[Red80]

McKee is NOT the problem. The swiss cheese OL is the biggest problem, combined with a lack of a running game and a lack of speed in the receiving corps which largely elminates a deep threat.

I'll also throw plenty of shade at the RPSlow plays which simply isn't working, if it ever did. Without a legit running game, and with a porous OL, defenses don't need to send extra rushers to get to the QB so the LBs can slack off. That's what UCLA did all night long, and yet ShawVita still kept calling RPSlow plays even into the fourth quarter.

+ 1,000,000
This is my echo. The ironic thing is that a big segment of Stanford fans complained about the offenses of 2012 and 2013. They wanted Shaw to open up the offense, to get more points, yards, WOW plays. Winning the Pac 12 Championship wasn't good enough. Unbelievable! 

Shaw did listen to his critics (Rabbit Ears after the Michigan State fiasco?) and tried to change the offense in 2014. Disaster, as I knew it would be. The offense looked a lot like most of the schools in P12, just without the right personnel to make it go. Stanford did return to heavy formation power running for the final three games of 2014 and routed their opponents, including a highly motivated UCLA team that was playing for a berth in the P12 Title Game. Too little, too late. 

Stanford hasn't played "Stanford Football" since 2017. Offensively, they look like everyone else, which is an absolute joke considering the type of talent they have, or don't have. My hope was the Shaw would make a concerted effort to realign with the contrarian Smash Mouth brand of football that had made his teams successful and a dreaded opponent to play. He's lost me now. I see no evidence that Stanford will ever return to "Big Boy" football, and with it any chance to compete at a high level. 

P.S. Troy Walters and Troy Taylor are not "The Answer" either. 

The biggest problem is the scheme.  And I rarely take that position. I don’t know that much about the ins and outs of the slow garbage. But it seems to me at a minimum you need a running back that’s a home run threat. Because you’re trying hold the linebackers and slow the down linemen. Without a  legitimate home run  running threat that’s not gonna happen. Then you need a QB that can make quick decisions. Receivers that have YAC ability. And a mobile QB.  0-4 doesn’t cut it.

I also think it is an “anti-physical“ offense. Based more on  holding the rush through deception then actually being able to freaking block the guy in front of you. Plus he can’t run at all. And he has very little escapability. Thus it’s gotta come out of his hand quick or forget it.

Add to the fact that this was absolutely the wrong year to play an up-tempo offense given the defensive shortcomings and I find the whole thing beyond perplexing. Were it me I would’ve gone to a pro style offense with McKee behind center a fair amount and in a regular shotgun.  Use double  TE’s a full back. use  play action try to run the freaking ball and otherwise have him in five and seven step drops looking to get the ball downfield. I’d slow the game down. Take as much air out of the ball as possible.  And my practices would be about getting my offense and defensive lines to play more physically.

They still would not have been good. They don’t have the personnel. That’s also Shaws fault of course. But I don’t think they would’ve been anemic. Which is the best description that I can say that’s not R rated about this offense.

The article on Harbaugh was illuminating. To get where they are today he went back to what he has preached. Physical old time Big Ten physical football. Stanford thrived when they played that style under both Harbs and Shaw. They’ve got away from it and here’s what we got.

I remember when Stanford had an identity. I mean Oregon and others were talking about adjusting to meet Stanford’s physical play. It was music to my ears. That’s long gone.

Shaw felt he needed to change the offense. He did. But he went the wrong way.  He needed to go back to 2012-13. Not just schematically, but philosophically. Preach physical play. Reinvent the tunnel workers union. Create a mentality that you will physically beat the guy in front of you.  I don’t know if it would’ve been any more effective. But at least to me it would’ve been a logical move.  This to me isn’t.

[Red80]

McKee is NOT the problem. The swiss cheese OL is the biggest problem, combined with a lack of a running game and a lack of speed in the receiving corps which largely elminates a deep threat.

I'll also throw plenty of shade at the RPSlow plays which simply isn't working, if it ever did. Without a legit running game, and with a porous OL, defenses don't need to send extra rushers to get to the QB so the LBs can slack off. That's what UCLA did all night long, and yet ShawVita still kept calling RPSlow plays even into the fourth quarter.

+ 1,000,000
This is my echo. The ironic thing is that a big segment of Stanford fans complained about the offenses of 2012 and 2013. They wanted Shaw to open up the offense, to get more points, yards, WOW plays. Winning the Pac 12 Championship wasn't good enough. Unbelievable! 

Shaw did listen to his critics (Rabbit Ears after the Michigan State fiasco?) and tried to change the offense in 2014. Disaster, as I knew it would be. The offense looked a lot like most of the schools in P12, just without the right personnel to make it go. Stanford did return to heavy formation power running for the final three games of 2014 and routed their opponents, including a highly motivated UCLA team that was playing for a berth in the P12 Title Game. Too little, too late. 

Stanford hasn't played "Stanford Football" since 2017. Offensively, they look like everyone else, which is an absolute joke considering the type of talent they have, or don't have. My hope was the Shaw would make a concerted effort to realign with the contrarian Smash Mouth brand of football that had made his teams successful and a dreaded opponent to play. He's lost me now. I see no evidence that Stanford will ever return to "Big Boy" football, and with it any chance to compete at a high level. 

P.S. Troy Walters and Troy Taylor are not "The Answer" either. 

The biggest problem is the scheme.  And I rarely take that position. I don’t know that much about the ins and outs of the slow garbage. But it seems to me at a minimum you need a running back that’s a home run threat. Because you’re trying hold the linebackers and slow the down linemen. Without a  legitimate home run  running threat that’s not gonna happen. Then you need a QB that can make quick decisions. Receivers that have YAC ability. And a mobile QB.  0-4 doesn’t cut it.

I also think it is an “anti-physical“ offense. Based more on  holding the rush through deception then actually being able to freaking block the guy in front of you. Plus he can’t run at all. And he has very little escapability. Thus it’s gotta come out of his hand quick or forget it.

Add to the fact that this was absolutely the wrong year to play an up-tempo offense given the defensive shortcomings and I find the whole thing beyond perplexing. Were it me I would’ve gone to a pro style offense with McKee behind center a fair amount and in a regular shotgun.  Use double  TE’s a full back. use  play action try to run the freaking ball and otherwise have him in five and seven step drops looking to get the ball downfield. I’d slow the game down. Take as much air out of the ball as possible.  And my practices would be about getting my offense and defensive lines to play more physically.

They still would not have been good. They don’t have the personnel. That’s also Shaws fault of course. But I don’t think they would’ve been anemic. Which is the best description that I can say that’s not R rated about this offense.

The article on Harbaugh was illuminating. To get where they are today he went back to what he has preached. Physical old time Big Ten physical football. Stanford thrived when they played that style under both Harbs and Shaw. They’ve got away from it and here’s what we got.

I remember when Stanford had an identity. I mean Oregon and others were talking about adjusting to meet Stanford’s physical play. It was music to my ears. That’s long gone.

Shaw felt he needed to change the offense. He did. But he went the wrong way.  He needed to go back to 2012-13. Not just schematically, but philosophically. Preach physical play. Reinvent the tunnel workers union. Create a mentality that you will physically beat the guy in front of you.  I don’t know if it would’ve been any more effective. But at least to me it would’ve been a logical move.  This to me isn’t.