article on linehan

[Dors156]

heres the link
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9044860

 

[Majpain]

Quote

What a finish! It's New England 23, Miami 16 with the Dolphins first-and-goal on the Patriots' 5-yard line, 58 seconds remaining. Miami holds two timeouts. The timeouts mean the Marine Mammals can rush four straight times against the 23rd-ranked New England run defense, and four straight rushes are highly likely to result in a touchdown. Oh no! Pass, pass, pass, pass, defeat. Aaaaaiiiiiiiyyyyyyeeeee! Quote

Like I said bad play calling.

 

[mbmonk]

This guys write for NFL.com he HAS to know football right?

Gregg Easterbrook is a senior editor of The New Republic, a contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly and a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. His latest book, The Progress Paradox, was released in December, 2003 by Random House. He will contribute his Tuesday Morning Quarterback column to NFL.com readers each week during the NFL season. He will also appear on the NFL Network, providing weekly commentary on NFL Total Access.

The New Republic.... Must be an football expansion league magazine.

His premise is absurd at best.

Also he lumps old Scotty in with Offense of the eagle who have been the most consistent team in the NFL outside the patriots over the last couple of years. They went to something like the last 5 NFC championship games and 1 superbowl.

Also the name of his column tells you exactly what it is. 20 - 20 hind site.

 

[morich74]

TMQ is right on the money with this one, mbmonk. From blogspot's "A Goat & Two Pesos":

This Sunday, I watched with growing anger as the Miami Dolphins snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the defending champion New England Patriots. During the Dolphins' final drive, I was yelling at the television as offensive coordinator Scott Linehan called pass play after pass play, even when the Dolphins reached the Patriots 5-yard line with almost a minute on the clock and two timeouts remaining. The Dolphins had first-round pick Ronnie Brown and ganja-cowboy Ricky Williams in the backfield, and Linehan put the game entirely on the shoulders of Gus Frerotte. Let me say that again: Linehan put all of our eggs in the clang-basket known as Gus Frerotte. Yes, the same Gus Frerotte who, while starting at quarterback for the Redskins in 1997, ended up on the injured list because he decided to head-butt a concrete wall to celebrate a touchdown. Linehan was not calling for Culpepper-to-Moss like he did in his days as Vikings coordinator. He was giving the ball to Gus Frerotte. GUS FREROTTE! The Dolphins had four downs from the Patsies' 5. Even if Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams averaged a meager 1.25 yards per carry, four carries would have resulted in a touchdown. Four ugly passes later, the Dolphins turned the ball over on downs and the game was over. Linehan squandered away the Dolphins' chance to tie the game against the Falcons the week before in similar fashion, calling for a passing play inside the Falcons' 10-yard line that resulted in Gus throwing a perfect strike - to the Falcons. Interception, game over. Does Linehan not learn from his mistakes? Nick Saban, ditch Linehan before it's too late. If you lie down with a dog like Linehan, you'll wake up with puppies -- hideous man-dog puppies destined to end up in some circus freak-show, or bearing Tom Cruise's child.

 

[mbmonk]

First morich74 welcome to the board. Glad to have you :). :welcome:


I just cant agree with his premise of the article. I was questioning that more than the playcalling aspect of the article. His premise to me is laughable. Here it is:

Yet many offensive coordinators insist on going pass-wacky when the end zone is near. Why? Self-promotion. The unspoken belief is that passing is a complex, almost magical activity, and thus passing success means the offensive coordinator must be brilliant; while running is just ill-tempered brutes colliding, anybody can call a run in an obvious-run situation.

He attributes to throwing on running situations due to the coaches self-centerdness? Really. That is his arguement. He mentions nothing about passing in running situations as a form of suprising the other team and doing something unexpected in order to give yourself a better chance of success. He also fails to mention the NE secondary was in tatters due to injuries. Unlike the front 7 of NE who had Bruscie back as well as Seamor for this game.

But regardless I feel as if the premise is wrong.

