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OK, now for a Leach criticism...

CougPatrol

Hall Of Fame
Dec 8, 2006
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With the afterglow of the victory over Boise State still shining brightly, it's the perfect time for me to criticize something about Leach's offense that really bugs me.

I would never profess to know more about football than any coach, let alone Mike Leach, but I'll be dammed if I couldn't design a better goal line and short yardage package than the one we used on Saturday. The sickness in the pit of my stomach as I watched us run plays out of the shotgun on the 1/2 yard line was similar to how I felt about Mike Price's dreadful "jumbo" package back in the day.

Yea, I get that we're an air raid team, and I get that practice reps are limited, but with our (supposedly) strong offensive line and the stable of running backs we have, you HAVE TO run the goal line offense with the QB under center on 1st and 2nd down.

The entire stadium knew we were going to try and run the ball, and there was Hilinski, receiving shotgun snaps 3 yards deep and running delayed runs. We might as well have told Boise what we were planning on doing.

Enough of that crap. Line the freaking QB up under center and change things up. Run the sneak. Run a dive play. Have Hilinski play-action. Any of those options are better than having the ball at the 1/2 yard line, and essentially issuing yourself a 3 yard penalty by having your QB field the snap at the 3 or 4 yard line.

I don't care if you're an air raid, west coast, spread, or option program, every team needs to know how to execute basic QB under center, short yardage offense.
 
Yep. Even Falk last season stepped up to take the hike under center and ran straight into the end zone once as I recall.

Also, use Wicks at the goal line...as I stated before. He gets it done.
 
Have to agree. I thought we were implementing the under center snap a bit last year. Falk did it a few times, IIRC.

And, I get that Williams & Morrow need to be on the field, but what did Wicks get yesterday, 2 touches? Guy is too talented and has done too much in his career to spend 90+ snaps on the sideline, especially when the running game was struggling the way it was.
 
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With the afterglow of the victory over Boise State still shining brightly, it's the perfect time for me to criticize something about Leach's offense that really bugs me.

I would never profess to know more about football than any coach, let alone Mike Leach, but I'll be dammed if I couldn't design a better goal line and short yardage package than the one we used on Saturday. The sickness in the pit of my stomach as I watched us run plays out of the shotgun on the 1/2 yard line was similar to how I felt about Mike Price's dreadful "jumbo" package back in the day.

Yea, I get that we're an air raid team, and I get that practice reps are limited, but with our (supposedly) strong offensive line and the stable of running backs we have, you HAVE TO run the goal line offense with the QB under center on 1st and 2nd down.

The entire stadium knew we were going to try and run the ball, and there was Hilinski, receiving shotgun snaps 3 yards deep and running delayed runs. We might as well have told Boise what we were planning on doing.

Enough of that crap. Line the freaking QB up under center and change things up. Run the sneak. Run a dive play. Have Hilinski play-action. Any of those options are better than having the ball at the 1/2 yard line, and essentially issuing yourself a 3 yard penalty by having your QB field the snap at the 3 or 4 yard line.

I don't care if you're an air raid, west coast, spread, or option program, every team needs to know how to execute basic QB under center, short yardage offense.

Leach calls in a pass play on every play, correct? Its Falks job to check out of it to a run if he sees something, correct?

Falk checks to run on first down almost exclusively, if he's going to do it. Also, having only ONE play you feel comfortable running (WR coming left to right across the end zone) and refusing to do anything else makes it pretty easy for defenses to shut it down.

Whether its Leach or Falk, the offense has become incredibly predictable/ unimaginative in the red zone, especially inside the 10.
 
Leach calls in a pass play on every play, correct? Its Falks job to check out of it to a run if he sees something, correct?

Falk checks to run on first down almost exclusively, if he's going to do it. Also, having only ONE play you feel comfortable running (WR coming left to right across the end zone) and refusing to do anything else makes it pretty easy for defenses to shut it down.

