The Future of Brian Schottenheimer
Well it is time again for what seems to be a yearly look at the Jets offense as it encounters yet another rough patch after a no show against the New York Giants. This time around OC Brian Schottenheimer seems to be on a very hot seat based on the way the head coach seemed to dangle some comments out there that the gameplan was not suited for his team. Now it’s certainly no secret that I am not in love with the offense the Jets have run since 2006, but I’ll attempt to be as objective as possible in looking at him. This is a 6 year run now which is a pretty large sample size. He has had 4 QB’s to work with in Chad Pennington, Brett Favre, Mark Sanchez, and Kellen Clemens. Favre is going to be a Hall of Famer, Pennington is a serviceable player, Sanchez had a high pedigree, and Clemens was simply an NFL failure. So I think there is certainly enough to look at Schottenheimer objectively.
The Gameplan
I’m not going to go back and chart situational plays like I have in the past for this. I think past research has shown that the Jets are a bit unconventional with the 3rd and short approaches and in the past have treated certain second down situations differently than other NFL teams, but let’s just move on past that and leave the situational aspects for another day. I want to look at run and pass attempts for the Jets compared to what other teams do in the NFL. To do this I have taken the schedule from each season and calculated the number of run and pass plays the Jets opposition had run on them. This at least gives an idea if the Jets are run heavy or pass heavy in approach. There are instances where the stats can skew, for example teams could run a lot to preserve leads (though I think we all know that has rarely been the case for the Jets) or perhaps they play a large number of passing oriented teams, but that should balance out over the course of a 16 game schedule. The numbers are percentage of times the Jets were above or below average for their schedule. For example in 2006 the Jets have a -4.39% in pass attempts, which means they threw, on average, 4.39% less times than all other teams did against those same opponents. Here is what you get from the Jets:
I actually found these numbers a bit surprising. Other than in 2009 and 2010 I thought the Jets were more of a passing offense, but that clearly was not the case. They ran more than expected in 2006 despite a run attack featuring the likes of Kevan Barlow. The big changes came in 2009 and 2010 when Rex Ryan took over and the Jets drafted Mark Sanchez. 2009 was definitely not the type of offense Schottenheimer wanted to run, but he was hamstrung by circumstances. Rex at one point seemed to take the decision making out of his hands and Sanchez’ pass attempts fell from 27 to 20 per game from the first 9 weeks to the final 7, which likely helped drive those numbers to where they ended up that season. 2010 was the most effective the Jets offense likely was in terms of number of plays being run. They passed about the normal amount of times but still ran way above average, a bit of Rex’s handprints in the overall design of the game. In 2011 the offense is back 100% in Schottenheimers hands from the looks of things. A relatively balanced attack with a normal amount of runs and passes through 15 games.
The Running Offense
For this we are going to look at the actual efficiency of the running game on a per attempt basis. Are they gaining more yards than the average? How do they do with big plays?
After a 6 year run it has been kind of a mixed bag. In 2006 they were hampered by poor runners and a mediocre offensive line, which became a terrible offensive line by 2007 despite the upgrade at running back. 2008 there was a clear turnaround that was likely based on the signings of LG Alan Faneca and RT Damien Woody. For a 3 year stretch the Jets were consistently above average and in 2009 and 2010 they had to do that with teams knowing they would run. 2011 is a throwback to the 2006 year with poor talent on the line and in the backfield. The lack of big plays is the one troubling aspect in the running game. 2009 had a good number of huge plays which seemed to come off big Leon Washington runs that caught teams completely by surprise as they were playing pass. Probably also shows a bit of the benefit of having a highly respected QB behind center. I guess overall you would grade the run game over a 6 year stretch as a bit above average and a bit plodding rather than explosive. That might be something to take the GM to task for more than the Offensive Coordinator. You can’t get big runs when your runners can’t make players miss.
The Passing Offense
The NFL has become a passing league so I’d imagine that this is what everyone is most interested in reading.
A lot of interesting numbers here. Let’s get the first thing out of the way. There is a clear Mark Sanchez “disaster curve” when it comes to completion percentage. The two before him were all slightly above average in this offense and he has been terrible. If there is any sign of encouragement it is that he has improved in that category.