 

[Disgustipate]

My only problem with TMQ's assertion is that Tom Moore did a good job by calling a run in short yardage. Edgerin James is quite possibly the worst franchise running back in short yardage. It seems every year he blows at least two big short yardage situations.

 

[Prime]

TMQ is right on the money with this one, mbmonk. From blogspot's "A Goat & Two Pesos":

This Sunday, I watched with growing anger as the Miami Dolphins snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the defending champion New England Patriots. During the Dolphins' final drive, I was yelling at the television as offensive coordinator Scott Linehan called pass play after pass play, even when the Dolphins reached the Patriots 5-yard line with almost a minute on the clock and two timeouts remaining. The Dolphins had first-round pick Ronnie Brown and ganja-cowboy Ricky Williams in the backfield, and Linehan put the game entirely on the shoulders of Gus Frerotte. Let me say that again: Linehan put all of our eggs in the clang-basket known as Gus Frerotte. Yes, the same Gus Frerotte who, while starting at quarterback for the Redskins in 1997, ended up on the injured list because he decided to head-butt a concrete wall to celebrate a touchdown. Linehan was not calling for Culpepper-to-Moss like he did in his days as Vikings coordinator. He was giving the ball to Gus Frerotte. GUS FREROTTE! The Dolphins had four downs from the Patsies' 5. Even if Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams averaged a meager 1.25 yards per carry, four carries would have resulted in a touchdown. Four ugly passes later, the Dolphins turned the ball over on downs and the game was over. Linehan squandered away the Dolphins' chance to tie the game against the Falcons the week before in similar fashion, calling for a passing play inside the Falcons' 10-yard line that resulted in Gus throwing a perfect strike - to the Falcons. Interception, game over. Does Linehan not learn from his mistakes? Nick Saban, ditch Linehan before it's too late. If you lie down with a dog like Linehan, you'll wake up with puppies -- hideous man-dog puppies destined to end up in some circus freak-show, or bearing Tom Cruise's child.

:welcome: to :

And great first post.

 

[Shouright]

First morich74 welcome to the board. Glad to have you :). :welcome:


I just cant agree with his premise of the article. I was questioning that more than the playcalling aspect of the article. His premise to me is laughable. Here it is:


He attributes to throwing on running situations due to the coaches self-centerdness? Really. That is his arguement. He mentions nothing about passing in running situations as a form of suprising the other team and doing something unexpected in order to give yourself a better chance of success. He also fails to mention the NE secondary was in tatters due to injuries. Unlike the front 7 of NE who had Bruscie back as well as Seamor for this game.

But regardless I feel as if the premise is wrong.

I do think Linehan may be trying to show off his offense though. Why else would he be so pass happy with Gus Frerotte at quarterback?

 

[flintsilver7]

I do think Linehan may be trying to show off his offense though. Why else would he be so pass happy with Gus Frerotte at quarterback?

Would that be like taking your multi-colored Plymouth Colt hatchback to a muscle car show?

 

[LOCAL SCUM!]

TMQ is right on the money with this one, mbmonk. From blogspot's "A Goat & Two Pesos":

This Sunday, I watched with growing anger as the Miami Dolphins snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the defending champion New England Patriots. During the Dolphins' final drive, I was yelling at the television as offensive coordinator Scott Linehan called pass play after pass play, even when the Dolphins reached the Patriots 5-yard line with almost a minute on the clock and two timeouts remaining. The Dolphins had first-round pick Ronnie Brown and ganja-cowboy Ricky Williams in the backfield, and Linehan put the game entirely on the shoulders of Gus Frerotte. Let me say that again: Linehan put all of our eggs in the clang-basket known as Gus Frerotte. Yes, the same Gus Frerotte who, while starting at quarterback for the Redskins in 1997, ended up on the injured list because he decided to head-butt a concrete wall to celebrate a touchdown. Linehan was not calling for Culpepper-to-Moss like he did in his days as Vikings coordinator. He was giving the ball to Gus Frerotte. GUS FREROTTE! The Dolphins had four downs from the Patsies' 5. Even if Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams averaged a meager 1.25 yards per carry, four carries would have resulted in a touchdown. Four ugly passes later, the Dolphins turned the ball over on downs and the game was over. Linehan squandered away the Dolphins' chance to tie the game against the Falcons the week before in similar fashion, calling for a passing play inside the Falcons' 10-yard line that resulted in Gus throwing a perfect strike - to the Falcons. Interception, game over. Does Linehan not learn from his mistakes? Nick Saban, ditch Linehan before it's too late. If you lie down with a dog like Linehan, you'll wake up with puppies -- hideous man-dog puppies destined to end up in some circus freak-show, or bearing Tom Cruise's child.

