Ray, Drew Brees Situation w/ the Saints!?

[Crimsoncrew]

You guys just have to admit that while Smith was bad in the red zone, the running game was even worse. At least the last time I looked....maybe week 12 or 13, they were averaging like 1.0 yards/carry inside the 10. There were just some fundamental failures, beyond the talent level of any particular player, in their short yardage game last year.

Gore averaged 2.1 yards in the red zone. Smith averaged 2.5 YPA. There were some breakdowns, especially when Chilo was in there, but blaming the struggles of the passing game on the struggles of the running game avoids the larger problem, IMO.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

the breakdown in the red zone was the entire offense. it was basically designed to set up akers. almost everytime we were in the red zone we did some dumb play or just ran it.

there was never any urgency to put the ball in the end zone unless we actually needed a score.

Or, you know, Smith wouldn't make a pass into a tight window. This is one of the places where his concern over making a mistake hurt us. He would constantly throw it away or check it down to an underneath receiver with no chance to get in the endzone. Those were not the called plays, generally, so to at least some degree, that is on Smith.

In the red zone, "Manning open" vs. "Smith open" is magnified. The windows are small. You've got to pull the trigger and put the ball into a small area.

Now, to be fair, some of this might be on the coaching and emphasizing that Smith not mess things up. But he is the QB and we called more than enough pass plays. He's got to make a play. He had effectively the same players as last year, so I don't buy the "his supporting cast can't get open" argument.

 

[Flyingiguana]

our wr's couldn't find a soft spot in the end zone. i remember one play smith did force it and the ball got picked off. don't think he forced another one all season.

as i said, with the lead there was no sense of urgency from the offense in the red zone.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

our wr's couldn't find a soft spot in the end zone. i remember one play smith did force it and the ball got picked off. don't think he forced another one all season.

as i said, with the lead there was no sense of urgency from the offense in the red zone.

Yes, there's that excuse again. Except we had the same WRs as in 2010, and they seemed to be able to find soft spots then. Did they suddenly forget how?

 

[Flyingiguana]

Yes, there's that excuse again. Except we had the same WRs as in 2010, and they seemed to be able to find soft spots then. Did they suddenly forget how?

less opportunities to make plays. there might be one play that has a look at the end zone then a couple runs. it's like roman was holding back the red zone plays for when we really needed them.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

less opportunities to make plays. there might be one play that has a look at the end zone then a couple runs. it's like roman was holding back the red zone plays for when we really needed them.

Except we threw more in the red zone this year than last year.

 

[Flyingiguana]

Except we threw more in the red zone this year than last year.

there was no flow to the offense. the play calling was ultra conservative in the red zone. stuff that got us in the red zone in the first place seemed to get completely scrapped. obviously there is less room to work with in the passing game, but even the running game suffered big time in the red zone.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

there was no flow to the offense. the play calling was ultra conservative in the red zone. stuff that got us in the red zone in the first place seemed to get completely scrapped. obviously there is less room to work with in the passing game, but even the running game suffered big time in the red zone.

And at least some of the conservatism was a reflection of the staff's lack of faith in Smith to make a play. Given Smith's performance in the red zone this year, it's hard to criticize that lack of faith.

Like many things in football, this becomes something of a chicken or egg story. The reality almost certainly lies somewhere in between. I am not saying Smith is entirely to blame for our poor offensive performance. But I do believe - without any doubt - that he was a big part of it. I don't understand why we would talk about upgrading every position on offense EXCEPT the most important position on offense.

 

[Flyingiguana]

And at least some of the conservatism was a reflection of the staff's lack of faith in Smith to make a play. Given Smith's performance in the red zone this year, it's hard to criticize that lack of faith.

Like many things in football, this becomes something of a chicken or egg story. The reality almost certainly lies somewhere in between. I am not saying Smith is entirely to blame for our poor offensive performance. But I do believe - without any doubt - that he was a big part of it. I don't understand why we would talk about upgrading every position on offense EXCEPT the most important position on offense.

was it a lack of faith in smith or a lack of faith in those around smith? or was it harbaugh's philosophy of grinding it out with our d?

how many times did smith make plays in the 4th when we needed them? our wr's rarely made plays. they come up short of the 1st down marker time after time. there was a lot of poor route running, dropped passes, etc.

i want an upgrade at qb, but it isn't our biggest weakness and i don't see anyone that we could reasonably get who would upgrade it. don't bring up manning because i already remember how steve young's career ended and don't wanna see a repeat.

 

[imac_21]

Is anyone else tired of iguana blaming everyone except Smith for the issues on offense?

 

[Flyingiguana]

Is anyone else tired of iguana blaming everyone except Smith for the issues on offense?

the biggest issues on offense are outside of smith. we need wr's and a much better interior offensive line.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

was it a lack of faith in smith or a lack of faith in those around smith? or was it harbaugh's philosophy of grinding it out with our d?

how many times did smith make plays in the 4th when we needed them? our wr's rarely made plays. they come up short of the 1st down marker time after time. there was a lot of poor route running, dropped passes, etc.

i want an upgrade at qb, but it isn't our biggest weakness and i don't see anyone that we could reasonably get who would upgrade it. don't bring up manning because i already remember how steve young's career ended and don't wanna see a repeat.

