Blaming MM for Baltimore loss is SAD

[NashvilleNinja]

3 hours ago, nine said:

It seems to me the whole idea behind this thread is that Mariota is getting 95% of the blame for the loss due to his poor performance.......and he wasn't even close to the worst player out there or the biggest reason for the loss.

 

Everyone acknowledges that Mariota played poorly.     Nobody is questioning that.

 

But Mariota can only run the plays that are called.  From fairly early in the game, it was obvious that the gameplan was a recipe for disaster....the plays LaFleur was calling were playing right into what the Ravens' hands and giving them exactly what they wanted.    But rather than making adjustments and changing up his  playcalling and approach.....LaFleur stuck with the exact same gameplan and approach that failed so spectacularly in the first half.

 

Mariota was bad....absolutely.   But a lot of his struggles were caused by the Ravens' dominant defensive performance.   It didn't matter whether he was looking for an open receiver or trying to escape and make plays with his legs....they were prepared for him and had a perfectly timed answer for everything he tried.

 

The coaching performance from Vrabel and LaFleur was as bad or worse than Mariota's play on the field.   But for Vrabel and LaFleur.....nobody was forcing them to stick with a failed gameplan and spend the entire game calling plays that the defense was completely dialed into and that had little or no chance of success.    The responsibility for that failure  is 100% on them.

But but but... Mariota's kiiiiiillllllliiiiiinnnnng the fraaaaaaanchiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise!!!!!!!!!

[TitanDuckFan]

7 minutes ago, NashvilleNinja said:

But but but... Mariota's kiiiiiillllllliiiiiinnnnng the fraaaaaaanchiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise!!!!!!!!!

And @OILERMAN is killing the spelling his name.

[Number9]

I never gave MM 99% or even 75% credit for the loss.  It's a team sport.  Just like he didn't get 99% credit for the team beating the Eagles.  Mariota's just judged by his play, in both games.  The story that's being told here is the Ravens are invincible.  They just lost the week before to Cleveland and they have a rookie QB.  Baker Mayfield threw for 342 yards against the Ravens D.  This makes you question why LeFleur didn't call the game differently.  Why didn't he?  He knew how to call plays before yesterday.  They knew how to design a plan of calls to beat Houston, call plays on the fly and beat Jacksonville.  So now, you want to call him/and Vrabel poor at play calling.

 

One thing is true.  Mariota probably had more to do with this loss than Williams had to do with the Buffalo loss, but none of you defended Williams.  The team is going to lose games.  I think it's fruitless to assess your coaching staff only when the team gets blown out.  The team didn't execute the plays called very well, maybe they knew they would have a harder time executing different ones.

 

 

[OILERMAN]

1 hour ago, Number9 said:

I never gave MM 99% or even 75% credit for the loss.  

No one did 

 

 

[bosss50]

OK  I've  been reading this and other threads about how bad MM8 played Sunday and he is destroying this team!!!

Call me a homer but this kid has been the savoir of this team with11 comeback wins. He has  won against all the top QB's (not name Brady, Rivers). He runs the no huddle offense with the best  of them, Did I say I'm a homer! I thought it was a major mistake to fire the previous coaching staff. Change needed to be made to last year Offense, but that staff had this  team moving in the right direction We made the final 8 last year.  SO MM8 is struggling!!!!! What used to be one the best Oline is struggling, and this team is horrible. But what can you expect  from our new coaching staff.

 

Vrabel retired on July 10, 2011 to become the linebackers coach at Ohio State. On December 21, 2011 new Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer decided to keep Vrabel on as part of his coaching staff as defensive line coach.

Houston Texans

On January 10, 2014, Vrabel was hired by the Houston Texans as a linebackers coach. In January 2016 news outlets reported that the San Francisco 49ers offered Vrabel their defensive coordinator job; Vrabel declined the offer and remained in Houston. In January 2017 the Texans named Vrabel as their defensive coordinator, moving previous coordinator Romeo Crennel to assistant head coach.

Tennessee Titans

On January 20, 2018, Vrabel was hired as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans on a 5 year deal. How is this guy with no head coaching experience going to make this team better!!!!

