[BostonCard]

Whose job is it to get the players ready to execute? I mean, who runs the practices, the film study, the scheme... maybe it’s a semantic difference, but I don’t read that as the players having made mistakes in a vacuum.  I mean I suppose that he was using “we” to mean “they”, but when Shaw’s teams play well, he tends to single out players who had good games by name.  And maybe he called out individual players who played poorly in the press conference, but otherwise I see no reason to believe that Shaw threw his players under the bus to excuse himself and the staff from criticism.

Otherwise, you are left with one of two conclusions.  First, that no amount of improvement in how the team plays is possible, because we are qualitatively less talented than our last three opponents, and we have no right to expect better play going forward. I think that is silly and defeatist. Alternatively, one could believe that it is nothing but a few playcalling adjustments; that if we had run instead of passed, or blitzed instead of rushing four, that all our our problems would magically disappear.  Personally, I think that’s too facile, but it is a non-falsifiable hypothesis.

My instinct is that Shaw is right, that the primary problem is that the plays aren’t run effectively. And I think you can fairly blame the coaches for not putting the players in a position to execute the plays effectively.

BC

[BostonCard]

Whose job is it to get the players ready to execute? I mean, who runs the practices, the film study, the scheme... maybe it’s a semantic difference, but I don’t read that as the players having made mistakes in a vacuum.  I mean I suppose that he was using “we” to mean “they”, but when Shaw’s teams play well, he tends to single out players who had good games by name.  And maybe he called out individual players who played poorly in the press conference, but otherwise I see no reason to believe that Shaw threw his players under the bus to excuse himself and the staff from criticism.

Otherwise, you are left with one of two conclusions.  First, that no amount of improvement in how the team plays is possible, because we are qualitatively less talented than our last three opponents, and we have no right to expect better play going forward. I think that is silly and defeatist. Alternatively, one could believe that it is nothing but a few playcalling adjustments; that if we had run instead of passed, or blitzed instead of rushing four, that all our our problems would magically disappear.  Personally, I think that’s too facile, but it is a non-falsifiable hypothesis.

My instinct is that Shaw is right, that the primary problem is that the plays aren’t run effectively. And I think you can fairly blame the coaches for not putting the players in a position to execute the plays effectively.

BC