Whether its Leach or Falk, the offense has become incredibly predictable/ unimaginative in the red zone, especially inside the 10.
I don't know that, that is correct. He calls in a play or package but it's up to the QB to change it, if need be. So he might be calling in 25% run plays and Falk changes up where the RB is lining up or something. Who knows?
 
Have to agree. I thought we were implementing the under center snap a bit last year. Falk did it a few times, IIRC.

And, I get that Williams & Morrow need to be on the field, but what did Wicks get yesterday, 2 touches? Guy is too talented and has done too much in his career to spend 90+ snaps on the sideline, especially when the running game was struggling the way it was.

Agree that Wicks should get more touches. He is talented, big and a banger, brings sonething(size) that the other 2 don't. The 3 headed RB monster worked just fine last season so why not continue with it ?
 
What is the point in having an AA at guard if you're not gonna run behind him on the goal line??? I don't care if everyone in the stadium knows it. Let the kid earn his NFL draft status by knocking someone thru the uprights.
 
With the afterglow of the victory over Boise State still shining brightly, it's the perfect time for me to criticize something about Leach's offense that really bugs me.

I would never profess to know more about football than any coach, let alone Mike Leach, but I'll be dammed if I couldn't design a better goal line and short yardage package than the one we used on Saturday. The sickness in the pit of my stomach as I watched us run plays out of the shotgun on the 1/2 yard line was similar to how I felt about Mike Price's dreadful "jumbo" package back in the day.

Yea, I get that we're an air raid team, and I get that practice reps are limited, but with our (supposedly) strong offensive line and the stable of running backs we have, you HAVE TO run the goal line offense with the QB under center on 1st and 2nd down.

The entire stadium knew we were going to try and run the ball, and there was Hilinski, receiving shotgun snaps 3 yards deep and running delayed runs. We might as well have told Boise what we were planning on doing.

Enough of that crap. Line the freaking QB up under center and change things up. Run the sneak. Run a dive play. Have Hilinski play-action. Any of those options are better than having the ball at the 1/2 yard line, and essentially issuing yourself a 3 yard penalty by having your QB field the snap at the 3 or 4 yard line.

I don't care if you're an air raid, west coast, spread, or option program, every team needs to know how to execute basic QB under center, short yardage offense.

I have no explanation for why Wicks wasn't on the field. Both for the possession on the deep ball to Bell, and the first OT. Wicks is the short yardage back- or is supposed to be. He's done his job so far this year, and all of last year. He weighs 225. He scored 11 TDs last season. Freaking use him!

On a related note- I understand the coaches' love affair with Williams, but he needs to play less and Morrow and Wicks need to play more. Unless the first defender totally whiffs (and yes James can make a lot of guys whiff), he doesn't seem to have the strength to power through the arm tackle. Or at least not what Morrow and Wicks have. The rotation we used last season was really effective. The James Williams all the time rotation we've seen these first two games less so.
 
I have no explanation for why Wicks wasn't on the field. Both for the possession on the deep ball to Bell, and the first OT. Wicks is the short yardage back- or is supposed to be. He's done his job so far this year, and all of last year. He weighs 225. He scored 11 TDs last season. Freaking use him!

On a related note- I understand the coaches' love affair with Williams, but he needs to play less and Morrow and Wicks need to play more. Unless the first defender totally whiffs (and yes James can make a lot of guys whiff), he doesn't seem to have the strength to power through the arm tackle. Or at least not what Morrow and Wicks have. The rotation we used last season was really effective. The James Williams all the time rotation we've seen these first two games less so.

I agree. It seemed like the staff stubbornly stayed with Williams too much early in the game. He ran a long way laterally but couldn't cut it upfield. Morrow got one carry in the first half, I believe. Wicks only got the one carry, and he punched it into the endzone. Morrow's toughness both as a receiver (game winning TD) and a runner (gaining that first down in 2nd OT after seemingly getting stuffed on 3rd down...leading to a TD) is a reason I want him in there more often than not.

