Props to halftime adjustments

[CJD]

(10-24-2021, 11:14 PM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Play-calling looked damn-fine to me.

As I said in the other thread, one can only comment from hindsight.

If the sneak/other plays are executed and not blown up, you wouldn't comment on getting to 4th down, 'cause we wouldn't have.

It's one thing if you run a drag at 7 yards (that's caught), when you need 9 for the FD, it's another to call a play that should get you a yard, but you don't execute and it doesn't work. The first is actual bad play-calling (and Zac hasn't called anything close to that, this year). The other is poor execution and really, has nothing to do with the playcall.

EDIT* we had a back and forth about this in the offseason; that kind of criticism is nitpicking/complaining, just to complain/nitpick.

Until Zac calls numerous plays that even if executed correctly, don't end up with a positive result, the person criticising is only playing armchair OC and from a position of hindsight, which isn't, "fair."

Then the team is really bad at executing on third and short. The coaching should work on that.

Edit: But to expound on that, the announcers mentioned after that failed QB sneak that it looked like Bynes called something out that was probably either some tell from us running QB sneaks in the past or maybe just his knowledge of the team having played with us last year. Either way, the defense predicted the playcall and had the exact way to stop it.

A sneak when you need 1 yard is...fine playcalling. But if you are doing something so obvious that it can be picked out pre-play, you're becoming a predictable playcaller. Not to mention an uncreative playcaller.

I really liked the playcall of the mixon touchdown last week on 4th and 1. I'd love to see them go play action or pass out of a heavy set more often on 2nd or 3rd and short plays. When the entire defense is on the LOS on your 2nd or 3rd and 1 play, I think a good playcaller (whether that be ZT or Burrow) should check out of that run and try something over the top. And I think that has, in general, taken a toll on their 3rd and short success rate. It just feels very "by the book."

"It's 3rd and short. That means we run because (insert reasons)." I don't like that style of playcalling. The best playcallers in the NFL are daring, creative and adaptive. And these 3rd and short play calls have not been any of those things.

Again, Zac seems to be good at playcalling in normal scenarios and may even have a better conversion rate on 3rd and long than he does on 3rd and short. I just think it's a mental block at this point.