Gruden not as bad as we all think...

[fulltime bengalfan]

Originally Posted by CornerBlitz

First off let me say that i was thoroughly disappointed in the gameplan against the Texans. I expected a more creative gameplan and not targeting AJ green in the first half is unacceptable.

With that said i think our offense improved from last season. When this offense was clicking it was extremely fun to watch. Green going deep, hawkins in the slot, and Sanu on the opposite side to go along with Gresham up the seam is a very formidable offense. Gruden in my opinion is not the problem. I think our real problem is Dalton as well as our WRs not getting any separation from the DBs.

Here was our offense the last month of the season in a nutshell. Dalton pre snap reads the defense, and has already made his decision on where he is going to throw the ball. He looks at Receiver A, if not open he will either scramble out of the pocket, get sacked, or force the ball in tight coverage. Rarely did he check the ball down or go to option B when there were other options.

Now on the flip side most of the time Dalton did read the coverage properly, but the WR such as Hawkins, or Jones just didn't get open one on one. In addition our pass blocking was very average and he would be forced to make a quick decision.

2 things would do wonders for this offense. One would be for Dalton to be a little more patient and go through his progressions. The next thing would be for us to pick up another WR opposite Green that can create separation and take advantage of one on one coverage.

In the end Gruden drew up the plays, and our offense was awful the last few games, but I think in this particular case the blame game goes to the players more so than the coach.

I know this is an unpopular opinion right now but if you watch the coach film it wasn't as if the plays were poorly designed. The only gripe I have with Gruden is that he sometimes should stick to the run more when it is working. Anyways I think Gruden is the right fit for this offense and this QB at this time. Give him another year.

.....Bengals scored 1 touch down in the last 38 time they had the ball......Gruden has alot to do with why the offense stunk ....But is not all on him ....I would put most of the blame on mister kyle cook....And not only for this year even going back to when carson was here he was the problum.....Cook wouldnt even be a back up on any other team .....But what do the bengals do give him a bigger and better contract.....As soon as he came back the offense stunk ....Why pressure strait up the middle.....A quarterback has no chance with pressure up the middle its a know fact.....You can call any play you want it dont matter if the quarterback has about 2 sec to get the ball out.....And it gets even worst in side the 20 where they dont have to cover the deep ball.....Every good team has a good center.....If we dont get a center we will see more of the same next year......Everything starts with the Oline good Oline you can do any play you want

[berserkerone88]

Originally Posted by JIM TROY

yeah he's crap alright. He has something no Bengal or Bengal fan has EVER had .

And without Orlando Pace every QB has gotten killed trying to run his ridiculous 5-7 drop pass scheme under him

[Night's Watch]

Originally Posted by Go Cards

Not such a bad drop considering the Bengals lost 3/5ths of their O-line and had a harder schedule.

False on both accounts.......Are you seriously telling me that you are counting Livings and McGlynn as losses, heck most are even saying Robinson is better than Cook, so that statement is done.

2011 combined record 126 - 130

2012 combined record 112 - 144, so false again, our schedule this year was way easier than last year, to the point the we played the lowest 4 AFC teams, (KC, JAC, OAK, CLE) and PHI was the worst team in the NFC.

[THE PISTONS]

Originally Posted by berserkerone88

Starting NFL quarterbacks not drafted in the first round (regular starters, not injury replacements)

• Andy Dalton
• Tom Brady
• Russell Wilson
• Ryan Fitzpatrick
• Matt Schaub
• Tony Romo
• Drew Brees
• Colin Kaepernick
• The AZ mess
• Matt Cassel

So out of 32 teams, 10 have QB's starting taken out of the first round.
Only 6 have even won a playoff game.
Of those 6, only 2 have won multiple playoff games (could be 3 with Kaep).

Look at that list...most of them were/are career backup types until: 1) the rules made it easy on QBs who struggled with being pressured. 2) they got into the pass happy NFL era.
Even then, half that list has or will spend their entire career on the hot seat. Schaub, Romo, Fitzpatrick, Cassel....are always being discussed as on the hot seat. Two of them for sure are on the way out.

So yeah, when a guy gets a 2nd round QB to play like Dalton has he is going to get noticed and deservedly so.

And the cupboard was perceived as bare after Palmer left. Some were picking us to go 0-16. Plus, OchoCinco was gone too.

