I mentioned this earlier several times regarding the sanchez pick 6 and the lack of effort Plax demonstrated on that play. I was listening to sirius NFL radio in the car tonight, and i heard Gil Brandt (one of the best football minds around and someone who i greatly respect) talking about Sanchez when his co host asked him about the topic. The first thing he brought up was how Plax gave up on that ball, and how Goodman was juggling it and didn't have a clean pick. Even though he admitted it wasn't a good throw, he said that most of the time a receiver putting a little bit of effort into it will break up that pass. He also brought up the fact that Sanchez actually leads the league since '10 in 4th quarter comebacks, his words; "when we look at that, that's usually the sign of a pretty good quarterback". While that last part is a side note, it was good to hear someone who knows what they're talking about and is widely respected in the league stick up for Sanchez. But back to the original statement, is that i've seen both plax and tone give up on balls thrown that they definitely could have made an effort for. There's been a couple that have directly resulted in INTs and some that might have been caught. More troubling though, is how lazily they look running their routes. I been focusing a lot on the receivers when watching the game (take your eye off the ball) and seeing how they run their routes and gain separation, and a lot of the time they look like they're just going through the motions. A lot of lazy routerunning or not really going full speed out of their breaks. This falls on schotty too, because he IS in control of the office. That is a big problem and something that's not really been talked about enough.
It does look like Tone and Plax don't give a fuck at times.... I could see it being a factor, albeit a small one, in the O's incompetence.
i don't think it's a small factor if your main weapons are giving up on plays, not preventing INTs when they could, and not gaining separation because they're not running their routes crisp or fast enough
Agreed but a fair expectation is that they're taking occasional plays off, or periods of slacking.... such as when things aren't going our way. It seems like literally every player on that offense is contributing to this clusterfuck.
This is ridiculous. Anything to get the heat off Sanchez. WR's did absolutely nothing wrong last night.
You continue to post absolute dogshit repeatedly. I really wonder if you even bother watching the games or are just too busy contemplating on what inane garbage you can come up with next. You have no clue what's going on in the football field clearly, and you are one of the biggest gamethread miscreants on this site.
Gamethread miscreant? I've posted in week 9,10, 11 but before that haven't since week 3. Please explain to me what the receivers did wrong besides get open and have Sanchez ignore or throw inaccurately to them.
It's hard to go 100% every time when you run your routes and your QB either overthrows, underthrows, or throws it behind you almost 50% of the time.
Some of the time they looked like they were going full speed and ran some good routes and at other times they looked lazy and nonchalant. It wasn't very hard to notice that. Take your anti-Sanchez glasses off and you might notice that there are other players that need to step up also.
Most of the time Sanchez was locked onto one guy or gave up on the play and instantly went to checkdowns. The receivers played well from what I saw, don't really expect them to go 100% on every play or else they'd be gassed very quickly. To try and tell me they weren't trying is asinine.
There were definitely plays where Sanchez was locked on to one receiver - it's a major problem for him and it drives me nuts that he hasn't gotten past it yet - but there were also plays where all of our receivers were blanketed and/or didn't follow through on the play and Sanchez really didn't have any options. It's really disheartening to see Sanchez get all despondent on the field when he should be acting like a leader and keeping the team's spirits up, but that doesn't mean that the receivers can't be called out when they give less than 100% also. There are just so many issues with this offense...
I have been seeing this all season. More from Holmes than Plax. He just looks like he doesn't give a shit, along with the rest of the team besides a few players.
I'm the first one to throw Plax under the bus, but on that play he did nothing wrong. In fact, he was moving away from Goodman when Sanchez threw the ball. He was moving to where Sanchez should have thrown to. There's no way he could be expected to instantly change direction and break up a poorly thrown ball. How come nobody got on LT's ass last week when he failed to break up that int. last week? Face it, Sanchez's timing and placement is off on most of his throws. He had a good completion streak going against the Broncos...but they were all short throws and he wasn't producing points. And that high throw in the endzone to Keller? What the fuck was that? Was that the line's fault? There were a few throws that caused me to scratch my head in wonder.
