Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
Really nice job, DJ. I may have put it in the wrong thread (offensive line thread), but my feelings were it didn't matter who we had at QB Sunday, the fault for this game laid squarely on Chip's shoulders. Run run pass....punt....with 2 mins to go in the first half we were 1 conversion on 3rd down out of 9 tries. And virtually every one of those was run run pass. ..no, this was chip's loss and he deserves it. SEA was loading up the box, chip was right there, he saw it and yet run run pass. He comes off as just a hard head, Had his mind made up we would run it down their throats. Didn't care if on 1st and 2nd down they had a passel of guys on the LOS. Chip saw it and ran anyway. Put the blame where it deserves to be...our OC/HC. He was as guilty as they come. Not going to say gab played lites out. Nor would I ever say that about our erstwhile receiving corps. But before blaming WRs or QBs put the blame where it belongs. The squat guy with the card in front of his face with the 8 on top and S on the bottom. That guy.
I agree with you that Kelly bears some blame here. (Much of the play calling against the Seahawks was very vanilla.) My question is; how much?
In my review at the beginning of this thread I noted the numerous times that all receivers were on short routes with no attempt to stretch the field vertically. Thl pointed out that a part of that is the attempt to stretch the field horizontally which is a concept that goes back to Bill Walsh. I am fine with that, but not as a base concept. There were at least three plays where the play call seemed to be a "give up" play even though the needed yardage was relatively obtainable.
Why Kelly does this is my question: Does he feel he does not have players that CAN stretch the field vertically? If so, is it the QB or the receivers, or both? I believe it is the latter more than the former. Gabbert has the arm to get it deep if there is a receiver with speed and size capable of making the catch. We don't have one of those but we do have a QB that has the arm but apparently not the mentality to do it. It is like my my uncle who grew up in the Depression era where times were very tough and food was sometimes scarce would say come breakfast time, "If we had some ham we would have some ham and eggs if we had some eggs." We have neither ham nor eggs, and against a very good team like Seattle, that is going to frustrate.
Still, it is my belief that you have to force some things at times just to keep the defense from piling on. You don't have to be successful every time, or even a majority of the time, but you have to keep the seed planted that you are willing to try. Just send Smith and Streater long and tell Gabbert to heave one down there. Even if they are covered, throw it anyway. Over throw if it isn't open but throw it. Be willing to give up a play just to show the will to try. (I recall Montana telling of Walsh doing that very thing.) Kelly needs to give Gabbert permission to throw one deep knowing that it may fall incomplete. Gabbert appears to be so risk averse he isn't willing to try. I believe that is a carry over from prior stops, if so, it is something can be trained out of him with time. However, he needs to know that his coach has his back if it fails. Kelly needs to make that clear.