How do you know it is the plays or the players?

[Diamondring]

When the offense or defense fail or succeed, how do you know it is cause of the play or the players?

[Marvelousmik]

good question. im interested in hearing the answers. one thing is for sure though. when players are dropping passes its not the plays

[GameTime]

pretty simple......at the end of the day its both......

[Rudyy]

I don't think anybody besides the coaches and players know 100%. I go by what I see.

I think it's both.
It's weird how we were so explosive in the beginning of the season...and then we get this huge drop of production. So did everyone just start sucking all together? I don't believe that.

What I think it is, is the lack of adjustments being made on the offensive side of the ball. Teams know they have to double Nicks and Cruz and we have ZERO gameplan once that's done.

Our receivers need to learn how to play physical, especially Cruz. Players are going to be tripling you up, and bumping you at the line. Nobody is going to let you get those 70 yard bombs anymore. Learn to play physical.

Eli CANNOT revert to throwing into triple coverage anymore and expect Cruz to take it to the house for 50 yards. This is not 2011. Nicks also isn't 100% as well. We cannot depend on our receivers to make miraculous plays. We need to switch things up.

Last but not least, our run game needs to play better. I love Bradshaw but the dancing around isn't getting us yardage. If he's injured, he needs to rest. I don't care how passionate he is. Andre Brown has proven to be effective.

Players AND coaches need to adjust.

[Morehead State]

The plays are what they are. the geometry and physics of the plays don't change. You can argue that the "right" plays aren't being called but Eli has the flexibility and responsibilty to read defenses and adjust the play call. that's what makes our offense so dynamic. Its also the responsibility of the WR's to make the sight adjustments in their routes.
So its hard to blame the "play" for the failure of the offense to execute it. Ultimately its the players who have to make the play work. And in our offense, they are given the ability to do so.
Is there an occasional clunker of a play that has no chance to work given a defense? I guess so. But the QB has to get out of that play when it happens.

I'm not buying the "its both" argument. The scheme works. It hasn't changed. A player's ability to execute is the real variable here.

[RoanokeFan]

The plays are what they are. the geometry and physics of the plays don't change. You can argue that the "right" plays aren't being called but Eli has the flexibility and responsibilty to read defenses and adjust the play call. that's what makes our offense so dynamic. Its also the responsibility of the WR's to make the sight adjustments in their routes.
So its hard to blame the "play" for the failure of the offense to execute it. Ultimately its the players who have to make the play work. And in our offense, they are given the ability to do so.
Is there an occasional clunker of a play that has no chance to work given a defense? I guess so. But the QB has to get out of that play when it happens.

I'm not buying the "its both" argument. The scheme works. It hasn't changed. A player's ability to execute is the real variable here.

I think there are plays that, in retrospect, were wrong for the situation. But, as you say, Eli has the job of reading the defense and it's ultimately his call. Making it Eli's call shows the amount of confidence they have in him to make the right call most of the time. The pass to Barden that resulted in offensive pass interference is an example of we could have made a better call. Still, had that pass been thrown better OR had Barden not been flagged, we would have still been in field goal range.

Plays are called and players need to execute those plays.

[EnragedYouth85]

I just feel it's more the execution of those plays. Like everyone is saying, the plays are called and then the offense makes adjustments at the line of scrimmage. It seems they have been doing that lately but the QB/WR are not on the same page. It seems the WR is seeing one thing but the QB is seeing another. I can remember a few plays last game where Eli threw the ball to where he thought the WR would be and the WR ended up not being there. Who made the wrong call? I don't know but its clear the offense is out of sync. Ultimately Eli and the WR's need to sit down, go over film and get on the same page on what they are going to do in any given situation.

[Morehead State]

I think there are plays that, in retrospect, were wrong for the situation. But, as you say, Eli has the job of reading the defense and it's ultimately his call. Making it Eli's call shows the amount of confidence they have in him to make the right call most of the time. The pass to Barden that resulted in offensive pass interference is an example of we could have made a better call. Still, had that pass been thrown better OR had Barden not been flagged, we would have still been in field goal range.

Plays are called and players need to execute those plays.

One of the problems I have with Eli is that he seems to be programmed to see a matchup and exploit it, despite the down, distance, score and other conditions in the game. That throw to Barden was one case. Thats not the play we needed there. we needed to get the ball inside the 20 and win the game with a FG. The throw to Randall last week is another example. Plus a play a game or so ago to Nicks (I beleive) down the right sidelines. On first and ten in the third quarter, its a good play to exploit a matchup you like. On third and short late in the game, we need to get a first down.
So Eli is trained to read the defense and make his calls at the LOS accordingly. But he seems to forget the imminent need of the football team in that situation.

[RoanokeFan]

One of the problems I have with Eli is that he seems to be programmed to see a matchup and exploit it, despite the down, distance, score and other conditions in the game. That throw to Barden was one case. Thats not the play we needed there. we needed to get the ball inside the 20 and win the game with a FG. The throw to Randall last week is another example. Plus a play a game or so ago to Nicks (I beleive) down the right sidelines. On first and ten in the third quarter, its a good play to exploit a matchup you like. On third and short late in the game, we need to get a first down.
So Eli is trained to read the defense and make his calls at the LOS accordingly. But he seems to forget the imminent need of the football team in that situation.

Yeah, I am saying all game long "just get the first down" I have no problem with the BIG SPLASH plays but sustaining drives is far more important and it's where we have so much trouble.

[Rudyy]

Yeah, I am saying all game long "just get the first down" I have no problem with the BIG SPLASH plays but sustaining drives is far more important and it's where we have so much trouble.

That's what annoys me. What happened to picking up the easy 10 yards? We've been so accustomed to those huge plays, and it's not working anymore.