[CardinalSagehen]

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

100% agree. It's funny to see the continued focus (mostly on social media, not here) on play-calling, unwillingness to the run the ball, lack of identity, etc.  We've tried everything, and nothing works because we're just not very good at the basics right now. This is ultimately more damning and harder to fix than bad play-calling or bad schemes.

None of the spaghetti sticks to the wall when your offensive line can't block. We can't run Power when our guards aren't playing well enough. We can't make the defense bite on play-action when we're unable to run the ball.  We can't create a vertical passing game when we can't protect our QB long enough.

It's a fine line between being a good team and a bad one.  A few key leaders (not just among the coaches, but among the players) can take you there. But it's easier to change some of your coaches than your players, and I believe we have enough talent (at least on offense) to do better.

I can imagine our offense making a leap forward next year, with enough talent at the skill positions and some gelling on the OL.  It's hard to imagine our being good enough on defense next year to win most of our games, but maybe some of the young up-and-comers will surprise us.  

It's demoralizing right now to realize that the over-under on Stanford wins next year rationally might be 3 again.  Shaw needs to make changes to the staff, period.  He can't (or won't) swap out Tavita because that's like pointing the finger at himself, but the entire defensive staff ought to be challenged.  If he's unprepared to do this, he needs to point the finger at himself.  

He who constructed the castle might not be the right one to knock it down and rebuild it.  Shaw needs to grapple with this.  I've been one of his biggest fans and can stay on-board, but only if I observe a significant reckoning with reality during this off-season.

[CardinalSagehen]

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

100% agree. It's funny to see the continued focus (mostly on social media, not here) on play-calling, unwillingness to the run the ball, lack of identity, etc.  We've tried everything, and nothing works because we're just not very good at the basics right now. This is ultimately more damning and harder to fix than bad play-calling or bad schemes.

None of the spaghetti sticks to the wall when your offensive line can't block. We can't run Power when our guards aren't playing well enough. We can't make the defense bite on play-action when we're unable to run the ball.  We can't create a vertical passing game when we can't protect our QB long enough.

It's a fine line between being a good team and a bad one.  A few key leaders (not just among the coaches, but among the players) can take you there. But it's easier to change some of your coaches than your players, and I believe we have enough talent (at least on offense) to do better.

I can imagine our offense making a leap forward next year, with enough talent at the skill positions and some gelling on the OL.  It's hard to imagine our being good enough on defense next year to win most of our games, but maybe some of the young up-and-comers will surprise us.  

It's demoralizing right now to realize that the over-under on Stanford wins next year rationally might be 3 again.  Shaw needs to make changes to the staff, period.  He can't (or won't) swap out Tavita because that's like pointing the finger at himself, but the entire defensive staff ought to be challenged.  If he's unprepared to do this, he needs to point the finger at himself.  

He who constructed the castle might not be the right one to knock it down and rebuild it.  Shaw needs to grapple with this.  I've been one of his biggest fans and can stay on-board, but only if I observe a significant reckoning with reality during this off-season.