Sanford for OC:
Shaw will never do it, but Mike Sanford would be a great choice for OC. He just got fired as HC at Western KY, but he was QB coach here, OC at Boise and OC at ND before going to WKY. Stanford and Shaw history, and a track record of success as an OC. Frankly, he should have been OC ahead of Bloomgren in my book.
OL Issues--Calls:
On the OL issue, we had some serious underperformance, which had a lot to do with the nagging injuries experienced by most on the OL. Jury is out on Carberry. But (tuned out if you're sick of hearing this) a major component of the OL issues was dreadful play calling. Before you laugh at questioning our coach, go back and watch how often we ran against numbers this year. Look at that metric alone, and you will be stunned. Yes, Love made it work many times last year, but there is no reason to make it harder on yourself than you need to. As a Walsh protege, Shaw should know that the pro-style West Coast approach is not inconsistent with hard-nosed running.
UCLA Game/OL/Scheme:
At the UCLA game, where I sat in UCLA seats at 50, it was painfully clear how committed the safeties were to stopping the run. But even more clear was how frequently we ran straight into the superior numbers in obvious down and distance situations. Another minor metric to consider is the number of times safeties make plays at the LOS on between the tackle runs. If they are defending the whole filed this should never happen, but the OL can get a body on everyone and the play is still stuffed if we predictably run against numbers in obvious situations.
Shaw will never do it, but Mike Sanford would be a great choice for OC. He just got fired as HC at Western KY, but he was QB coach here, OC at Boise and OC at ND before going to WKY. Stanford and Shaw history, and a track record of success as an OC. Frankly, he should have been OC ahead of Bloomgren in my book.
OL Issues--Calls:
On the OL issue, we had some serious underperformance, which had a lot to do with the nagging injuries experienced by most on the OL. Jury is out on Carberry. But (tuned out if you're sick of hearing this) a major component of the OL issues was dreadful play calling. Before you laugh at questioning our coach, go back and watch how often we ran against numbers this year. Look at that metric alone, and you will be stunned. Yes, Love made it work many times last year, but there is no reason to make it harder on yourself than you need to. As a Walsh protege, Shaw should know that the pro-style West Coast approach is not inconsistent with hard-nosed running.
UCLA Game/OL/Scheme:
At the UCLA game, where I sat in UCLA seats at 50, it was painfully clear how committed the safeties were to stopping the run. But even more clear was how frequently we ran straight into the superior numbers in obvious down and distance situations. Another minor metric to consider is the number of times safeties make plays at the LOS on between the tackle runs. If they are defending the whole filed this should never happen, but the OL can get a body on everyone and the play is still stuffed if we predictably run against numbers in obvious situations.