Seahawks fire OC Ryan Grubb after one season
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That is where a "hmmmm moment" kind of popped up. We all think we know why certain things didn't click on offense this year but I did find it interesting that Deboer did not take over play calling duties when Grubb bolted for the NFL. Play calling isn't something you can just be ho hum about and he knows that. If he is the orchestrator/innovator/mastermind behind his offensive success, letting an unproven play caller take those duties over at your biggest moment as a head coach is suspect. Was Deboer's success more aligned with Grubb than Grubb's success was aligned with Deboer? Time will tell on all of that...
Run vs. Pass?
The key is to be able to do both and more specifically to be able do one when the other is taken away.
But here's why I think an offense has to be dynamic with their passing game.
A run is a pretty basic play. It typically involves just 1 or 2 of the 5 or 6 "skill" players: QB keep, handoff, pitch/sweep to a RB...I mean, no matter the method, it remains pretty predictable. On top of that, a running game initially attacks the LOS/tackle box OR sometimes the sideline area on either side of it.
The passing game, however, can involve the quarterback, RB, and WR. It also attacks all the areas of the field at and beyond the LOS.
I know the ole saying, "Three things can happen when you pass and 2 of them are bad." But today's game has erased that and if an offense can't pass it it's gonna be a TFL, TFL, TFL or the proverbial "3 yards and a cloud of dust."
Better be able to do both, but if you can't pass you can't even sniff NCs.
The key is to be able to do both and more specifically to be able do one when the other is taken away.
But here's why I think an offense has to be dynamic with their passing game.
A run is a pretty basic play. It typically involves just 1 or 2 of the 5 or 6 "skill" players: QB keep, handoff, pitch/sweep to a RB...I mean, no matter the method, it remains pretty predictable. On top of that, a running game initially attacks the LOS/tackle box OR sometimes the sideline area on either side of it.
The passing game, however, can involve the quarterback, RB, and WR. It also attacks all the areas of the field at and beyond the LOS.
I know the ole saying, "Three things can happen when you pass and 2 of them are bad." But today's game has erased that and if an offense can't pass it it's gonna be a TFL, TFL, TFL or the proverbial "3 yards and a cloud of dust."
Better be able to do both, but if you can't pass you can't even sniff NCs.
That was also true of running the wishbone. I can remember us fumbling the ball 6 or 7 times a game and still wining with a stout Defense in the 70s.
Some coaches feel like getting into playcalling while trying to be the HC during a game is too distracting. You've got some coaches who do it but there are more who feel it's best to give it to their coordinator so they can focus on the entire game and managing it. I'm certain DeBoer knows how to call plays at this stage of his career. LOL!
Agreed and good post. I'll add a few things...
The threat of a good run game makes defenders honor the box. The passing game and running game is predicated on box count/numbers, alignment, and leverage. Being one dimensional allows the defense to overcompensate in whatever area you are more successful in, ie 4/5 man box against a great passing team or loading the box against a great running offense. By being able to make them honor both, you open up the opportunity for explosive plays. A great example of that is why teams hate 3rd and long situations. Teams know the defense can get in a better pass defense and it makes it more difficult to execute the passing game. Deboer without a doubt loves throwing the football. In a perfect world he would probably be fine with the NCAA making it illegal to run the ball, but he knows for him to have success in the passing game he has to develop a solid running game. Add to that a great play action attack and RPO system, defenders can get in very unsettling situations. Every pass defense has natural holes in it, other than man-to-man coverage (which has its own weaknesses that can be attacked). By giving the threat of run those holes become much larger. A great run game and a great passing game are symbiotic. Can you be great at one and not the other? Absolutely. Will it eventually be the death of you? No doubt.
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I've been a head coach and play caller, granted not at Alabama. I get the pro's and con's of it more than you know. The fact he didn't take over play calling duties at some point this season or start out as the play caller to give Sheridan more time to get acclimated is a legitimate concern. One of my best friends took over a major program this past year and he was a first year head coach. He juggled all that comes with it but no one on his new staff knew the offense he wanted to put in like he did. He hired an OC that he had worked with in the past and they collaborated on game plans and what not, but at the end of the day he called the plays on game day. Eventually down the road he plans on giving that to his OC but not in year one. Just because it isn't ideal and what you want to do down the road, doesn't mean it isn't what you should be doing for now.
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I'm not pushing this up my list of "legitimate concerns", I'm just not. The guy wasn't even running but 10% of "his" offense and by the looks of what Milroe could do, we were only effectively running 10-12 plays so did it really matter who called plays?
This is actually a very good point. This is why I am looking forward to next season.