The real damning numbers come in the yardage totals. The only QB that had an above average YPA in the offense is Chad Pennington in 2006 and that is a number that is well below what he did as a Dolphin in 2008 and as a Jet in 2004, his last full season before Schottenheimer took over. The plays above 20 yards are all low. The only above average season came in 2009 and that probably had more to do with the poor decision making of the QB forcing passes, which is going to lead to some completions as well as incompletes and interceptions, while the veterans checked down more. Those two categories seem to indicate that the offense runs short patterns and either the wideouts can’t catch and run or the plays are designed as more sit down type receptions where the receiver stops to catch the ball. With so much different personnel over the years I think it is fair to lean more towards offensive design and philosophy than talent.
I would say that the Jets are willing to take a few chances down the field prior to this season. 50% of the seasons have been above average in the 40 plus play category and 2007 was not far below. The real strange one is Favre in 2008, but that may have been a head coaching decision or a tired arm/arm injury. 2011 is something I can not figure out. Either it’s a head coaching thing like 2008 or the personnel decisions were poor. Either way they are not taking chances this year.
The interception rate has cut down dramatically over the last two years. From 2006-2009 this was an interception happy offense. It certainly is not anymore. The Jets don’t do nearly the amount of presnap motion they used to do in the past and they also have had better players at wide receiver in 2010 and 2011 than in the early years in the offense so maybe something has been tweaked in the design of the plays to correct the issue. The Jets don’t throw for touchdowns and are about average at avoiding sacks—2007 and 2009 were as much about inexperienced QBs as it was runaway sacks.
This is definitely a slightly below average passing offense that seems a bit behind what the rest of the NFL is doing. This is a down the field passing league, but the Jets favor a more dink and dunk type of approach. Those numbers were there before Rex and before Sanchez so using them is just looking for an excuse. I’d throw out the lack of deep passes this year as meaning anything. It seems to be some strange outlier that defies logic. Either the organization is way down on Sanchez or maybe Sanchez has some injury nobody is disclosing. But they are limiting the use of the field a bit too much with the feast or famine approach in the years before this one.
Scoring
Of course the bottom line in the effectiveness of an offense is their scoring. I took all defensive and special teams scores out of the Jets point totals from 2006 thru 2011 and did the same for the scores allowed by the opposition to calculate the actual offensive efficiency for the Jets under Schottenheimer. I added a column for Pro Bowlers on the offense. I considered a pro bowl talent anyone who made a pro bowl either that year or the year prior.
I think because of whatever problems the team had at QB and on the line we can throw out 2007 in the evaluation. Personnel problems that bad are on the GM, not the guy designing the offense. The Jets have actually been a bit better than average in scoring on offense under Schottenheimer. It isn’t the Saints or anything like that, but they are probably averaging an extra 0.5-1 point a game than expected. That is not terrible especially considering the below average passing game. It says something about executing in the red zone and not turning the ball over when having field position that allows a field goal opportunity.
The highest talent level was 2008 and not surprisingly the most effective. Could they have done better? Probably and that late season meltdown cost the team badly. Sanchez at QB made the difference between 2008 and 2009 despite what was still a high level of talent. The talent level has fallen the last two years and the results with it.
Conclusion
There are a great deal of people that think Brian Schottenheimer is the main problem with the New York Jets. On some Sundays that might be the case, but certainly on other Sunday’s he is fine. By no means are the results terrible. He has a relatively or slightly above average running game, below average passing game, and produces around average results. I know he came here with a reputation as a QB guy due to coaching Drew Brees in San Diego, but he seems to get more out of the running game than the passing game. Most of those Pro Bowlers were geared towards running the football rather than passing it and his 2008 and 2009 efficiency in the run game really spiked upwards because of it. His passing approach doesn’t seem to bring out the best in anyone. Favre was little better than anyone else. Pennington was minimally better than Sanchez. I’d say there is very little upside to the passing game philosophy.
There are a number of coordinators that are potentially better than Schottenheimer and a large number potentially worse. Ryan was right when he said the Jets are not built to play the way that game was called against the Giants, but he is right in the way that he has an offensive coordinator that is not really effective in that setting. Maybe the Jets need to really sit down with Schottenheimer go over these types of stats, in a much more in depth manner, and point out that what they do well is run the football and focus on areas of improvement in the passing game, such as trying to get to the intermediate level of the field.
From a personnel standpoint, if they plan on sticking with Schottenheimer, they probably do need to go out and get him an explosive runner to be the complement to Shonn Greene. They should plan on spending the extra couple of dollars on a right tackle and maybe a bit less on either a secondary wide receiver or tight end who can’t block much. This is all independent of the QB. Sanchez, or whomever else is here next year, is likely not going to have huge upside in the offense unless you end up with a Peyton Manning type, which is highly unlikely.