[JIM TROY]

Originally Posted by berserkerone88

And without Orlando Pace every QB has gotten killed trying to run his ridiculous 5-7 drop pass scheme under him

spin it however you want, you have nothing when it comes to a SB ring! Have a nice day

[berserkerone88]

Originally Posted by JIM TROY

spin it however you want, you have nothing when it comes to a SB ring! Have a nice day

Lol.
Run away when you argument falls apart. Have a nice day.

[StLucieBengal]

C'mon now lol.

Jay Is 5000 x better than Bratkowski and when has it ever been good to change systems. Everyone that wants Hue..... He runs a different system and is Dalton best suited for that? Doubt it. If Jay gets a HC job then great for him, wish him luck then we move ont o hue.

But for the cheerleaders here trying to run him out ...... Stop being ridiculous....oh wait I forgot when has sanity and common sense ever prevailed amoung the masses here in JN.

All you madden GM's make me laugh sometimes and other times makes me wonder why I come on here .... Thankfully there are others that do not have the chicken little mentally concerning our team.

[FootballBender]

I don't mind Gruden as our OC. The game plan was alright but you really can't tell what he had in mind for the playoffs. We knew AJ was going to get some heavy double team early in the game. Everyone knew that, even Gruden. That's why the game plan was to get Gresham involved. But Gresham dropped passes like the ball was on fire. We couldn't get a 1st down in the opening drive. Who knows, maybe if we would've gotten the 1st down, the next play could've been a deep ball to AJ after 2 passes to Gresham to make the defense realize we have more weapons than AJ. But it got spoiled with dropped passes.

Yes, we all know Andy stares down his 1st option and has happy feet. Gruden is partial to blame since he is the OC.

But if we were to replace Jay, it has to be with Hue Jackson. I've been patiently waiting for him to be our OC for 7 years!!! The stars will line up and he will lead the way for us one of these days.

[Ryan Mc]

Originally Posted by StLucieBengal

C'mon now lol.

Jay Is 5000 x better than Bratkowski and when has it ever been good to change systems. Everyone that wants Hue..... He runs a different system and is Dalton best suited for that? Doubt it. If Jay gets a HC job then great for him, wish him luck then we move ont o hue.

But for the cheerleaders here trying to run him out ...... Stop being ridiculous....oh wait I forgot when has sanity and common sense ever prevailed amoung the masses here in JN.

All you madden GM's make me laugh sometimes and other times makes me wonder why I come on here .... Thankfully there are others that do not have the chicken little mentally concerning our team.

Care to actually make an argument in your post? Our offense ranked #22 in the league, we scored only 7 offensive TDs in the final 6 games of the season ... and even 6 of those TDs came after defense or special teams set us up with field position in the opponent's half of the field. We literally had only ONE drive in the final 6 games where we took possession in our own half of the field and managed to get the ball into the endzone (opening drive versus Dallas). Given how bad we were on offense, why is it "ridiculous" and a "chicken little mentally" (I guess you meant 'mentality' on that last one) for people to want a new offensive coordinator? Baltimore fired their OC during the season when they were 9-4 and leading the AFC North, and coming off a game when they scored 28 points ... is the Ravens GM just 'chicken little'?

[XenoMorph]

Originally Posted by CornerBlitz

First off let me say that i was thoroughly disappointed in the gameplan against the Texans. I expected a more creative gameplan and not targeting AJ green in the first half is unacceptable.

With that said i think our offense improved from last season. When this offense was clicking it was extremely fun to watch. Green going deep, hawkins in the slot, and Sanu on the opposite side to go along with Gresham up the seam is a very formidable offense. Gruden in my opinion is not the problem. I think our real problem is Dalton as well as our WRs not getting any separation from the DBs.

Here was our offense the last month of the season in a nutshell. Dalton pre snap reads the defense, and has already made his decision on where he is going to throw the ball. He looks at Receiver A, if not open he will either scramble out of the pocket, get sacked, or force the ball in tight coverage. Rarely did he check the ball down or go to option B when there were other options.

Now on the flip side most of the time Dalton did read the coverage properly, but the WR such as Hawkins, or Jones just didn't get open one on one. In addition our pass blocking was very average and he would be forced to make a quick decision.

2 things would do wonders for this offense. One would be for Dalton to be a little more patient and go through his progressions. The next thing would be for us to pick up another WR opposite Green that can create separation and take advantage of one on one coverage.

In the end Gruden drew up the plays, and our offense was awful the last few games, but I think in this particular case the blame game goes to the players more so than the coach.

