Originally Posted by
pbmax
But they stopped working after the second drive. Pressure, aggressive coverage and drops killed it. After that, guessing the game plan is a crap shoot because as McGinn notes, Monty got banged up a couple of times in the game and had to come out, making a hash of the running plan. With a big lead by halftime, I am sure M3's play calling was affected.
But mostly, what I know is what was not there. Multiple attempts to spring receivers open early by running bunches, picks, rubs or crossing routes right off the LOS.
There were 3 attempts to get Cook into the flat with WR blocking. He dropped the first two. But that was it.
And the Falcons ran the same pressures the Cowboys did in the second half, delayed ILB blitzes up the middle and DB pressure off the edge. The team never solved it.
Throwing short on man beaters is not an offense. But it will help an offense stuck in neutral against a team playing man with pressure.
What this tells me is that after 2 years of some brutal offense (and 5 years of tape of this happening against some good teams) McCarthy still does not know how to overcome this limitation of his offense.
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McCarthy is now on year 6 of facing this kind of defense and he hasn't solved it. In fact, while injuries probably hurt here, the teams that can run this successfully against the Packers are less talented than before. The Packers have not exactly stood still, they have done some things; the entire scramble drill offense is part of it.
But pressure like we saw in the last 6 quarters makes a hash of that plan. And if the old 49ers D 4 man rush or the Vikings Spy5 get pressure, it doesn't matter.
He needs his base offense that is available in every game, regardless of game plan, to include concepts that will force a team out of man. His WR are talented enough to carry this out. Kyle freaking Shanahan was able to do this with Robert Griffin and Pierre Garçon and Matt Ryan without Julio Jones. His whole offense runs sideways.
If McCarthy gets beat in the pre game scouting department, its lights out for the offense because of this inflexibility.