The Jets can certainly roll the dice if they want and make a large number of fans happy by removing Schottenheimer from the offense. But they may be able to get more out of him by intervening more in the offense in the offseason and finding ways to upgrade the running game personnel. That might be the safer way to enhance the offensive output of the Jets rather than bringing someone in who may take them from scoring around the average to scoring 10-15% below the average.
It’s more likely for this offense to fall to below average than rise high because of the QB if they switch coordinators. Even if Sanchez is gone in 2012, the replacement level is not going to be high. Most teams with the high powered offenses, like the Packers who score around 35% more points than normal, have great Quarterbacks. If the Jets had a great QB on the roster getting rid of Brian Schottenheimer is probably worth doing. I think he hinders the passing game for whatever reason. But the Jets don’t have Peyton Manning and they don’t have a chance to get Andrew Luck.
Realistically the Jets upside is to score between 8 and 12% above the norm with the QB situation. They can do that with Schottenheimer here. He is already around 3%. He won’t be worse than average. If they can get cap relief from the QB position via a restructure that money can immediately go into finding a better player than Wayne Hunter and a more dangerous runner than Greene. Get those pieces in place, tweak the passing game just a bit and focus some on the situational playcalling and you have the least risky way to have a competent offense in 2012 and 2013.
Most telling would be the before and after comparison of Chad and Brees. We will not know if Sanchez could move to the next level without changing the coordinator.
Lastly, can a team win a super bowl with this type of offensive output. The Ravens have won only once... We know that GB, NO and NE all had superior offenses... But if you can't win it all, then you need to try and fix it.
Great analysis. I'm curious on whether you feel the information somehow needs to be adjusted based on the strength of the Jets defense per year. For example, one could argue the lone reason 2009 and 2010 stand out nicely for 20A and 40A has as much to do with the Jets defensive efficiency as opposed to a more potent offense. Curious on your thoughts there.
Also, as far as I'm concerned B. Schott has to go. Some sources already have him out at the end of the year. Coordinators and coaches need to put players in a position to succeed based on prudent, and realistic analysis of their capabilities. If all of us are asked to do something we can't do, or something we've never shown we're capable of doing, we'll probably fail or look awful the first time doing it. Dropping Mark back ~70 times is asking someone to do something they've never shown they can handle before. The fact it came during the biggest game of the season only magnifies the problem. I see no way no how B. Schott survives, especially if the Jets lose to the Fins which I do believe is likely.
Lastly, Rex and Pettine magically escape criticism for Saturday's debacle primarily b/c the defense played well as a whole. If you asked any Jet fan before the game if Eli would be 9-27 would the Jets win or lose we'd all say win. However, the Giants came into Saturday with two viable WR's - Nicks and Cruz. Jerrel Jernigan, a rookie with 0 career catches, was their 3rd WR. It is inexcusable that our 40+million dollar CB, the best CB in the league and maybe the best defender in the league, EVER lines up opposite Jerrel Jernigan. Correct me if I'm wrong, but on the 99 yard TD play, Revis was opposite Jernigan. The fact that the game plan didn't call for Revis/Cromartie to always be on either Nicks/Cruz is baffling. I believe it illustrates a major flaw in Rex Ryan, which is his blind faith in his players and arrogant personality leads him to truly believe Kyle Wilson could cover Victor Cruz. Again, the coaches failed Kyle and the team by putting a player in a position that even the most novice Jets fan knew he'd fail.
Rant over. Go JETS!
Steve
As for the question about winning it all with this kind of offense Im not sure. Im going to do something at the end of the playoffs doing the rankings for all the Super Bowl teams on my own efficiency scales and see where they all come out. Recent history tells me the 2000 Ravens, 2002 Bucs (who were actually a more effective defense than Baltimore), and 2005 Steelers were the defense with game manager teams while all others were at least good offensively. NE in 2001 was probably a game manager team as well, but really all these teams were an eternity ago. JMO, but I think the Jets are best suited to hold serve with Sanchez but have a backup ready in the event he is just awful next season and then as soon as they can take a chance for another elite QB, whether in free agency or in the draft, move on and make the move. Then they can consider a new OC. The thing I would fear the most is giving a bunch of money like the Bills did to a Fitzpatrick type. No upside to that move at all.
