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Het Bolt fam, after the first 3 weeks of this new regime, what have you liked and what have you disliked? Anything you would like to see improved or changed going forward? Any major concerns that need closer attention? I feel like there is a lot to unpack here as there are some things I like so far, some things I am on the fence about, and some things that seem concerning to me. I figured what better way to get a state of the season amongst the fans than by starting a discussion thread, so lets hear it. I was able to record the Raider and Steeler game and take some game notes and trying to look at film as much as I can to get a feel for the new schemes. Here are just a few of my takeaways after 3 weeks.
A) The culture and identity of the team is quickly taking shape to be a LOS team, and I love it. The trenches have been ignored for to long, so it is refreshing to want to build the team from the inside out. I do think to create this identity it has been leaned on a little heavier than it should until it takes root. You can’t win every game fighting in a phone booth, but in order to get that mentality ingrained, it might need to be laid on thick to start.
B) While it is great to focus on improving the running game, they are wasting Herbert’s talent turning him into Mark Sanchez. For all the tongue bathing Harbaugh gives Herbert over his talent, he sure seems to be content turning him into a game manager. You can still be a run first team that lets the QB air it out to his ability also. If you look at the #’s, the offense has more balance in play call %, but the passing game has been paltry in it’s ability to stretch the field and threaten the defense vertically or into the deep third. You don’t have to be throwing bombs every play, but it is difficult to ask an offense to creep its way down the field with consistent runs and short completions. Yes, there have been some verticals to QJ, but one was a busted coverage. Most of McConkey’s catches are coming either sitting in zones or on stop routes. Why can’t he seem to get the ball in space in a mesh concept or on a double move? Wasn’t that supposed to be his calling card coming out? Every college highlight didn’t have him running 8 yard drag stops or comebacks. This offense needs to do a better job of getting Ladd and QJ open in space letting them get the YAC yardage they were drafted for. Also, the lack of a screen game or RB passes is severely hurting this offense. One of Herbert’s strengths was looking off the defense and swinging the ball to the flats to his RB for some easy completions. With the supposed athleticism of the OL, wouldn’t it make sense to have them on the move from time to time? I haven’t studied past Roman offenses to closely, but not having these type of plays in the offense makes playing defense easier when you can look at a formation or personnel grouping knowing that if it’s not a run you can pretty much ignore the RB as a weapon. Again, this can be a roster build issue as their is no true pass catching weapon at RB.
C) Ben Herbert met his match with this franchise and injuries. There is no weight training or fitness program that can prevent them from happening in sports, especially football. There are to many variables to think that a certain exercise can make players “harder to break”. Those programs make players stronger and more flexible, but not unbreakable.
D) Even with the new scheme, tackling is still a big issue. Seems like the first week or so guys were doing a better job of wrapping up. Last week we were back to our old shoulder block missile shots. Maybe guys are buying into the toughness and physicality philosophy to hard and trying to be terminators out there? You can play fast and physical while also playing to technique. Need major improvement to this area. This also seemed to be an issue with some of the penalties. Let’s not become the Raiders, where a bully mentality leads you to become an overly penalized team. Again, you can play physical and smart, those can go hand in hand.
E) The roster is still lacking enough talent throughout to really compete for anything major this year. When Simi Fehoko is a focus in the game plan, you know the skill positions are lacking. Not saying this as a negative, but after watching this team against 3 levels of opponent (meh, trash, and good) you can tell where this roster is, and needs to be. Also, to me, this team still looks slow at the skill positions. Outside of a few big runs, there has been a lack of consistent explosive plays. Is this on Roman’s scheme or the roster? Maybe they are symbiotic? More to come in this area, and I am sure we will get a better idea with the offseason FA and draft focus.
F) Will all these 1 year deals or players on their last year that are playing well in this scheme (Perryman, Dobbins, Ford, Fulton, Mack, Tart, Molden, Slater, Samuel, Dupree) hamper bringing them back with new deals or causing another bunch of roster holes that need to be filled again next year. Comp picks are great, but they take a year to accumulate and there’s no guarantee those picks will become good players for you. Hortiz looks like he hit on a bunch of these deals. It will be interesting to see who earns a contract to stay and who goes the comp pick route.
Anyway, these are just a few of my early season thoughts and I’m sure more will materialize throughout the season.
Thanks, Eric. We need a new thread and your ideas are great starters. I agree that we could easily go downfield more effectively, and we have the horses to do it with QJ, Darius and soon to be Chark. I saw that Austin Ekeler suffered a concussion this week, but I surely do miss the RB dumpoffs into the flat. That’d be especially useful this week with all the injuries to the OLine.
Not worried a bit about the one-year deals. If we get a steal here or there and pony up (or not) next year, all the better. Poona Ford has been a great hit for us and I like what I see from J.K. – so much so that I was fortunate to pick him up on waivers just in time for my State Dept. FF league. But, gotta admit, there was, and still is, risk that led to the one-year prove it deal. Just as we are seeing with Gus. He just doesn’t seem to power through the arm tackles as well as in previous years.
Nice post, these are some good discussion points.
