[OutsiderFan]

Rod Gilmore was hammering on all the things I've been concerned about Stanford's offense, throughout the broadcast.  It goes something like this:

1. Teams are stacking the box and run blitzing on early downs, doing simple DE/DT line stunts on 3rd
2. Stanford struggles mightily to complete even 5 yard passes; only effective deep passing will change #1
3. Too much of the offense goes through McCaffrey, even passing
4. The OL isn't moving anyone against their will, and is routinely being moved against its will

Not really a surprise that the QB position is struggling, because it's hard to judge that position when all these things above are going wrong, but it's not doing anything special either.

I saw some very, very bad things from the OL last night.  Guys getting absolutely clowned out there.  So many missed blocks, and even when blocks weren't being missed, guys were getting knocked on their asses and run around like traffic pylons.  On one particularly pathetic play, Brandon Fanaika was so overwhelmed at the point of attack, that he fell backward and landed on his ass.  On another, Jesse Burkett didn't even get a hand on a stunting DT. 

Even when despite all this, the QBs made throws, there were drops galore.

So to recap:

1. The OL stinks and is being physically dominated
2. The offensive scheme is easy to defend
3. There is no passing game to speak of
4. Everything is slow and methodical, and as Gilmore said, "a grind"

You can't fix #1 overnight, but it can be mitigated by doing something about #2, which could conceivably mitigate #3 and #4.  Until Stanford is able to be a balanced offense that makes defenses play honestly, or until the OL can dominate, there is no reason to believe the offense is going to improve at all.  It now feels like watching the LSU offense that got Les Miles canned.

I'm personally convinced that Shaw needs to bring in someone who truly understands the passing game.  The route concepts and overall passing scheme just isn't working at all.

Tough to levy much criticism on the defense when the offense is doing nothing, but it certainly has been underwhelming the last two weeks.

[OutsiderFan]

Rod Gilmore was hammering on all the things I've been concerned about Stanford's offense, throughout the broadcast.  It goes something like this:

1. Teams are stacking the box and run blitzing on early downs, doing simple DE/DT line stunts on 3rd
2. Stanford struggles mightily to complete even 5 yard passes; only effective deep passing will change #1
3. Too much of the offense goes through McCaffrey, even passing
4. The OL isn't moving anyone against their will, and is routinely being moved against its will

Not really a surprise that the QB position is struggling, because it's hard to judge that position when all these things above are going wrong, but it's not doing anything special either.

I saw some very, very bad things from the OL last night.  Guys getting absolutely clowned out there.  So many missed blocks, and even when blocks weren't being missed, guys were getting knocked on their asses and run around like traffic pylons.  On one particularly pathetic play, Brandon Fanaika was so overwhelmed at the point of attack, that he fell backward and landed on his ass.  On another, Jesse Burkett didn't even get a hand on a stunting DT. 

Even when despite all this, the QBs made throws, there were drops galore.

So to recap:

1. The OL stinks and is being physically dominated
2. The offensive scheme is easy to defend
3. There is no passing game to speak of
4. Everything is slow and methodical, and as Gilmore said, "a grind"

You can't fix #1 overnight, but it can be mitigated by doing something about #2, which could conceivably mitigate #3 and #4.  Until Stanford is able to be a balanced offense that makes defenses play honestly, or until the OL can dominate, there is no reason to believe the offense is going to improve at all.  It now feels like watching the LSU offense that got Les Miles canned.

I'm personally convinced that Shaw needs to bring in someone who truly understands the passing game.  The route concepts and overall passing scheme just isn't working at all.

Tough to levy much criticism on the defense when the offense is doing nothing, but it certainly has been underwhelming the last two weeks.