 

LaFleur's coaching career began at his alma mater, Saginaw Valley State, in 2003 where he served as an offensive graduate assistant. During which time Matt also substitute taught in the local highschools, specializing in math. He proceeded to Central Michigan University where, from 2004–2005, he assisted the offensive staff. In 2006, he coached quarterbacks and receivers at Northern Michigan University. He was the offensive coordinator at Ashland University in 2007. In 2014 he served as the quarterbacks coach at the University of Notre Dame.

Houston Texans

LaFleur then was hired in 2008 by the Houston Texans to serve as an offensive assistant. He assisted both wide receivers and quarterbacks during his two-year stint there and developed a close relationship with coordinator Kyle Shanahan.

Washington Redskins

When Shanahan's father Mike was hired by the Redskins, Kyle brought LaFleur to Washington to coach the quarterbacks. A primary responsibility of LaFleur's for the 2012 season was to mentor rookie quarterbacks Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins, whom LaFleur was particularly fond of.

Atlanta Falcons

On February 5, 2015, LaFleur was hired to be the Quarterbacks coach for the Atlanta Falcons working under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, whom he previously had worked under when with the Washington Redskins. Matt's brother, Mike, was the offensive assistant with the Falcons as well.

In the 2016 season, LaFleur and the Falcons reached Super Bowl LI, where they faced the New England Patriots on February 5, 2017. In the Super Bowl, the Falcons fell in a 34–28 overtime defeat.

Los Angeles Rams

On February 8, 2017, LaFleur joined the Los Angeles Rams coaching staff as the offensive coordinator, working under Head Coach Sean McVay, whom he previously had worked with during his tenure with the Washington Redskins.

Tennessee Titans

On January 30, 2018, LaFleur left his position with the Rams to take the same position with the Tennessee Titans. Joining new head coach Mike Vrabel, LaFleur now has the opportunity of calling the plays for the Titans, essentially being a promotion from his former position as offensive coordinator with the Rams. I don't believe  this guy is ready for this job. His play calling is going to git MM8 killed. This guy is not ready. The way this team look so for with this coaching staff, it will be a long season.

 

[nine]

3 hours ago, Number9 said:

 This makes you question why LeFleur didn't call the game differently.  Why didn't he?  He knew how to call plays before yesterday.  They knew how to design a plan of calls to beat Houston, call plays on the fly and beat Jacksonville.  So now, you want to call him/and Vrabel poor at play calling.

 

 

LaFleur was excellent with playcalling in weeks 1-4, IMO.   Even with the team’s injury and roster limitations, he consistently found the right plays in  critical situations and kept defenses slightly off balance.   Even in the week 1 loss was lost due to factors beyond MFL’s control..poor quarterback play, poor officiating, crazy weather delays, etc.  But the play calling and play section was solid;  it was execution that was often lacking.

 

This extended through week four.  

 

The Buffalo game was the first glimmer of life we’d seen from the running game, with Henry being particularly effective.  But for whatever reason, LaFleur took Henry off the field in Q4 (when Henry has historically been most effective) and put the game on the shoulders of a passing attack that had   struggled with consistency all day.  I felt it was a questionable and ill-advised choice...and it ultimately left 3+ minutes on the clock, which was enough time for the Bills to mount an 11-play drive for a game-winning FG.  

 

Personally, I had hoped LaFleur would take a lesson from that game...but it got much worse.  Even when the offense was clearly overmatched and had no answers for the Ravens’ pass rush and coverage schemes, he made no discernible abjustments to his playcalling.  Rather than giving his offense an opportunity to possibly regroup and slow the bleeding, he continued throwing them to the wolves with a sink-or-swim approach...and they drowned.

 

Plenty of other options and alternatives have already been mentioned in this thread...and we’ve been seeing them all season.  But for whatever reason, he simply chose not to use them.

[nine]

8 hours ago, Number9 said:

I never gave MM 99% or even 75% credit for the loss.

 

7 hours ago, OILERMAN said:

No one did 

 

Maybe not in so many words....but 95% of the criticism and finger-pointing in the past few days has been focused almost entirely on Mariota.

