enthusiastic comments from players, particularly Cam.

 

I tend to be a student of history.  Here are Shula's offensive numbers as a coordinator and head coach:

 

Tampa (96-99)

Total offense: 28th, 29th, 22nd, 28th

Scoring offense: 30th, 23rd, 18th, 27th

 

Alabama (03-06) (head coach, but the team ran his offense and he had a lot of influence over OC Dave Rader)

Total offense: 79th, 94th, 67th, 65th (out of 117)

Scoring offense: 69th, 64th, 85th, 68th

 

In eight years where he has been directly or ultimately responsible for an offense, he has never hit even the midpoint of these two key metrics.

 

Some would say that with strong defenses at both Tampa and Alabama, the offensive philosophy was necessarily tailored towards ball control and conservative play.  Some would say that he was limited in terms of offensive talent.  Some would say he's never had a player with Cam's physical talent.

 

Those may be valid points, to a degree.  But here we have a guy who is almost 50 years old, doing something he hasn't done (indirectly) in 7 years and directly in 14 years.  Aside from Cam, he has (collectively) average talent at best, and he won't have the luxury of a defense that will allow him to just put 14 on the board and win a game.  It's illogical to me that he could be expected to be successful at it, because he never has been, regardless of whether he was ever really called upon to be successful at it.  In the NFL, gameday success doesn't fall into your lap in mid-life just because you can write a playbook.

 

So why will this year be different?

 

People are being dicks because there was discussion of this at great length when he was promoted. Its a valid question with no real answer. We just have to wait and see.

[mbarbour21]

All Shula did, to my knowledge, was simplify what we already had (in terms of verbiage). In other words, he simplified what we called what we did. Lol!

And he has said he is goin to actually use our runningbacks, and we were all like BOUT TIME! And he was gonna put smitty in the slot, to which we replied FINALLY!!!!

Now as far as what plays he calls in what situation......we will hav to see. But it isn't like he is bringing a different offense entirely. (As to my knowledge)

[TheRed]

Depending on tonights outcome, we may be seeing many more of these threads anyways.

[CRA]

Biggest question about Shula is....how much of his boring run offense in Tampa was b/c talent and his HC dictated it and how much was just that is what he is.

 

Cam Newton, the guy ultimately responsible for the 2 best offensive seasons in Carolina, is now his QB.  Maybe we get a nice happy medium between what Chud was and Shula was in Tampa.

[Frank Hollywood]

If someone could do the research on this (I'm too lazy) who was the qb of the bucs back then and what did his numbers look like before, during and after Shula. I think that might tell us something.

 

edit- It was Trent Dilfer. I'm looking at statistics now, but he had his best years 96-98 under Shula. (99 he was injured)

[Chaos]

I'd rather the win column look good instead of our offensive statistical rankings.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[pantherclaw]

This again?

[Khaki Lackey]

  Maybe we get a nice happy medium between what Chud was and Shula was in Tampa.

Please. That would be ideal.

[teeray]

Because we actually have offensive players worth a poo.

[Peppers90 NC]

Because we actually have offensive players worth a poo.

i thought that was fairly obvious, but some have to aks anyway.

 

uhmmmm, let me see... dilfer/king or cam newton.  steve smith, greg olsen or... what were the names of those mighty buccs receivers again?

[MadHatter]

Biggest question about Shula is....how much of his boring run offense in Tampa was b/c talent and his HC dictated it and how much was just that is what he is.

 

Cam Newton, the guy ultimately responsible for the 2 best offensive seasons in Carolina, is now his QB.  Maybe we get a nice happy medium between what Chud was and Shula was in Tampa.

 

this is what I am hoping for as well.

[xerxes]

Dum spiro spero.

[Creep59]

A lot of posters seem to feel that Shula's offense will be productive, if not prolific.  They cite the enthusiastic comments from players, particularly Cam.

 

I tend to be a student of history.  Here are Shula's offensive numbers as a coordinator and head coach:

 

Tampa (96-99)

Total offense: 28th, 29th, 22nd, 28th

Scoring offense: 30th, 23rd, 18th, 27th

 

Alabama (03-06) (head coach, but the team ran his offense and he had a lot of influence over OC Dave Rader)

Total offense: 79th, 94th, 67th, 65th (out of 117)

Scoring offense: 69th, 64th, 85th, 68th

 

In eight years where he has been directly or ultimately responsible for an offense, he has never hit even the midpoint of these two key metrics.

 

Some would say that with strong defenses at both Tampa and Alabama, the offensive philosophy was necessarily tailored towards ball control and conservative play.  Some would say that he was limited in terms of offensive talent.  Some would say he's never had a player with Cam's physical talent.

 

Those may be valid points, to a degree.  But here we have a guy who is almost 50 years old, doing something he hasn't done (indirectly) in 7 years and directly in 14 years.  Aside from Cam, he has (collectively) average talent at best, and he won't have the luxury of a defense that will allow him to just put 14 on the board and win a game.  It's illogical to me that he could be expected to be successful at it, because he never has been, regardless of whether he was ever really called upon to be successful at it.  In the NFL, gameday success doesn't fall into your lap in mid-life just because you can write a playbook.

 

So why will this year be different?

 

 

No idea how or why it will be different, but its nice to see someone bring some facts when starting a topic instead of just saying how they " feel it " or are " all in "  -  just because.

 

What'd you guys expect from someone with 178 posts?

Now that we have all these new mods, let's finally get that 500 post minimum thing going.         

 

 

 

 

It beats hell out 99.9% of your posts which are nothing but whine fests about other posters.

[CPcavedweller]

I don't think I've read where anyone thought it would be prolific. I think every one believes we will play more to our strengths instead of using everything with apparently no reason or rhyme. Idc care for the offense to be prolific, just put Cam in a position to succeed. If cam is used correctly we will be seeing similar results to our winning streak.

Keep the defense rested and I think we will be okay. I'm not ready to call him Jeff Davidson like a lot of people have called him out for because of preseason. Traditional offense with an aggressive approach.