I know this is an unpopular opinion right now but if you watch the coach film it wasn't as if the plays were poorly designed. The only gripe I have with Gruden is that he sometimes should stick to the run more when it is working. Anyways I think Gruden is the right fit for this offense and this QB at this time. Give him another year.

He has still yet to miss the playoffs... And if he was as bad as we thought during the playoff game fallout. He wouldnt even get a sniff for HC spots with his older Bro basically begging for another shot lol.

[SacBengal]

To me, it's relatively simple. Yes, players need to execute. Of course. No one would argue that. But that said, the OC needs to gameplan to fit the player's strengths. And make adjustments when necessary.

I was really excited when Gruden joined the staff. I thought he'd bring an up-tempo, innovative approach to the offense. I thought since he came from virtually nowhere himself, he'd be creative in his utilization of the variety of players and skills the team had to offer.

But looking at the last two years, with the exception of a trick play here or there, or just relying on AJ's straight physical dominance, the offense hasn't done much to show any of what I thought we'd get. That's disappointing. And if we need all-stars at every position for Gruden's play-calling to be effective, we need to find another coordinator. Every team has holes and gaps; the trick is how well you disguise them by finding and exploiting strengths.

Some of it could be position coaching, too. But right now, Gruden's just not getting it done.

[berserkerone88]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mc

Care to actually make an argument in your post? Our offense ranked #22 in the league, we scored only 7 offensive TDs in the final 6 games of the season ... and even 6 of those TDs came after defense or special teams set us up with field position in the opponent's half of the field. We literally had only ONE drive in the final 6 games where we took possession in our own half of the field and managed to get the ball into the endzone (opening drive versus Dallas). Given how bad we were on offense, why is it "ridiculous" and a "chicken little mentally" (I guess you meant 'mentality' on that last one) for people to want a new offensive coordinator? Baltimore fired their OC during the season when they were 9-4 and leading the AFC North, and coming off a game when they scored 28 points ... is the Ravens GM just 'chicken little'?

Cam Cameron had disagreements with players and other coaches. It was possibly going to cause trouble for the team so they took pro-active approaches and got rid of him.

[berserkerone88]

Originally Posted by SacBengal

To me, it's relatively simple. Yes, players need to execute. Of course. No one would argue that. But that said, the OC needs to gameplan to fit the player's strengths. And make adjustments when necessary.

I was really excited when Gruden joined the staff. I thought he'd bring an up-tempo, innovative approach to the offense. I thought since he came from virtually nowhere himself, he'd be creative in his utilization of the variety of players and skills the team had to offer.

But looking at the last two years, with the exception of a trick play here or there, or just relying on AJ's straight physical dominance, the offense hasn't done much to show any of what I thought we'd get. That's disappointing. And if we need all-stars at every position for Gruden's play-calling to be effective, we need to find another coordinator. Every team has holes and gaps; the trick is how well you disguise them by finding and exploiting strengths.

Some of it could be position coaching, too. But right now, Gruden's just not getting it done.

What strengths do we have on offense?
We have good tackles, one quality weapon and a young QB.
So what are our strengths?

[Joelist]

By the way, a major reason the Texans snuffed out the couple of screens we tried to run is we don't do them enough to be proficient at them. Note that the Patriots burnt the Texans to a crisp with screens. Why? They do them a lot and as a result they know how to do them right.

Also, the fact that we run our offense at such a slow tempo hurts screens and also hurts draws, traps and indeed all of the offensive plays that try to snooker a defense. Those plays need the offense to be more up tempo so as to deny the defense time to diagnose everything. We need to be practicing a lot at getting formed up fast and getting the play off quickly - realistically with a 45 second play clock we should be able to form up and snap within 8-10 seconds of the play clock starting. Yes there are times we want to burn off the play clock but we need the POTENTIAL to fire off plays in rapid succession.

[BengalsRocker]

Originally Posted by Joelist

By the way, a major reason the Texans snuffed out the couple of screens we tried to run is we don't do them enough to be proficient at them.

So who's fault is that?

Gruden?
Allexander?
Marvin?

Do our players lack the talent to do them?

I still think our O-line needs some major PT at these style plays.

It seems like a constant on this team... and you know who's been here so long.

Please dear lord get Allexander out of here.

Although Gruden should be embarrassed to even associate our offense with a WCO.

Like the word inconceivable... I don't think he knows what it means.