Excellent. WELCOME

 

[morich74]

Thanks for welcoming me aboard, one and all, and also thanks on the props for my post (I just cut-and-pasted an article I had previously written for my blog, but I thought this would be a receptive audience to vent to). I don't mean to be negative, and I know Linehan is a professional and probably has forgotten more about football than I will ever know. But I've been a die-hard Dolphins fan for a long time, and I probably know the history of this franchise better than Linehan. And this I know for certain: one of the things that kept the Marino Dolphins from taking it to the next level was an inability to run the football in must-run situtations, caused by (a) lack of personnel; and (b) over-reliance on Marino's phenomenal talent. Now, we have the right personnel to run the ball, at least in the backfield. Marino's not at quarterback, so we shouldn't be lulled into believing that our quarterback must get the ball in every key instance. We have to go FIVE yards. mbonk, I'm all for the element of surprise. However, you can't surprise anyone by passing from the shotgun. A play-fake on first down near the goal line is sometimes a very effective play. But we telegraphed the pass on each of those four plays. It was almost arrogant - Linehan said, Pats, you haven't been able to stop the pass all game, and you're not going to be able to stop it now, even though you know it's coming.

Every football fan should know that if your team has a minute on the clock, four downs, two time-outs, and only needs to go FIVE yards, that you don't deserve to win if you can't get it done on the ground. It should almost be automatic. There is a reason why four-down goal line stands by defenses in similar situations become legendary -- they are the exception to the rule. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, and it's easy to criticize after the fact. But I was screaming at my TV BEFORE each snap! When you are that close to the goal line, there isn't much room for a pass-play to develop. Defenses don't have much field to cover, and therefore receivers are not going to achieve separation absent some trickery or a good play-fake. By calling a fade route, you're making it a jump-ball situations, a coin-toss, and bad things can happen -- a sack, an interception, the quarterback may fumble. In addition, each incompletion stops the clock. So even if we scored on fourth down, the Pats still have some time to pull off one of their now-routine Brady thirty second drills and drive for the winning field goal. When you run the ball, you should be able to get more than a yard every carry, and the only bad thing that can happen is a fumble or short loss. I would have called for a run on every down, all four downs if I had to. Then, when the two-point conversion came up, and only then, I would have gone with either (a) play-fake which the Pats will likely bite on after seeing four straight runs near the goal line; or (b) quick WR screen like the Pats themselves have been so successful with inside opponents' five-yard lines (why didn't we call this play on any of our four shots if we were going to pass?!? at worst, it's incomplete or the WR is stopped at the line of scrimmage, it's not going to be a loss like passing to a back in the backfield).

