Lombardi should be fired

[TrustMeIamRight]

Lombardi's issues have to do with the OL blocking scheme. Every single player on the OL is playing worse than they did last year. When you change coordinators and blocking schemes -- it isn't difficult to figure out what has gone wrong.

Add in the fact -- Lombardi is a first year coordinator who seems to be in over his head right now and struggles making adjustments -- You end up with an offense that has ranked in the top 3-5 for 3 straight years turning into one of the worst offenses.

No one seems to know what they are supposed to be doing. Last game, we had guys cutting off routes, guys not even getting their head turned around and an offensive line that can sustain blocks long enough for players to even run their routes.

NE put on a frickin' clinic last week into what coaching and strategy can do for a team. Detroit's strength is stopping the run. By rushing 4 and dropping 7 the majority of the time -- it is more difficult to make throws downfield, so NE just picked apart Detroit with short routes. It seemed like every play Brady was throwing to a wide open WR. I truly hope Austin is ready to see Chicago try to do the same thing this week.

 

[Rollingthndr]

NE put on a frickin' clinic last week into what coaching and strategy can do for a team. Detroit's strength is stopping the run. By rushing 4 and dropping 7 the majority of the time -- it is more difficult to make throws downfield, so NE just picked apart Detroit with short routes. It seemed like every play Brady was throwing to a wide open WR. I truly hope Austin is ready to see Chicago try to do the same thing this week.

The official "blueprint" has been made

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

The official "blueprint" has been made

That is what I'm afraid of. It is sort of like how every team started dropping their safeties 20 yards off the line of scrimmage against our offense.

 

[Old Lion]

The blueprint last a little over a quarter before Austin made adjustments and shut it down

 

[gandydancer]

The blueprint last a little over a quarter before Austin made adjustments and shut it down

Again I will say here like I did on other thread. Austin made no adjustments last week. Might have been more the opponent than anything. I love Austin and what he has done so far. The short screens and short passes still worked all game. Just every drive was stalled. You act as if they adjusted and the Bears did nothing but three and outs for 3 qtrs.

 

[Old Lion]

I disagree. The trips on one side was adjusted for by playing tighter and sliding over. We didn't stop it every time, but we did enough to foil it so that they could not sustain anything or even score again.


Screens will still work to some degree as our front 4 is aggressive rushing and the LBs tend to play zone. That goes for any team that executes it against an aggressive front not just us.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

The blueprint last a little over a quarter before Austin made adjustments and shut it down

While the Lions defense was much better from the 2nd quarter on -- The Bears helped tremendously too, as they kept shooting themselves in the foot with penalties and drops. They kept putting themselves in 2nd and 3rd and really long, which made them abandon the little dump passes and try to pick up chunks of yards

Once Detroit's offense got going and built a lead -- the Bears started to throw the ball down field more, which gave the Lions front 4 a chance to get after Cutler.

 

[Old Lion]

While the Lions defense was much better from the 2nd quarter on -- The Bears helped tremendously too, as they kept shooting themselves in the foot with penalties and drops. They kept putting themselves in 2nd and 3rd and really long, which made them abandon the little dump passes and try to pick up chunks of yards

Once Detroit's offense got going and built a lead -- the Bears started to throw the ball down field more, which gave the Lions front 4 a chance to get after Cutler.

While this is true, the defense kept many of those short passes to 2 and 3 yard gains on early downs. This forced them to execute 3 out of 3 in order to keep a drive going versus only 2 out 3 when the were getting 5 and 6 yards a pop and more sometimes early in the game.

It was very obvious to see the difference when the Bears came out trips. In the first quarter all we had was 1 DB up close, 1 back and a LB way off towards the middle. After the first quarter we started bunching up our defenders with them on 1st and 2nd down. That forced them to rush the catch and run more which lead to more drops.

 

[Thruthefog]

Maybe there is hope for Lombardi after all.

I'll start with a couple of my own experiences which, not on the same level as OC, will serve to exhibit a mindset.