[SacBengal]

Originally Posted by berserkerone88

What strengths do we have on offense?
We have good tackles, one quality weapon and a young QB.
So what are our strengths?

Well, quick responses..

We have a QB will a great quick-release passing game, and the ability to throw outside of the pocket.

We have a TE that has the ability to get some serious YAC, and presents a big mismatch with size and speed over the middle.

We have a rotation of guys who played in the number 2 spot with different strengths. Speed, quick cuts, vertical assets.

We have Green, who obviously has remarkable hands, whether they send him down the sideline or across the middle.

We have a respectable running game, and a running back who can pass catch.

I'm not trying to coach from my chair, I'm just saying it's absurd to say that every problem this offense had was because of the players, and then proceed to look around the offense and blame nearly everyone. Short of blowing up the entire offense, I think much more can be done with this team.

Look at teams like New Orleans, who had a bunch of guys no one had heard of. Last year watching them was amazing. The quick passing game all over the field. Ball could go to any guy at any time. Hard to defend that.

Look at Indianapolis. Manning and Luck are great QBs, but they have WRs that no one's ever heard of, going out and making big plays. They're spreading the ball around, and working to strengths.

Bengals can totally upgrade personnel on offense. They can also upgrade the offensive coaching to get more from what they have.

[Ryan Mc]

Originally Posted by berserkerone88

What strengths do we have on offense?
We have good tackles, one quality weapon and a young QB.
So what are our strengths?

Well, when Gruden took over and had his initial press conference back in 2011 he was asked if there was one word which would describe the offense he was bringing. He said "diverse" ... and I only wish that was true of the offense he's running, because that's exactly what I would say our strength is on offense. We don't have outstanding personnel in all areas, but if used imaginatively there's really nothing we can't do on offense, especially after BJGE settled in and we were able to run the ball effectively.

The 'west coast' offense is supposed to be about spreading the ball around, and we actually have the talent to do that on our team. We seemed to leave a lot of possible plays not called ... after Pressley's TD catch against Jax I can barely remember us throwing him a single pass the rest of the season. Charles showed promise as a pass-catching TE, but barely got in the game. Even Tate, although no argument a very limited WR, can be useful when used correctly. Whatever else you want to say about the guy, the Pats did get 400+ yard receiving out of him back in 2010 at 18+ yards per reception, and he had an early long TD reception for us this season against Cleveland (44 yards). He's a limited receiver, but even so he could have been used more running deep routes up the sideline opposite AJ. Even if we didn't hit too many deep ones to him, just attempting the occasional bomb and making opposing defenses mindful of it would have helped the offense.

So, short version is that our strength is that we have the players to literally run any play you want from the playbook ... screen, draw, power running, WR screens, shovel passes, end-arounds etc. However, our offense seemed to get very unimaginative as the season went on, with runs by Green-Ellis from standard formation mixed in with passing plays from shotgun and 3-WR formation. I don't think it's any coincidence that our longest TD drive on offense the entire last six games (70 yards on the opening drive versus Dallas) featured an end-around by Marvin Jones and a shovel pass to Hawkins for the TD. Unfortunately, that kind of creativity on offense was too rare last season.

[berserkerone88]

Originally Posted by SacBengal

Well, quick responses..

We have a QB will a great quick-release passing game, and the ability to throw outside of the pocket.

We have a TE that has the ability to get some serious YAC, and presents a big mismatch with size and speed over the middle.

Who has been riddled with penalties and drops all season. Far too inconsistent to be a strength

We have a rotation of guys who played in the number 2 spot with different strengths. Speed, quick cuts, vertical assets.

Bull squirt. We had garbage at the #2 spot. When Sanu was healthy, we had more success. Without him, nothing.

We have Green, who obviously has remarkable hands, whether they send him down the sideline or across the middle.

Remarkable? Maybe but those drops and lack of concentration plays of his sure as hell hurt down the stretch.

We have a respectable running game, and a running back who can pass catch.

Lulz. Yes that is why teams can afford to double team AJ Green all day.

I'm not trying to coach from my chair, I'm just saying it's absurd to say that every problem this offense had was because of the players, and then proceed to look around the offense and blame nearly everyone. Short of blowing up the entire offense, I think much more can be done with this team.

Look at teams like New Orleans, who had a bunch of guys no one had heard of. Last year watching them was amazing. The quick passing game all over the field. Ball could go to any guy at any time. Hard to defend that.

