Scheme Schmeme (Week 4)

The biggest blunders in scheme that have plagued or plagued some of your favorite teams in Week 4

Greg Roman Punches it up the Gut Against a Loaded Box All Day vs Chiefs:

Riddle me this. Why on Earth are you pounding the rock up the middle all day with J.K Dobbins against a stout run defense when you are missing your two cornerstone offensive lineman? Generally that would be a flawed gameplan, but Roman did it all day without any remorse. Dobbins was running into two or more players every single time he approached the hole and for some reason the Chargers didn’t lean on Herbert to just take over the football game. Herbert looked outstanding yesterday considering who was lining up across from him and the amount of times play calling killed the Chargers’ drives. Down the stretch in a seven point game I had to rub my eyes a few times when I saw Hassan Haskins out there at running back only to pass protect against two guys on all out blitzes multiple times to no avail. You have Dobbins who can slip out into the flat. Why not use the weapon? There was a play earlier in the game in the late third or early fourth if I recall where Herbert threw one of the best balls I have seen all season to J.K running up the sideline. It was such a tight window to hit while rolling to his left from a Kansas City defender, but he threw the ball on an absolute rope. It was such an incredible throw that Dobbins didn’t expect it and unfortunately couldn’t haul it in and it would’ve been a 30+ yard gain potentially going for a touchdown if the linebacker trailing Dobbins couldn’t bring him down. But, in typical media fashion, Mahomes was given the crown for the best quarterback in that football game and Herbert was to blame for the Chargers loss, which I think is a joke. Herbert was getting blasted on nearly every throw he attempted and his toss to McConkey was an absolute dime considering the cornerback had his hands on Ladd the entire time. My question for the Chargers is why is your play calling this Vanilla for such a big game? Just because running the ball was Harbaugh’s identity at Michigan to be a run-centric, ground and pound team doesn’t mean that the team has to have a limited play sheet and force a running game that isn’t there for them. When the Chiefs show you eight in the box and with you being down two down offensive lineman it is just unacceptable to run the ball down the middle twenty times with nearly zero outside zone run calls. I need to see a lot more out of Greg Roman because even at Baltimore he struggled mightily when it came to making adjustments and changing his scheme up to suit Lamar Jackson’s playstyle. The Chargers have a lot to look forward to and I hope Mr Roman doesn’t get in the way like last night.

Lions dominate despite many oddities in playcalling:

How many times are we going to see the Lions get gashed by tight end flat plays against the Seahawks? I guess the answer is too many to count because last night AJ Barner had no business hurting us like he did. Don’t even get me started on the three headed monster that took us down last year of Colby Parkinson, Noah Fant, and Will Dissly. The Seahawks do this to no one else except the Lions every year, which points to a glaring problem. Aaron Glenn insisting on running man coverage and showing it to the opposing offense puts his cornerbacks in the worst positions imaginable and has created a problem guarding the flats for his unit. The guy is incapable of keeping a play hidden or disguising a look to confuse the opposing offense. He must have the most swag of any defensive coordinator in the league within locker rooms because the Lions pass defense and their execution hasn’t looked good one bit besides the game against the Cardinals, yet the announcers talk about how people rave about Mr Aaron Glenn. What I see right now is Hutchinson dominating and putting the whole unit on his back while DJ Reader returns and Kerby Joseph assumes the role of brute enforcer over the middle of the field and up top. Joseph has been making plays all season, but when comes the point where the Lions evolve this defense from a play calling perspective. I have yet to see it and it’s getting to the point where I’m growing impatient throughout the weeks with how the unit has been coached anywhere outside the red zone. Their red zone defense has been superb, which bodes well for a team with Super Bowl aspirations, but I can’t see this defense get ripped to shreds on dink and dunk passes and homerun balls where there is a fair chance Terrion Arnold gets a penalty because he is put on an absolute island with zero safety help. The one other head scratching thing the Lions did this game was on a third and one play running a pitch to David Montgomery that got blown up. Why on earth would you call that on third and one? This team’s identity is sock ‘em in the jaw. You could run a counter with Brock Wright pulling in front of Jahmyr Gibbs and blowing up anyone in his way, you can go heavy and give it to Montgomery up the gut, toss it to Gibbs, or pass the ball. The one thing you should not do is run a toss to Montgomery to the short side of the field with backers in the box. The predictability of the Lions offensive play calling in short yardage has been a problem all season, but there’s faith moving forward. I have no issue with Ben Johnson right now; he's feeling things out and finding his groove.

Jacksonville’s Red Zone offense might be federally indicted for robbing fans of hard earned cash:

In possibly the most embarrassing, demoralizing start for a team I’ve ever seen I don’t know where the Jaguars can go. It’s just sad at this point that the team has folded as bad as they have in every single game. You have lost three one score games in ugly fashion. Fumbling inside the five against the Tua led Dolphins after blowing a lead, collapsing down the stretch against Deshaun Watson, and then getting pieced up horrendously bad by the Houston Texans. No answers on defense, no way to get Etienne going, and no vertical threats outside of Brian Thomas Jr. in the receiving core to make the huge plays expected from T Law whose seat is now scorching with each passing week. The problems were right in front of us since day one of the season. No offensive lineman on the roster and the response is wasting money on a whole lot of nothing with Arik Armstead, Devin Duvernay, Mitch Morse, and Gabe Davis all joining this team to make a marginal impact. It’s just odd for Lawrence to not push the ball down the field and so far this year it has been atrocious for him when it comes to making more than a handful of big plays each game. Lawrence just isn’t enough and when this team moves the ball down the field they get shut down every time in the red zone. I mean how can a team be a winning one if they can’t punch the football in? This game was the Jaguars' to win, but nearing the end zone Derek Stingely Jr. said not so fast in coverage and against a loaded box Jacksonville’s ground game couldn’t overpower anybody. There must be change in Jacksonville and Doug Pederson blaming his players for the red zone woes is not a good sign heading into week 5.

Dallas Cowboys Defense has been one of the biggest disappointments:

This team is an absolute dumpster fire on the defensive side of the ball through four weeks. They have no answer for the ground game, which they were lucky the Giants didn’t have, and their pass defense has been incredibly underwhelming without Daron Bland’s presence as a shutdown corner. Trevon Diggs is not so good of a number one corner with issues taking gambles in coverage to get turnovers and this is highlighted by how the Cowboys always sell out against the pass and give up huge runs with no interior defensive line presence. So far the team has had an absolute cupcake schedule and only has two wins, which can mostly fall on two things. A bad defensive scheme that is outdated from Mike Zimmer and zero run game that tells opposing teams the Cowboys are guaranteed to be an air raid unit with Dak, Ceedee, and Ferguson. The problem with the Cowboys scheme is that the entire league has it figured out. Are we ever going to see Derek Carr drop 44 points on a team every again? Probably not. Why is this rush defense so bad? Their exterior defensive lineman are good, but mostly as pass rush specialists and the current linebacker situation just isn’t ideal for stopping the run. Always playing in nickel will do that to you and when looking at some divisional matchups and beyond that weak point will become even more glaring than it already has been. Commanders with Brian Robinson Jr., Eagles with Saquon, 49ers with anyone, and Atlanta with Bijan are all matchups that might give the Cowboys some huge trouble on defense. There’s time to figure it out, but Zimmer is not a coach that likes to change his ways, kind of like the Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The Cowboys definitely still have the talent to come back and take the crown from the Commanders, there just has to be immediate changes and different looks/blitzes that can take the run game out of the opposition’s toolbox.