[Mick]

My takeaway is that the nothing has changed with the offensive philosophy of the team.  Coach Shaw said that he underestimated how long it would take for the OL to gel.  It was 8-9 games, not 3-4.  With an experienced QB and an experienced OL, we will probably see the same offensive approach we saw in 2014.  I guess the coaches know what they are doing, but I am concerned that it makes Stanford predictable and easier for opponents to prepare for.  You are in pretty bad shape when even fans like me can predict the play from the formation which happened a fair bit towards the end of the season.

I'm trying to parse this last paragraph.  One the one hand, Coach Shaw said it took 3/4 of the season for the OL to gel.  That seems like an awfully long time to me.  Separately, you mentioned that by the end of last season the casual fan could predict plays based upon formation.  Does that indicate that the OL didn't gel so much as the playbook got a lot easier?

[Mick]

My takeaway is that the nothing has changed with the offensive philosophy of the team.  Coach Shaw said that he underestimated how long it would take for the OL to gel.  It was 8-9 games, not 3-4.  With an experienced QB and an experienced OL, we will probably see the same offensive approach we saw in 2014.  I guess the coaches know what they are doing, but I am concerned that it makes Stanford predictable and easier for opponents to prepare for.  You are in pretty bad shape when even fans like me can predict the play from the formation which happened a fair bit towards the end of the season.

I'm trying to parse this last paragraph.  One the one hand, Coach Shaw said it took 3/4 of the season for the OL to gel.  That seems like an awfully long time to me.  Separately, you mentioned that by the end of last season the casual fan could predict plays based upon formation.  Does that indicate that the OL didn't gel so much as the playbook got a lot easier?