And the defensive side of the ball has almost always escaped criticism. Part of the reason is just the nature of the NFL is to turn towards offense as the failing factor unless its a shootout game where the offense is in the 30s and loses. Im pretty sure Revis was on Nicks on the Cruz 99 yard score. Cromartie had Ramses Barden. It seemed as if the gameplan was Revis on Nicks and Cromartie strictly on the outside. The Giants kept putting Cruz in the slot so Wilson would have to pick him up and Wilson was lost. Cruz should have had another TD where he toasted Wilson in the red zone as well, but Eli overthrew him. That was the play Aikman at first seemed to say the receiver had to make a better effort until he watched the replay and realized Eli sailed the ball badly and he was wide open. Wilson has limited football instincts watching him play and when he has a burner to cover cant make up the ground he can on slower guys.
And therein lies the problem...if the gameplan was "Revis on Nicks and Cromartie strictly on the outside" then I'm afraid Rex & Mike are delusional. Wilson is without question a Bust as of now. I never agree with drafting out of programs like Boise State. I'll take LSU's 3rd or 4th CB before Boise's #1. Swing and a miss from Trader Mike on the Wilson pick (no pun intended).
Steve
Your charts are excellent and really shines the light on Sanchez. Those are some horrible numbers for Sanchez, especially this year. Dink and duck doesn't work if you don't have a very high completion percentage. I'd much prefer the deep throws, like Eli Manning makes (all the time).
IMHO Football is different from other sports in that in general there are not that many good free agents around. Those that are available are very expensive. There was a reason their team let them walk. I don't know how easy it is to get a replacement player for a given position, like Right Tackle or a good cover safety.
I wish the Jets had gotten Darren Sproles! (they probably didn't have the cap space).
The Jets need to draft better, and do a better job selecting UDFA. Thats on the FO, not the OC.
I would let Shottenheimer go, provided they can get a GOOD OC. No point in bringing in another mediocre OC.
Free agents are difficult because teams let players walk because their play level has declined or due to cap troubles. The cap isnt as troublesome for most squads nowadays so really you are just hoping to get something out of a guy his home team doesnt think he can give. I do think you can find a serviceable RT and maybe an older safety who can play a little, but its no guarantee. I had actually given some thought to the best ways to put together a team. I think teams should only spend big in free agency on wide receivers and interior linemen on both sides of the ball. Id never sign a free agent runner for more than a year or two (I also would not resign my own guy no matter how good he is). Wouldnt waste my time with linebackers either. With the league becoming more of a trading league I think I would hope for the best in the draft and then see if I can trade the players towards the end of their rookie contracts to amass draft picks.
Schotty owes you a dinner. I think you are the only BS defender out there, but you have achieved a level of objectivity that changes the discussion. Woody needs to read this..today.
Fixing things....I am very pessamistic about finding a "serviceable RT" in free agency, slim pickens. I do find fault with Schotty in protection schemes, putting Hunter out on an island is just wrong, Schotty and Callahan are responsible.RT needs a creative solution.
The Safety position is about Rex. Rex only has "in the Box " Safeties playing for the Jets, coverage safeties are banished quickly. A philosophical change is in order, in this new pass happy NFL. Safeties, Michael Griffin , and Goldson (sp?) out of SF, may be candidates if they are not cost prohibitive.
Based on this analysis, I can see the Jets moving up and getting Trent Richardson of Alabama at RB. Very low probability, but if Trent slides out of the top ten, the Jets may have a shot. ( there goes my OLB, as the Jets trade up using their second round pick)..
I agree with your points, especially bringing a RT as a priority (I would like to see a strong and nasty run blocker) and another back. I also think an intervention of sorts to emphasize the improtance of the running game would be useful. In this area I believe Rex needs to make clear he is resposnsible for the whole team including offensive philsophy, game planning, and stronlgy involved in game decisions. I have no insite into his level of involvement in this phase of the game but at times it seems like he is not involved equally in all phases of the team.
I would like to see Sanchez back another year if only because I don't see a QB with that much more upside and I believe he can be succesful with a strong ground game and defense. I think he can have success with downfield throws on roll outs and play action predicated on d's respecting the run.
The idea the Jets are going to find one of the 7 or 8 QB's that can run a passing oriented offense is unlikely unless they morgatge the future for Manning which I think could end up like the Favre situation.
Also, these are full game stats. Yet, this offense is not continuous in its performance. At least three games, this year, the offense scored 7 points or less for more than forty straight minutes to start a game against a botoom five defense with real weaknesses in coverage. Last year, they went eleven straight quarters without a TD. Whatever the average stats are, the real story of Schottenheimer is not in average performance; it's in consistency of performance. IMO, inconsistency is more devastating to player confidence than mistakes or losses. That is how the real harm is done to a player like Sanchez. I believe he's been broken down by inconmsistency, not bad play, INTs, fumbles or mistakes.
