Colledge Sucks

[motife]

Colledge played great last year. He's regressing. He's also uber-confident, even though his confidence may be misapplied. He considers himself the spokesman of the offense. You never hear Tauscher, Clifton or Wells say boo, but every week Colledge is giving press conferences.

It did wonders for Colledge last year when he got benched.

As for replacements, don't forget Alan Barbre.

Spitz or Moll too.

Colledge isn't that much better than any of them.

McCarthy was really high on Palmer too, the guy with the chipped vertabrae.

[Harlan Huckleby]

They have very little to work with. Who are the backup tackles right now? Do they even have any? Colledge is going to be a starter somewhere all season long.

[Carolina_Packer]

Hypothetically, if McCarthy had a crystal ball when he took the job and could see that Jags was only going to stay a year as the OC, would he have still hired him and installed the ZBS, or would he have gone more conventional blocking? What do you think?

[Harlan Huckleby]

I think the talk about the blocking scheme is over emphasized.

The other guys are pushing our guys around.

[motife]

I think the talk about the blocking scheme is over emphasized.

The other guys are pushing our guys around.

Tauscher and Wells are playing good. It's primarily the guards, and to some extent Clifton in the run game.

I'd like to see Barbre in there.

[rpiotr01]

I think the talk about the blocking scheme is over emphasized.

The other guys are pushing our guys around.

But the question is, are they being pushed around because they're inferior talent, or because they're improperly executing a scheme? If they just went man to man would they be pushed around so much? or are they being pushed around because the scheme tells them to go against their instincts, which messes them up?

[Harlan Huckleby]

I don't think Tauscher is playing well. but maybe that's just what I've noticed.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I'd like to see Barbre in there.

We have no reason to believe he's better than Colledge.

If we were put out there, it would say that the coaches are at least facing up to a problem and trying to deal with it. But maybe they are doing that anyway by sticking with Colledge.

[Carolina_Packer]

Will Whittiker still out there?

[swede]

I'm sensing two opposing views regarding the feeble run game.

One side says the scheme and the coaching suck. (I'm on that side)

The other side says anywhere from some to all of the offensive lineman are playing poorly or are inadequate physically.

Perhaps the common ground is that the offensive line, the coaches AND the scheme suck.

Is anyone really blaming the running backs anymore?


Defensive linemen going untouched is a problem with scheme or teaching of the scheme.

Give it the hell up Green Bay coaches--all available evidence clearly points out that you haven't a clue how to implement, let alone teach, the ZBS.

The rest of the offense looks respectable and is conceived and taught by the same people, so couldn't they at least put in a half dozen conventionally-blocked running plays?

[Lurker64]

I would like to blame the running backs, the offensive line, the coaches, as well as the other team's defensive line and LBs for our inability to run the ball very well.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Is it me, or has Chad Clifton looked bad during the first two games? Granted, it appears that the whole line hasn't performed capably, but he's supposed to be the stud. Is there anyone on the OL that sticks out in your mind as performing particularly well?

ROB DEMOVSKY: I didn't think Clifton had a particularly good game against the Eagles. He was responsible for at least one of the four sacks. I thought Clifton was fine in pass protection against the Giants but missed a couple of key blocks in the running game, which you could say about every offensive linemen. Seems to me that Wells has been the best among the linemen and probably Colledge has been the worst.

[HarveyWallbangers]

The rest of the offense looks respectable and is conceived and taught by the same people, so couldn't they at least put in a half dozen conventionally-blocked running plays?

Demovsky, from the Press Gazette, said the Packers did run more power runs on Sunday then they did against the Eagles, but those didn't really work either.

[swede]

The rest of the offense looks respectable and is conceived and taught by the same people, so couldn't they at least put in a half dozen conventionally-blocked running plays?

Demovsky, from the Press Gazette, said the Packers did run more power runs on Sunday then they did against the Eagles, but those didn't really work either.

All right, thank you, Harvey. This is starting to come into focus now.

The ZBS plays suck because they are poorly conceived and poorly executed. The power running game sucks solely because the O-line was built around ZBS.

DeShawn Wynn's touchdown actually did look like a conventional inside run that had been stuffed. That baby was all DeShawn. DeShawn and BJack should take their linemen out to Burger King this week just to thank them for their quality work.

[Maxie the Taxi]

This is a very interesting discussion. Here’s my "old school" take on it…

THE POSSIBILITIES
Bad Coaching – If this is true, we’re screwed. Even if MM knows his coaching is bad, he isn’t likely to change coaches in mid-stream. He’s a “fix it” type of mentality and will probably try some kind of corrective strategy with himself or jostling current personnel. MM’s no fool and he knows Alex Gibbs personally. If coaching is the problem, he could hire Gibbs as a consultant.

Bad Scheme (ZBS) – MM isn’t going to overtly change this in mid-stream either. If he thinks it was a mistake to go to ZBS, he’ll continue to try and “fix it” by modifying it to suit the talent available while the season is on. He’ll incorporate any substantive changes next off season.

Modified ZBS (without the cut blocks) – This could be considered a kindler, gentler type of ZBS, or a politically correct ZBS. If this is what MM has installed – for whatever reason – we’re screwed, because at least to my uneducated brain, it makes no sense at all to run ZBS without cuts.

Unsuited or not talented enough players – We’re stuck with the players we have, unless someone better suited to ZBS is waived by another team. In this case, we just have to make do with what we have until the draft or next off season.

Badly Executed ZBS – The only solution to this is practice, practice, practice and run, run, run during games. From everything I’ve read, the ZBS is very, very timing-dependent. It’s difficult to learn and more difficult to perfect. If this is the case, we must be patient and let practice and experience heal the problems we’re having.

Another possibility: Savvy defense – Just as OL coaches have been working to install and perfect ZBS throughout the league, defensive coaches have been working to install countermeasures. One way to combat the ZBS that most coaches and players agree on is penetration. If a defensive lineman can penetrate the zoning OL, it tends to blow it up. There are probably many schemes and stunts that coaches have developed that make penetration easier or more likely. Maybe the time has arrived when ZBS’s aren’t at a clear advantage anymore.

MY OPINION – MM and staff is at least as smart as we are. They watch more film and see the same or more things that we do. They’ll do what they think best to solve the problems. Personally, I don’t think they’ve abandoned the zone. I think it will just take more and more time to run it properly. If they stick with it and keep running the ball around 30 times per game, the running game will eventually gel nicely. There’s no quick fix possible. There’s none needed.

If they have, for some reason, modified the ZBS Jags taught them last year, they should go back to basics of ZBS immediately.

Lastly, MM and TT have already stocked the team with body types that are conducive to ZBS and not conducive to power blocking. The coaches can change the scheme, but they can’t change the body types of the personnel we have.

My advice, be patient. We’ve got a group of fine, young, talented backs who are learning a new system. Morency is an experienced cut-back runner. If he were in there, we’d know better where we stand. Hope he plays Sunday and gives us an idea.

This is our team, players and coaches! Live or die with them.