 

“Y’know, the O-line pretty much sucked...the WRs are garbage and the defense was terrible..and the coaches did a crap job....

 

”BUT JESUS F’ING CHRIST MARIOTA WAS F’ING TERRIBLE!   HE WAS NEVER  ANY GOOD AND NEVER WILL BE!  HE’S KILLING THE FRANCHISE!!!! GAAAAHHHHH!!!!”

 

[nine]

And for the record...I’ve never said LaFleur is a bad playcaller.   But there’s no doubt in my mind that LaFleur’s in-game decisions last week were a major contributing factor in an absolutely disastrous offensive performance.

[woolfolksunclesuncle]

11 hours ago, Thrill said:

Does anyone think we need to bring a full back in to give our running game a shot in the arm?

This is a good idea! We can finally move Derrick Henry to his natural position.

 

9 hours ago, Mythos27 said:

I get that it's uncomfortable to deal with people shitting on your opinion and it can feel personal at times but as a TR vet you know that it comes with the territory. 

Don't listen to Mythos here,  @Number9 . Take it personal....TR is war! If you're not going all in and verbally suicide bombing fools for disagreeing about which shit Olineman was responsible for one of Mariota's 11 sacks on Sunday or if Sims is a less shit CB than Butler, then you can expect to be passed around the TR showers to whoever is willing to give up a bag of Ramen.

[Number9]

12 minutes ago, woolfolksunclesuncle said:

This is a good idea! We can finally move Derrick Henry to his natural position.

 

Don't listen to Mythos here,  @Number9 . Take it personal....TR is war! If you're not going all in and verbally suicide bombing fools for disagreeing about which shit Olineman was responsible for one of Mariota's 11 sacks on Sunday or if Sims is a less shit CB than Butler, then you can expect to be passed around the TR showers to whoever is willing to give up a bag of Ramen.

I have always been everybody's friend.  Then things have surely gone downhill.

August.

 

October

[woolfolksunclesuncle]

2 minutes ago, Number9 said:

I have always been everybody's friend.  Then things have surely gone downhill.

August.

 

October

Woah...you went from horrible eyesight baby with a military hair cut (in August) to some weird BDSM Satan butcher (presently)? That is a hell of a transformation!

[Aramis]

So is the board back to normal now that we’ve seen the All-22? No more knee jerk reactions pointing the finger solely at the QB? 

 

You don’t get skunked at home, allow the other team to set franchise sack records and let an opposing scrub receiver own you on third and long all day to just blame it all on your QB at the end. 

 

The last two weeks have been a total team failure from players to coaches. Poor coaching and poor execution. Sunday was the exclamation mark.

[StephenIsLegend]

3 hours ago, nine said:

 

Maybe not in so many words....but 95% of the criticism and finger-pointing in the past few days has been focused almost entirely on Mariota.

 

“Y’know, the O-line pretty much sucked...the WRs are garbage and the defense was terrible..and the coaches did a crap job....

 

”BUT JESUS F’ING CHRIST MARIOTA WAS F’ING TERRIBLE!   HE WAS NEVER  ANY GOOD AND NEVER WILL BE!  HE’S KILLING THE FRANCHISE!!!! GAAAAHHHHH!!!!”

 

That last part is what kills me. Everyone is claiming Mariota has never been good. 

[Mythos27]

7 hours ago, woolfolksunclesuncle said:

This is a good idea! We can finally move Derrick Henry to his natural position.

 

Don't listen to Mythos here,  @Number9 . Take it personal....TR is war! If you're not going all in and verbally suicide bombing fools for disagreeing about which shit Olineman was responsible for one of Mariota's 11 sacks on Sunday or if Sims is a less shit CB than Butler, then you can expect to be passed around the TR showers to whoever is willing to give up a bag of Ramen.

I mean if we're talking about the beef ramen then fuck him.

[OILERMAN]

The people claiming Mariota was so good, better than Wentz are the ones who were off the deep end. People were mocking people for questioning Mariota. Don’t cry about Mariota criticism now.