THE QUEST FOR THE DC/OC Beginneth!

[Xenos]

Speaking of the idiot, Andy Benoit's love letter to Baker Mayfied:

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/12/05/baker-mayfield-browns-offense-freddie-kitchens

Quote

Mayfield is not a big, strong pocket passer like Andrew Luck or Carson Wentz, other QBs who have stolen my heart before. And in my campaigning to write about Mayfield, I admitted that this particular football crush feels a little dangerous—like I wouldn’t want my parents knowing about it—and sure enough in the first half against Houston last weekend, Mayfield threw a trio of reckless interceptions. Before the fourth quarter, executive editor Mark Mravic emailed me with instructions to ignore Mayfield and instead write about the Texans’ Super Bowl chances. But here’s the sick part: I pleaded to write the Mayfield love letter anyway. “I don’t care that he lost and had a bunch of bad plays,” I texted Mravic after emailing him the same thing three minutes earlier.

You can’t reason with twitterpated people, and so here I am, writing about my Baker Mayfield crush, the editors having thrown up their hands. Yes, Mayfield’s poor first half at Houston cost Cleveland that game, but those interceptions are just part of a big-picture learning process. There will be days where a rookie QB simply doesn’t read the field well—especially against disguised eight-man zone coverages that derive from false blitz looks, like what Houston was showing Mayfield.

I’m still enchanted by Mayfield, perhaps in part because I’m surprised by his early success. Deep down, I didn’t think his game would translate well to the NFL. And who knows, ultimately it might not, and we won’t really know for at least a few years. But through 10 outings, Mayfield is a lot better than I expected, and what I love most is the unwavering confidence that he showed in the second half at Houston, after his terrible start. I’m not talking about the candor or chip on his shoulder to which outsiders assign an arbitrary meaning and then blow way out of proportion. I’m talking about how Mayfield plays. There is an uncommon decisiveness to the way reads the field and throws the ball. Consequently, his ball travels with great precision and velocity, particularly when attacking the intermediate levels downfield. 

First-half debacle against the Texans aside, even more impressive are the throws Mayfield doesn’t make. We think of quarterback decision-making in terms of a passer finding the open guy, but almost as important is a passer’s ability to eliminate the covered guy. This hidden trait—getting off bad reads quickly—is how a quarterback gets to his late progressions on schedule. When you master that art, your checkdowns also gain potency, as you hit them more expeditiously, before a defense’s coverage has unfolded. This is why running backs who play with Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger or Drew Brees have so many receiving yards. As a field reader, Mayfield is a long ways from those future Hall of Famers, but so far, he’s at least on the right path. 

Speaking of Brees, Mayfield, who comes in at just under 6' 1", must model his game after the future NFL Hall-of-Famer. There are cases where Mayfield simply can’t see downfield in the course of a normal dropback, which led to some throws left on the field early in the year. But like Brees has done, Mayfield is learning to offset this with subtle but difficult adjustments to his pocket movement.

The other QB to whom Mayfield is compared, of course, is Russell Wilson, who often compensates for diminutive height by getting outside the pocket. I was skeptical that Mayfield could extend plays in the NFL the way he did at Oklahoma, especially after some of his pre-draft athletic tests were so mediocre. But thus far, Mayfield has. Unlike many young QBs, he doesn’t move for the sake of moving; he gets outside the pocket with purpose. When doing so, he consistently keeps his eyes downfield and maintains a thrower’s posture and mindset. When most young QBs move, they become runners. From there, they either remain runners and take off, or they try to become passers again, which often results in late or inaccurate throws. Mobile pass-first QBs of Mayfield’s ilk are more effective than even the most athletically enthralling mobile quarterbacks. 

All of these intriguing Mayfield traits have shown up more since Week 9, when Freddie Kitchens became Cleveland’s offensive coordinator. In Kitchens’s first few outings, the Browns offense was reduced to more traditional pass designs behind a smashmouth ground game. It stabilized, and the offense has since expanded into a more aggressive, comprehensive passing game. If this progress continues, Browns GM John Dorsey may have to consider narrowing his head coaching search to defensive candidates who are willing to keep Kitchens on as the offensive coordinator. 

Whoever Dorsey hires, he must be someone who can maximize Mayfield. I don’t want him to break my heart.

 

[NudeTayne]

Screw the McCarthy love. The Packers have been my second or third favorite team to watch for over a decade. I have watched a ton of Packers games--totally tooting my proverbial horn. That team has been straight garbage without Aaron Rodgers. 

