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A different perspective

Mach2

Anthony Weaver, may the force be with you...
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I think this "OMG.....McD is not learning anything...... Too many screen passes......horrible play caller.....etc, is being overblown.

Let's take a look at what many stated they wanted, how McD actually called the game, and apply some critical thinking.

A lot of posters, and I mean a lot, repeated time after time they wanted others involved, Achane, TEs, work the flats, put the speed guys in space, among others.

McD's initial play calling actually did a lot of that. No, the execution wasn't where it needs to be. Blockers have to hit their marks on time. If one or two guys are late, or out of position, the play isn't going to work. We ran the ball. He certainly stuck with through the first half even when it wasn't always successful. We tried to hit the TE. A drop, a poor throw. Again, an execution failure rather than a play calling issue.

The good news is it was week one. Most offenses don't "click" week one The better teams find a way to get it done when that happens. I would expect the timing and execution to improve from game to game the early part of the season. The opponent's defense has a say in the matter too. Their defensive front has some pretty good players.

We made the necessary adjustments. The staff (on both sides of the ball) made very good halftime adjustments.

Ppl wanted to see tough inside yards on 3rd and short. We did that multiple times. Hell, we closed the game out by running right at them and burning clock. Props Ingold and Wilson.

We came out the second half down a couple scores, and started working down field passes. The line, for the most part gave Tua time. Tua does have to be aware situationally, and not take a sack that takes you out of field goal range. That kind of mistake will come back and bite you some day. Need to clean up those unessesary holding calls. That **** is a drive killer, too.

It's fair to question the use of time outs. I didn't mind so much they used them early in the first half, and thought they were managed OK in the second.

It's fair to question not punting in a couple situations. I do to, but what can I say. McD's a bit of a gambler. It's freaking awesome when it works. Not so much when it doesn't.

It was week freaking one. We came out with a win against a good opponent who many expect to be a playoff team.
 
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I thought this was the type of game Miami would normally lose but they found a way. I did think it was going to be a long season in the first half tho, it looked like the same offensive collapse we saw at the end of last years season. They made adjustments and kept fighting and won the game. Fins up! Maybe not so long season after all?
 
I loved what I saw for the most part yesterday. The surprise came in the form of the Achane WR screens. When it was reported Achane would be used more as a WR, I was excited, especially after seeing him run WR patterns during preseason games. The unexpected happened against the Jags with Miami's use of Achane in the wide screen plays.
 
Great perspective. Miami left a lot of plays on the field yesterday. Jacksonville too. So, it's probably early season stuff and not getting a lot of first team reps in preseason.

I like how Achane is being used in the passing game. That could be huge. A couple of drops by tight ends and Tua missed some throws he usually makes. But there was an effort there to get the TE's involved.

Hate the screens 3-5 yards behind the scrimmage. Have we seen those work yet? Maybe one will eventually pop, but it seems like the offensive player has to make two or three defenders miss just to get back to the line of scrimmage.

Overall, a lot to be optimistic about, though.
 
I think this "OMG.....McD is not learning anything...... Too many screen passes......horrible play caller.....etc, is being overblown.

Let's take a look at what many stated they wanted, how McD actually called the game, and apply some critical thinking.

A lot of posters, and I mean a lot, repeated time after time they wanted others involved, Achane, TEs, work the flats, put the speed guys in space, among others.

McD's initial play calling actually did a lot of that. No, the execution wasn't where it needs to be. Blockers have to hit their marks on time. If one or two guys are late, or out of position, the play isn't going to work. We ran the ball. He certainly stuck with through the first half even when it wasn't always successful. We tried to hit the TE. A drop, a poor throw. Again, an execution failure rather than a play calling issue.

The good news is it was week one. Most offenses don't "click" week one The better teams find a way to get it done when that happens. I would expect the timing and execution to improve from game to game the early part of the season. The opponent's defense has a say in the matter too. Their defensive front has some pretty good players.

We made the necessary adjustments. The staff (on both sides of the ball) made very good halftime adjustments.

Ppl wanted to see tough inside yards on 3rd and short. We did that multiple times. Hell, we closed the game out by running right at them and burning clock. Props Ingold and Wilson.

We came out the second half down a couple scores, and started working down field passes. The line, for the most part gave Tua time. Tua does have to be aware situationally, and not take a sack that takes you out of field goal range. That kind of mistake will come back and bite you some day. Need to clean up those unessesary holding calls. That **** is a drive killer, too.

It's fair to question the use of time outs. I didn't mind so much they used them early in the first half, and thought they were managed OK in the second.

