Not to pile on Schotty any more than I already have, but he still deserves a large portion of the blame. After reading this article, I can understand how his hands might've been tied, but what of adapting and adjusting? There's a difference between being an Offensive "genius" or guru and being an Offensive genius/guru of one's own system. At some point, Schotty should have drastically adjusted his system to better suit his personnel. For example, if you have a rookie/2nd/3rd year QB, or WRs who can't seem to get open because they're running routes incorrectly (or whatever the case was) then alter your system's complexities and nuances. I know Schotty's not all to blame, but he's not getting a pass here just because Callahan's blocking scheme didn't correspond with his system.
I love how Schotty was supposed to be running a Coryell brand of offense yet Sanchez threw the fewest 20+ yard passes out of any QB who took at least 50% of the snaps for his team this year. Something is very wrong with that regardless of who shares the most blame.
To me, it looked like Jets were trying to run WCO, but with receivers that were as shifty as bulldozers.
All Schotty has to do to be successful in St. Louis is run the Air Coryell offense. Straight up. No gimmicks, gadgets or whirligigs. It'll be interesting to see what he chooses to do though.
I liked the article about the types of offenses. Now I know why Schotty's offense was a dud here in NY
I'm not quite sure that he is capable of giving up his gimmicks and gadgets and whirligigs. I am reminded of the pick-fest in Buffalo in 2009, with a rookie QB. He sent 4 players into pre snap motion on the first play of the game. False start. It think they make him feel smart.
There is this receiver named Santonio Holmes somewhere in the East coast... I heard he was pretty good...
Mind you, pre-snap motions and creating mismatches are a huge part of Sid Gillman offense. Whether Schottenheimer can implement the stuff correctly is an entirely different matter but I had to point this out.
I get you. I just think that Gilman would poop himself if he saw this particular simultaneous pre snap motion on the first play of a game with a rookie under center.
Zach, Our disagreement isn't major. I agree that the Jets' OL and run blocking weren't that good in 2006/2007, but that wasn't Moore's fault. He has consistently graded out as their best OL over the years, and most of that time, when the Jets have really wanted to run the ball, they ran to the right, not up the gut, not to the left but to the right. Thus, I don't think my statement that Moore flourished is an overstatement. I do agree that they should start looking for his eventual replacement, and considering his age and coming off a fairly serious injury, they probably will need to replace him sooner rather than later. I think he should be solid for at least another year, maybe two. I don't disagree that most of the problems stem from Tanny - his personnel decisions and his control over the CS. The HC and Coordinators should have at least some, if not total control, imo, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Tanny has all the power with the Jets. My point regarding Schotty is that he could have scrapped the hybrid system if it was forced upon him. He could also have adapted his system to fit the talents of the players the Jets actually had on the team. He also could have simplified the terminology and cut out a lot of the pre-snap motion once he saw his QB and players were struggling with it and not able to execute it with any consistency or proficiency. He didn't. If I had been Schotty and a hybrid system was forced upon me and the GM consistently ignored my requests for players that actually fit my system, I'd either change my system to one that would work with the players I had, or I'd resign. It's only common sense that if your offensive system requires certain skill sets in order to consistently flourish and you don't have the players who posses those skill sets, then your offense/system is going to struggle and you're going to be made to look bad. That will hurt one's career and chances for moving up the ladder. If Schotty had walked away from the Jets two or three years ago, he quite possibly could have found another job immediately where his offense could flourish and he may have gotten a HC gig this year. He would have shown more intelligence and integrity than staying and trying to run a bastardized mess of a system in NY. Schotty's offense was never consistent. It would work for a few plays here and there, a quarter here, a half there. It rarely dominated or succeeded for an entire game, but there were some very good games. They were almost always followed by stinkers, however. We'll probably never know the exact truth behind the scenes, but I feel very comfortable laying the majority of the blame on Tanny and Schotty, and only a slightly lesser degree on Rex.