I will get back to “A”, but on “B”, I think some of this is due to the nature of the games they were playing. There really wasn’t a need to be taking shots against the Raiders or the Panthers. To me, that didn’t look like they turned Herbert into Mark Sanchez, it looked like they were running a nice balanced offense that made sense in the context of those games. And then of course with the injury against the Steelers, who knows. Herbert did not look right by the 2nd quarter. I’m going to withhold judgement on the passing offense for now, other than to say I do 100% agree that its lacking RB involvement. That is an obvious hole in the depth of this group of RBs and needs to be a draft target next year.
Regarding your comments A, C, D, and E – the bottom line is that these are mostly still the same group of players from the previous regime. Yes, Harbaugh wants to make this team tougher and build in the trenches but you can only do so much in one offseason.
Does Ben Herbert want to make these guys stronger and more resilient? Of course, but you can only do so much in a few months during one offseason.
Is tackling still an issue? Yup… because its 3/4 the same players.
Lack of explosive plays? I think this is two-fold – the players they have to work with, but also again the context of the games they’ve had. They had a lot of explosive running plays and therefore were not in need of taking a lot of shots in the passing game. Why take the risk when not necessary. You don’t get any extra points for running up the score. They want to play complimentary football, control the ball, control the LOS and keep resting the defense so they can be fresh when they’re back on the field. Unfortunately, none of that worked in the 2nd half against Pittsburgh, but generally speaking I think that’s going to be the gameplan and the identity of the team. Not trying to get into shootouts with explosive plays.
@blue-beers I agree 100%. I saw Erick’s post earlier in the day but didn’t want to try to respond on my phone, so I just got to the thread on my computer, and you had already said everything I would have said, but probably better. Great post.
@blue-beers I agree that some of these observations with the offense are just that at this point, observations. I do think 3 games is to small a sample size to make any declarative statements, but it’s all we have at this point. You could argue that the game scripts for week 1 and 2 didn’t necessarily call for opening up the passing game, but it would have been nice to see at least a few passing concepts that showcase an offense that can take advantage of the running game by opening up the field and utilizing the gained space for some completions on the move and some YAC gaining routes. What we have mostly seen is TE dump offs and a bunch of intermediate stop routes. I really can’t remember McConkey or QJ catching a ball in space across the field being hit in stride, outside of the 2 QJ go route TDs, and one of those was a busted coverage. Even McConkey’s TD was a stop route that he was able to make 2 defenders miss as he turned upfield. Better tackling and that is not a TD. Fields biggest gains against us were plays over the middle of the defense hitting guys on the move. An explosive play doesn’t have to be 25 yard bombs over the top of the defense. It can be a 8 yard mesh route or sluggo that hits the receiver in stride with space to get an extra 15-20 yards after the catch. What good is a solid run game if your PA passes are 8 yard hooks? Being a run first team doesn’t mean you can’t have an explosive passing attack. Look at SF, KC, Buffalo, Philly, Seattle, Detroit. I think the offense is to one dimensional right now and outside of the injuries it was a big reason we lost in Pittsburgh. Once the rushing attack was taken away we had no answers in the passing offense to carry the day. Like I said, it’s still early, but it doesn’t look great right now. I think my observation about team speed looks accurate as they have signed Reagor to the PS. Maybe this is the issue with the pedestrian passing scheme right now, especially with Chark out?
Like I said, we are 2-1 and are building a stronger team identity and culture every day and I love it. This was never a one year turnaround to begin with, so IMO, this season is more about building a foundation going forward, and trying to find some guys to stick on the roster in the new schemes. Who knows, maybe I am way off, and they will play bully ball in the new few years and be a dominant team winning 10-12 games every year and making deep playoff runs, and if that’s the case I really won’t give a crap how they get there. I just have reservations right now with the look of the offense and Herbert’s usage, but not time to panic yet, especially this early with a new scheme and players and after some success.
@evolz3737 I agree, no reason to panic….but I do think the passing game has to open up more in order to complement the run game, keep opponents from stacking the box, and give more game planning flexibility.
At least a couple of things, IMO, are affecting the downfield passing game. One is interior pass rush. Our IOL is not doing a good job. This both pushes Herbert off his mark and creates the necessity for RB’s and/or TE’s to stay in to help with protection.
Another is separation. We’re just not seeing this WR group get much. Maybe the return of Chark and some deep speed will help? That remains to be seen. I would at least, in the interim, try the threat of DD’s speed in an attempt to create some space.
And doesn’t Vidal have some pass catching ability? I thought that was one of his strong suits….maybe I’m mistaken. Either way, one way to slow down the interior pass rush is screens. Have we seen any yet? If so, it’s been a negligible amount.
Building an identity for this team will take time, patience, and good drafting/trade processes. I’m not overly concerned (except for the rash of injuries to key players). I do think that mental toughness is still a key area to address.
@buck-melanoma Buck, all great points I agree with. The lack of screens or quick swing passes is alarming, especially if the rush is causing heat. The separation seems to be an issue in man coverages and on the move. We are very adept in sitting down in zones and on planting on comebacks and stick routes. I watched the Steelers game again yesterday and even Romo broke down a third down play where Pittsburgh was in a cover 4 zone and just dropped the 4 DB to the sticks and sat there. He noted that there has not been anything deep to get them to worry about the deep third of the field. I mean, we haven’t even seen any deep shots that were incomplete. Again, not complaining about the overall results and identity of the team so far, just some things that are hopefully improved.
One other thing I think we should be prepared for is injuries. Maybe not season ending ones, but with this style of physical play, where you are seeking out hard contact, short term injuries are bound to be frequent.
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