I think all 3 running backs are invaluable and playing the hot hand (hot feet?) at the time is an approach worth considering.
I have no explanation for why Wicks wasn't on the field. Both for the possession on the deep ball to Bell, and the first OT. Wicks is the short yardage back- or is supposed to be. He's done his job so far this year, and all of last year. He weighs 225. He scored 11 TDs last season. Freaking use him!

On a related note- I understand the coaches' love affair with Williams, but he needs to play less and Morrow and Wicks need to play more. Unless the first defender totally whiffs (and yes James can make a lot of guys whiff), he doesn't seem to have the strength to power through the arm tackle. Or at least not what Morrow and Wicks have. The rotation we used last season was really effective. The James Williams all the time rotation we've seen these first two games less so.
 
Well last year we had 22 TDs averaging 3.3 yards a carry inside the red zone rushing.

This year we have 1 TDs averaging 1.25 yards a carry inside the red zone rushing.

So even though we have a small sample size (8 attempts this season vs 85 last year)

It's clear that we are not as strong in the red zone rushing the ball as last year (so far)

The first two games are where a team grows the most and is able to iron out problems from actual game tape. I think we will get better at things as things progress, but they definitely need to improve from where they are at right now.
 
Well last year we had 22 TDs averaging 3.3 yards a carry inside the red zone rushing.

This year we have 1 TDs averaging 1.25 yards a carry inside the red zone rushing.

So even though we have a small sample size (8 attempts this season vs 85 last year)

It's clear that we are not as strong in the red zone rushing the ball as last year (so far).

I blame it on personnel, scheme, and play selection. We're at the 1 yard line. If you're the defense, you're naturally going to stack the box. So what do we do? Bring in 2 split backs AND go shot gun. That seems incredibly advantageous to the defense. They've got the numbers advantage in the box, and we're giving them a free 3 yards on the snap.

Sorry, but that's illogical to me on 1st and 2nd down. Not being able to run basic, QB under center a-gap plays (or at least formations) is ridiculous. If they snuff a play, you lose 1 yard. When they snuff ours, we lose 3.
 
What is the point in having an AA at guard if you're not gonna run behind him on the goal line??? I don't care if everyone in the stadium knows it. Let the kid earn his NFL draft status by knocking someone thru the uprights.
Maybe he really is an AA guard? Maybe more hype than reality.
 
Maybe he really is an AA guard? Maybe more hype than reality.

Or he's just a pass blocking AA guard, which would stand to reason in our offense. That's why I point the finger at Leach and his scheme.

Why don't we have a small package of basic, short yardage, QB under center plays? Would it really require that much practice time to implement them?
 
Or he's just a pass blocking AA guard, which would stand to reason in our offense. That's why I point the finger at Leach and his scheme.

Why don't we have a small package of basic, short yardage, QB under center plays? Would it really require that much practice time to implement them?
It would require time for him to learn it. It would be a shift in his believe and system. It is truly his belief his system can work against anyone if you rep it enough. That part isn't going to change.

And at 365 you shouldn't just be a pass blocker just my humble opinion.
 
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I have no explanation for why Wicks wasn't on the field. Both for the possession on the deep ball to Bell, and the first OT. Wicks is the short yardage back- or is supposed to be. He's done his job so far this year, and all of last year. He weighs 225. He scored 11 TDs last season. Freaking use him!

On a related note- I understand the coaches' love affair with Williams, but he needs to play less and Morrow and Wicks need to play more. Unless the first defender totally whiffs (and yes James can make a lot of guys whiff), he doesn't seem to have the strength to power through the arm tackle. Or at least not what Morrow and Wicks have. The rotation we used last season was really effective. The James Williams all the time rotation we've seen these first two games less so.
Why Wicks wasn't on the field more? Leach said the other two had a better fall camp.
 
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