It's fair to question not punting in a couple situations. I do to, but what can I say. McD's a bit of a gambler. It's freaking awesome when it works. Not so much when it doesn't.

It was week freaking one. We came out with a win against a good opponent who many expect to be a playoff team.
They will be a playoff team and we did do a good job..not perfect but good
 
I didn't see the game other than highlights and play by play text and posts. From what I gathered it was a rough day for the TE's, IDK how accurate that statement actual is since I didn't see the play by play but if so, that factors into the play calling and adjustments.
 
I think this "OMG.....McD is not learning anything...... Too many screen passes......horrible play caller.....etc, is being overblown.

Let's take a look at what many stated they wanted, how McD actually called the game, and apply some critical thinking.

A lot of posters, and I mean a lot, repeated time after time they wanted others involved, Achane, TEs, work the flats, put the speed guys in space, among others.

McD's initial play calling actually did a lot of that. No, the execution wasn't where it needs to be. Blockers have to hit their marks on time. If one or two guys are late, or out of position, the play isn't going to work. We ran the ball. He certainly stuck with through the first half even when it wasn't always successful. We tried to hit the TE. A drop, a poor throw. Again, an execution failure rather than a play calling issue.

The good news is it was week one. Most offenses don't "click" week one The better teams find a way to get it done when that happens. I would expect the timing and execution to improve from game to game the early part of the season. The opponent's defense has a say in the matter too. Their defensive front has some pretty good players.

We made the necessary adjustments. The staff (on both sides of the ball) made very good halftime adjustments.

Ppl wanted to see tough inside yards on 3rd and short. We did that multiple times. Hell, we closed the game out by running right at them. Props Ingold and Wilson.

We came out the second half down a couple scores, and started working down field passes. The line, for the most part gave Tua time. Tua does have to be aware situationally, and not take a sack that takes you out of field goal range. That kind of mistake will come back and bite you some day. Need to clean up those unessesary holding calls. That **** is a drive killer, too.

It's fair to question the use of time outs. I didn't mind so much they used them early in the first half, and though they were managed OK in the second.

It's fair to question not punting in a couple situations. I do to, but what can I say. McD's a bit of a gambler. It's freaking awesome when it works. Not so much when it doesn't.

It was week freaking one. We came out with a win against a good opponent who many expect to be a playoff team.
It's almost impossible for us fans to objectively criticize play calling without knowing the intent behind each and every play call. Sure the goal on every play is to gain yards but there's alot more that goes into it than "let's just run our best plays!"

You were talking about scripted plays earlier. This is pretty standard across the league although the 20 plays figure probably varies and isn't set in stone. I'd bet McDaniel likes to use them to get the defense to show their hand first, moreso than him showing them new stuff to open up. Especially in the opener vs a team with a new DC...

It's the same idea with play-calling overall, you run plays with balance in mind, to set up other plays down the road, hell to setup a gameplan for a game 5 days later...

As a fan, all you're left with is results, is the totality of play calling positive or negative? And it's really really hard to argue against McDaniel's case here, they've had a pretty good offense under him... I know for sure I'm getting quoted here with "What about the good teams"... And I'm sincerely done getting into that dumbass argument. I've got "Would you feel better if they lost to the Jets twice and beat the Ravens and Eagles instead?" as a hotkey copy paste reply...

I personally didn't like the 1st half approach and felt it got better in the 2nd... but for all I know, maybe the 1st half play calls helped setup the 2nd half calls... Fins are 1-0. I'm good not actually knowing.
 
There are still issues. You can't get to the 30 yard line and call plays that have a higher than normal chance of losing yardage because they're starting well behind the LOS. Maybe they don't stand out as bad as calling a screen in your own end zone, but that safety was only 2 points, and backing yourself out of FG range is 3.

We had multiple 3 and shorts where the pass was 5 yards deep so we voluntarily went from the distance that a good fart could cover to making a guy elude tacklers for 7 yards- which they failed at. And there needed to be some recognition that Jacksonville was doing a really good job at swarming to the ball and playing with speed.

Ironically, the screens that seemed to work best at the end which sealed the deal, were the ones thrown into traffic where a pile of bodies kept the Jags from being able to swarm due to clutter.

Strategically, I get the concepts of what we're trying to do and why, but I need more practical thought given to how its executed.
 
I think another thing that has been missed by a lot of the "sky is falling" whiners is that not every pass that was thrown behind the LOS or short was a screen.

Some were check downs after checking other reads that were locked up.
There were probably a handful of check downs, but its readily apparent based on the timing of the route, pass, and blocking that most were screens, including some ill-fated short yardage situations.
 
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