Now, I can listen if one is making the argument that Ted Thompson was a terrible GM and hamstrung MM, but blah. Give me a break. When Rodgers retires with one ring, it'll be looked back at like Marino winning zero.

12 minutes ago, Xenos said:

Speaking of the idiot, Andy Benoit

I legit think @Xenos might be Andy Benoit. Tell me more about the greatness of McCarthy, Andy Benoit and how great the Josh Allen pick was, Andy.

[pnies20]

Josh Allen might end up being what cam newton wishes he was 😳

[NudeTayne]

31 minutes ago, pnies20 said:

Josh Allen might end up being what cam newton wishes he was 😳

Which is?

[pnies20]

6 minutes ago, NudeTayne said:

Which is?

A QB that could beat the browns.

boom roasted

[ReggieCamp]

9 hours ago, NudeTayne said:

Now, I can listen if one is making the argument that Ted Thompson was a terrible GM and hamstrung MM, but blah. Give me a break. When Rodgers retires with one ring, it'll be looked back at like Marino winning zero.

Well... Don Shula was one of the greatest coaches of all time. That doesn’t exactly help your argument against MM.

Not pretending McCarthy is perfect, but he is a very good coach who was hurt by his GM and his QB. He deserves some of the blame in Green Bay, but that doesn’t make him a bad coach. In the end, he couldn’t produce with AR as his QB, and he got fired for it. And he should have, as there’s no way the Pack are moving on from Rodgers. He’s still a very good coach (imo) who has likely learned from his mistakes.

That said, I don’t think Dorsey will hire him.

[brooks1957]

It was mentioned earlier in the thread there was a fear of Freddie moving on soon due to his success with Baker. I am not saying that won't happen; but I would think we could at least make it more difficult for a suitor if Arians is hired and he immediately promotes Freddie to OC/Asst. Head Coach.

A succession plan is now in place

[sdrawkcab321]

2 hours ago, brooks1957 said:

It was mentioned earlier in the thread there was a fear of Freddie moving on soon due to his success with Baker. I am not saying that won't happen; but I would think we could at least make it more difficult for a suitor if Arians is hired and he immediately promotes Freddie to OC/Asst. Head Coach.

A succession plan is now in place

That wouldn’t be a promotion. That’s his current title. 

[NudeTayne]

9 hours ago, pnies20 said:

A QB that could beat the browns.

boom roasted.

Go birds.

Tags @frekky, @zel, @weeby for troll.

 

[NudeTayne]

6 hours ago, ReggieCamp said:

Well... Don Shula was one of the greatest coaches of all time. That doesn’t exactly help your argument against MM.

Not pretending McCarthy is perfect, but he is a very good coach who was hurt by his GM and his QB. He deserves some of the blame in Green Bay, but that doesn’t make him a bad coach. In the end, he couldn’t produce with AR as his QB, and he got fired for it. And he should have, as there’s no way the Pack are moving on from Rodgers. He’s still a very good coach (imo) who has likely learned from his mistakes.

That said, I don’t think Dorsey will hire him.

Fair point about Shula; however, while McCarthy got to where he was because he can coach football at a high level, I have a very hard time believing Rodgers somehow is the one holding the team back. In fact, that seems impossible; Rodgers's stats are phenomenal. The running game has not been especially good and the defense rarely impressive. Many Green Bay fans believe they should have moved on from Capers as much as three seasons before they finally did (which of course is debatable). 

And as well as TT drafted (theoretically, as he seemed to miss on plenty), there was a very reasonable argument to be made that the "don't sign free agents; just spend on re-signing your own guys" argument is pretty weak in how it turned out for many years in Green Bay, as plenty of other top teams were willing to spend and benefited greatly from it.

So there is a lot of blame to go around, but I do not see how one could put it on AR, even if he was some sort of narcissistic head case (most A-types seem to be to some degree). I have a hard time believing an innovative offensive coach like McVay, Riley or even McDaniels(?) would have that hard of a time making it work long term with A-Rod. This to me is a big strike against MM. The whole "Rodgers" couldn't be controlled and played schoolyard football" narrative seems like a huge stretch for a QB who has played at a top-5 level for most of his career. I don't buy it for a second.

[brooks1957]

1 hour ago, sdrawkcab321 said:

That wouldn’t be a promotion. That’s his current title. 

Oops - obviously did not realize he was currently AHC.

Carry on............

[OttoGrahamsGhost]

Have to agree with Dane here. 

[sdrawkcab321]

good  I didn’t want him  

 

[DawgX]

Hmm, guess that crosses one off the list.

[DawgX]

EDIT: wrong thread