I know I'm rambling and whipping a dead horse here, but the reason I'm so frusrated is because we were SO CLOSE to pulling off one against the champs, and because that win would have pulled us even for the lead in the AFC East! Sure, we're rebuilding, and Saban has time, but to have a legitimate shot at playoff contention this late in the season and blow it so casually ... it blows my mind, and it's not the attitude I want to see. I know Saban focuses on process rather than win-loss and counts on wins to naturally follow, but do we really want to count on the "process" of an offensive coordinator who calls plays exactly like pass-happy Mike Martz! I think Linehan got spoiled putting up big numbers on the fast turf at Minnesota with talents like Culpepper and Moss, and I do think there is something to the theory that offensive coordinators are inclined to pass the football. The OCs who are getting promoted to head coaching positions made a name for themselves in the passing game. What owners don't seem to realize is that a lot of that had to do with personnel. The obvious parallel is Brian Billick, who, like Linehan, had tremendous success passing in Minnesota thanks to the dome and the personnel, but hasn't been able to pass at all since taking over at Baltimore. Perhaps another factor at work here is the lingering fan resentment for so-called Wanny-ball. Wanny was admittedly too conservative. But if you can't run it down the opponents' throat inside the 5, you're not playing physical football. You might as well play flag football, or heck, ultimate frisbee.

PS - mbmonk, you mentioned that you didn't mind being lumped in with the Eagles offense because of their success in recent years. A few points: (1) The Eagles run a west coast offense in which about half of their passes are screens or stop routes, the equivalent of long hand-offs to a running-back or wide-receiver, and nothing like the offense Linehan runs; (2) TMQ pointed to the Eagles as being absurdly pass-whacky this year (note their losing record) as opposed to past seasons -- kind of like what Martz did with the Rams after having success with passing, they've pushed it too far; (3) The Eagles don't have the personnel to run it down the throats of other teams like we do, Westbrook is basically a third-down back and not a physical presence like Brown; and (4) On Monday night, despite having their best success running this season, the Eagles lost the game by throwing in a traditional running situation -- JUST LIKE LINEHAN LOST IT FOR US TWO WEEKS IN A ROW.

Whew. I feel better now. GO DOLPHINS!!!

 

[Fletch]

I do think Linehan may be trying to show off his offense though. Why else would he be so pass happy with Gus Frerotte at quarterback?

The bottom line is we should be running the ball more. I realize that you want a balanced attack, but our stats aren't balanced at all.

Through nine games:
35 pass att/gm
25 run att/gm

At the minimum, this stat should be even. In fact, it should lean towards the run. We have Ronnie and Ricky can give him breathers. Plus, our O line is much improved in opening up lanes for our backs.

Take a look at Pittsburgh's stats:
22 pass att/gm
34 run att/gm

They are a very good football team and play to their strengths. Hopefully this week, we will see more running for no other reason than the inexperience of Sage.

 

[Venez1284]

Also the name of his column tells you exactly what it is. 20 - 20 hind site.

DO NOT lump Gregg Easterbrook into that Sean Salisbury 20/20 hindsight category. If you read his columns, his observations are accurate as hell and backs everything up with statistics and intelligent debate. His observations such as "Why are you punting/kicking?????" when teams are down by 14 or more in the 4th quarter to keep the margin of defeat down is just one example of the things that he points out that absolutely make sense. He is by far one of the funniest and most intelligent writers about football.

 

[morich74]

Right on, Fletch. I loved the Marino era as much as anyone, but we just don't have the quarterback to rely on the pass. We need to look to the Steelers, who have made Roethlisberger look amazing by using the run to set up the pass. They don't abandon the run at the first sign of adversity. They force defenses to play the run, which sets up one-on-one coverage in the passing game. Then, when the Steelers are inside the five, you don't see them passing on every down. They almost always hammer it in! That's why when they do pass in the red zone, a tight-end or receiver usually comes open because defenses have to respect the run. I can't blame Frerotte too much for the season he's having. Week in and week out, Linehan is asking a below-average journeyman quarterback to do too much. We have two running-backs who were top-5 draft picks. Let's play like it.

 

[MaddenGamer420]

My only problem with TMQ's assertion is that Tom Moore did a good job by calling a run in short yardage. Edgerin James is quite possibly the worst franchise running back in short yardage. It seems every year he blows at least two big short yardage situations.

Not only that, but Tom Moore doesn't call the plays! How many times do we need to hear on ESPN et al that Moore sends in a package of plays to Manning that include a couple of runs and passes and it's Manning, not Moore, that decides what play to run at the line of scrimmage depending on the defense?