Have Alex call his own plays? Why not?

Alright, how many of you think jimmy rae has done a fabulous job? How about bigMIkes game plan of "run the ball first"? Has jimmy rae called the kind of games you think we should have played. Has bigmike? Has the GM stepped in and said," hey guys, our O stinks. Our OL is crappy.?" Nah. Could alex call a game worse than jimmy rae(JR)? Anybody think he could call a game worse? Man i don't. So what in the heck is there to lose with alex calling his own plays?

History: recent helmet failures caused alex to have to call his own plays, and it was a 2 min drill besides. How'd it go? It went well, as long as alex was making the calls.
More History: It took alex half the time to finish college that it took me. He actually finished in 2 yrs (economics i think), and stayed a third yr to play, basically. So the kid is smart. Is he smarter about the O than bigmike or JR? I don't know, but right now, i would sure like to find out. Our O is bad, but our playcalling is worse. Last game we start off setting up the run with passes. Works great , then JR doesn't do it again for most of rest of game, and that sucks...it's stupid too.

So let JR, bigmike , hell, scot if he wants, do the game plan during the week, but include alex, get his input, so everybody knows what the plan is for the weekend. But come gametime, let alex call his plays. If HC wants first 15-25 plays scripted, that's fine, but alex should know them in advance, which means they get in on time, and if the D set is wrong, allow him to check off.

Here's several things that WOULDN'T happen if alex calls his own plays:
1) no more delay of game penalties, because plays didn't get in on time. This would save us 2-3 penalties/game.
2) No more 2 timeouts/ game, sometimes per half, waiting for the plays to get called in. Let's face it. JR may not call a good game, but by gum he sure is slow about it.
3) By not having to wait for plays, (which gives the OL no confidence in what is going to happen) if alex steps up to the line, he can check down. What's even better, he can do so because he has time, in that the OL was setup 10 with 10 seconds to go on the 24 sec clock. JUst use Peyton as an example.
4)Run, run, 3rd and long, pass, incomplete, punt.

Alex is smart enough, like every other player on the team to know that frank is our meat and gravy. But he can't run when the HC says we are gonna run and run.. and then run somemore. Frank averages about 2.1 yds in those conditions. But if alex passes, passes, then he can pass or run on third if we don't have a 1st down already. But this incredibly lame idea of bigmikes and JRs of run, run , pass, punt...how could alex POSSIBLY call a worse game than that ? Well, he couldn't.

i say, let the kid call his own game, and give him a voice during the game planning during the week. Have we tried it yet? Heck no. Well, no time like the present.

Oh, you don't like that? Well, heck, let's just stick with bigmike and JR, since they have the O working so well...at what, 30th or 31st in the league?

Big mike isn't fearful of change. Here's his chance to really improve an otherwise horrible O. Does he have the cojones to do it?

Smith could do it, he's smart enough to pull it off.

How well would the offense do...........Dunno.

Will Sing allow it..................No chance in hell

Maybe next year. Assuming he is still starting.

My name is Ram, and my tank... is full.

Well, AK, i hope bigMIke is smarter than that, because, if not, this hc slot which he was not qualified for is going to go to someone else if we should run, run , pass, punt the rest of the yr, and pick up maybe 2 more wins. I just have to believe bigMike wants to stay on as HC longer than that. Also, the guy is a great motivator, but has had no training to be HC. Let's face it...jed/ clown just pulled the trigger too soon on him. He was a great initial attraction, but we are now down to having to have a HC who knows what to do, and honestly, bigMike doesn't seem too. He's got a defensive mentality, and that isn't good enough to win... at least in this league.

Was it ever confirmed that in fact smith called his own plays during that two minuet drill or was it just speculated because he tapped his helmet?

