(09-16-2024, 04:05 AM)Ronster Wrote: Lawrence looks lost out there, he’s playing like a rookie, how much did they pay him?

I wouldn't say that. I think he's learning from the past few years and playing more gun shy if anything while holding onto the football a little bit longer than usual. Two weeks into the season without a turnover is impressive to me. They'll get a win here soon. Somebody's going to get a fire lit under their [BLEEP] this week between the coaching staff and personnel. It's coming. 

I think there needs to be a happy balance established here within the offense of what works, and what doesn't work.

What works?

• Running the football on 1st and 10+ yards works relatively well. They have their best success here, they tend to average right around 5 YPC. 
  
• The deep ball is there with BTJ. There's something to exploit there further in due time. 
  
• Davis is a little bit better in the mid game than I realized. He seems to be a hybrid of Zay Jones and Marvin Jones. Need to keep working the seams more with him.
  
• Strange looked pretty damn good yesterday on short notice with Engram out. This is something to watch. Bigsby had his game in week one. Strange had his game in week two. Could week three be the combination of both showing up?
  
• End around / Jet Sweep to Duvernay. Two weeks in a row. It's not GREAT, but, it's not BAD neither. First time got a facemask on it for a good gain. Yesterday it was a nice cut back effort for three to four. This can be used to set up a misdirection play soon.
  
• Lawrence's legs. He took off once or twice in the Miami opener. He had a big run yesterday and went 2 for 45 yards I believe. Need some more of this. All the elite QB's do it today. He must continue to do this from time to time. 
  

What doesn't work?

• Short yardage run plays, from the 1 - 3 yard variety. Doesn't matter what down it is, that well is simply not there to drink from.
  
• Redzone offense. Again, see above. As the field shrinks, so does the play calling it appears. Running it all the time won't cut it.
  
• Third down conversions. 5/19 for so far. If they can avoid 3rd downs completely, the world would be a better place. Not realistic though. What can they change here?
  

Possible solutions?

I think it's obvious. I really do. This is a good 1st down offense. Teams are expecting the run more and they're effective at it here. They need to find a way to make this the guessing game for opponents. A lot of run looks but opting for big pass plays in chunks. Maybe use more RPO with Lawrence to keep a defense on it's heels. While it's nice to see 5 - 7 yards run being picked up on 1st downs? And it seems to be a big block of cheese for the play caller on the table to keep wanting to run it on those 2nd and short situations?

Don't do it. Just don't do it. I think you could use 1st and 10+ situations as a test for Lawrence as a highly paid QB now. Give him the reigns there. Give him the Peyton Manning audible options there. Would like to see a mix and match of twin TE sets and trips WR sets on 1st and 10+ moving forward. Sure. Sometimes getting that 5 - 7 yard run is great. Would rather see Lawrence freeze the LB group though and pick up a chunk of 15+ or 20+ instead with a passing play. 

With Lawrence's legs? They really do need to get that kid moving in and out of the pocket, flowing left to right and right to left from time to time. Keep a nice healthy rotation of Kirk in and out for Washington, Duvernay in and out with anybody really with his speed and getting the most out of BTJ's 4.3 speed as an overall athlete. Lawrence seems to be a really good thrower on the run, feels more natural to him from the highlights I have seen over the years.

This offense is dying from a lack of bootlegs, QB keepers, QB sprints, designed roll out's, misdirection screens, etc. This is what they should be doing on 1st and goal and those 2nd and 3rd short yardage situations. Etienne is a pass catcher as well. Not sure if the offensive staff knows this, but, the guy had 102 career receptions for close to 1,200 yards and 8 TD's at Clemson. He averaged basically a 1st down every time he caught a pass with 11.3 YPC. 

This is something a good play caller and offense should be exploiting more of underneath in short yardage situations and refining week to week. He's entering a contract year soon anyway. More than likely destined for the franchise tag and being ran into the dirt. Might as well give him more opportunities in the passing game. They looked good in preseason a few times with some looks. That big TD catch he had in Pittsburgh last year should have been sprinkled more into this offense planning wise. 

If Engram's hamstring is healthy though for week three? It would be fun seeing Strange and him both getting some short yardage work together as a tandem like Doug used to do with his entire TE room with the Eagles. They didn't take Strange in RD2 last year to be a big blocker. He's showing you what he can do in the passing game now, like he did yesterday. He also had a few nice routes where he was missed during the preseason as well.

This is where you can get away from the running game on short yardage situations and where you can potentially use your TE's to get LB's isolated and guessing too much to where, maybe, down the road, sure, getting those short yards on the ground become easier for Etienne and Bigsby. It starts with the play caller first though. You have to be willing to adapt. You have to be willing to break up your own tendencies. 

This team has been it's own worst enemy since Doug has been here. Said it in the other thread already. Maybe even this thread. They're streaky. In a good and bad way. When it's good? It's GOOD. When it's bad? It's BAD. This bad streak feels a little different though. It's not the usual turnover frenzy we're used to seeing, it's still the same miscues though, lack of concentration & lack of awareness. Again, tendency breaker folks. Coaches have to coach them out of this. 

They can do it. They'll do it.

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