When I was in my early 20s I attended a Halloween party thrown by my hometown. One of the 'events' of the night was a ping pong tournament. I figured I would win because most people couldn't react fast enough to my strategy of slamming the ball past them. But in the finals I played against a high school kid that put so much spin on the ball, that I couldn't control my shots and they went wild. By the time I found myself behind 16-7, I realized I couldn't beat my opponent with my present strategy and went completely on the defensive, doing no more than trying to place the ball on his side of the table and waiting for him to make the mistake. The volleys were long, but eventually he would misfire. I came back to win.

The other time was a few years ago when playing chess with a guy. In chess I always sat back, played solid defense, and waited for my opponent to make a mistake. But this guy was more aggressive than anyone I had ever played. He constantly kept me scrambling to make my defense hold up. He was the 'Patton' of chess players. He beat me easily the first game. And although I was ready for him the second game, he eventually wore me down and won that one too. We played one more and I went all 'Nebraska' on his ass, and mopped the board with him.

The thing is, when you're winning, there is no sense of urgency to change your tactics even if you're struggling to win.

The Lions were 7-2. It wasn't until the Lions failed to score a TD in two consecutive losses, that Lombardi showed real changes to his offense.

Does any of this make sense? Or is it the weed again?

 

[LPinSLC]

Yes and yes.

 

[themuzzer]

Makes perfect sense, and I did the ping pong and chess thing with my nephew this weekend. I've done it a million times in my lifetime and that's what makes competition worth while.

Not sure Lombardi showed real changes though, maybe players caught the ball instead of dropping it, the OL still looked bad and it was the Bears not the Patriots....Maybe it was the competition that made Lombardi look better?

 

[Coach_Ed_LPW]

So his blocking scheme probably requires 2 TEs to keep the QB upright and that's why the O-line looks like crap. Its the same group from last year except Waddell was out a few games. Pretty much the same issues when he came back. No lineman other than Reiff looked decent this year. You cant say all of a sudden we have a weak O-Line when it was one of the better ones in the league last year when they had less experience.

It's only BS Old Lion if you were dumb enough to believe our Oline was one of the better in the league last year. Oh they didnt give up a lot of sacks last year...and pro football focus rated them whatever. Thats the BULLSHIT. I watched the games...our oline sucked just as bad last year, only difference is Linehans a more experienced coach and he knew better. What were the complaints last year? We dont throw deep enough, everything is short and to the backs...not taking advantage of the best freak wide receiver in the league. Its because a 7 step was out of the question. Oline one of the best last year...wipe my ass with that horseshit.

 

[Thruthefog]

All Lombardi has to do is throw a screen pass on the first play of the game. After that, as bad as the OL pass blocks, every pass play will seem like a screen.

 

[Coach_Ed_LPW]

LOL Tru the fog...I actually thought the same thing. I think thats why the screens worked so well last year....This is how they coach it...Block as you normally would only right after the guy blows by you, instead of turning around and watching Stafford get killed(like usual), you run downfield and actually block someone else. The defense is fooled everytime, they just cant tell teh difference.

 

[tpaulus_2]

It's only BS Old Lion if you were dumb enough to believe our Oline was one of the better in the league last year. Oh they didnt give up a lot of sacks last year...and pro football focus rated them whatever. Thats the BULLSHIT. I watched the games...our oline sucked just as bad last year, only difference is Linehans a more experienced coach and he knew better. What were the complaints last year? We dont throw deep enough, everything is short and to the backs...not taking advantage of the best freak wide receiver in the league. Its because a 7 step was out of the question. Oline one of the best last year...wipe my ass with that horseshit.

Calm down there big fella. You're getting all worked up and nobody is even arguing with you. No need to yell, I think it's pretty obvious that last year's o-line success was far more a result of Linehan's scheme than it was pure talent...

 

[Dougie McBuckets]

Lombardi needs to be fired. That turkey is overdone!

 

[Coach_Ed_LPW]

One person was T-Paul...

 

[tpaulus_2]

One person was T-Paul...

Then I recant my statement. Rage on.

 

[Coach_Ed_LPW]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh bi-polar midget martial artist will fuck you up

 

[kengel6]

A fifth grader could have designed better plays than this bum. Were is SL when we need him? Oh, with Dallas?