Terrific chronological breakdown Blitz. I'm a very discouraged diehard right now. To watch this offensive line struggle week in and week out, regardless of how many internationals Dorazio needs to utilize, is astounding. I long for the days when the Lions won the Grey Cup in 94 with an all Canadian offensive line.Blitz wrote:ANYTHING is better than what is happening now.JohnHenry wrote:I've got to agree the offence is just spinning its wheels. The biggest problem over the past couple seasons is the inadequate pass blocking, often by the RB's who won't, or can't, execute their blocking assignments (although Antolin did a good job last night). Also the FB play must be questioned...with tacklers on the RB's as soon as they touch the ball...with generally poor pass and run blocking overall. Much of the problem is just a lack of commitment by the players to know the plays, know the rules and execute it on the field. The coaches seem lackadaisical too. They might work long hours but are they communicating with the players? I'd say these players need an attitudinal adjustment in the worst way after 3 straight losses. Firing the OC is a start. Have Glenn call his own plays, like Flutie used to do, might just be the answer. After 15 years in the league K.G. probably know these plays in his sleep (just like the opposing defensive co-ord's).
When looking at the Khari Jones situation I tend to look at the bigger picture first, going right back to Buono in Calgary. Buono's had John Hufnagel as his offensive coordinator and he was loved in Calgary. There was a time there, if Hufnagel wanted the HC job in Calgary they would have moved Wally out to pave the way for Hufnagel but Hufnagel was loyal.
Hufnagel introduced the spread offence in Calgary. It was a comprehensive, volume play book and it was very innovative during its time in Calgary under Hufnagel. When Hufnagel left Buono gave Cortez the keys to the offence, with the direction that he wanted the spread offence continued. Chap learned the spread offence from Cortez. Wally brought Chapdelaine to B.C. as a receivers coach and got rid of Burratto and gave the offence to Chap, because he wanted that same spread offence run here in B.C.
The spread offence was not only what Chap had been indoctrinated into as a professional coach but it was also the only offence Wally wanted to be implemented. Chap gave us the spread in 2005, won a Grey Cup with it in 2006, went to Edmonton for a season, was hired back at the urging of our receivers at the time, took over as offensive coordinator again in 2009 and continued the spread offence until Game 7 of 2011.
At that point Chap moved away from the spread. I have no idea whether it was because he sensed he was going to be fired or Wally allowed him to run something different or Chap just did. The key was that our offence changed and dramatically for the next two seasons. We went to a lot more power formations, a lot of misdirection play action, a lot of semi-boots and rollouts, short and wide bunch formations, and a lot of different running plays. Chap started to sneak more spread offence back in during the 2013 season after we struggled to open holes for Harris but came back to power formations and even more motion and misdirection to end the 2013 season successfully. We ran the football for over 200 yards per game those last 3 games and our offence looked dangerous again.
Chap left at the end of 2013. A lot of people believe Chap was fired. I don't. He left. He resigned. Whether Buono or Benevedes would have let him go is another question but they had no one in place at the time. It was written up as a mutual decision and also written as Chap was let go due to the potential impact on fan attendance. Chap had endured the criticism and the lack of job security each season but Wally saying that he would 'mentor' Chap in a previous season and publically criticizing him in 2013 were not received well from what I have come to understand. Chap had left once before, after the 2006 Grey Cup winning season, not only because the Edmonton job offered more promise but also because he knew that Benevedes, a special team coach at the time, was the heir apparent to Wally and he would never get a shot at it.
But one thing that I knew was that the next offensive coordinator would be running the old Calgary spread offence which was long past its due date. The only exception to the spread offence being the flavor of the club was in 2007, when Hufnagel, as a consultant, pushed for a more run oriented approach.
Khari Jones was also a spread offensive coach. He played in the spread as a quarterback and he ran the spread offence in Hamilton. Khari Jones has been using a very restricted spread offence. He doesn't use the variety of plays that Chap used. He re-introduced the old six receiver, empty backfield set that Hufnagel and Cortez had used in Calgary and that Chap had used in his early days in B.C.
