OFFENCE
Dual Coordinators Get The Job Done
It's been a very unusual season to date. The early focus on our Leos was the dual offensive coordinator role but outside of one game our Leos offensive coordinators have had good or great game plans and our play calling has been sound. Kruck and Dorazio also recognized that we needed to run the football more, with Joe Smith and a talented offensive line in the "Wrecking Crew" in front of him. Kruck and Dorazio have done an excellent job overall, especially considering that we've had to deal with rotating quarterbacks for most of our first 10 games of the season and basically have gone with either Buck and Jarious for most of our first 10 games, with Buck playing hurt for a few of them.
Improving Our Receiver Play
However, if we want to win the West and secure a bye and homefield advantage in the playoffs our passing attack needs to improve and the answer is not in the plays but in our receivers play. You can't win a division very easily with only two reliable game day receivers in Paris Jackson and Jason Clermont.
If we are going to win, we need a Geroy Simon to be a threat...and he has to become that with his own play. We've tried everything to get the football to him, forced passes to him (the throw into the end zone..a called play from the bench against Montreal was an example and he was covered like a blanket) and it hasn't worked. Geroy needs to do the following to get his A game back and he can. He needs to 1) get off the line with speed..he's slow getting off 2) his route execution and his breaks are sloppy and he needs to run his routes and his breaks sharper and 3) he needs to fight for the football. Finally, Geroy is starting to look inside himself.
The time for excuses..from offensive coordinators to not being the centrepiece of the offence are over. He came into camp with not a great attitude, his practice habits need improvement, and he needs to get back to his old self. He's more than capable but he's being single covered most of the time (of course there is safety help deep but that has always and will always be the case most of the time. There was no one like Geroy to get a defensive back hips turning the wrong direction. Now the only hips that are turning are the fans as they turn to the person next to them and groan. Geroy still can do it...now he needs to!!
Diversifying Our Passing Attack
Secondly, we need to make our other receivers threats by actually throwing to them. Jarious hit Rodgers three times in the first half against Montreal. He can get open and does. Simmons is treated like a ghost most games. We don't even look to him. He's been recovering from a foot injury of late but he is the fastest guy on our team and he's also open enough times to deserve some throws his way. We haven't even tried to hit him on a crossing pattern all season and we all know his burst speed.
Improving Practice Habits
Finally, on offence our practice habits need to improve. One Leos coach, anonymously, described our play this season as lousy. We've had more bad practices this season that Wally's first four seasons combined. Baresi, who coaches the receivers, needs to get a stronger message across. The veterans on offence, in our 'skilled' positions need to become leaders. They need to show younger players that they can take direction from their coaches without being difficult at practice. Wally has been very patient this season but now is the time for him to start putting his foot on some throats if necessary. We need to practice at game speed on offence, in our passing game.
We Need More Than One Healthy Quarterback
Finally, we might have two quarterbacks who can play that are healthy, with any luck, in Buck Pierce and Jarious Jackson. With some luck we may even see Dickenson on the sidelines in uniform. Printers believes Dickenson will be back this season or next. "He's tough" said Printers.."even his wife is tough. Dickenson is very tough!" However, toughness can't overcome a head inury but if symtoms clear we may still see Dickenson, even if it is in a backup role, before the season ends. However, if not, we can still win the West if all our receivers start playing well and if we can involve them all in a diversified attack.
DEFENSE
It's been a strange season for our defense so far. Sometimes they've been outstanding..other times very ordinary. We started the season off very well, looking like the champion defense of last season. The two areas that needed to be filled...outside linebacker was more than adequately filled by Jamal Johnson. The second position that needed filling was defensive end and Cameron Wake was an upgrade on Wilson.
We also returned all of our defensive coaches in Dave Ritchie as our innovative defensive coordinator and they guy who led our defense last season to it's spectacular season with great schemes. Roach returned as defensive line coach, a veteran coach who has shown the ability to get great pressure from our front four or front three. Benevides, a potential future Head Coach returned to coach our linebackers, an area in which he has done an excellent job.
However, we've struggled at times. Here is a closer look and some suggestions.
Our Front Four Needs To Turn It On
Every scheme that Ritchie becomes so much better with pressure. Our defensive style of play against the pass is to have our defenders jump underneath routes and cut under receivers. It forces the quarterback to put it over the top and any slight error means that our deep guys like Miles gets a pickoff. If the quarterback errs on not throwing a purrfect pass the defender undercutting the route gets an interception. However, pressure makes it work so well and without pressure. However, without consistent pressure, it's an aggressive style that can allow us to get beaten in the passing game with a quarterback who is on his game and has time to throw.