Look at Indianapolis. Manning and Luck are great QBs, but they have WRs that no one's ever heard of, going out and making big plays. They're spreading the ball around, and working to strengths.

Bengals can totally upgrade personnel on offense. They can also upgrade the offensive coaching to get more from what they have.

We do not have NEARLY as much talent as you are trying to lead on to.
We really just don't. We have a bottom of the league offense in terms of talent and it reared it's ugly little head at the end of the season.

And FYI, I am ignoring the stupid idea behind comparing a 2nd year QB to PEYTON MANNING or Drew Brees.

[berserkerone88]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mc

Well, when Gruden took over and had his initial press conference back in 2011 he was asked if there was one word which would describe the offense he was bringing. He said "diverse" ... and I only wish that was true of the offense he's running, because that's exactly what I would say our strength is on offense. We don't have outstanding personnel in all areas, but if used imaginatively there's really nothing we can't do on offense, especially after BJGE settled in and we were able to run the ball effectively.

In order to be a diverse offense you still need guys capable of making NFL plays. No one showed that until late in the year and we wasted way too much time on the practice hero Binns and Tate. We lacked talented NFL caliber skill players.

The 'west coast' offense is supposed to be about spreading the ball around, and we actually have the talent to do that on our team. We seemed to leave a lot of possible plays not called ... after Pressley's TD catch against Jax I can barely remember us throwing him a single pass the rest of the season. Charles showed promise as a pass-catching TE, but barely got in the game. Even Tate, although no argument a very limited WR, can be useful when used correctly. Whatever else you want to say about the guy, the Pats did get 400+ yard receiving out of him back in 2010 at 18+ yards per reception, and he had an early long TD reception for us this season against Cleveland (44 yards). He's a limited receiver, but even so he could have been used more running deep routes up the sideline opposite AJ. Even if we didn't hit too many deep ones to him, just attempting the occasional bomb and making opposing defenses mindful of it would have helped the offense.

Tate really only has one effective play in going deep. And yeah, when you are on the same team as Wes Welker and Randy Moss, you will get some open plays. Sorry but Tate is not a useful WR.

So, short version is that our strength is that we have the players to literally run any play you want from the playbook ... screen, draw, power running, WR screens, shovel passes, end-arounds etc. However, our offense seemed to get very unimaginative as the season went on, with runs by Green-Ellis from standard formation mixed in with passing plays from shotgun and 3-WR formation. I don't think it's any coincidence that our longest TD drive on offense the entire last six games (70 yards on the opening drive versus Dallas) featured an end-around by Marvin Jones and a shovel pass to Hawkins for the TD. Unfortunately, that kind of creativity on offense was too rare last season.
Where are you coming up with this for a strength? We clearly lack the basic talents to run screens and runs outside the tackles. We lack a dependable underneath target to be a security blanket for Dalton.

All in all we are a team of role players and guys with incredibly narrow skill sets. When they get on the field, teams know how to play us.

[Ryan Mc]

Originally Posted by berserkerone88

All in all we are a team of role players and guys with incredibly narrow skill sets. When they get on the field, teams know how to play us.

We're all entitled to an opinion. You've expressed your opinions but have no really persuasive arguments in your post that would cause me to change mine. IMO, we did not have overwhelming talent on offense, but there was enough there to do much, much better than we did last season. Good play-calling and design can go a long way to covering up for lack of talent. To repeat one of the examples I gave in my post: we only got the ball to Pressley once all season (a TD catch versus Jax). Do I think Pressley is a phenomenal receiving talent? No, of course not. But it makes an opposing LB's job way, way easier when he comes into a game knowing we pretty much never throw to the FB and he doesn't have to consider that possibility when Pressley's in the game. Can you appreciate how something like that makes it easier to defend our offense?

PS Randy Moss was cut by the Pats 4 games into 2010 and had little to do with the production the Pats got out of Tate that year, most of which came after Moss was gone.

[savagehenry54]

Originally Posted by berserkerone88

Maybe not legendary, but both are sure as hell respected and stem from one of the greatest coaching trees ever.

Walsh developed Anderson as well as Sam Wyche (as a coach), who then developed Boomer.....And Esiason was a first rounder all day if he had played for a more heralded college program other than Maryland.

[berserkerone88]

Originally Posted by savagehenry54

Walsh developed Anderson as well as Sam Wyche (as a coach), who then developed Boomer.....And Esiason was a first rounder all day if he had played for a more heralded college program other than Maryland.

