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Thoughts on adding Fowler and offensive changes


OILERMAN

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I believe after self scouting there is a good chance the Titans are about to take a page from the Pats from last season. The Titans run game is terrible and there are a few things they can do without

The Pats shifted to 21 personnel with Lewis last season and this article talks about the advantages. I'd guess the Titans went back and studied a lot of this.    https://www.patspulpit.com/2

Don't disagree with the overall premise. I think it really shows that Jonnu isn't ready for the blocking role, and may have only a more streamlined role as a pass catcher to help ease the burden on hi

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The Pats shifted to 21 personnel with Lewis last season and this article talks about the advantages. I'd guess the Titans went back and studied a lot of this. 

 

https://www.patspulpit.com/2017/12/23/16812470/the-new-england-patriots-have-unleashed-the-21-personnel

 

Through the first four games of the 2017 season, the Patriots lined up in 21 personnel 19% of the time. Since then, the Patriots have run 21 personnel on 33% of all offensive plays. The next highest team over that time is San Francisco at 24%. No other team is above 20%. Nine teams run 21 personnel less than 1% of the time, with 5 teams not running a single play out of that grouping. It’s safe to say the Patriots are on an island.

 

But it’s not the increase in raw snaps in 21 personnel that’s interesting, it’s the myriad of ways the Patriots deploy the grouping. To start, Dion Lewis has taken the reins from Mike Gillislee as the primary runner. Through the first four games, Gillislee led the Patriots with 57 carries, with Lewis getting just 18. Since week four, Lewis has 118 carries to Gillislee’s 41, with Gillislee inactive for six straight games.

 

Lewis is almost always paired with Develin in the 21 grouping, often on early downs. The combination of Lewis’ effectiveness between the tackles and Develin’s blocking ability gives New England an elite power run game. Below is a clip of a trap play the showcases Develin’s ability to block. When you have a fullback who can act as a pulling guard and manhandle an interior defender, you have options.

 

And, of course, a great running game opens up the play-action. In the 1st quarter of week 12 against Miami, New England ran a two-play sequence in 21 with Lewis and Develin. The first play was a handoff to Lewis up the center with Develin pummeling the middle linebacker for a 13-yard gain.

 

The Lewis/Develin combination is the arguably the best running back/fullback duo in the NFL; Pro Football Focus ranks both Lewis and Develin as the 4th best at their positions. The fact that Lewis is also an excellent receiver makes this duo even more dangerous. He’s not just a run specialist who opens up the play-action, he routinely slips out the backfield as a receiver. The Patriots opened the Pittsburgh game with this group and went play-action on 1st down, with Lewis finding a soft zone in the middle of the field for a 13-yard gain.

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Just now, tgo said:

@OILERMAN You’re right that adding a WR won’t solve the pass game woes but it would add a viable option to a group of young scrubs that can’t catch (mostly looking at Taywan Taylor, actually). 

WRs rarely come in and make a real contribution very fast. By the time one of them learned the offense the season would be close to over. 

 

Adding a FB and making Lewis the focal point of the run game could be done right way

 

I'm not saying it would work but it's likely the best strategy to improving the offense

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Just now, OILERMAN said:

Adding a FB and making Lewis the focal point of the run game could be done right way

 

I'm not saying it would work but it's likely the best strategy to improving the offense

I agree with you on this point for sure. 

 

WR is secondary to the overall issues and solutions but its the weakest position group on the team going forward with a healthy Delanie Walker returning next year. 

 

The main point of trading for someone would be getting a head start with the offense for next year or making a difference late in the season, bc you’re right that it would take a WR awhile to acclimate. 

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15 minutes ago, OILERMAN said:

WRs rarely come in and make a real contribution very fast. By the time one of them learned the offense the season would be close to over. 

 

Adding a FB and making Lewis the focal point of the run game could be done right way

 

I'm not saying it would work but it's likely the best strategy to improving the offense

This is mostly true I think, but imagine if the Titans have an injury to WR (like Davis). Bringing in a veteran doesn't hurt especially if they have a role going forward. More than anything I think the Titans continued to be cheap in FA, which has hurt them in these types of situations. Maybe that's a cash flow problem, but they've been sitting on a lot of cap for a long time. We've seen FA WRs make solid contributions to other teams and Robinson has been too confident in his draft selections that he hasn't really hedged his bets there with a long-term veteran starter. 

Edited by Cyrus
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Fixing the passing inaccuracy, whoever it is QB or WRs, would help.

Mariota looked more accurate on that matter thorugh last season, then his injury, he came back to help the offense. He seemed to be frustrated under the past coaches scheme, yet they arrived to P.O.s.

