[BostonCard]

We appeared to have no vertical game. Most of our offensive motion was side-to-side. We seemed to be almost afraid to throw the ball down the field. Even when we were far behind with the clock working against us, Shaw did not appear to be calling plays to win, but rather to keep the score as close as possible.

Back when I watched every game, I didn't like Shaw's play-calling. Nothing I saw last night changed that opinion. Football requires adaptation and evolution. Shaw appears to be of the view "We have a style and that's who we're going to be, no matter what." That's a prescription for eventual failure, if true.

The irony is that the lateral passing game is the evolution.  We used to almost never do that.  Shaw used to use a running game to key off a play action passing game downfield.  My guess is that now that the running game sucks, he is using the sideline passing game as an alternative, but I agree with you, it does not suit McKee or our receivers, who are not especially good shaking off a tackle at the line of scrimmage.

I think the analysis that begins and ends with “Shaw is stubborn and keeps doing the same stuff that doesn’t work” is not supported by the facts.  It really looks like what we used to do is not working any more, and now Shaw is throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks (nothing is).  This is what some people mean when they say we’ve lost our identity.  But it is hard to have an identity when you don’t teach the players one.

BC

[BostonCard]

We appeared to have no vertical game. Most of our offensive motion was side-to-side. We seemed to be almost afraid to throw the ball down the field. Even when we were far behind with the clock working against us, Shaw did not appear to be calling plays to win, but rather to keep the score as close as possible.

Back when I watched every game, I didn't like Shaw's play-calling. Nothing I saw last night changed that opinion. Football requires adaptation and evolution. Shaw appears to be of the view "We have a style and that's who we're going to be, no matter what." That's a prescription for eventual failure, if true.

The irony is that the lateral passing game is the evolution.  We used to almost never do that.  Shaw used to use a running game to key off a play action passing game downfield.  My guess is that now that the running game sucks, he is using the sideline passing game as an alternative, but I agree with you, it does not suit McKee or our receivers, who are not especially good shaking off a tackle at the line of scrimmage.

I think the analysis that begins and ends with “Shaw is stubborn and keeps doing the same stuff that doesn’t work” is not supported by the facts.  It really looks like what we used to do is not working any more, and now Shaw is throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks (nothing is).  This is what some people mean when they say we’ve lost our identity.  But it is hard to have an identity when you don’t teach the players one.

BC