Coachable Moments.....

I don’t profess to be able to walk in and be the head coach on a NFL team, but after watching football for this long, I have enough knowledge to be an educated critic of some coaching decisions. Many times those questions are answered or echoed by the analyst doing the game or later during a review show recapping the game so I feel pretty good about my “mind coaching”. I have my peeves about how certain things are handled during a game, but nothing gets under my skin and causes me to pull my hair like the lack of adjustments some coaches ignore during a game. Poor play calling and schemes also bother me, but when adjustments are not made or at least tried, yelling at the TV is a common occurrence. The playoffs are only 2 weeks and eight games old and I have seen my fill of questionable coaching moves, or lack there of, and I feel one set on non-adjustments cost a team their chance to win the game.

My first question for Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles is how after being shut out in Week 17 can you make it seem like no adjustments were made in facing the Dallas defense in the Wildcard round? While the Eagles had made their living off the big play in 2009, in the two games against Dallas the big plays were not there and Philadelphia had a total of sixteen points against their defense. When the Wildcard game was being played out, there seemed to be no changes in philosophy made, and while I understand the Eagle offensive line was banged up which is even more of a reason to changes things up, and the Cowboy defense again shut down the Eagles. Now sometimes match-ups just are the way they are and one team is just better then the other and that might have been the case here, but to at least not try different things with the talent you have seemed like a wasted opportunity and poor way for Philly to end its season.

The same Saturday, but this time in the earlier game, Bengals’ coach Marvin Lewis was the one getting my notes about “why play it like that?” While facing the tough Jet defense and with his Carson Palmer looking nervous and out of sorts early in the game, Lewis and the Bengals were at least able to execute a descent running game in the early going. Then on a 3rd and 2 while deep in their territory, Lewis pulled his star running back, Cedric Benson and went shotgun formation. Now the Jet defense, which was getting run on by Benson, was able to worry about the wide receivers and less about a run picking up the first down, and just like clockwork, Palmer tried to connect with Laveranues Coles, but he was well covered and the pass was broken up.

Even if Lewis didn’t want to run the ball in that situation, and I don’t know why because they were having success running against the Jets’ defense, keeping Benson in the backfield would give the Jets the thought about a run, which would make the linebackers and defensive backs lean forward just a little to cheat against a Benson run, and make separation for the receiver on a short route just a little easier. Instead Lewis went with his “package” for that formation / situation and that meant Benson was off the field. Lewis is not the only coach that does this, but in that situation, at home and in a playoff game, I want my best players out there for my opponent to think about, even if they are only a decoy on that particular play.

Now this week in the Divisional games there was more head scratchers from the coaching sidelines with, in my opinion, one coach’s decisions costing his team a chance to win their game, while another called a successful play, but it may not have been the smartest idea.

It started Saturday night in Indianapolis where the Baltimore Ravens were tangling with the Colts. As the first half was ending the Colts put together a nice drive, including converting a 4th and 4, to take a 10-3 lead. Besides taking the lead, the score brought the home crowd back into the game. With two minutes to go and getting the ball back to start the second half, depending on where the kickoff return started the drive I expected the Ravens to run the ball and if they get some descent yardage, then get into the two minute offense to try and score before heading to halftime. If nothing else, running would force the Colts to use up their timeouts before possibly getting the ball back in Peyton Manning’s hands, plus it would give your defense more of a chance to catch its breath.

Instead, Baltimore started on their 18 yard line and ran Ray Rice on the first play for four yards and forced Indy to use their first timeout. To me four yards was not enough to start the two minute offense, but for John Harbaugh he thought differently and the Ravens’ offense went into shotgun formation and took a shot down the field to Derrick Mason which fell incomplete. Then after taking that shot and missing, you would think another run would be in order to run clock, but again Ravens’ quarterback Joe Flacco was in shotgun formation and again the pass attempt fell incomplete.

After the punt and return, that left 86 seconds and two timeouts to Manning and the Colts to try and score before the end of the half. Eight plays later and with only three seconds left on the clock, Manning and the Colts scored that “dagger” touchdown to jump ahead 17-3, and in all essence it was “game over”, as the Baltimore offense is not built to make a two touchdown comeback.

Why give a quarterback like Manning that much time and two of his timeouts with the chance to put the game away? Nobody seemed to question Harbaugh’s decision to pass the ball in that situation, but I think it is a valid question and should have been addressed more by the television announcers and the media.

Then in Sunday’s first game it was the Dallas Cowboy offense, specifically Jason Garrett’s play calling, that had me shaking my head. The Cowboys were able to run the ball against the Viking defense, but on the first two 3rd and short situations Dallas ran an end around to Miles Austin and passed out of shotgun formation. Now while those plays worked, I could not understand why the Cowboys were not using their strength of running the ball to wear down the Viking defense. On the second drive with Dallas again moving the ball, the drive was stalled and Dallas was faced with a 4th and one. Instead of pounding the ball with Marion Barber or Felix Jones, Wade Phillips sent out Steve Suisham to attempt a 48 yard field goal. The kick was missed and four plays later Brett Favre connected with Sidney Rice for a 49 yard touchdown pass and Minnesota grabbed the game’s momentum.

The other curious part of that game was how Dallas handled their draw play. That play has been the Cowboys’ bread and butter running play for a better part of the season, but Minnesota was stopping it most of the time. How that was happening was that the plays were being run away from defensive end Jared Allen, and he was able to slow down the play by using his speed from the backside. Why those runs were not going to the area Allen was vacating to take advantage of his backside pursuit, while it probably would not have changed the outcome, is confusing to me.

Oh, and let’s not forget the Vikings’ last touchdown pass. While I am all for the “we are professionals” mantra and that Dallas should have stopped them from scoring, I will question why Brett Favre and the #1 offense were still in the game at that time. One Favre or Rice twisted knee and the Viking chances to making the Super Bowl go right out the window. A 27-3 lead with two minutes to play is equivalent to being 13-2 and having your playoff spot wrapped up going into the final game of the season. If you wouldn’t play your starters in that regular season game, then there was no reason for them to be finishing this playoff game.

Finally, in the San Diego I feel the lack of adjustments by Norv Turner and the Charger offense against the Jets’ blitzing defense is what eventually cost them the game. This was a game of adjustments and was started by Jet head coach, Rex Ryan, who changed his coverage schemes to negate the early success the Chargers were having by motioning either Antonio Gates or the running back (either Sproles or Tomlinson) wide to get Vincent Jackson away from Darrelle Revis.

Then as the Jets blitzes were starting to get pressure on Philip Rivers, the Chargers remained stagnant and continued to try and force their offense against the New York defense. San Diego’s offense is known for it long pass routes which are slower to develop, but the Jet blitzes when penetrating the blocking protection don’t allow for slow developing to happen, and the New York blitzes were making an impact on Rivers. The two River’s interceptions were directly related to him being rushed to throw and in the case of the first one, while moving backwards so he got no power into his throw. Why the Charger receivers were not running more slant routes, especially effective with the big receivers the Chargers employ, and drag routes to allow quicker passes to slow down the Jet blitzes is a question that was never addressed by the media and certainly not Norv Turner.

Add in the onside kick attempt and the wasting of seven seconds by not calling their timeout before the 2 minute warning, and overall I don’t feel it was not a good day for Norv Turner and his coaching staff.

Guess though the San Diego management thinks differently as Turner was given a three year extension, while I’m still calling plays from my couch.