Almost all the plays we run this season come out of that play book. We just run very few of them. We have the inside zone read run, which we use almost exclusively, other than the fly sweep. Its what's not being used that is the question mark. The shovel pass, direct snap to the tailback, the pitch toss, the shovel pass, and the draw play seem to have almost been eliminated. The tight bunch and the wide bunch are almost gone. The heavy use of motion has been greatly reduced. Play action is rare and misdirection play action even more rare.
What I don't know is who is responsible for this offensive direction. I don't know if Khari Jones is being directed to run our offence with this limited set of plays or not. Last season it was said that Chap's offence was too complicated and perhaps the direction to limit the plays in this offence is a direction from above, from Benevedes or Wally or both. We don't know if Jones was able to hire his own recievers coach or whether PaoPow was hired by Benevedes or Wally. We do know that Jones inherited Dorazio and he has as much ability to change his offensive line coach as Chap did, which is zero, no matter how many brick walls our tailbacks hit or how little pass protection he provides.
If Jones had carte blanche to run this offence as he desired and this was the result he should be gone. So should PaoPao. Dorazio's record does not inspire confidence. We've not only given up the most sacks in the past 10 seasons, suffered the most serious quarterback injuries, but we've also had many stretches where there are no holes to run to. We gave up the most sacks in the CFL in our 2006 Grey Cup winning season. In 2010 we gave up the most sacks in the CFL and were giving up the most sacks in the CFL in the first 7 games of 2011, until Chap changed the offence to more power formations and rollouts to protect the quarterback as well as to run the football. So going back to the spread offence this season, with no ability to run the football out of the spread or protect the quarterback, with Dorazio at the helm of the offensive line, was only going to be a disaster.
It is a disaster. My big questions are 1) Does Jones have the ability to run a different offensive system as Chap eventually did and more importantly 2) Would he be allowed to do so, if he did have that ability.
I don't think we have all the information. Jones is wearing most of it, as Chap did before him. I think our biggest problem is our offensive line coaching. I also think the spread offence is well past its best before due date. Its ok as a formation at times but not as an offensive philosophy and structure any more.
It can still work with a very good offensive line but it also needs a very good, very smart quarterback, a well-rounded receiving crew and a tailback who can run inside the tackles and bounce it out at times. But mostly it needs good anti-blitz plays to combat the blitz and lots of variety in plays to attempt to compensate for its weaknesses. You just can't keep trying to run between the tackles with the same run play or use a restricted number of pass plays that teams can scout easily. The spread is a disaster is an offence can't pass block against inside penetration, which we can't.
Hamilton ran a ton of different plays at our defense. Our offence, outside of one play called off the back shelf, did not. We have been very vanilla all season. We were vanilla on offence when Lulay played Ottawa, when his best strength is misdirection play action.
One thing is for sure. If Benevdes wanted Jones to open up the offence, to run a wider variety of run and pass plays, all he would have to do is give Khari Jones that direction. The problems that ail our offence are more than about Khari Jones. However, his play calling is part of the problem. Its not easy to be an offensive coordinator with poor offensive line blocking. We have the talent on the offensive line to do a much better job. With poor line blocking, an offence simply cannot exectute the spread offensive system successfully.
While I think we should be moving away from the spread offence, as Chap did in 2011, the reality is that our offensive scheme has to utilize more power formations to make up for our offensive line. Even that doesn't always work. We couldn't open holes for Harris last season for too many games, even when utilizing power formations but power formations are at least a better option than the spread.
One thing I certainly hope will not happen this time is that all of it will be blamed on Jones, as it was on Chap last season. Lessons hopefully have been learned. This is much more than just an offensive coordinator problem.
Wally is constantly given the benefit of the doubt and I guess with his track record he should have a long leash but his loyalty to Benevides and Dorazio is hurting this team significantly, never mind the undeserving firing of two coordinators. At least when Ackles was above him there was a team president with a deep football background who surely would be disgusted with the offensive product on the field right now. Skulsky only cares about guaranteeing wins and being a cheerleader on the sidelines.
