OK -- I've now watched a full weekend of NFL football, including our game, and here's why we're doomed this year:
1) We have absolutely no cohesion on offense. Watching the Chiefs versus the Broncos and Indy versus NE should show you that. Part of the reason is that we have an offensive coordinator who is teaching a playbook he didn't design. Everybody knows that cohesion on offense develops in PRACTICE, not in games (think Bill Walsh).
When you have an offensive coordinator who's being forced to teach plays he didn't design, your practices can't possibly be as effective as when your OC is teaching his own plays -- the players have more familiarity with the playbook than the coordinator! How can that be a good scenario?
And don't think Ricky's walking out had nothing to do with that. He was being cast in the role of the battering ram on an offense that was clearly going nowhere. I'm sure it looked like the blind leading the blind during the mini-camps (especially with 4 new offensive linemen out there), and when you're the guy who's gonna feel the pain the most (Ricky), you either want out or you want more money to make the pain WORTH something.
The problem here is that Wannstedt has effectively made himself the defensive AND offensive coordinator. He's made it so that the power he has over the offensive philosophy and play-calling is totally out of proportion with his offensive knowledge base. It's like the bagboy running the cash register.
And of course this is problem #1, and it all stems from DW's anxiety and his fear of being fired during or after the "do or die" year Huizenga has given him (which of course was a mistake).
2) We have no leaders and no coach who knows how to develop them. Mike Shanahan called a play last night where Jake Plummer ran a designed QB keeper around the end for a 1st down in a clutch situation. When plays like that are successful, leaders are developed. The team will look up to Plummer as a leader when he consistently makes plays like those, and Shanahan is smart enough to know that (unlike DW).
We not only have no leaders, we have no coach who knows how to develop them. Do you honestly think DW knows how to handle Feeley? Do you think he'll put him in position to become a leader on offense? I don't, and when you have no leaders, you have no team. There has never been a Super Bowl winning team that had no leaders. And even if you think Zach and JT are good leaders (which I don't), that's still only one side of the ball.
3) We're WAY too new on offense. Look at the Chiefs and NE by contrast. They're both using offensive schemes they've used for at least the past 3 or 4 years, and they still have the players executing them that they've had all along. When McIntosh is healthy, we'll have EIGHT new players on offense. There's no way you can develop cohesion with that in one season. We might get SOME cohesion by the end of the season, but we'll be NOWHERE NEAR as good as teams like NE, KC, Denver, Indy, and Tennessee. Let's be honest here.
4) The best teams in the AFC have strengths that make us have poor matchups against them. When Chris Brown runs for 100 yards in a half against us, what do you think the CHIEFS are gonna do? What do you think the BRONCOS are gonna do? These are teams with DOMINANT offensive lines and DOMINANT running backs. We stand no chance against those teams -- they'll have their way with us, and we'll have no answer because we can't score (see above). Again, let's be honest.
You might be thinking the team will develop over the course of the year and eventually be pretty good. That may happen. But when you look at the teams we have to get through to get anywhere and think about what they have going on, it's clear we're headed nowhere this year. With all the newness on offense, even the best coaching staff in the world would get this team only to 10-6/11-5.
What do you think DW and company are gonna do with it? :shakeno:
