12-06-2017, 02:46 PM
This team was doomed for 2 reasons, both bad decisions by the front office.
1. Not replacing Ken Zampese after he was clearly in over his head last year.
This led to a sluggish (to put it mildly) start, and then we had to hit the panic button and give the job to Lazor, who had to slowly implement his offense midseason. Had we just given the job to Lazor in the offseason, he could've had his offense fully installed, and probably changed the run blocking scheme much sooner than week 13.
2. Neglecting the line after last year's failures.
This led to 24 sacks in the first 8 weeks, and a constant feeling that the offense was searching for ways to mask a bad line. We've passed a lot less than we ever have (Dalton averaging a career low 30.0 attempts) and a lot less than Zampese's offense did in Miami. We've been running more quick passes than ever. Partly to offset the pass rush, partly to make up for a terrible run game. Even after 2 straight good games, we're still 30th in both rush yards and YPC. That should tell you how bad the run game was over the first 10 games.
The line has been a major issue for 2 years, and a late season mini-surge isn't going to change my mind about change next year.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Dalton for his part has done extremely well. Throwing 20 TD's to only 4 INT's with a 103.1 rating since Lazor's promotion.
He's now gone 6 straight games without an INT, and has multiple TD passes in 8 of 10 games.
1. Not replacing Ken Zampese after he was clearly in over his head last year.
This led to a sluggish (to put it mildly) start, and then we had to hit the panic button and give the job to Lazor, who had to slowly implement his offense midseason. Had we just given the job to Lazor in the offseason, he could've had his offense fully installed, and probably changed the run blocking scheme much sooner than week 13.
2. Neglecting the line after last year's failures.
This led to 24 sacks in the first 8 weeks, and a constant feeling that the offense was searching for ways to mask a bad line. We've passed a lot less than we ever have (Dalton averaging a career low 30.0 attempts) and a lot less than Zampese's offense did in Miami. We've been running more quick passes than ever. Partly to offset the pass rush, partly to make up for a terrible run game. Even after 2 straight good games, we're still 30th in both rush yards and YPC. That should tell you how bad the run game was over the first 10 games.
The line has been a major issue for 2 years, and a late season mini-surge isn't going to change my mind about change next year.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Dalton for his part has done extremely well. Throwing 20 TD's to only 4 INT's with a 103.1 rating since Lazor's promotion.
He's now gone 6 straight games without an INT, and has multiple TD passes in 8 of 10 games.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
