Read This, Be Smarter: The Undoing of Chip Kelly's Offense

[Pugger]

I would add he does not stand still for the most part. He has changed end of game strategy (not always for the better), changed D philosophy and altered the offense he took to a Super Bowl among other things.

Its just that with this version of his offense, we are still in evaluation mode. Its going to be another year before he jettisons it completely, even if my gloomy prognostication comes true.

This is what I find puzzling when people say Mike is stubborn. He isn't afraid to make a move if he thinks it will make his team better. Most of the time he is right but often he screws up - like when he yielded playcalling duties to Clements. I'm glad he saw the error of his ways and is calling the plays again.

[Zool]

It had become ineffective long before last year. If not for big Jordy plays, they would have been in terrible trouble much earlier.

Right now this offense needs its three physical talents (Rodgers, Nelson and Cook) to run roughshod over the opponent. Because the scheme isn't helping as much as it used to. If they get hurt, offense stagnates.

Wasn't the offense ranked #1 in 2014?

[Fritz]

From what I can discern, it seems to me the idea behind the no-huddle is that it gets the defense "stuck" in a certain package with players of certain talents on the field, and if your players are better (and the play calls can exploit areas the defense is less skilled in) you'll win that.

But with Nelson gone last year, the simple fact remaining was that even with Rodgers at the helm, the Packer offensive skill position guys weren't as good as the defense's guys, even when the defense got stuck in a package due to the hurry-up.

But as PB points out, this no-huddle hurry-up has been sputtering for awhile. This suggests the Packers' front-line guys may not be that much better than what the defense is putting out there.

The old MM offense - all those substitutions and packages and whatnot - seemed predicated on the idea that the Packer offense had more depth than the opponents' defenses did. Your sub-groups were better than theirs.

I'm not sure why Mikey-Mike got away from this. Seems the Packer depth is as good as it's been. And the no-huddle ain't working.

[pbmax]

Wasn't the offense ranked #1 in 2014?

Yes, that was the year he figured out his no huddle after trying an abandoning it in 2012. I don't recall the effects in 2013 because Rodgers had his clavicle injury that year. But teams began to adjust by the end of the 2014 season.

That was the start of the era where everyone would just match up in man, finding they could not stop him with zone. By the end of the year they scored 13 versus the Bills, 20 against the Bucs and 22 against the Seahawks. Of course, Rodgers was hobbled by his calf injury as well.

A healthy Rodgers, Nelson and Cook all make a huge difference, so I am not predicting they fall to the back half of offenses this year because of offensive design alone. But I don't think the Packers win anymore prior to kickoff by scheme.

[Maxie the Taxi]

This is what I find puzzling when people say Mike is stubborn. He isn't afraid to make a move if he thinks it will make his team better. Most of the time he is right but often he screws up - like when he yielded playcalling duties to Clements. I'm glad he saw the error of his ways and is calling the plays again.

The Sitton OL crisis will tell us a lot today. Now that Bahk is injured (some say he's not too great to start with) and the general consensus is Taylor stinks, a reasonable expectation would be that the left side of the OL will be a huge problem in today's game.

Up till now Stubby has publicly spouted the company line that Taylor is competent and the OL will be fine. Nothing to see here. The question is does he really believe this or is he making adjustments in his game plan behind the scenes to compensate for this crisis? In other words, will we see a lot of quick release, short passes, maybe screens and flat passes to the right, Lacy running to the right, etc.?

Or will we see a business as usual offense with deep drops, Arod running for his life and Lacy bouncing back off Taylor's butt as Stubby plays the game in denial?

Of course, the other possibility is that the company line is correct, Bahk is healthy and capable and Taylor is an adequate replacement for Sitton. Hmmmmm. We'll see.

[Fritz]

Good point, Maxie.