I agree with this. But football was much smaller then....

[berserkerone88]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mc

We're all entitled to an opinion. You've expressed your opinions but have no really persuasive arguments in your post that would cause me to change mine. IMO, we did not have overwhelming talent on offense, but there was enough there to do much, much better than we did last season. Good play-calling and design can go a long way to covering up for lack of talent. To repeat one of the examples I gave in my post: we only got the ball to Pressley once all season (a TD catch versus Jax). Do I think Pressley is a phenomenal receiving talent? No, of course not. But it makes an opposing LB's job way, way easier when he comes into a game knowing we pretty much never throw to the FB and he doesn't have to consider that possibility when Pressley's in the game. Can you appreciate how something like that makes it easier to defend our offense?

PS Randy Moss was cut by the Pats 4 games into 2010 and had little to do with the production the Pats got out of Tate that year, most of which came after Moss was gone.

Oy. Pressley didn't get the ball because he clearly didn't have the tools to do it. Unless you have a top tier player at FB who is basically a glorified RB, would you rather have him or another WR or TE on the field?

This is the same type of problem we had with Scott and people refused to see it and just blamed the coaches for not playing him. LIMITED skill set.
Scott could not pass block to save his (or his QB's) life. When he went in teams knew to send the extra guy because the RB can't block. Makes your offense more readable. But this wasnt an issue. We just WOULD NOT play the guy. All coaches fault. Their could be no logical reason for this! You know, until he nearly got a QB decapitated and people realized..."Oh, maybe this is why he never played"

[BengalsRocker]

Originally Posted by berserkerone88

Oy. Pressley didn't get the ball because he clearly didn't have the tools to do it. Unless you have a top tier player at FB who is basically a glorified RB, would you rather have him or another WR or TE on the field?

This is the same type of problem we had with Scott and people refused to see it and just blamed the coaches for not playing him. LIMITED skill set.
Scott could not pass block to save his (or his QB's) life. When he went in teams knew to send the extra guy because the RB can't block. Makes your offense more readable. But this wasnt an issue. We just WOULD NOT play the guy. All coaches fault. Their could be no logical reason for this! You know, until he nearly got a QB decapitated and people realized..."Oh, maybe this is why he never played"

Yeah... and that is why they(the coaches)were hoping he'd play this year.

They banked an awful lot on a guy you claim has a "limited skill set".

You know, they could always design plays to counter said defenses.

There are other speed backs in this league who can't block either.

Yet they still manage to be useful players and can be productive even when there are blitzes.

[Ryan Mc]

Originally Posted by berserkerone88

Oy. Pressley didn't get the ball because he clearly didn't have the tools to do it. Unless you have a top tier player at FB who is basically a glorified RB, would you rather have him or another WR or TE on the field? ....

Pressley WAS on the field this year, so the question of whether I'd prefer him or another WR or TE is not the point. The point is that when he was on the field we never threw him the ball or even once handed off to him to carry the ball up the middle. In other words, when Pressley was in the game our offense was very limited and easy to read. This was NOT because of lack of talent, but because of lack of imagination by the play caller. Pressley may not be all-world, but he's talented enough to hand the ball off to once per game or throw the ball to once per game just to keep a defense honest. Even if we don't gain much yardage when we do that the point is that it just makes an opposing LB a step slower the next time Pressley's in the game on 3rd-and-short when he has to consider the possibility of Pressley getting the ball.

Anyway, I'm getting stuck on Pressley which was just an example. There's no way you'll convince me we couldn't have gotten Charles more than 8 catches this year ... he looked pretty smooth in the limited chances he got. And, people on these boards begged Gruden for weeks to get Peerman more carries from scrimmage before he finally started being given the opportunity and proved a useful changeup in the running game. I stand by my story: whatever you think of our level of talent on offense, Gruden did not make full use of it. I'm certainly in favor of making moves to improve the offensive personnel this offseason ... I'm not saying limits in talent played no part in us ranking 22nd on offense, but IMO Gruden could have done a lot more with what he did have.

PS For all the people who think that replacing Gruden would be a kneejerk reaction and we should give him more time, note that Denver just fired their DB coach after their fiasco on Saturday. That's the level of accountability in some organizations ... one really bad PLAY in a playoff game and you're out (considering Denver ranked 3rd in pass D I'm assuming they weren't too down on this coach's work before Saturday).