This team needs a Welker-esque or Chrebet type player. Someone who leaves his pride at home and will do anything to pick up his QB and the team. Suicide routes that lead to body crunching hits, but continuously run their routes and never think twice about it. I thought Keller could fill that role, but he is invisible this year. They had one in Cotchery, but now that is in the past. Percy Harvin is a good example, i think. the guy plays with sore ribs continuously, takes mean shots, but does what he can. Cotchery could receive 0 looks in the first 3 quarters and make a game changing catch with seconds left in the 4th. Santonio would have mailed it in by that time if the situation was the same for him.
Good point. Holmes and Plax both seem to get pissed off when they're not being thrown to enough. Chrebet and Cotch played pretty much without any ego at all. I'm hoping that Kerley can be that type of a player but we haven't seen nearly enough of him yet to know.
I think this is a sort of unfair and out of context blanket statement, although I respect the opinion. Joe Klecko, Michael Irvin, Michael Lombardi, and a few others have all touched on this today/last night in regards to Plax, either on SNY Post Game, their radio shows, etc. And in prior weeks, they've touched on it (the national media, not Klecko), in regards to SD WRs, and other WRs. Never in any of the commentary, did they single Holmes out, but they did single Plax out, in regards to this. In fact, they continue to give Holmes a lot of credit for routinely altering his movements, and essentially making circus catches, given Mark's not hitting him in stride or throwing the most accurate passes, etc. Routinely. Lombardi went as far as to say, Mark's throwing is so off target, that Holmes has to adjust in a way that is preventing yac, often. And that it's not as "easy" as it looks at the speed they're going to try to get errant balls, whether they be high, behind them, etc. Klecko said part of what he thinks is happening with some of the routes and effort, is that when WRs don't get targeted in general, and/or when their running perfect and/or good routes, when they're getting open, when they're getting separation, when they're not getting looks... It causes them to break down. He said it's very common, very human, and a psychological side of the game. Irvin said the same. He said, he doesn't understand what our OC is doing. But, the way we ignore skill players for halves and quarters is crazy, and can have a psychological impact, and it's not good for execution. Ray Lucas said that Tone was getting plenty open and making effort, but because Mark's not seeing the field well, and because Tone is such a high caliber WR, to give Mark extra cushion, Tone could work on getting out of his breaks a little differently to create more separation, but said that would have to go through the coaches. Lombardi said on a radio show or podcast? today, that from game film he was getting to see, Holmes was/is getting open, often, and not being targeted, and he said, that the effort has been consistent from Holmes, although, he did add, that he thinks there's an offensive philosophy issue, because as he understands it, Holmes and Plax? have been meeting with Mark before/after every practice, almost, going over film, field work, working on signals, figuring out how they'll react when they see certain coverages, showing Mark tricks to reading defenses that they'd picked up over the years in the league, telling him ways they can sight adjust and adjust to those things, just trying to elevate their play... and apparently, if Lombardi has heard correctly, Schotty has pretty much told them, no, he just wants them to hit their landmarks, and be where they're supposed to be as designed... End of story. Regardless of what the defense shows, regardless of whether a play breaks down, etc. Lombardi says, it's evident there's an issue, because you measure an OC by the first plays of the game, (I think he said 10-12 plays?) and how effective they are, because those are the scripted ones the OC puts a lot of time in to, they're the plays that get practiced, and the plays that come later are adjusted and or improv, either from the QB or OC, and he said Schotty's 3 and outs to start games are... Well documented. Lombardi said he thinks Schotty is stifling all of them, but particularly Holmes and Sanchez, who are students of the game, and Lombardi went on to further say that Holmes, who came from an offense with the Steelers, that was predicated on "scramble keys," reading defenses, reading coverages, knowing that a playcall doesn't work for the look you're seeing, never stop moving, and making sight