Zac Taylor not ready to address benching Dalton..

[*rfaulk34*]

(10-26-2019, 11:12 AM)fredtoast Wrote: Coaches can only function properly if they are playing to win.  I believe that Zach is convinced that Dalton gives him the best chance to win.  Our offense is the worst I have ever seen.  Our running game is not just bad, it is on pace to be the worst in modern NFL history, and our pass protection is so poor that Dalton is getting rid of the ball faster than any other QB in the league.  The coaching staff has no answers.


Dalton is starting to look like he is breaking with the rest of the offense.  He only had 28 games with a passer rating under 65 in his first 122 starts, but he has had 4 in his last 5.  Teams are stuffing our run without extra defenders in the box.  There is zero threat of play action and, Dalton is constantly looking at third and long instead of a manageable 3rd and 4 or less.  Two of our starting WRs are out with injury and we hardly throw to our TEs anymore.  I honestly doubt any QB would do very well in this situation.  I was very pleased with the way Finley performed in the preseason, but I don't see him doing very well starting under these conditions.

But as much as Zach wants to concentrate on winning I also think he realizes that if we get to 0-12 or something like that it would be time to look at Finley.  You all know I am a big supporter of Dalton, but I would have no problem with them starting Finley.  He would probably look just as shitty as Dalton, but I don't think that would crush his spirit.  The fans would not be that hard on him because no one would expect a fourth round rookie to be able to do anything with this mess.

As bad as the Oline has been--and it's been "better" lately--probably the biggest problem with the offense is Green and Ross being out. There's no one with a threat to stretch the field and it's allowed the defense to play closer to the LOS. Combine that with bad run blocking and you have...poop. 

I doubt it would make a huge difference, but i do think it would make a noticeable difference as the year went on. 

The frustrating part of this team, and i don't know if it's more play call or QB is, Dalton hasn't been terrible all over the field. He's been very good on passes 0-10 yds to the right and middle 67/88 542 3/1 97.8 and 20+ yds outside left 3/6 126 1/0 135.4. Their best rushing production is behind LT and LG where they're averaging 4.3 and 7.2 per rush, but they've only attempted a total of 16 rushes there. Their most attempts are middle right and right end where they've attempted 23 rushes for each but only averaged 1.7 and 2.6 there. 

I have to wonder if anyone on the staff studies this and tries to taylor (no pun intended) the offense to these strengths.