Given Offseason Investment at WR, Does Offense Change More Than Anticipated?

[Jonboy]

So last offseason after the hiring of Mularkey, there were pretty big debates about if his offensive system was the best for Mariota. This continued throughout the season here on this board, as well as twitter, reddit, and other places fans gather. Regardless of where you came down on this debate, pretty much everyone agreed the offense changed throughout the season (where we disagree is how much it really changed).

Some have speculated that year 3 would be equivalent to Matt Ryan's year 3. Ryan attempt 434 passes in year 1, 451 in year 2 (missed 2 games w/ injury), but saw his attempts jump to 571 in year 3...and he's never attempted fewer than 500 since. 

I've seen some discussion about how much the offense may change this season and we've talked about it briefly on the podcast. Most seem to be in agreement that the offense will change, but the question has been "how much?" 

So with the complete overhaul of the WR corps this offseason, is it possible the team will be leaning more on the pass than any of us expected when the book closed on 2016? Not only have we been getting new starters at WR, we've also been building the depth as well. Could the team be planning to use these guys way more than we expected? 

I'm not saying we're going to abandon the run and turn into a wide-open, Saints-style passing attack...but I do think it's possible they're going to lean on it more than we expected before going out and drafting Corey Davis, Taywan Taylor, and signing Eric Decker. 

Regardless of what the team ultimately focuses the offense around, we now have legitimate threats in the backfield, at TE, and on the outside that can create some truly scary combinations for opposing defenses. 

Is it September yet?

[AussieTitanFan08]

the loss of a true dominating blocking TE was going to alter the offense slightly anyway.

I really hope Mularkey/Robiskie take advantage of the added weapons, and aren't stubborn with their run first mentality.

would love to see more hurry up/no huddle, especially when we have created an exploitable mismatch, don't let the defense substitute.

[socaltitan]

We'll throw the ball more, but much of the offense will still be rooted in the run game. I don't see it being a fully wide open attack like the Saints either. I don't see us being in shotgun a ton like NE.

Better examples to look at are teams like ARI, PIT, and ATL. Don't forget Mularkey comes from PIT. He, like Arians, are still going to run the ball. I know we want to throw the ball a lot, but it'd be foolish to ignore Murray and Henry. They got to be fed too.

[begooode]

The Titans will continue to pound the rock and heavy play action, hopefully. However, when they pass they will have a higher success rate.

[TitanDuckFan]

I think to be really effective, the passing side of this offense will need a run game that is always a threat, whether it's TE oriented passing attack or outside/WR oriented.  It's what makes PA work. 

And with Murray or Henry back there with Marcus, there's zero reason for it not to be.

It would be nice to not be forced to go to the wide-open hurry-up, but that's on the defense. It's just nice to know the tools are there now, should the need arise.

[Starkiller]

I don't think the scheme will change all that much but I certainly think the playcalling will lean more towards pass plays than last year.

They are still going to be more run heavy than most of the NFL. Teams loaded up to stop the run last year knowing that was the big threat. And the best passing success was routinely on the play action pass.

This year teams will have to play them straight up. They can't load up to stop the run constantly any more. 

[OILERMAN]

Assuming the rookies pan out the quality is going to be what should improve the most. With Davis outside and Matthews much more comfortable in the offense the base two TE sets are going to be much harder to defend. Davis coming out of playaction is such an upgrade to Sharpe as far as play making ability down the field.

It's not about how much more they throw the ball, it's about how much the efficiency goes up. Mariota's passer rating and yards per play are the numbers that should and need to improve if the offense is going to take the next step.

I'd also expect the offense to be much more versatile in terms of attacking defensive weaknesses. If the game plan calls for more spread type stuff they'll likely go that way more often.

[AussieTitanFan08]

they are absolutely drooling over the Titans on @GMFB on the NFL Network just now.

it wasn't really about the Decker acquisition but more all the offensive pieces JRob has added as a collective over the last 18 months.

i'm really interested to see how teams defend us early in the season, will they still sell out and try and stop the run and risk leaving themselves wide open to our new weapons on the outside.

[OILERMAN]

15 minutes ago, AussieTitanFan08 said:

it wasn't really about the Decker acquisition but more all the offensive pieces JRob has added as a collective over the last 18 months.

Davis, Taylor, Smith, Matthews in year two with Delanie Walker already, even Murray in the passing game. That's really some serious fire power

[AussieTitanFan08]

17 minutes ago, OILERMAN said:

Davis, Taylor, Smith, Matthews in year two with Delanie Walker already, even Murray in the passing game. That's really some serious fire power

love the flexibility we have on offense now, can still play bully ball out of the 3 WR sets if we want to.

[Supdawg]

The season can't get here fast enough. So freaking excited.

[heyitsmeallen]

I think we will see the entire offense this year. I feel malarkey was so run heavy last year because if our weak WR corps. His offense requires precise routes with a lot of crossing patterns. Our guys kept running into eachother last season.

 

[scine09]

You don't draft a WR at #5, 2 more legitimate weapons in round 3 and then sign a proven veteran if your plan is to be a ground and pound team.

[Jonboy]

4 hours ago, OILERMAN said:

Assuming the rookies pan out the quality is going to be what should improve the most. With Davis outside and Matthews much more comfortable in the offense the base two TE sets are going to be much harder to defend. Davis coming out of playaction is such an upgrade to Sharpe as far as play making ability down the field.

It's not about how much more they throw the ball, it's about how much the efficiency goes up. Mariota's passer rating and yards per play are the numbers that should and need to improve if the offense is going to take the next step.

I'd also expect the offense to be much more versatile in terms of attacking defensive weaknesses. If the game plan calls for more spread type stuff they'll likely go that way more often.

I'm thinking we'll see more 3-WR sets too, but I could be wrong.

[mmmmmbeeer]

I think the high-powered passing attack will be the ace up their sleeve.  Obviously, if we're down by a decent margin in a game it will come out.  Outside of that, I think we'll see a very similar offense to last season but, maybe 3-4 drives a game, be it from the beginning of a drive or mid-drive, they suddenly go nearly all-pass/hurry up just to keep the defense honest and maybe steal some easy points.  

This also works well if you really plan on making a solid post-season run, which JRob apparently does.  This offense is so incredibly diverse that you can literally run the offenses of several NFL teams with this roster.  You get an opponent's DC thinking they're facing a Dallas-styled offense and then gameday comes and he finds himself facing a Packers/Saints type of offense.  This equals wins.  Lots of them.