I suspect that the offensive playbook will get opened a lot more than this past year.
This is just where we are now. People blaming the OC because he can’t draw up plays that make the quarterback throw the ball to the open receivers that the OC schemes open already. This isn’t PlayStation, coaches can only do so much.
If I came off as I have 100% adopted this theory, I haven't. It is the offseason and topics are scarce...
With that being said, I'll reiterate it is a legitimate potential concern. Hopefully there isn't any truth to it, but we can't definitively say either way at this point.
For me, I can't get past multiple wide-open receivers running down the field on different levels and the QB either takes a sack or throws to a blanketed receiver for an incompletion. This was standard operating procedure for us last season. So I'm not raising concerns about playcalling when I see playcalling producing open receivers. Let's get the QB position right first then I'll be concerned about the playcalling. Again, when we're only running 10-12 plays what does it really matter at that point who is calling them? The other team is shooting fish in a barrel at that point.
Some for sure. Me not so much...
I saw the plethora of open WR's in the Michigan game that were either not thrown to, over/under thrown, or we took a bad sack on. Sheridan did some really good things at times. That wasn't the topic at all. Deboer is known as bringing in a high octane passing attack and lighting the scoreboard up. Grubb was his OC for 99.9% of that. Go as far or as little down that rabbit hole as you would like but it is just the facts.
No question, but how many games today are won 10-9?
If you can't win a shootout nowadays you can't win.
AND, BTW, I'm not advocating to ignore defense or the run game.
Agree. But this is where they should have adapted. Last two years they forced in Milroe to start. Then they still want to be a passing team. That’s on OCs. They should have adapted more to a running play action team. The o lines have been bad at tackle for 3 years, Young made them better than they were and Milroe worse than they were. We have had good centers and guards so adapt if you play Milroe. It’s same type of front as last two OC doing power with pulling guards/center. Should have developed the run game to look closer to Mich than closer to a Young being able to bail out the offense type. They just hammered square peg into round hole. I get it’s not the Saban offense or CKD exactly but they choose Milroe (or the team did) so you have to adjust. That is my biggest gripe. You don’t change the whole scheme since it’s still the same o line play but take away more chances at TO, you run more clock and set your defense for better success.
I don’t worry as much about OC this year as I think OL coach needs upgraded.
Could they (DeBoer and Sheridan) have done more to adjust? Yeah, I'm sure they could. I just argue that marrying themselves to Milroe severely limited any adjustments they could have made and it have any long-term difference. Teams had figured out how to stop Milroe. Stack the box, take away our running game, and begin to mix coverages to confuse Milroe and you had us. It's easy to say run play action but play action only works if you're running the ball effectively, which we couldn't. Our Oline was so inconsistent and Milroe had zero idea how to adjust protection pre snap.
When teams realize your QB can't read a defense, it severely shrinks the adjustments available for a staff to make. Again, the defense was shooting fish in a barrel.
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This has turned into quite an interesting convo. Prefacing this by saying that the next down of football I coach will be my first, does DeBoer not have a headset on listening to everything being relayed into the QB? I mean, he certainly goes over the gameplan with the OC and there are playcalling tendencies based on what the D is showing but dude is right there to oversee/correct/overrule whatever is being called on a given play, no? You have to empower your assistant coaches but also supervise them.
I love all of our guys but Milroe was a liability by the end of the season. The coaches should have known that in their self scouting routine (if they did indeed do that like Nick did). Also, if it really is true that Jaylen was telegraphing plays then that is just really an awful coaching job by the entire staff. But it is what it is. In a lot of ways this is a mulligan year for Coach. Dude knows how to win and so far this offseason he seems to be making all the right moves. I think CKD has a bright future at the Capstone but we will need to be patient. It will not, however, be what we have gotten use to over the past couple of decades under Nick.
I love all of our guys but Milroe was a liability by the end of the season. The coaches should have known that in their self scouting routine (if they did indeed do that like Nick did). Also, if it really is true that Jaylen was telegraphing plays then that is just really an awful coaching job by the entire staff. But it is what it is. In a lot of ways this is a mulligan year for Coach. Dude knows how to win and so far this offseason he seems to be making all the right moves. I think CKD has a bright future at the Capstone but we will need to be patient. It will not, however, be what we have gotten use to over the past couple of decades under Nick.
Did the staff ever effectively commit to the run and develop blocking schemes to make it more effective. Haynes was effective a year earlier to the degree that Roydell was essentially told he would not play this year. What was done obviously was to allow the QB to call his own number at the sake of developing a traditional running game. Now Haynes is gone and I would predict will have a good year with Michigan.
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