How was Smith making plays if his skill players weren't? I don't recall Smith rushing for many impact TDs late in games. So he must have been throwing to someone.

There's no doubt our receivers were inconsistent at times this year. So was Smith. How many times did he miss open receivers? How many times did he take sacks instead of getting rid of the ball? Any honest appraisal of his season would conclude that he played reasonably well, but failed to make plays frequently when he had chances to do so. It worked this season, at least until the last game. I'm not sure it will work next year.

 

[Flyingiguana]

must have a short memory...

 

[Flyingiguana]

most of the big plays in the passing game came from vernon, morgan or walker. against seattle there was the big pass to crabtree in our 2nd last game. then crabtree had a nice td run during our last game.

walker and vernon were inconsistent all season, but vernon was our mvp on offense in the playoffs. morgan and edwards were injured.

smith was effective for what harbaugh wanted to do. was he great? hell no. he had some great plays when we needed them but the consistency wasn't there. i feal like i get stuck trying to talk some common sense into people on these boards. a 2nd year in the offense along with some upgrades should help smith take steps next year.

on d we had plenty of surprise performances. on offense we lost edwards and morgan for basically the whole season. chilo was a waste. we had disappointment on offense and no surprises.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

most of the big plays in the passing game came from vernon, morgan or walker. against seattle there was the big pass to crabtree in our 2nd last game. then crabtree had a nice td run during our last game.

walker and vernon were inconsistent all season, but vernon was our mvp on offense in the playoffs. morgan and edwards were injured.

smith was effective for what harbaugh wanted to do. was he great? hell no. he had some great plays when we needed them but the consistency wasn't there. i feal like i get stuck trying to talk some common sense into people on these boards. a 2nd year in the offense along with some upgrades should help smith take steps next year.

on d we had plenty of surprise performances. on offense we lost edwards and morgan for basically the whole season. chilo was a waste. we had disappointment on offense and no surprises.

Our receivers were inconsistent, and so was our QB. So was the OL. Smith isn't the only guy who needs to improve, but he does need to improve.

I'm completely comfortable giving Smith another year in the system. I just think you make too many excuses for him. We're never going to surround him with a perfect supporting cast. If he can't be a top-10 player without that, then we should give Kaepernick a legitimate shot. The offense should be better next year, but we will need quite a lot of improvement. And if anything, we should expect more injuries this year.

 

[Flyingiguana]

i'm not making excuses for smith. but our interior offensive line is horrible and our wr's suck. when we opened up the offense, smith typically performed well. with some actual talent will we see more performances like smith had against the eagles or saints? also, with a decent #1 wr, that will open vernon up and smith seems much more comfortable throwing to vernon than any of the other shoemakers in the passing game.

early in the year before they changed the blocking scheme what did everyone say about gore? everyone thought he was washed up but u can't evaluate his play behind a garbage line. when changes were made we started to see some of the explosion he had earlier in his career.

 

[imac_21]

the biggest issues on offense are outside of smith. we need wr's and a much better interior offensive line.

And according to what you've said in this thread, better play calling and coaching on offense.

Seriously, it's everyone's fault but Alex's with you. Every time.

 

[imac_21]

i'm not making excuses for smith. but our interior offensive line is horrible and our wr's suck. when we opened up the offense, smith typically performed well. with some actual talent will we see more performances like smith had against the eagles or saints? also, with a decent #1 wr, that will open vernon up and smith seems much more comfortable throwing to vernon than any of the other shoemakers in the passing game.

early in the year before they changed the blocking scheme what did everyone say about gore? everyone thought he was washed up but u can't evaluate his play behind a garbage line. when changes were made we started to see some of the explosion he had earlier in his career.

Yes you are. You have been for months.

 

[Flyingiguana]

i haven't made excuses. problem around here are the few that point out every missed throw and even some that were throw aways.

considering how bad the offense looked in the preseason and against the seahawks in the first game, the offense improved big time. injuries at wr and the glaring weakness on the interior line really limited our running game and passing game.

if crabtree can't run a pass pattern, its smith's fault
if harbaugh goes with running plays instead of going for a score, it's cuss smith doesn't have the ability to lead drives
if the pocket collapses from the inside out it's smith's fault

what i seen this year was a lack of flow on offense. many other's questioned the play calling and we shot ourselves in the foot many times.

but of course the lack of flow is all because of smith. nevermind that he did perform when we needed a score late in games. i expect the offense to be much improved next year after making a couple upgrades and having a full offseason to implement the playbook.

if brees came here, he'd be operating at 70% of capacity because of the garbage around him

 

[smackdown380]

Bress gets the Franchise Tag

Saints put franchise tag on quarterback Brees - Yahoo! Sports

Hello Colston or Nicks lol....ok maybe not quite as it remains to be seen what comes about.