Preseason Playcalling

I think there’s a big difference between that and Patton’s Inflatible Army at Calais. Far from an elaborate ruse, it’s common practice in the NFL to open up the playbook in the preseason. What I was suggesting was that with McDaniels’ reluctance to divulge information, I find it highly unlikely that he would break from common practice by revealing information far more useful than “Orton hurt his finger.”*

*This statement is pure conjecture on the part of the poster and is not based on any statement made by the coach.

as it is timing.

I don’t have any hard proof to back it up, but to me the play calling (especially while Orton has been in) has been heavy on plays with very specific timing. Screens (think of the Illegal Man Downfield penalties), rub routes (making sure it isn’t a full-blown pick), goal-to-go, etc. The playcalling may just be a chance to fine tune these types of routes in actual game situations against a defense that hasn’t faced them dozens of times each.

Obviously, this doesn’t answer the lack of deep routes…that (along with all our other collective guesses) will only be answered in the regular season.

Will you refute this if Cincy doesn’t stack the box against the short pass?

The reason that I ask is that there’s been a terrible amount of misinformation on this subject. Stacking the box is how you stop the run. With a short passing attack that hears some resemblance to the WCO, you can’t stack the box. You’re leaving one safety back against a scheme that uses some simple approaches – flooding a zone, using routes such as the rub that free up receivers and creating mismatches – that will kill a defense that stacks against the short pass. You’re opening up an opportunity for the offense to turn a short gain into a long one in part because the short passes are specifically designed for long yards after the catch (YAC) and you won’t have the support back that you need. A lot of the fans from last year in Denver can talk about how badly the approach worked.

I added a link that goes over several paragraphs of material on this. I don’t mean to get on you personally at all – this is a misunderstanding that a lot of announcers have fed and a lo6t of fans believe it, but it’s still a misunderstanding. I added a link to [stack the box] above that you can read if you’re interested in the other material. Thanks – I appreciate your patience on this.

Maybe it’s because Orton really is that bad and he presents more a threat to someone who hasn’t seen him throw deep than someone who has.

OR, maybe it’s because he’s that good and McDude has engineered everything this preseason so the league doesn’t even know what’s about to be unleashed on their asses. 30, 40, 50 yard bombs with pinpoint precision. And the pocket collapses, the holding penalties, the sinister ducks? Patton at Calais, baby! 13-3! Min -i-mum!

Ok, it’s probably a bit closer to the first one.

When looking specifically at the Bears we also need to consider the following. They have switched to a Tampa-2 I believe. The hallmark of the Tampa 2 is no long passes, keep everything in front and play a field position game. That was then exacerbated by the penalties. So not a huge worry that The Ort Man wasn’t going deep. He was taking what was available. Think back to last year’s game vs. Tampa Bay for a reminder of how games vs. Tampa 2 coverage typically work out.
Oh, and we held Chicago to 5 three and outs prior to the one long drive. Pretty darn nice (the 3 and outs, not the long drive.)

It makes sense that even for teams that throw deep frequently, the bread and butter of the passing offense is Dink & Dunk. If you can’t get the short routes and timing patterns working, it doesn’t matter if you practice your low-percentage plays, you are going to lose.

As Disco_Stu pointed out, the Donx were struggling with their timing game, and McD has shown a propensity for making people do things until they get it right.

Besides, even an incomplete deep pass can help get the defense worried about defending the back yard. An incomplete timing route is just embarrassing.

.. the fact that we got so many penalties that game shows that those screens and bubble passes need a bit of work!

I wrote this before reading the three previous comments.

not just passes thrown