Why the reversal?

Does anyone else wonder why we are abandoning offense and building for a defensive future?

Does this somehow tie into Colbert's last year?

Is this a desperate attempt (only hope) to win now because they know the offense is in trouble?

Draft picks and trades have been solely focused on defense while we all know that the offense is where we have question marks. Despite Barron and probably Dupree, the defense looks like it is set for the future....if we just had a DC.

The offense on the other hand has question marks at every position and we don't seem to be doing anything to address it.

We all wondered if Ju Ju could be a legit #1 and so far the answer is no.
Wide Receiver in general is a huge question mark.
Conner is a guy you love to cheer for but is he the real deal?
We all hope Rudolf is the real deal but what if he isn't?
What if Rudolf gets hurt?
The O-line has lost it's way.

Other than WR, RB, QB, and O-line, the offense is looking set for the future!

 

Other than WR, RB, QB, and O-line, the offense is looking set for the future!

You forgot Tight End.

 

Freudian slip I guess Hoping Vannett is the real deal.

 

We did just pick up two tight ends.

We drafted a rb.

We drafted a wr.

We drafted an o lineman the last three years.

We drafted a te.

We have drafted 3 qbs.

wrs each of the last 3 years.

Rbs each of the last 3 years.

 

The OC is the problem with the offense. All he seems to know is isolation routes for receivers (designed to get AB the ball) and off tackle run plays. Ju-Ju is a legit #1 but with no deep threat safeties can play aggressive and use bracket coverage making it tough for intermediate routes. The OC needs to develop a game plan based on what the players strengths are but under Tomlin there has never been a real game plan, they sort of wing it week to week and without AB it is showing.

The defense has a few good pieces but still too many trash heap players, we are now seeing why the Rams let Barron walk. Nelson was a good pick up and Fitzpatrick was worth the pick so there is improvement. Our issue again is with a coordinator who cannot scheme or game plan against an opposing team. He is running the same antiquated defense that was developed by DL and is no longer viable in the era of not being able to knock a receiver around 10 yards down field.

I think what we are seeing is the desperation knowing that scoring 30 points a game isn't in the realm of possibility anymore. The defense is giving up 28 points per game, the Chiefs get away with it because they have a high scoring offense, we don't anymore. The only thing that will help the offense is getting a play with the same game changing ability as an AB and nobody has one for trade. So you try to shore up the defense in order to give yourself a chance to win games.

I honestly think we are seeing the death throes of the Tomlin era, some don't think a bad season will spell his firing but I think it will. The reason is the media isn't giving him an excuse this time, instead they are now debating whether he won because of having a franchise QB in place. I even head Damian Woodley mention that perhaps Tomlin under achieved given what they had on their roster. I seriously think if the team has less than 6 wins Tomlin will get canned but that is just me.

 

All good points!

Except, I don't think Tomlin will ever be fired; I hope I am wrong.

And I think it's too early to say if Ju Ju is a legit #1.

 

You forgot OC.

 

The team has a number of good to very good players who are shackled with lousy game plans. The defense has far fewer good to very good players who are shackled with lousy game plans.

 

I understand your point but I think both offense and defense are suffering from bad game planning/coaching but I see some potential elite talent recently on defense but not on offense.

 

The OC had 3 days with a backup qb to get ready to play on the west coast. He lost two tight ends during the game and is without a fb. Those are not really perfect circumstances for success by anyone. We can't just keep switching coaches weekly when other factors play into the game planning. Despite all this we still had leads that the defense couldn't hold.

 

At some point the offense needs to score. Defenses can’t be built like the 70s anymore

 

we had the lead in the last two games in the 4th qtr. We did score despite everything going against us. The defense had to make a play and hold a lead.

 

These are valid points but when it comes down to the instant, we ran the same plays, or type of plays, over and over. Despite the D creating extra possessions and good field position, we never threw the ball deep in order to keep their D honest, the announcers mentioned it repeatedly, we all watched it repeatedly, but by the time Fichtner opened the offense up it was too late; we had failed to take advantage of the fortunate breaks!