In short, I believe that the big picture of averaging obscures the real story. Another example of lies, damn lies and statistics.
Liam- Its very hard to tell what role Rex plays. During the game he seems completely aloof to the offense, but maybe that is just how it comes off on TV. Without a doubt he played a role in 2009 and 2010 when you see the splits in run/pass especially since early on they were passing in 2009 and he put a stop to it. I think if he was more involved it would only help. Whats surprising to me is that if Rex fully trusts his DC you would think Rex would be perfect to go over the deficiencies in the offense and explain why a certain play would not work and what he would do to get a defense in to stop it.
Andrew- I dont think this paints the picture that he is good. Just that he is pretty much average. There are definitely worse coaches and certainly better coaches. When Ive done the situational stuff before its pretty unconventional and the success would seem to indicate a bad choice. Off the top of my head that would be an extremely high percentage of pass plays on 3rd and short (most of which are likely shotgun) and failures on 2nd and say 5-7 yards to go.
The Favre/Chad numbers are not good. I did those a few years back. Thats why I dont think he designs much in the way of a passing game and why the Jets should focus more on running the ball until they actually get a good QB in place. When that happens its time for Schotty to go. The Cassel/Favre year was close. I dont have the stats adjusted for the Pats that year, but unadjusted those included NE was a 12.48% and the Jets a 11.44%. The Jets had 4 non offensive scores and NE 3 that year so my guess is NE beat them by about 3%. Unadjusted the Jets have basically been middle of the pack. Best year was 2008 where they ranked 10th in scoring. The worst was 2007 where I think they were 26th or so. Most years they are between 14 and 18. So its basically average year after year. The Jets are probably helped more than others because they often start with good field position due to special teams.
Consistency is a problem. Their deviation game after game if I charted expected points vs actual points is probably off the charts. One of the really bad things with the offense is what you see this year where they play a horrendous pass defense like the Giants and Patriots and they pull up lame. They were 14 points below what they should do against the Giants. 8 below Pats in week 10 and 7 in the week 5 game(though the sample size of games is pretty small just 4 weeks in). The way it should work is the other way around but they clearly struggle against these teams because they cant utilize the 15-25 yards past the line of scrimmage.
I guess what it comes down to is that Id rather take the known than the unknown because of the QB situation. Whatever damage is done to Sanchez is done. Either he will fix it on his own or it wont get fixed at this point. If he explodes next year Schotty will be gone on a head coaching job and the Jets can bring in someone more creative. If he continues to look like Ryan Fitzpatrick the Jets can fire Schottenheimer when they make the move for the next franchise QB. Unless you can get a Norv Turner who is proven Id probably take getting upset with the current lack of continuous offense than chancing ending up with Josh McDaniels who takes an offense from 20th or so in the NFL and makes them historically bad.
You raise some interesting points.
>>I had actually given some thought to the best ways to put together a team.
>>I think teams should only spend big in free agency on wide receivers and interior linemen on both sides of the ball.
What positions decline the fastest? The slowest?
RBs, I agree. LBs? Is it that they become a liability in pass coverage? I would think they also have learned a bit and their experience can be useful. I guess it depends how old the LB is. If you have him from 27 - 30 isn't that still fast enough?
I think if you have a good player you may want to extend them if possible, when they have a year left. I wouldn't pay Matt Forte a kings ransom. On the other hand, the Bears need him, as he contributes over 40% of their yards gained.
So it might be worth overpaying him a little, provided its not a very long contract.
>>Id never sign a free agent runner for more than a year or two (I also would not resign my own guy no matter how good he is). Wouldnt waste my time with linebackers either.
Why not resign your own guy, provided its not too long a contract?
Here is a good article on the subject:
http://www.advancednflstats.com/2011/11/wp-rebuilding-with-moneyball-for.html
RBs degrade too fast. I have an article here going over Forte detailing just how bad the decline is. Id never sign a guy off a big season and Id never sign Forte long term even without the injury. Either franchise him or let him walk and get pick compensation. Guys like Martin and Jones were freaks for the Jets. The production decline out of runners is outstanding.