adjustments, and having understandings with your QB about what you do, when a defense shows you a look, or a play breaks down, etc. And now being in a rigid offense where it's "rigid" where the WRs can't "audible" or "signal" or "scramble" if they see a certain look... They've been told clearly, they can't. Be at your landmark. He said he's baffled we're so rigid and not allowing this, and implementing keys, not only because of our playmakers, but also because Sanchez is such a great mobile QB. He also says, the stifling is occurring, by one, under utilizing Holmes, he said it's inexplicable Schotty doesn't "feature" him and allows him to be "MIA" and then, b, telling them, go to your landmark and stay there if you want the ball. PERIOD. When a player likely knows they're not being put in a position to excel. And he said, that is what he understands is preached in this offensive philosophy. And he thinks it's taking its toll. Lombardi had a lot to say about our offensive philosophy on his rounds today, on various shows, it was interesting, honestly. He said he'd talked to Heath Evans during the game last night, and Heath was one of many who could call out our plays before we ran them on offense(Heath acknowledged this on Around the League on NFLN today)-- something Lombardi says he knows has to mentally impact our players (knowing everyone in the league knows what you're running and how to stop you, before you run your play), which Lombardi says he thinks is impacting the execution and morale, and Lombardi said we had to get creative on offense, if we keep this coordinator, at the very least. Also said that from watching film, and from what he's hearing from scouts around the league, that Holmes is running great routes, getting open, and still considered a top skill player, at his position, and a lot of people are zeroing in on deficiencies on our o-line, struggles of our QB, and also starting to say we need a blue chip RB. Said they don't think Shonn is going to get it done. Injury prone, Lombardi said, and just not effective enough. Lombardi said that scouts and others around the league are saying Shonn should be getting 12 yard gains when he's getting 4-6, in some of the holes he goes through. I didn't realize Shonn was injury prone? Lombardi finished by saying that a lot of people are starting to wonder if the Mark Sanchez issues and the offense issues are "fixable" under Schottenheimer. Lombardi said it was evident around the league, that the marriage isn't working, and also they don't trust Mark. I don't know, I get where the argument can be made for Plax, in regards to routes, not batting interceptions down, not going full speed, etc. I haven't seen that as a "routine" issue with Holmes, though, personally. And, after hearing everyone else talk about it, and this offense, I'm more inclined not to rip on Holmes for whatever moments he might be experiencing, given all other circumstances on the team. And given I've seen him chase down defenders after Mark's thrown INTs this season, or a ball has been fumbled, and the fact that he'll leap in between four defenders if he has to, to try to get a high pass from Mark, effort I don't glean from Plax. Oh, and one more thing that could be playing in to the play in general... One of the Daily News guys said... He thinks there's an issue with Plax. Said he thinks Mark wants to throw to Tone and Keller, but that given certain circumstances, Mark's feeding Plax more than both of them, when it's not Mark's preference. Don't know if they were speculating or not, but... They hinted at their being something up. Sorry this is so long... Yikes.
^---good post man. actually, great post. you should post more often. i don't have SNY anymore since i got rid of my Dish network with a NJ address, so i didn't see that. i also avoided NFL network like the plague because after losses like that, i don't feel like torturing myself. it's a good thing others have brought that up
Jerry Kramer, the great Packer Offensive Tackle from the Lombardi era, pointed out that, in terms of actual game play, even if you play in the league for ten years, your entire career amounts to about 48 hours in total. If you can't give a hundred percent for 48 hours over ten years, you picked the wrong profession.
Yeah, I almost scrolled past it because it was so long but actually it was a good read. Plax definitely seems to have more of an issue with giving up on plays (it was mainly the Denver game where it seemed to me that Holmes wasn't going 100%), but reading all of that I guess it's a bit more understandable why Holmes would be getting fed up - that's a pretty major indictment of Schotty although not surprising at all.
