Were We Running The Spread in the 2nd Half?

The first half infuriated me. The Texans were taking away all of the underneath stuff because they knew that's all Hill can do. Seemed like they were quick to jump our routes in the first half.

I was absolutely shocked to see Alex Smith on the field after the half. I didn't think they would pull the plug on Hill so soon, but I am glad they did.

It is clear that with Alex Smith in the game, the defenses will have to respect our receivers down the field instead of just stacking 8 in the box and taking away the underneath stuff. Thank goodness for a breath of fresh air.

Originally posted by blunt_probe:
Of course Raye is conveniently going to forget about it next game.

There's a good chance of that happening. It's sad that Raye (and/or Singletary) wakes up late in games and comes up with these schemes.
Just tired of playing from behind...year after year.
Can't we just start early and stay ahead? I guess we have to win first.

I could actually see Singletary incorporating more of this offense. From what I've seen, he seems to recognize and make corrections. I'm pretty sure he got on Raye at the half to make his changes, he's personally changed QB's twice now at the half in order to provide a spark (and it's worked), he's playing VD to his strengths as a receiver, etc.

I think he looks at the game tape and has Raye do more. This is all part of his "we're gonna get better" motto and, frankly, the rest of this season depends on this decision to go high-risk, high-reward. Our defense is good enough to cover the high-risk miscues, imo.

Originally posted by stever:
Ok, the game is lost, but the 2nd half looked primising. Why should'nt we play a system that favors Alex' strengths ? Lets play some spread offense. Lets play Crabtree, Morgan, Bruce, Jones and Hill. Lets move Gore around, he can be very effective as a pass catcher , too. Lets get Vernon and D.Walker out in the slot, ... I think we have the personal to play spread.
I think the oline looked way better in the 2nd half pass blocking than they did run blocking in half 1. ANd the playcalling was ok, too.

Why not ?

+1

Get opposing defences on their heels, and let Gore pick 'em apart if they start droppng back too much.

It really is apretty good Offensive aresenal with the spread.

Originally posted by boomer49er:

Originally posted by stever:
Ok, the game is lost, but the 2nd half looked primising. Why should'nt we play a system that favors Alex' strengths ? Lets play some spread offense. Lets play Crabtree, Morgan, Bruce, Jones and Hill. Lets move Gore around, he can be very effective as a pass catcher , too. Lets get Vernon and D.Walker out in the slot, ... I think we have the personal to play spread.
I think the oline looked way better in the 2nd half pass blocking than they did run blocking in half 1. ANd the playcalling was ok, too.

Why not ?

It's not just Smith, Crabtree excelled in a spread offense as well.

agree

Originally posted by Tru2RedNGold25:
If this is what is going to make us better am all for it

Spread the defense out and then in the 2nd half we can run Gore up the middle. The few rushes Frank had that went for anything positive were on the direct snap or when we had 3 wide. Give Smith options deep and give him a guy underneath and he should play pretty well. He looked good tossing the ball to Tree, Morgan, and VD. Hill hasn't been able to get the ball to Morgan all year.

It sure looked like it to me.

Man, that spread was fun to watch. Alex shocked me with his play. Even when we were winning with a mediocre running game and good D, it was pretty boring. Spreading the defense out and taking what they give you is exciting... and seemed to be pretty effective.

What we saw today is basically what the Patriots run every week. I noticed our pass protection improved as the game went on. With Alex playing in the shotgun and dropping back further, the Oline was able to back pedal and give themselves a larger cushion, making their pass rushers less effective.

I hope Raye continues to spread teams out. I'm a huge fan of passing and spreading defenses out, then exploiting it with the run. IMO, it's much more effective than running to setup the pass, especially when we're a poor play-action team to begin with.

I know the clock didn't really allow us to run the ball late in the game, but I would've loved to see Gore get the ball with the running lanes that were there. I think the spread offense is the best kept secret in the NFL. It has such a bad stereotype associated with that teams avoid it; however, if you look at the Pats, Colts, Saints and Packers, they frequently use the spread offense.

Note: I know it wasn't technically a "spread" offense, but it's essentially what we ran. I consider it a spread offense because: Smith's mobility allowed him to run when the opportunity was there; Gore has nice hands and was sliding out as a receiver; and lastly, I consider Vernon a WR.

Just showed that Jimmy Raye knows how to play within the QB's strengths, it wasn't him after all. Hill was a huge liability and it showed by his play calling on the field.

Happy with the decision of Singletary to pull Hill out and get a different look at QB, I believed it really sparked the team offensively.

Here goes for the upset next week at colts, so I hope.

Originally posted by Norwalks_Best:
Just showed that Jimmy Raye knows how to play within the QB's strengths, it wasn't him after all. Hill was a huge liability and it showed by his play calling on the field.

Happy with the decision of Singletary to pull Hill out and get a different look at QB, I believed it really sparked the team offensively.

Here goes for the upset next week at colts, so I hope.

I am hoping for the upset also.........................
all the same Alex played better than hill...

Alex showed up to play today & makes our offense much better to spread out the defense & execute.

Originally posted by mufasa76:

Originally posted by Norwalks_Best:
Just showed that Jimmy Raye knows how to play within the QB's strengths, it wasn't him after all. Hill was a huge liability and it showed by his play calling on the field.

Happy with the decision of Singletary to pull Hill out and get a different look at QB, I believed it really sparked the team offensively.

Here goes for the upset next week at colts, so I hope.

I am hoping for the upset also.........................
all the same Alex played better than hill...

We got an advantage if Singletary names Smith the starter we might surprise teams since they don't have enough film to figure out Smith or the schemes were going to run. I hope we pull the upset. It's going to be a close game I believe, of course if Smith starts.

Hill needs to be put as the 3rd stringer and get Davis some reps just in case Smith falls apart. I know he had a good 2nd half but can he do it throughout the whole game is the question?

Yeah i had to double count to make sure that i was seeing 5 WR set.

-9fA

Originally posted by Norwalks_Best:
Just showed that Jimmy Raye knows how to play within the QB's strengths, it wasn't him after all. Hill was a huge liability and it showed by his play calling on the field.

Happy with the decision of Singletary to pull Hill out and get a different look at QB, I believed it really sparked the team offensively.

Here goes for the upset next week at colts, so I hope.

I actually think a lot of it had to do with us playing from behind.

Will we still play the spread against the Colts in the 1st quarter? I'm not sure. Granted, that Hill's limitations probably played a huge part in the playcalling.

-9fA