Tanny stunk, but it's still on the OC to put the QB in a position to succeed. Foreman was tearing up the Bengals D, what does Todd do? Puts the ball in a struggling QB's hands for zero reason.
Our offense went from elite, to well below average when Downing took over. He also abused henry until he broke his foot, then continued to run him for the rest of the game.
When henry went down, what did Downing do? Pivoted to a more balanced offense focusing on one of the best young wr in the game and our newly acquired expensive weapon? Nah just plug in Foreman and continue to be the most run heavy team in the NFL.
Everything Downing has done has been poor.
Kelly can't be any worse than Downing can he?
Downing isn't a great playcaller and I agree his play selection sucks, but this part is 100% on Vrabel. The Titans have been an overwhelming run first team since Vrabel became the head coach. All three of his offensive coordinators have implemented run first schemes. Robinson has drafted players and picked up personnel suited to this type of offense.
The difference between those coordinators and Downing have been how they structured their personnel groupings and the quality of the play selection given the situation. LaFluer and Smith were able to overcome the issues with running so much on first down by implementing schemes and playcalls that allowed the Titans to be one of the best third down offenses in the NFL during their tenures. Also helped them that Henry was generating explosive plays at a pretty decent rate on first down, forcing opposing defense to account for them, and bailing out the Titans for their overly reliant first down rushing rate.
However, with the Henry getting less and less explosives plays on first and second down (and Foreman and Hilliard doing similarly last season), Downing has also failed to adapt the offense to overcome these shortcomings, ideally by throwing the ball more on first down. Combine that with Downing's failures in play selection and use of personnel groupings that practically give away what type of play call is being made, that's what we are seeing.
Finally, it doesn't help that Henry is effectively a two down back. Gives away what the offense is likely to do when he is in/out of the game. And Downing is simply not good enough to adapt to this as well.
What's the rule on hiring a college guy now?
I've read good things about Josh Gattis but that's all I know...
Vrabel's loyalty to trash from the past will doom this team at some point
I've read good things about Josh Gattis but that's all I know...
Vrabel's loyalty to trash from the past will doom this team at some point
Tough to say. He never really impressed me in Houston though, last year obviously was a write off. But their offense with Watson was never that spectacular and it often felt like it only took off when Watson took things into his own hands.
I agree with you 100%. Probably my biggest pet peeve with vrabel is his old school run first mentality. It's utterly nonsense. Everyone and their dog knows henry is getting pounded up the middle on first down, this sets henry up for additional and unnecessary wear and tear and instantly puts us behind the 8 ball.
For whatever reason vrabel just refuses to get with the times.
Terry Robiskie was better than Downing. I’ve never seen a worse NFL coordinator.
Downing is pretty brutal...he needs to go asap...but he won't because Vrabel's arrogance won't allow it
Exotic smash mouth lmfao
Run it 'til it pops!
But is Downing as bad as Norm Chow? :brow:
We've had a run of OCs that's impressive in it's total lack of competence, lol!
Getting ahead of myself here, but in the future...
Malik Willis strengths are mobility,/scrambling read option rushing, and deep ball touch. The Titans/Downing don't do any of those things. Could be even more painful to watch than what we have now if they refuse to adapt to players' strengths.
Malik Willis strengths are mobility,/scrambling read option rushing, and deep ball touch. The Titans/Downing don't do any of those things. Could be even more painful to watch than what we have now if they refuse to adapt to players' strengths.
As far as QB audibles go, not sure there’s an exact science to that. Seems like some QBs are given free reign to do whatever (Peyton manning etc) and many are put on tight leashes, probably more so for making bad reads during practices or whenever.
watson is in clevland because he refuses to take things into his own hands
:rimshot:
no robiskie is one of the worst OCs in the history of the league... he will never be an OC again anywhere at any level... robiskie would be slicing oranges in Pee Wee
So is Downing and so will Downing when he finally gets fired. At least Robiskie had the excuse of being an old man.
By theory, our team should then have around the highest amount of PA and with high success.
Have no issue with old school forcing Ds to stop Henry. The problem is downing also doesn’t play that style when he actually should, he hands off to rookie TE on end around sweeps that have literally had zero success every time he’s called that play.
Downing is running the scheme that Vrabel wants him to.
He was terrible with the Raiders too so don’t even try to blame Vrabel. Their fans despise him. The offense was fine under Art and Vrabel was the head coach.
Offense had similar issues under Arthur Smith, whom most fans bitched about constantly. Look at the Ravens playoff game, for instance. Or even the AFC championship against the chiefs.
Is downing worse than Smith, yes and I’ve said that repeatedly. Hell, I don’t think downing even knows how to call a good game beyond the opening script. But the offensive issues on this team go way beyond Downing. The team runs the ball way too much on first down, and essentially runs an offense centered around a running back who really is only on the field for two downs because his blocking and pass catching abilities are sub par. Henry is great at what he does, but his presence does tend to demonstrate titans are way, way more likely to run.
Art was better with personnel and scheming to overcome the problems this team had by running so much on first down. He also had better overall talent than what the Titans are fielding today on offense.
Firing Downing solves nothing until Vrabel changes the entire scheme. Running the ball 70 percent on first down last week proves to me the man and his coaching staff learned nothing. Running the ball on first down nearly/over 60 percent of the time has been a consistent trend under Vrabel through three coordinators. The Titans have run most of their offense out 12 and 13 personnel through most of Vrabel’s tenure.
The scheme has to change, particular as the skill players on offense continue to decline. Until that changes, replacing Downing with Kelly does little to change the offense at this point
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