I'll make a guess, and say that even tho this is Coach Harbaugh's team, he actually lets the OC and DC call the plays. Why? Because at Stanford, the O plays were clever, calculating. If an opponent crowded the OL, box 8, then Harbaugh called for quick outs and slants. If passrush was too overwhelming, the ball was snapped and gone in 2 seconds, 1 step. On D, if the opponent had a burner or a Fitzgerald type, he was negated...be it held up at LOS, doubled, big pass rush...you all know the scenario. What we all have seen and been disappointed by is total lack of unpredictability on both O and D....and that isn't Coach Jim Harbaugh. That is fangio and roman.
I readily admit I have no proof of this, just a suspicion. But if Coach H wants this team to climb off the mat, where we have been left by both Ravens and AZ, then Jim Harbaugh is going to have to coach this team himself, using fangio and roman to sit in the box calling down weaknesses they see, but NOT calling the plays...either O or D. On several occasions, I have seen JH on the headset barking at someone when an O play was plain vanilla in a situation that required a lot more...say in the RZ, for example. On D have noted the same. If Harbaugh wants this team to go big time, then HE is going to have to take over calling the O...and the D. Right now the best guy on the field is apparently not calling the plays, more likely just giving his assent. Harbaugh has a great football mind, (just look at some stanford tapes),
but I believe he has delegated the two best things he does...call the O and call the D...to two guys who are not all that talented. Solid, yes, but not crafty, not guys who will pull rabbits out of the hat. If we are to go as far as this team can, a major league restructuring has to take place. The HC is going to have to be a real HC, not a corporate overseer who makes sure the OC and DC are doing their jobs.
It seems we agree that we are vanilla, not progressing with intricate blitz packages, not progressing with clever answers to box 8, or as AZ did it, disguising a 5 man rush as a box 8. In short, we are easy to predict, and that is NOT what Harbaugh was known for in college. The guy knows how to coach every position on the field, knows how and when to coach an aggressive D, and a very unpredictable O.
It is high time he stops being a manager, and runs both O and D.
We have a problem on both sides of the ball.
Coach Harbaugh's signature is on neither. We started off simple on both O and D. Unfortunately we stayed that way. My money is on Coach Harbaugh being Manager Harbaugh. Send Roman and fangio upstairs, and
let's see our best man call the O and D... and be HC in the real sense of the word. Sean Payton and Bill Bellicheat are two examples of "running their own teams", or if you wish, calling their own plays. After too many reviews of game tapes that is what I come up with
...our HC needs to be running both O and D with hands on...otherwise known as calling all the plays.
[ Edited by pasodoc9er on Dec 14, 2011 at 10:09 PM ]