Here you go Z, I moved it to your thread so we wouldn;t lose it in the game thread.
1.) First and foremost. There is no magic game plan -- sometimes passing twice as much as you run is a good game plan. Sometimes running 45-50 of the time is a good game plan. It DEPENDS ON THE TEAM AND SITUATION. Balance for balance sake is just silly. If they ran 50% of the time in the first 3 quarters this week ... they would not have had all those points. The Texans can be thrown against and are hard to run against. It's about MATCHUPS.
I agree 100%. You have to play game plan football. This is why you trying to pound your chest about us winning and not using the run(after we established it leading to amazing play action production on the 1st drive) is foolish. You clearly show why any smart team would pass against a weak secondary and not run as much against a team that has DOMINATED the run. Oh btw we are 6th in the LG in rushing attempts, oh btw we lead the LG in rushing tds, and rushing 1st downs. Oh but this game shows us that you don't need a run game to win. Good one.
Houston has the 4th ranked defense against the pass by passer rating. They have exactly as many INTs as NE, for fourth tied, they are 3rd in sacks, 8th in yardage. They have an elite pass defense.
6th in rushing attempts? So? NE didn't have those last season. They also beat teams then and had a 13-3 record ... that shows you don't need to be 6th in rushing attempts. They went 16-0 in 2007 without being 6th in rushing attempts. They were 12th in rushing attempts in 2003 when they won the Superbowl .... your point??? It's like you don't even know the basic logic of arguement. Saying that they "won" because they are 6th in rushing is senseless. Oh wait ... NE is 5th in punting .... saying you can't win without being 5th in punting makes sense.. right?
I am saying you can BECAUSE THEY HAVE AND HAVE DONE SO IN THE PAST AND IT IS GAME PLAN SPECIFIC.
2.) Run pass balance is dictated by situtation not abstract and arbitrary ratios. You don't run on 3rd and 9 just to say you are balanced.
Nobody ever said that. So I guess you are now the one making stuff up. I said running more against the 28th ranked run defense in the NY Giants was a GREAT situation to run.
YEs, you did. You complain when they don't run, and half the time the run total dips is when they aren't running effectively, and/or are having terrible performance on 1st down. Both of those things diminish future chances to run because you cut your playbook down to a nub. BJGE was stuffed all game long. He had one 17 yard run on his third carry of the game ... over his other 9(!!!!) carries he had 27 yards for a 3 YPC. That is why they weren't running more ... because he wasn't moving the ball either ... GET OVER IT. It is obvious to anyone who watched the game. Just like this week ... Ridley had one decent run and was stuffed a whole bunch ... hence just 10 carries through the first 3.5 quarters ... the difference was how well they executed the other plays.
3.) PA/misdirection etc gains effectiveness based on how good you are at selling it and how much of a threat your RB is to the defense. Running more ... but running terribly won't make defenders "bite".
Well we averaged 2.6 ypc in the 1st 3 qtrs so how was the play action working so well?? Whoops.
Well it didn't work well because they ran it with their lead back alot .... did it? It likely worked well because a.) teams respect what Ridley can do in the open field, and b.) Tom sold the fakes as well as he ever has.
But I can assure ... statistically .... it wasn't working because they "were balanced out there with their lead back" because he wasn't getting carries. They ... in effect... abandoned the run.
4.) Running more does nothing to improve the defense, getting better defenders improve the defense. Better defense improves defense.
Running more then you did when you were a heavy pass/finesse offense leads to better T.O.P and limits your propensity for turnovers which puts your defense in a bad position,, but you being a coach would know that.
TOP does nothing to help a defense. Geting first downs does ... whether the game clock is running or not is irrelevant to how much rest you get. You .... obvisously... have never played a down of football in your life ... have you?
I'll give you 2 minutes od TOP on three failed runs, you give me 2 minutes of TOP on 9 sucessful passes. I've been on the field 3-5 times longer than you ... surprise ... the game clock has moved the exact same amount of time.
5.) 90% of football is EXECUTION and gameplans minor changes (4 plays here or there) are meaningless compared to 4 plays poorly or well executed .... which creates a MAJOR swing.
Execution is a by-product of sound game planning and the ability to limit a defense's chances of stopping the play by guessing what it will be.....hence balance having an impact on a great offense....6th in the LG in rushing att's btw.
Execution is a by product of practice. Game planning has nothing to do with it. You execute the play that is called. You win.
It's you that pushes your argument waaay past where it should end man. Running the football is not the sole deciding factor in whether a team wins or loses. And the number of times you run is usually based on the kind of situations you find yourself in rather than arbitary wishes of fans.
I've never said that. I said passing 135 att;s to 55 rushes in 3 straight losses to the Gints(2 Super Bowls) was not a good idea. And I said that running in the post season is still as important as it ever was, since the defense's are better...but we didn't so it.
I said, those totals are skewed because they didn't execute. It's a fact. If they had run their plays succesfully through the first three quarters ... they would have run the clock down some instead of having last quarters that were mad 20 pass attempt quarters, they would have had balanced, run heavy 4th quarters that would have changed that number. Play calling is situation specific dude. You call the plays you need to call .... when you are losing and need to score quick .... you call those plays. When you are trapped in lots of 3rd and longs, you call tons of passing plays. Get it? You don't run BJGE on 3rd and 11 to say you were balanced.
Sorry... I have coached and played. That's how it works dude.
And for the record I love the improved (ie more effective, not more reps) running game .... but it is meaningless compared to how much an improved defense increases stands to increase their chances.
Bill Belichick coaches and builds this defense. It has never been as bad as fans like you and babe have made it out to be, and whether it supports your argument or not it has been in rebuilding mode. If we were to win a SB in the last 5 years you and everybody else knows deep down that our offense was going to have to score more then 15.5 points per game... but a 90 pass to 35 run ratio in 2 losses didn't get that done. Lets hope we have balance in the playoffs and utilize the skills of the best play ation QB to have ever walked the face of the earth
Of course they would have ... those defenses were not good. Unlike earlier in the decade ... they couldn't get away with scoring 14 points, 17 points, 19 points, and getting a win. Unfortunately .... no matter what your balance is, or who is running the ball ... sometimes you don't score 30 points.
Let's hope we EXECUTE in the playoffs, or that the defense can play a game like this when the offense isn't there, and maybe GASP win one for the team in a big spot .... something that hasn't happened in almost a decade.