I know bigMike prefers to be the CEO HC, but how many of you remember Walsh, the greatest coach of all time, sitting there with headphones on and never getting involved. Yeah, big mike got on the OL for not getting that 1 foot on 4th down, and he got on somebody for fighting, but good grief, the HC doesn't talk to the QB? what's with that? Maybe bigmike just doesn't have anything to say to his qB, but he sure looks silly out there looking like the sphinx while we are getting our tails kicked. If i had gotten the chance at HC, i would be talking to my OL all game, and if they just couldn't get it done, would work with them individually during the week. Letting our OL coach keep his job is on the HC. And if the OL coach can't do it, then the HC needs to be involved, not being cool and just observing. Maybe bigmike does work with the OL during the week. IF so , he needs someone to come in and show him how to do it. Our OL is just inexcusably bad, and we are always one snap away from the end of a QBs career, thanks to the OL.

Since the OL can't protect our qB, it is only fair and reasonable to let alex call plays, because he KNOWS who is going to let him down on the line, and he knows when anything but a 1 stepper will take too long. Let alex show guys who have no idea how to call a game, how to do it. What, you think he could be worse than what we got calling plays now?

the privilege for a qb to call his own plays for an entire game has to earned through mastery of the offensive system combined with the proper personnel that would allow it to function without the plays coming in from the side line. it would also be in the best interest of the team if that qb understood how defences would try to stop the O game plan and make adjustments on the fly. that aint gonna happen

[ Edited by Allx9er on Nov 15, 2009 at 20:12:33 ]

This is an excellent idea....no sarcasm intended. Everyone says that Smith doesnt function until he completely knows the offense, so why not let him call the plays he knows best? It makes too much sense

Originally posted by hcniner64:
Was it ever confirmed that in fact smith called his own plays during that two minuet drill or was it just speculated because he tapped his helmet?

I believe MM blogged that Alex only called 2 plays on that drive...because the headsets weren't working...... some have just blown it out of proportion.

NO! I don't trust Smith to call his own plays right now. Just 3 games ago he had trouble with delay of game cause he had too much on his plate. Lets get him and the offense mastering and executing the plays that are called before putting the play calling on his shoulder. I would much preferred his brain power goes to reading defenses and knowing what his offensive guys are doing on every play.

If he had to call his own plays, I'd much rather he make the line call instead, cause we all know that O-line is the s**t right now and need all the help they can get. Smith should do what Manning do at the line. Point to one of the blitzer, tell his lineman 'Hey you... block this mother****er!'

Yeah lets let him call his own plays because he's proven he knows what he's doing out there...

Has he ever done this? What makes you think he's even capable?

I'm gonna say, NO!

JCS and Dniner, just one question: do you really believe Jimmy rAe and big mike know what they are doing on O? You really think alex could call a worse game? Big mike wants to run,run, run with an O line that can't block. HOw could alex do worse? If we do as you fellows suggest, we know what to expect, and it is pathetic. What in the world is wrong with letting the guy out there who knows his OL can't block , calling the game? At the very least, i would certainly give him a shot at it for a couple games, anyway. Really, how can he do worse? WE should be 3-6 right now because last play of game, cutler hit mike lewis in the numbers, and the TE was open to his outside shoulder. Our O was pathetic. Generally when things are bad, one tries different things to see if the ship can be righted. We won't beat GB or anybody else with the O we have now. Why in the world not take a chance on alex?

Do i know or think he can do it? Heck, i don't know. I do know that jimmy rae's calls are losers for us. We don't get to play cutler again 3 times this yr. We have to have a functioning O , and right now we don't. What harm is there, what downside is there to letting someone else call the plays, who after being hammered for 3 weeks, may have an idea of what to call that succeeds. I don't get you guys who just say no, unless you expect jimmyrae to have an epiphany...and somehow, i just think that isnt' in the cards. And think of all the delay of game penalties we avoid, plus all the T.O.s we don't have to call because the plays came in late...again.

if our O plays the rest of the season like this we lose on out. We can't beat SEa, AZ, the rams, GB...heck nobody with our current O. And it all starts with the OC, and before that the HC...so far, they aren't getting it done. Try something different, which has a shot at working.