Originally posted by NCommand:Originally posted by OnTheClock:Originally posted by NCommand:Originally posted by GetSomeRouteRunners:Saying the problem is "execution" doesn't absolve Shanahan. He's a head coach, not just a play caller. It's his responsibility to get the players to execute. It's not just one or two guys. It's the whole offense.
"Execution" is the problem.
It's the low hanging fruit. If execution is always the problem, call plays they can execute. Or coach them up to execute.
You can say this is the issue on every play called in history that doesn't score.
Do you think Shanahan should be more Walsh-esque and rip the heads off of assistants? NGL, it's been extremely frustrating to see a lot of big plays get wiped off the board from drops. It's been everyone. Deebo, Aiyuk, Kittle, Jennings, McCloud, Woerner.
I have a hard time believing Shanahan wouldn't harp on and coach execution with his offense. At what point do you say the guys just need to make simple plays? Why are our guys dropping so many passes they should catch? I mean, Kyle puts them in position to make plays but he can't make the ball stick to their hands.
TBH, from what I've seen lately, the 3 most common issues I've seen pop up on offense have been:
1. McGlinchey missing blocks
2. Guys dropping balls
3. Jimmy not seeing or choosing to not take the big-play shot.
I would argue 1/3 are talent/ability related issues. The 2nd I'd put more on execution AND/OR the position coaches who were delegated the responsibility to prepare these guys. Yeah, KS is over the whole team, I get that. But blaming him for everything seems like the easy cop out. I see no reason to believe he doesn't know what he's doing.
IMHO, it's culture. A culture with a lack of details, focus and accountability.
I say culture because we see the same themes every game, every year, of shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties, drops, slow starts and rash of injuries to start the season. And like you say, it's ALL of them. It's not just the rookies.
But to your point, it's still inexcusable from the players either way.
The second half of that culture is the team having its back against the wall, calling a players-only meeting and playing better afterwards.
I think that culture exists because Kyle's focus is more on game planning (his choice) and administration (esp. this year with all new staff).
I mean, we started what, 8-0 in 2019? We seemed to execute fine then. 2020 we were playing with backups everywhere pretty much all year so there's no much else to say about that. Last year our defense and running game was strong, but the majority of the games we lost that we should've won often were ones where Jimmy made some mind-numbingly awful plays that cost us the game. That's not to say there were never times where our other guys effed up an otherwise good game from Jimmy (against Arizona is one in particular I can think of). Anyways.. if he was elite, his injury would've been a risk teams were more willing to take as far as a trade, but then again, if he was elite, we wouldn't be trying to replace him either. So it's not just people in house that see Jimmy as a weak spot, it's people outside the org that do too. We know the talking heads have said what they've said too.. but that's another thing..
This is really the first year in a while where we've seen more frequent execution issues from a variety of different guys each week. You mentioned the new staff -- and you might be onto something there. Maybe that has a huge part to do with it, players adjusting to new coaching. Would it be the same regardless of who KS hired on staff? You could argue yes. But it's an interesting question.. Again I go back to the question of, does Kyle need to lay the hammer down on his assistants? I mean, it's not like they have nothing to do with the players' performance.
I've been especially disappointed with STs. We all thought STs was going to be so much better, and it's been just as bad, if not worse.