Had we scored an average amount of points on those early turnovers, the rest of the game would have been played very differently by the 9ers.

 

So what were his excuses on every game before Ben went down? you defend him like the same problems didn't exist before all this.

 

Stone i get where you are coming from however I must say I disagree.

First there were MANY here who were very confident in the fact that Juju would have no problem being the #1. All you have to do is go back through the threads from the end of the season and off season.

Second WR has always been a position of strength and many here talked about how we wished we could draft DB's like we did WR's.

Third coming into this season I am not sure there was anyone questioning Conners ability and rightfully so.

I do agree we need to see if MR is the real deal but could we please give him more than a game and a half????

Yes the oline lost it's way but my opinion that has a boat load to do with coaching. From the HC down to the position coaches.

Time will tell where we stand but I think this week is a big test.

 

Again, 3 days of prep with a backup, first time starter, in a hostile environment. We had the lead, small or not. We had the lead in the 4th qtr. too. They shredded our defense all day and dropped the ball luckily for us or we get blown out. We could have at least held them to 3s. Expecting the offense to put up 40 with what we had going against us was not going to happen. 3days of practice before we had to travel to the west coast with a new qb. The o-line gave this kid no chance early in this game.

 

do you mean the Seahawks game? Or NE? We had the lead in the 4th of the Seahawks game as well with the backup qb. Again the defense couldn't hold it.

 

But regardless of prep time or hostile environment, our OC failed to see what everyone else saw. Anyone who knows football (and can see beyond his own panic) can tell you that a combination of offensive strategies is the key. When the same handful of plays continued to fail, Fichtner was so wrapped up in his game plan that he couldn't see that if we had just thrown the ball deep occasionally, completing the deep passes or not, would have opened up the run game and short pass game. And yes, the O-line has all of a sudden turned to **** with the same players; another indication that coaching is a nightmare.

 

Let's not gloss over that last fact that you typed. The offensive line. You plan around what should be the strength of your offense, the veteran offensive line. Do their job as they should have and the plan could have or should have worked. At least he was smart enough to change it up at halftime and get the lead. Something we hear on here all the time about no adjustments. He did. It worked. Even with then losing two tes. Execution by the guys you should have been able to count on shouldn't be put on the OC. He made the adjustments. I can't say the same about the defensive side.

 

1. Regardless of what the members here thought, Ju Ju was an unknown at #1. I had high hopes but was not confident until I saw heim prove it.

2. We had to assume that WR would take a step back after losing the best WR in the game.

3. Conner was well short of a lock especially knowing we took a huge loss at WR.

And all of this is why I posted this in the first place. The vast majority of our recent "big" moves have been on defense; Bush, Fitzpatrick, Nelson, etc., when we just lost arguably the WR and best RB in the game. Our offense is a huge question mark and was at the end of last season, assuming Ben would keep it at a solid level was probably part of the equation.

 

Good point!

 

I only wonder why it has taken so many repeated double digit ass kickings in the playoffs for the management to realize that we have a defensive problem.

 

have they realized it? Butler is still here.

 

In the age of fantasy football offenses we're trying to outsmart everyone. They'll never see it coming when we roll out our defense with 11 first round picks!

 

I don't believe this is a reversal at all...the past few years the defense has been a weakness. They are addressing it piece by piece when they feel the right opportunities present themselves. I've liked all the moves and look forward to watching how Fitz and Bush develop.

It seems as though the staff still has a high level of confidence in the offense. It's been a struggle to see why, but I appreciate that they aren't over reacting to a few bad games.

At this point they've lost 3 games to teams that most pundits have ranked in the Top 15, some of which have all them in the Top 10. Oh ya and the hall of fame QB getting hurt for the year....kinda throws the game plan into a bit of a tail spin.

For this thing to turn around I expect them to roll against the Bengals.....easily.