Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
It. Was. Never. Scheme.
All you had to do was stop listening to the players make excuses about how bad a job they were doing and actually watch what was happening.
Sutton's stuff was simple flow/fill concepts that you learned in high school. People kept wanting to pretend that was rocket science because they didn't want to blame the players and Sutton was an easy mark, but it isn't. That's basic basic stuff that every team does.
There isn't a team in football that just tells its linebackers to see ball, hit ball. Or line up in a spot and determine before the snap where you're going to run. You do that and these OCs will absolutely eat you alive. It's their damn job.
Defense is by its very nature reactive; it has to be - the offense knows where the ball is going and what's happening next, the defense doesn't. So to act like you can just take all nuance and all requirement to analyze out of a defense is just ridiculous.
But "Sutton's complicated scheme!!" became the buzzwords and now people are wondering why Spags scheme is just so damn complicated. IT ISN'T! Nor was Sutton's. This is basic stuff that you could see these guys failing to execute last season.
Spags, like so damn many DCs before him, is more bark than bite. Guys like him and Gunther and Rob Ryan and a slew of others all talk big and say the right things that make them sound awesome. But most of the time they're just full of shit. Spags is Gunther 2.0. He was when he was hired. Gunter was "anyone but Greg Robinson" and as it turns out he was just another tired retread who'd had brief moments of faint success due to superior talent. And he parlayed an attitude into coaching jobs and promotions he never showed the aptitude for.
Spags is the same guy. He has a reputation because he talks a big game and once had a good defense with good players, but ultimately he's just as JAG as JAG gets and frankly his resume suggested he was worse than that.
But in the end, the players just need to execute ANYTHING. Because for all the talk of how the Lions and Colts 'found the blueprint' (before the Texans actually vivisected us), the only thing those 2 teams did that was all that impressive was they simply went where they were supposed to go and made the damn tackle. Our guys guess (poorly) and don't finish plays. There's no scheme in the world that can address that (or frankly, cause it).
No.
Bob Sutton didn't have a this is too difficult to learn problem. He had a "none of this shit makes any sense" problem. There really wasn't any plan with his coverages beyond please hold up long enough somehow till the passrush can arrive. There was no logic and he hardly ever adjusted.
Steve Spagnuolo seems to think he's the 4-3 Romeo Crennel all of a sudden in terms of delegating assignments when in he really just looks like another Clancy Pendergast. [Reply]
Bob Sutton didn't have a this is too difficult to learn problem. He had a "none of this shit makes any sense" problem. There really wasn't any plan with his coverages beyond please hold up long enough somehow till the passrush can arrive. There was no logic and he hardly ever adjusted.
Steve Spagnuolo seems to think he's the 4-3 Romeo Crennel all of a sudden in terms of delegating assignments when in he really just looks like another Clancy Pendergast.
I'm not talking coverage; I'm a little more flexible on the argument for his coverage packages. If for no other reason than he was so inflexible when it became apparent that Parker, Nelson and Scandrick were so damn useless in trying to operate in zone and figure out when to pass guys off. I'm talking about all the grousing about the run defense and attempts to blame Sutton for that. Sutton was not the reason our run defense struggled last year and all it took was an open mind and two functioning eyes to realize that. When everyone else was sucking off Jones and remembering the Houston that we used to have, they were missing the fact that Jones was blowing assignments and Houston was taking entire weeks off in run support. And I won't even bother barking about how bad the secondary was on pure effort against the run - lord that was ugly.
His coverage stuff, OTOH, was a little more convoluted but even then, by the end, he'd dumbed it down a LOT. So much so that he got blasted for Brady's ease in picking apart the zones based on alignment. By the end of the season, Sutton was doing exactly what people were claiming he needed to do - simple assignments and simple responsibilities. And then THAT got him barbecued.
Sometimes you can put guys in positions to fail regardless of what they do. Sutton occasionally did that (Spags seems to be doing that often). But oftentimes you can put a scheme out there that would work if the 11 guys on the field would just do their damn jobs. And for far too long we haven't found the 11 guys we need to make that happen.
The only argument in favor of Spags over Sutton was that Spags more hands-on and fiery demeanor could actually spur some of these guys to do things that Sutton's reserved and cerebral approach wasn't accomplishing. Seems pretty clear at this point that it's not having the desired effect. [Reply]
Just watch the #Chiefs recent signing Terrell McClain (69). That’s how you stop a double team in its tracks. It’s like two offensive linemen trying to push a truck out of the mud or snow. #JacobsEyeInTheSky#Chiefspic.twitter.com/NnHymXvsXu
God damn that was embarrassing from Schwartz. It doesn't even make sense... He had a chip on the outside by Williams so why was he playing Watts outside shoulder in the first place? [Reply]
Originally Posted by -King-:
God damn that was embarrassing from Schwartz. It doesn't even make sense... He had a chip on the outside by Williams so why was he playing Watts outside shoulder in the first place?
He wasn't trying to play Watts to the inside shoulder; he was slow to his punch. Watt got his club in before Schwartz got his hands up and since Watt is a big !@#$ing man, he just blasted Schwartz's left hand down, caught him mid-step to get him out of his 'chair' and when Schwartz tried a desperation lunge, Watt just had the balance to sluff him off.
That wasn't a good rep from Mitch, to be clear. He got beat pretty damn badly. But most guys wouldn't have made him look like that big of an idiot. Frank Clark would've stuck to him like glue (we've seen it 100 times already).
But Watt's actually, y'know, good. So when he handily wins a rep, it shows up pretty loudly. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
He wasn't trying to play Watts to the inside shoulder; he was slow to his punch. Watt got his club in before Schwartz got his hands up and since Watt is a big !@#$ing man, he just blasted Schwartz's left hand down, caught him mid-step to get him out of his 'chair' and when Schwartz tried a desperation lunge, Watt just had the balance to sluff him off.
That wasn't a good rep from Mitch, to be clear. He got beat pretty damn badly. But most guys wouldn't have made him look like that big of an idiot. Frank Clark would've stuck to him like glue (we've seen it 100 times already).
But Watt's actually, y'know, good. So when he handily wins a rep, it shows up pretty loudly.
I just finished re-watching the first half. I really only watched the Chiefs' defensive snaps, and only the DL.
McClain actually does a nice job when he's in. He's not getting great penetration, but he's doing his job, so far as I can tell, and I couldn't find anything he did that was just wrong. Just competent play.
Nnadi had a few mishaps that resulted in big plays, though one I think was play design. It's hard to tell; He jumps to the right hard directly into a double team, which isn't the worst part of the play. Saunders is there, and it's obvious from the get go that Saunders is trying to move to his left. When Nnadi jumps into the double team, he effectively becomes another blocker, taking Saunders completely out of the play. I can't believe that's how they drew that up.
On another running play, Nnadi does his job at first, but then he tries to duck to his right and maybe make a play on Hyde, but Hyde sees him and just hop-slides the other way. Unfortunately, because Nnadi tries to get inside, he's then blocked out of the play, and he leaves the back door wide open for Hyde to go for 11. If Nnadi had stayed where he was or even cheated slightly to his left, Hyde might've gotten two yards at most. Maybe none.
On a side note, I was surprised at how many times the Texans double-teamed Saunders. In the first half he was doubled at least four times, right at the snap. At least two other times when a tackle came over to help the guard.
It was hard to tell just how well Saunders was playing. The doubles negated any push he might've gotten. When he was singled, he wasn't getting great penetration, but he wasn't getting mauled out there either.
I did like his awareness. He has a nose for the ball. He seems to know where it is at all times. And he's appears to be a pretty good tackler. [Reply]