Cameron Wake is near the top of the charts in terms of both sacks and tackles from the defensive end spot. We couldn't be asking for more from a rookie. Aaron Hunt was the defensive player of the month. However, as a unit, we're not getting the job done. Brent Johnson is not having a season like last year. Neither is Ty Williams who has gone from a defensive tackle who could get inside pressure on a pass rush to a run stopper to not doing a good job at either. Brent Johnson is an outstanding talent. He can bull rush, speed rush, and he is a great technique pass rusher who is the best in the league at using his hands. However, his technique work isn't as creative nor does he have the explosion he had last year and the beginning of this season.
Get The Rotation Going!
A second problem is that we don't have a rotation like last season. McKay-Lauscher allowed Johnson or Wilson to get a rest and sometimes, when he was inserted, we went to a four man rush and moved Johnson inside. We need to get a rotation going again. We could go with Wake and Foley at defensive end at times, with Johnson and Hunt at tackle. We need to move Brent Johnson around more and give him advantageous matchups.
Against the run, we all saw the difference when we allowed Payton to run free vs. our first game against Montreal the week before, when we shut him down. Our defense is most effective, when we force an offence out of a balanced attack and that means shutting down the run. Our defensive line needs to improve it's play in this area as well. That means Ty Williams has to become a monster inside again for these final eight games. If not we need to be looking for a new import defensive tackle for next season, something I recommended our Leos do this off-season to push Williams. The fact is that we have no one on the practice roster that can do that and haven't all season.
If our defense is going to get back to championship form, we need Brent Johnson bringing his A game to defense like we need Geroy Simon bringing his A game to our offence. We need to have more creativity, both individually and as a group, on our defensive line. If championships are won by defense, champtionships are won by the defensive line, more than any other unit.
Getting Our Starting Linebackers Back/Better Depth
We all know that Otis Floyd is playing injured and it's tough to get down on him. Javy Glatt is also injured right now/ Jamal Johnson has had an excellent season in his first seaason as a starter, along with his work on special teams. However, Otis is an impact player and he didn't start the season playing well before his injury. Javy Glatt is a great linebacker against the pass and an excellent blitzer and he's been missed. Having all three playing at the same time and healthy would be a huge asset.
However, our Leos have not done a good job of having great backup depth at linebacker this season. Pottinger has had his struggles at times although he's learning! However, we really should be bringing in an NFL cut for depth, just in case we do not have Glatt back soon enough or Otis can't get back to 100%. We could either find an import to play the middle or move Jamal in the middle and use the import at outside linebacker. If we need to do this we can juggle the ratio and use Boden on offence in place of Simmons or Rodgers. We don't throw to them anyway..so what would be the difference? Yes, it's getting late but we really should have more depth at linebacker than we do presently.
A Evolving Defensive Backfield
Our defensive backfield is evolving. First of all, Ritchie had a lucid moment about Phillips and put him back where he belonged, at wideside halfback and I could finally stop *beeotch* about it as I did all last season. Phillips has really upgraded us. Washington is now playing dime back as Knowlton has moved into nickel back and he's a big, strong, fast defender. Washington is still a good tackler but has lost a step and is now more effective in helping underneath. Beathea has done an excellent job for the past two games and provides us with great depth when Marsh comes back.
However, it's hard to underestimate how much we've missed Marsh. Not only do he and Banks have great chemistry but Banks has been hurt by having to play less aggressive without him. Glover is a very good wideside corner but he is not Marsh's equal as a cover guy on the short side. Marsh's return will mean Glover will move back to the wideside and Bethea will add great depth in case of injury.
However, our defense is predicated on defensive pressure from our pass rush, by effective linebacker blitzes and keying underneath routes in the passing attack. Until we get better play from our front four and until we get all our linebackers back or strengthen the unit if they can't, and until we get Marsh back at corner, our defense will not return to championship form.
Hopefully that will happen!
WRAP
In summary, we're still more than in the hunt with eight games to go while at the same time we're also in danger of ending up in third place. The keys are improved individual receiver play, better practice habits on offence, a more diversified passing attack involving all our receivers (what is the use of the five pack receiver set if we only have two that are effective or get the ball thrown to them).
On defense the big key is a more consistent pass rush, more creativity in our pass rushing techniques, a rotation for the defensive line, getting our starting linebackers back or adding an import linebacker if we can't, and having Marsh return so we can get everyone back in their normal spots.
I haven't mentioned special teams because our special teams have been very good so far this season. McCallum needs to improve his punting accuracy but other than that our downfield coverage has been excellent with J. Johnson and Foley leading the charge and Smart has given us the best returner in the league.
Finally I've put in the call to Rammer to start warming up his arm, for Orange Shoes to get those orange high tops out of the closet, for Toppy to start practicing his punting, B.C, Fan to start running gassers to get back to prime shape, Lionut to start preparing to start taping those old injuries in preparation, for LFITQ to start thinking interceptions, for David to prepare for signing autographs again, for Sammy to start putting stickup on his hands, and Solar Max to get the solar panel back on his helmet...it's time for him to return punts again.
The second string Lionbackers will start practicing soon if our Leos don't start getting motivated. Last time we did, they got so scared they went on a winning streak!!
