flintsilver7
Sack Monster
I really wonder how many people involved in the Feeley / Frerotte debate actually play or have played football.
Any successful team will build both the offensive and defensive schemes around their players. No successful team will ever build their players around a system. It simply doesn't work that way - you play to your players' strengths, not play them in a "system" regardless of how they fit. You don't run a Michael Vick type of offense without Vick. You don't pound the ball up the middle repeatedly unless you have the best run-blocking line in the NFL (Alan Faneca anyone?) and your "small" back is a 240-pound tank. This is precisely why we don't take the Miami Dolphins and think we can the Culpepper / Moss offense.
There are a whole number of flaws with this "Gus knows the system" line of thought.
First, Gus hasn't really played in the system. He played less than three games worth over a two year span - last year, he threw one pass and it was incomplete. In 2003, he played three games against scrub defenses (between Detroit, San Francisco, and Atlanta, nobody had a pass defense ranked above 25). He mostly employed a "heave the ball to Randy Moss approach." I think about 45% of his passes were to Moss - complete or incomplete.
Second, there is this idea that Frerotte was "groomed" in the system. Frerotte is a lifetime backup-quality quarterback who wasn't ever groomed for anything. Especially not in Minnesota. Linehan has been known to favor the long ball, but it looked especially good in Minnesota. Why? Because he had a huge quarterback who could avoid sacks and one of the fastest, most physically gifted wide receivers ever to play the game. We have neither. We also don't have the line to give anybody - be it Feeley or Frerotte - the time needed to develop those plays. Culpepper got sacked alot as it is, but I've also seen him shake more than his share.
Look at the rest of Frerotte's stats. He played one full season as a starter and wasn't that impressive. He's never managed, playing most of a season, to complete 60% of his passes. He doesn't have a good QB rating, regardless of where he played.
Now I don't mind if Frerotte happens to be the best man for the job. I personally find that very hard to believe, but it certainly is possible. I won't buy into anything that says Frerotte has an advantage. If we pick our starters based on who runs the unchanged Minnesota offensive scheme better, then he might have an advantage. This would be idiotic and completely guarantee an unsuccessful season, and I believe Saban is smarter than that. Any OC worth his salt - and I believe Linehan is - will tailor the offense to the players. Once we find out who's on the team, we build a scheme around them. It's naive to pretend we can simply pick up another team's offense - designed for totally different players - and produce. If the NFL worked that way, everybody would try to emulate the Patriots defensive scheme, the Vikings passing game, and the Steelers running game. You need more than just an idea - you need the personnel to do it, and we don't have it.
Any successful team will build both the offensive and defensive schemes around their players. No successful team will ever build their players around a system. It simply doesn't work that way - you play to your players' strengths, not play them in a "system" regardless of how they fit. You don't run a Michael Vick type of offense without Vick. You don't pound the ball up the middle repeatedly unless you have the best run-blocking line in the NFL (Alan Faneca anyone?) and your "small" back is a 240-pound tank. This is precisely why we don't take the Miami Dolphins and think we can the Culpepper / Moss offense.
There are a whole number of flaws with this "Gus knows the system" line of thought.
First, Gus hasn't really played in the system. He played less than three games worth over a two year span - last year, he threw one pass and it was incomplete. In 2003, he played three games against scrub defenses (between Detroit, San Francisco, and Atlanta, nobody had a pass defense ranked above 25). He mostly employed a "heave the ball to Randy Moss approach." I think about 45% of his passes were to Moss - complete or incomplete.
Second, there is this idea that Frerotte was "groomed" in the system. Frerotte is a lifetime backup-quality quarterback who wasn't ever groomed for anything. Especially not in Minnesota. Linehan has been known to favor the long ball, but it looked especially good in Minnesota. Why? Because he had a huge quarterback who could avoid sacks and one of the fastest, most physically gifted wide receivers ever to play the game. We have neither. We also don't have the line to give anybody - be it Feeley or Frerotte - the time needed to develop those plays. Culpepper got sacked alot as it is, but I've also seen him shake more than his share.
Look at the rest of Frerotte's stats. He played one full season as a starter and wasn't that impressive. He's never managed, playing most of a season, to complete 60% of his passes. He doesn't have a good QB rating, regardless of where he played.
Now I don't mind if Frerotte happens to be the best man for the job. I personally find that very hard to believe, but it certainly is possible. I won't buy into anything that says Frerotte has an advantage. If we pick our starters based on who runs the unchanged Minnesota offensive scheme better, then he might have an advantage. This would be idiotic and completely guarantee an unsuccessful season, and I believe Saban is smarter than that. Any OC worth his salt - and I believe Linehan is - will tailor the offense to the players. Once we find out who's on the team, we build a scheme around them. It's naive to pretend we can simply pick up another team's offense - designed for totally different players - and produce. If the NFL worked that way, everybody would try to emulate the Patriots defensive scheme, the Vikings passing game, and the Steelers running game. You need more than just an idea - you need the personnel to do it, and we don't have it.