What's funny is that Ravens fans hate his mentor Cam Cameron as much as we hate Schottenheimer. The Ravens and Jets are built to feature the run, so i doesn't seem the "Air Coryell" system is a great fit for either.
I tentatively lean towards that as well. There have been a lot of reports about the system being too complex, so I'm willing to believe it was a major contributing factor.
That's what the Jets get for forcing Rex to keep Mangini's offensive coordinator. Should have let him bring in his own guy. Although I suppose it's possible, in light of recent events where Rex seemed to intentionally ignore the offense, that he just took whatever they gave him.
While I do not agree with the sentiment, I can understand what you are saying. Moore was most consistent run-blocking OL for the past half decade for that matter indeed. With full off-season training and whatnot, I would expect him to hold the fort for at least 1 more year (more likely 2). This would mean going full WCO (in favor of Callahan, and for the last three years, Cavanaugh), which he has no experience of. Maybe this was Tannenbaum's way of saying "GTFO, idiot." Still, at this point I do not think Schottenheimer is the dolt that I once made him out to be. With rag-tag squad made out of players you scrounge at scrap heaps, he did mastermind 10-6 offense that produced when asked. Mangini bringing in Callahan was the start of all this clusterfuck of a mess - no doubt about it. I would think his lack of experience played a key role in this not happening. Brian is but 38 now. He was 32 when he first got the OC gig, fresh from the Chargers. Even at this stage of his career, I strongly doubt if he can utilize anything other than what he knows, which is Gillman variant. Maybe he picked up some of the WCO style zone blocking rush system, but that aside, he is still Coryell disciple that doesn't know much outside. (Or that's what I would presume.) Again, inexperience factor is at work here - or that's my guess. But these should have been done. That I agree. I would have resigned too, once I realized this mutant clusterfuck shit was going nowhere. Call that a growing pains. (Even though those legends don't quite seem to go through these...) I would still put the lion's share of blame on Tannenbaum over anyone else.
Just getting around to reading this article. Interesting. And the way the author connects coaching pedigrees is really well done. I'm just not so sure it's a definitive statement on why Brian Schottenheimer's offense was so maddening. I don't think offenses are as static as it suggests. I mean, the Patriots offense of 2001 isn't even remotely close to the Patriots offense of 2011, and yet it's the same head coach, the same coaching tree, and presumably the same terminology. Air Coryell was just a tad easier to run with a Hall of Fame quarterback, a Hall of Fame receiver, and a Hall of Fame tight-end. Seems to me, more than the terminology or the system you install, the trick is matching personnel and play calling with the game plan. There are only so many routes, formations and blocking schemes, and there's only one ball. Rex keeps saying that he wants to "get back to 'ground and pound'." Consider that in 2009, we had a workhorse back in Thomas Jones, a solid backup in Shonn Greene, and a pretty effing good third down back in Leon Washington. Meanwhile, we needed to trade for Braylon Edwards to stitch together a decent receiving corps and had a rookie quarterback throwing the ball. Just maybe, we were a 'ground and pound' team because we didn't have the personnel to succeed otherwise. And when we dumped TJ and Leon, and a year later, Brad Smith and Tony Richardson, that 'ground and pound' offense was playing for other teams. The terminology and the system hadn't changed. I don't know. It's an interesting article. I just think it might be underestimating the adaptability of coaches to personnel. The key to it all is matching your offensive philosophy with your personnel. No greater example than Tim Tebow and the Broncos. And it's the rare occasion when you can just bring in a new coach and suddenly transform your personnel into something they weren't before - see Alex Smith 2011. P.S. I fucking hate the term "ground and pound."
I think you have probably seen the last of it from Rex for the most part. The more I think about it, the more I think that 'Ground and Pound' was less of a philosophy than the name of a specific playbook that Rex wanted Schotty to come up with as the training wheels for a rookie QB. Whenever Rex would state in pressers that 'we're going back to Ground and Pound', I think it was pretty much announcing that he was telling Schotty to put the training wheels back on.
