Dump the run, score some points!

Shit, anyone who manages people who's worth his/her salt knows you don't put people in a position that they can't handle.

I blame coaching far more than Wharton for the damage done on his watch. I mean, coaches made the decision to put him there. They should have known his capabilities and should have helped him out. End of story as far as I'm concerned.

 

Balls to the wall is the only way to play this game in ATL. Conservative ain't gonna cut it. Bury 'em early and DON'T let 'em up. Stand on their throats for 60 minutes. Do whatever works on offense and hit the shit out of Vick every chance you get on D. The spy ought to hit him every play just to remind him he's a marked man. Balls to the wall and everybody has to grab a pair. My fear is them knowing they have to win they'll play not to lose if they should get the lead.

 

HC, agree with your point about mistakes in the passing game.

You know, we talk about losing Foster. Who will pay him big $?

 

I don't believe he gets it/deserves it. I assume here or anywhere else at this point he's a 3rd down back who can take some regular snaps.

 

Dumping the run and going no huddle might work and get us in the playoffs. I do not think we can make a long run or beat good teams in the playoffs if we can not run. I think our best option now is to go more pass heavy and then use it to setup the run. This is what we did much of the second half of 2004. Teams wanted to stop Moose so they let us run the ball more, which is how Goings go so many yards. I see no reason why we can't do that now.

Go deep to Carter. Spread the ball around to Proehl and "maybe" Colbert. That might lossen them up a bit on Smith. Even if they do not loosen up on Smith find ways to get him the ball even if it is letting him run a reverse or a screen.

As much as I love ball control and power running, we can not do it this year.

 

I'm hoping with a full game under his belt, Carter will be more of a threat then last week and who knows, Colbert could show up. Those long balls to Proehl have really seemed to catch several teams forgetting about the old man, so maybe we cna set up the run by coming out firing. Lately we've seemed to be an every other game team, so by that routine, we should be hot this week. I have no idea.

 

twist my words though you may, i'm glad we didn't Quit on the running game cuz i think it gives us a better chance in the playoffs even though we are still struggling with it.

i don't think we will abandon the pass or emphasize the run come the playoffs. in fact, we may pass more from here on out cuz we won't be in the mode of working on our running game. we've done what we can do. we will try to run if we think we can well and to try to keep defenses honest.

if Carter settles down, i think he could be huge in the passing game. but we will still need to be able to run the ball. and if you're struggling as we were with running, you can't expect it to show up magically when you need it in the playoffs. you have to commit to trying to make it happen during the season.

if you will read carefully then you will note that i didn't call anyone stupid because obviously, as you pointed out, no one said we shoulda abandoned the run.

i'm gonna disagree. somebody is gonna take a chance that he can be their feature back. he's got way too much talent. injuries are a concern ... but a few teams will be drooling to take that chance. if he has a big playoff, it will probably be us too.

 

What people are asking for is that we be less conservative. Stop running when we're getting 2 yards/carry.

And no, I don't see us having a good chance or better chance because we run more. Repetition doesn't solve problems at this point.

i don't think we will abandon the pass or emphasize the run come the playoffs. in fact, we may pass more from here on out cuz we won't be in the mode of working on our running game. we've done what we can do. we will try to run if we think we can well and to try to keep defenses honest.

Are, not were.
And I don't think that it's magically going to be there in the playoffs. I don't think it's there now, I don't think it's going to be there. Without Davis taking half the carries or more, we've been pretty bad running the ball. Only the 1st Falcons game did we really run it well, and that's their weakness (and we were up by a fair margin anyway, necessitating the run).


Either way I think we're arguing big over small things. Don't over-react about run criticism, because it's been awful almost all year. I think all anyone wants is that we don't sit on our hands and play "not to lose" rather than playing to win. I'd rather go down swinging with all we have than "not win because we can't run but let's try it anyway".

I did read carefully, and explained this exact point to you. But thanks.

I'd be a little surprised, but if they want to, they can. We need more than he is.

 

It depends on the situation. Sometimes running the ball for two yards per carry is not a bad thing. When you have a decent lead it is not a bad thing. It is certainly preferable to Jake throwing picks that get run back.

I think we would all like to see a better mixture. Our offense is set up to pound the ball with the run then set it up for play action. You do not pass a lot but when you do you go deep. The problem is our run does not scare anyone and it is not opening up anything in play action. We need more short to medium passing to mix things up. Right now we have to use our run game as a compliment to our passing game not the reverse.

All that being said the only game this year where we ran well was against Atlanta. I could see them think it will work again. It might but it might not and I hope they are ready to change up if it does not. There is reason to think they wont and I think that is what has people worried.

 

That was my point, though in a big enough lead it doesn't really matter what you're doing as long as you're eating time. But in general, I'm not a proponent of ten 2-3 yard runs just for shits and giggles. I've not seen it actually open anything up running, and for that matter, I haven't seen anyone respect our PA.

Maybe if we used our PA for good (draw a linebacker in for a second, slip a TE past him) and not evil (pretending a FS is going to care about the run when he knows we're going to no-look chuck it up to Smith because we're not smart enough to put another receiver to that side to pump-fake or draw the safety over with), I'd agree. But we don't, and while I'm not just going to bag on Jake all day like some, I don't like how Jake sells PA. It doesn't even look like he's been made to work on it.