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No, not the runningbacks.
No, not the tight ends.
No, not the development of the O-line.
No, not the health and/or maturity of the wide receivers.
No, not the safeties.
No, not depth at linebacker.
No, not the overall youth of the roster.
Its not even the abilities of Ted Thompson.
My biggest overall concern entering this season, the biggest question I have is still the coaching staff, from top to bottom. This is why:
Offensive staff
- I will give them credit for developing protection schemes last year that enabled Favre to remain upright on most passing plays. However, I was never impressed with the overall passing game and the running game was woefully inadequate.
- They were never able to come up with anything acceptable within the red zone.
- I can't say that I remember a game plan that really seemed to stand out against any opponent's defense.
- I never saw halftime adjustments that accomplished anything.
- We have an inexperienced head coach, an inexperienced offensive coordinator and an inexperienced line coach (from the aspect of being the one in charge). It seems teaching the zone blocking philosophy has been more of a task than it should have been. Other teams with no-name linemen have run it successfully.
- Just a lot of question marks, mostly because many have no past experiences similar to the responsibilities they have now or received a year ago. They proved nothing last year.
Defensive staff
- Who is in charge? Is it the defensive coordinator or the assistant head coach? Does the defensive coordinator have someone looking over his shoulder?
- In spite of the strong finish, did anyone feel comfortable with the abilities of the coordinator as a coordinator? Is there any reason to feel better about it at the start of this season?
- Defensive backfield coaches, need I say more? Schottenheimer has had a history of being unsuccessful in previous coaching stints. At least at the beginning of last year the backfield looked eerily similar to when Schottenheimer was in Green Bay before, yet except for Harris all of the players were different. We complained a lot about Mark Roman, who was considered at least a decent player before he came to Green Bay, and was thought to be a good pickup. He was absolutely awful under Schottenheimer, but not nearly as bad the following season when Schottenheimer was gone. He remains a starter at safety for San Francisco now that he left Green Bay. Marquand Manual was good enough to start in a Super Bowl and was looked at as a good pickup when signed by the Packers by most evaluators. Under Schottenheimer he looked very Roman-like. Collins, for the most part, seemed to regress in his second season under Schottenheimer. Harris and Woodson are strong enough veterans to excel in spite of Schottenheimer. The rest of the d-backs are clearly of ages and experience levels requiring strong coaching input. Will they get it?
I think this coaching staff can prove itself. So far it has not. That is why they remain the biggest question mark in my mind. If the coaching staff proves itself, the problems we see at running back and tight end, and the inexperience in the O-line and at wide receiver can be mitigated substantially. If the coaching staff is inadequate, those same problems and others will be magnified.
No, not the tight ends.
No, not the development of the O-line.
No, not the health and/or maturity of the wide receivers.
No, not the safeties.
No, not depth at linebacker.
No, not the overall youth of the roster.
Its not even the abilities of Ted Thompson.
My biggest overall concern entering this season, the biggest question I have is still the coaching staff, from top to bottom. This is why:
Offensive staff
- I will give them credit for developing protection schemes last year that enabled Favre to remain upright on most passing plays. However, I was never impressed with the overall passing game and the running game was woefully inadequate.
- They were never able to come up with anything acceptable within the red zone.
- I can't say that I remember a game plan that really seemed to stand out against any opponent's defense.
- I never saw halftime adjustments that accomplished anything.
- We have an inexperienced head coach, an inexperienced offensive coordinator and an inexperienced line coach (from the aspect of being the one in charge). It seems teaching the zone blocking philosophy has been more of a task than it should have been. Other teams with no-name linemen have run it successfully.
- Just a lot of question marks, mostly because many have no past experiences similar to the responsibilities they have now or received a year ago. They proved nothing last year.
Defensive staff
- Who is in charge? Is it the defensive coordinator or the assistant head coach? Does the defensive coordinator have someone looking over his shoulder?
- In spite of the strong finish, did anyone feel comfortable with the abilities of the coordinator as a coordinator? Is there any reason to feel better about it at the start of this season?
- Defensive backfield coaches, need I say more? Schottenheimer has had a history of being unsuccessful in previous coaching stints. At least at the beginning of last year the backfield looked eerily similar to when Schottenheimer was in Green Bay before, yet except for Harris all of the players were different. We complained a lot about Mark Roman, who was considered at least a decent player before he came to Green Bay, and was thought to be a good pickup. He was absolutely awful under Schottenheimer, but not nearly as bad the following season when Schottenheimer was gone. He remains a starter at safety for San Francisco now that he left Green Bay. Marquand Manual was good enough to start in a Super Bowl and was looked at as a good pickup when signed by the Packers by most evaluators. Under Schottenheimer he looked very Roman-like. Collins, for the most part, seemed to regress in his second season under Schottenheimer. Harris and Woodson are strong enough veterans to excel in spite of Schottenheimer. The rest of the d-backs are clearly of ages and experience levels requiring strong coaching input. Will they get it?
I think this coaching staff can prove itself. So far it has not. That is why they remain the biggest question mark in my mind. If the coaching staff proves itself, the problems we see at running back and tight end, and the inexperience in the O-line and at wide receiver can be mitigated substantially. If the coaching staff is inadequate, those same problems and others will be magnified.
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