It was safe to think that putting faith in JRob's experience, that he had chosen a better HC. The hiring was very well on time on past January. Hiring LaFleur, coming from a young and explosive offense, was quite right...seemed quite right.

Yet the facts tell or that the players never trusted on them, or they do not understand what's required, or simply the coaches never found the pah to accomodate the team to keep it doing things better than 2017. Henry has regressed a lot, and he did just fair during past season. The OL has imploded at the past 3 games, they're far to have solid performances, and this year's schedule is not sugar-coated at all. And Vrabel was already hired when it came out. So there are no excuses for him in that matter also.

The 3 last games, and what was more alarming generally speaking, is that the team looked so unprepared, that it got to scary levels.

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16 minutes ago, OILERMAN said:

WRs rarely come in and make a real contribution very fast. By the time one of them learned the offense the season would be close to over. 

 

Adding a FB and making Lewis the focal point of the run game could be done right way

 

I'm not saying it would work but it's likely the best strategy to improving the offense

Getting back to one of your original points as well, I'm really surprised Lewis hasn't been more of a focus on this offense. I really thought that he could contribute a ton as a runner and pass catcher. So far he's been really underutilized. From a game flow perspective I thought it would make a lot of sense for him to be a focus early as he's a quality rusher and would be a good secondary target on these bootlegs (or even just as a checkdown). That would give Mariota a consistent secondary target when whatever TE/WR was covered. 

 

But he really hasn't been put in that role, which is a mystery to me. I haven't given up hope on Henry, but he's not the guy who's going to fix this offense right now. He can be useful within the overall scope of the offense, but on early drives Lewis really needs to be the go to guy with Davis and others being the change up.

 

I still have a lot of confidence in Mariota because bad QBs typically don't have the good qualities he has. He can read defenses, he can be accurate, he can move well in the pocket. Perhaps it hasn't come together all at the same time, and he certainly is inconsistent over the past years. However this offense has lacked rhythm for the last couple years outside of the no huddle.

 

When coaches talk about identity, it means that they don't have one, and I think the team has looked to more complicated answers  than more simple ones. I think this offense needs to be about Lewis, Mariota and Davis. (and primarily Lewis). Defenses need to be looking to stop Lewis from running and catching the ball, and Davis needs to be running behind the linebackers to stretch out the second level. Explosive plays may come over the top from guys like Sharpe and Taywan, but no one needs to be engineering those types of plays. They need to focus on the quality runners/receivers they have, which is pretty much two guys. Make offenses stop those two.

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1 hour ago, Cyrus said:

Getting back to one of your original points as well, I'm really surprised Lewis hasn't been more of a focus on this offense. I really thought that he could contribute a ton as a runner and pass catcher. So far he's been really underutilized. From a game flow perspective I thought it would make a lot of sense for him to be a focus early as he's a quality rusher and would be a good secondary target on these bootlegs (or even just as a checkdown). That would give Mariota a consistent secondary target when whatever TE/WR was covered. 

 

But he really hasn't been put in that role, which is a mystery to me. I haven't given up hope on Henry, but he's not the guy who's going to fix this offense right now. He can be useful within the overall scope of the offense, but on early drives Lewis really needs to be the go to guy with Davis and others being the change up.

 

I still have a lot of confidence in Mariota because bad QBs typically don't have the good qualities he has. He can read defenses, he can be accurate, he can move well in the pocket. Perhaps it hasn't come together all at the same time, and he certainly is inconsistent over the past years. However this offense has lacked rhythm for the last couple years outside of the no huddle.

 

When coaches talk about identity, it means that they don't have one, and I think the team has looked to more complicated answers  than more simple ones. I think this offense needs to be about Lewis, Mariota and Davis. (and primarily Lewis). Defenses need to be looking to stop Lewis from running and catching the ball, and Davis needs to be running behind the linebackers to stretch out the second level. Explosive plays may come over the top from guys like Sharpe and Taywan, but no one needs to be engineering those types of plays. They need to focus on the quality runners/receivers they have, which is pretty much two guys. Make offenses stop those two.

The obvious conclusion, albeit without proof, is that the team forced Henry to start to placate Jrob

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44 minutes ago, oldschool said:

The obvious conclusion, albeit without proof, is that the team forced Henry to start to placate Jrob

Not just Rob ... but also the coaches themselves.

 

You look at Henry's big runs. Look at the Kansas City game. Look at his workout regimen and work ethic and you fall in love with what could be. So you keep giving him carries expecting Jim Brown to breakout ... it doesn't happen.

Edited by big2033
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