People always say I am too critical of everything and everyone. I make statements and criticism and don’t offer solutions. Well, I have one for Mike Riley. Hand any college student the playbook. Chances are they’ve played enough Madden to know you don’t run on second and a quarter-mile.
I know this will come around to bite me, but if Riley wants to keep his job, he needs to hand the playbook to someone who knows what the hell they’re doing. There is enough talent here to win games, and play calling is holding this team back. It’s the head coach’s responsibility to keep the players motivated and focused on making plays; don’t add anything else to the equation.
I don’t care who it goes to, either, be it offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf or assistant coach Jay Locey (you know, that guy from Linfield who won 23 straight games and a national championship). Hell, give it to Ryan Gunderson. I don’t care. Just give it up.
I implore fans to go read the play-by-play from the game. The Beavers faced third and long 10 times. There is no reason any team should face third and long that much. Do the math: That means there were 20 plays, 20 separate chances in this game to gain four yards, and the coaching staff couldn’t pull through.
I understand making the other team respect the run. I’m just curious as to what happened to making a team respect the deep pass? The Beavers’ longest pass play of the season is only 31 yards.
Brandon Powers has been playing out of his mind lately, so give him a chance to make a play down the field. Let the 6-foot-2, 215-pounder make a grab at a jump ball against a safety. Hell, even Moore throwing a 50-yard interception is no worse than a punt – at least it shows the other team we aren’t afraid to go long. Not that I condone that.
Stretching a defense is the key to running effectively. It gets an eighth man out of the box, or at least changes that eighth man from a linebacker to a defensive back. That’s why Yvenson Bernard was so successful down the stretch last year – teams were afraid of the Beavers’ vertical attack and ran out of the nickel with an extra cornerback. I might be going out on a limb, but I bet Bernard would prefer to break tackles from 170-pound defensive backs over 240-pound linebackers.
No matter how bad it looked for Matt Moore and this offense, it looked worse on the coaching staff for calling such a horrible game. Even Michigan State thinks the play calling was suspect.
Here’s an idea: Call plays that will actually catch the defense off guard instead of plays that play right into their hands. Calling a tight end screen in the middle of the field on third and long doesn’t do that; calling a run up the middle on second and long doesn’t do that; and not throwing the ball downfield to establish a deep threat doesn’t do that.
On top of that, what is a team doing with under nine minutes to go in the final quarter, calling four straight running plays inside the 45-yard line, when losing by two scores, without taking a single shot at the end zone? How does an offense get to the red zone without putting a pass to the end zone at least once? Throw the football.
I could call a better game with my hands tied behind my back, looking through a pair of binoculars backwards.
So what have we learned today, kids? Nothing, because most people who understand football understand everything I just wrote. There is nothing new and amazing about offensive coordinators running the offense, not facing third and long, throwing deep passes and attempting to put the ball into the end zone. It’s common freaking knowledge. Well, to anyone with an Xbox at least.
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