Our Offense - This Year vs Last Year

[like54ninjas]

He was only @7.4 in 2020. Relax people.

[like54ninjas]

It takes time to implement/develop a new scheme.
Look at the first 2 years of Brees in NO.

[eaterfan]

It takes time to implement/develop a new scheme.
Look at the first 2 years of Brees in NO.

I don't know that this is always the case, but I think it is definitely true for this offense. This is supposed to be a very complicated offense that has answers for everything and has a lot of flexibility. The downside to this is there's a ton to learn and everyone has to be on the same page so it takes more time to implement perfectly than some of the simpler Shannahan type offenses. I'm still on the fence about it, because I think there are issues getting receivers open, but it's way too early to make a final judgment.

[TTThunder]

I saw that this past week was the first time Herbert threw deep pass to Guyton...

Though it was 12 weeks too late, hope to see it happens more and more frequently...

Go Bolts!!!

[Steve]

I don't know that this is always the case, but I think it is definitely true for this offense. This is supposed to be a very complicated offense that has answers for everything and has a lot of flexibility. The downside to this is there's a ton to learn and everyone has to be on the same page so it takes more time to implement perfectly than some of the simpler Shannahan type offenses. I'm still on the fence about it, because I think there are issues getting receivers open, but it's way too early to make a final judgment.

It may have as much to do with having a terrible right side to the OL. No play calling in the world is going to overcome bad personnel.

[Classic]

It may have as much to do with having a terrible right side to the OL. No play calling in the world is going to overcome bad personnel.

Wasn't our right side at least average up until O'day went down? I know Norton had a terrible game against the Cowboys but he was just thrusted into the starting line. The one noticeable decline is the lack of any run success on the right side though and I think PFF's run grades back it up.

[Steve]

Wasn't our right side at least average up until O'day went down?

I am not sure where people are getting that nonsense. First, lets go to PFF. Aboushi was a better than average pass blocker, and an average-ish run blocker based on their grading. Norton's grades are all over the place, but when they are bad, they are really bad. So, maybe everyone can stop this nonsense, if one of the two players is really bad, and the other is really awful, the whole side is not very good. Players don't cancel out. If one guy losses his match badly, the whole offense is in trouble.

Norton has been allowing a large percentage of the hits and even when they aren't allowed hits, there are a lot of plays where his guy gets past him and is running free on the QB, just in many cases, it is the short passes that are saving him from taking a hit. Herbert has gotten rid of a lot of passes before he took a hits in some games, masking the fact that the right side of the OL is not playing very well.

The other thing maybe worth thinking about is how many sacks has the OL given up the last 2 weeks vs Cinci and NYG. The stat sheet shows 4 vs Cin, and 2 vs Giants. But I would say they have ALLOWED 0. I may be missing 1, but every play I am thinking of right now goes down on Herbert for holding the ball too long. So while Herbert gets a lot of credit sometimes for saving bad pass protection and living to fight another day, he has lately given up some that OL did a good job on.

[eaterfan]

It may have as much to do with having a terrible right side to the OL. No play calling in the world is going to overcome bad personnel.

I definitely think the right side isn't helping, but it's still better than last year's OL. And there are things teams can do to neutralize a bad OL. I mean Rivers didn't have even a serviceable OL for the last decade of his tenure with the Bolts.

[AK47]

Norton's grades are all over the place, but when they are bad, they are really bad.

Hmm makes me wonder on the really bad games Storm had....if they translated to Chargers losses.

[Steve]

I think some of the perceived "improvement" in the OL is because they are doing more to help them out. Last season, we did not chip block much, didn't use the TE to help out the OT, and Herbert took deeper drops, mostly straight back (fewer boots and waggles) and held the ball a lot longer. This season, we move Herbert around more, ask him to get rid of the ball quicker and give the OL help a LOT more with the TE and RB.

It's not as bad as when Norv always left the OL isolated one on one with no help and asked the QB to hold the ball, but it is a lot harder to hold your block as an OL the longer you are asked to do it. Herbert is taking fewer sacks in large part because he isn't holding the ball that much. The last few weeks, the OL has played outstanding, but Herbert has had such good protection he has taken more sacks and they are mostly on him, not the OL.

[TTThunder]

Steve,

So the reason we didn't throw deep pass more was because of the right side of OL?

Go Bolts!!!

[Xenos]

Steve,

So the reason we didn't throw deep pass more was because of the right side of OL?

Go Bolts!!!

OL protection and how teams were playing us.