Quote:
Originally Posted by HPF Bob
This has part of what I meant in the game thread about the game passing by Kubiak and Phillips. Kubiak is basically using the same thing that worked for the Broncos in the 1990s.
And if the Texans can grind it out on the ground as they can do at times, there's no need to play hurry up or throw the ball all over the parking lot. As more teams become lighter and faster to counteract no-huddle pass-happy hurry-ups, the ground game becomes even more effective when you stick with it. We eat up a lot of clock time and keep the defense off the field when we can march methodically down the field on offense.
But Kubiak's offense Is pretty much a known quantity and so is Phillips' defense. There's nothing particularly new or unpredictable in either one of them. That's okay when your team is more physically gifted than your opponents but, on a level playing field, it's a severe handicap when the other side can predict what's coming.
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The other side knows what is coming 99% of the time in the NFL. The confusion we create in the bootleg game (which returned last night after being absent weeks 13-16 last year) is as good as it gets when it comes to creating confusion in the opposition. Nothing Baltimore did was a suprise last year to anyone. Flacco launches deep balls to covered WRs and looks for PI bailouts, or he checks down to Rice and the TEs. They run out of Shotgun. Everyone in the NFL knew it. There defense was even more of a known quality. Every player, formation, and twist they had was on tape before the playoffs started. It's about execution, not the element of suprise. That's why Chip Kelly will get a few weeks or most of a season, but teams won't be caught flat footed for long (especially not teams that play NE who has run most of the Oregon offense for 2-3 years).
When our offense executes and puts pressure on the opposing defense with our play calling, we are tought to beat. When we shut it down (a gameplan issue, not a design of the offense thing) we lose to the Minnesotas and Indys of the world (and almost the SDs).