[washingtonismoney]

I wouldn't be shocked if Shaw held back a little bit in the second half, but running basic plays should have worked better than it did. So on the one hand it could be that Shaw figured the basic stuff would be enough, why show off? But on the other hand that thinking could've easily backfired (imagine if Daniels throws a better ball on that interception in the end zone), and it's not like Shaw is totally against running up the score.

Well, to be fair, I think this is kind of a conceptual glitch for a "pro-style" offense. You're going to find it hard to have one of those consistent, low-variance, "five yards every play" kind of an offense passing the ball. Unless you have Andrew Luck. (We saw this last week against SDSU -- Costello was slicing them up but seemingly only by hitting intermediate and long passes. Which is great but not the "15 plays, 90 yards, TD" variety you hope for when up multiple scores in the second half.) 

On the other hand, between Love's inherent approach to the game and defense's blitz-hard strategy, you're also going to find it hard to do the run-the-ball-down-their-throats offense which is ideal in this scenario. 

So Shaw's kind of stuck. Personally I would argue for a "pass a ton and put up points" approach but I acknowledge it's not without tradeoffs.

[washingtonismoney]

I wouldn't be shocked if Shaw held back a little bit in the second half, but running basic plays should have worked better than it did. So on the one hand it could be that Shaw figured the basic stuff would be enough, why show off? But on the other hand that thinking could've easily backfired (imagine if Daniels throws a better ball on that interception in the end zone), and it's not like Shaw is totally against running up the score.

Well, to be fair, I think this is kind of a conceptual glitch for a "pro-style" offense. You're going to find it hard to have one of those consistent, low-variance, "five yards every play" kind of an offense passing the ball. Unless you have Andrew Luck. (We saw this last week against SDSU -- Costello was slicing them up but seemingly only by hitting intermediate and long passes. Which is great but not the "15 plays, 90 yards, TD" variety you hope for when up multiple scores in the second half.) 

On the other hand, between Love's inherent approach to the game and defense's blitz-hard strategy, you're also going to find it hard to do the run-the-ball-down-their-throats offense which is ideal in this scenario. 

So Shaw's kind of stuck. Personally I would argue for a "pass a ton and put up points" approach but I acknowledge it's not without tradeoffs.