The reason Id say for a LB is because the success of hitting on one in the draft is pretty high. I do think you can get good legs out of them on a second contract, but when the option is David Harris making 8 million a year in cap charges or a 50/50 shot at a pretty good player making 500K in cap Im going to go with the 500K. 34 OLBs are different since those are pass rushers, but 43 LBs and 34 ILBs I think are prime positions to not invest in far past a rookie deal even though the players are still good. Maybe for elite talent like Ray Lewis, but not Harris, Mayo, Scott, etc...Id imagine receivers and QBs decline slowly, provided the receivers are not overly relying on athletic talent. DTs develop slowly and play until their 30s so to me those are better late picks or more than that free agent signing types. WRs I want as free agents because the hit rate in the draft on them is horrendous.
One of the things that the Jets do well right now (and they did not with that old D-Rob deal which was the deal that just kept on giving to him and taking cap from the Jets) is that they get the guarantees out of the way early and use more of a pay as you go system. Harris could be gone after 3 years. Holmes might be gone after 3. Same with Cromartie. You cant avoid paying top talent for 3 years, but by guaranteeing salary rather than giving large bonuses, you have major flexibility at the back end of the deal. Cutting those guys leaves hardly any dead money pains at the end. Contrast that with a team like the Panthers who are stuck on huge deals for bad players for 4 and 5 years because of the contract structures. Compare Sanchez, who could go next year, and Stafford who cant ever go. Thats just as important as the moneyball approach, but it does present a problem if they totally whiff and the guy is unproductive that there is no way to release him after 2 years (for example Holmes is going to be paid regardless and its not a sunk cost yet so the cap hit is enormous).
Unfortunately because the salary data is so hard to come by, and even good estimates are just that- estimates by me and others--, we cant really see that side of the game and thoroughly analyze it. Reporters have the best sources but do more restating of numbers rather than necessarily knowing what the numbers mean or mean in context through the NFL. All you will hear on Holmes is 5/45 and some cap number. It all means nothing. The flexibility is what means something and possibilities to move around within the deal or out of it mean something. But we rarely get that end of it. I try to do that here somewhat, but without better access to numbers alot of it is just guessing.
Hey, I trade you Sanchez for Stafford
Jason, Do teams ever make a trade like this -
GM A - I am stuck with an overpaid player. Its killing my cap space.
GM B - I will take him off your hands if you give me a 2nd round pick.
But say Mangold gets the same offer. His dead cap on a trade is like $12 million and the cost is already sunk through bonuses with pretty low cash salaries. Thats a cap killer to trade (or release). No matter how bad things get its better for me to keep him on the team than move him for a draft pick.
1. Norm Turner, just look at those SD offenses, with such average Offensive Lines. Rex and Norm would get along quite well.
2. Callahan,represents continuity and a little change, but is he better??
3.Tom Clements , currently QB coach of the Packers, previously, OC of the Bills. Is Tom responsible for the creation of Aaron Rodgers ?
Eventhough Schottenheimer has produced an average offense throughout his carrer I still believe he needs to go. The playcalling doesn't take advantage of the talent available, and I can't watch a game without seeing at least 5 plays that completely don't make sense. Early in the season defenses knew when the Jets were running or passing. I can usually pick what the Jets are going to run. The play calling is too predicatable. The dinking and dunking is causing Sanchez to get sacked more because defenses can move up and blitz more. There is no deep ball threat. I believe Schottenheimer also lacks the skills to develop players especially Sanchez. Schottenheimer completed 25 passes in his four years of college ball. Lets just admit that he got a free ride from his Dad stole some of his plays and produces average offenses mostly based on the defense and special teams setting him up in scoring positions, and above average personell. I would like to see Norv Turner become the offensive coordinator. If we can't get Norv then I would rather get a coach that would mimic what the 49ers Ravens and Steelers have been doing in the past. We can't settle for an average OC. This guy has had 6 years to prove he can become great and he is still mediocre at best. It's time to find a talent that will take this offense to the next step. With the defense aging and gaping holes in the offense we are not going to make a super bowl unless we take a chance on a new OC. The defense has consistently outshined the offense under his rule. Sorry Schotty but times up you had your chance. I feel bad for the team that hires you as a head coach if that team is even out there.
JO- I like the idea of Norv. At least I know if the production stinks its means our talent level stinks. He is great with good talent. Indifferent on Cally and negative on Clement. He was awful with the Bills and this could be the same talent level.
Lee- Like Andrew said if you go play by play and drive by drive it becomes alot more damning for Schotty. Im sure its true because almost every week I am venting about him in my post games. I just think it can be corrected by a coach who pays more attention to that side. I know Rex feels for Schottys situation, but he pretty much leads Pettine by the hand and there is no reason why he cant do something more with the offense. Id hire Norv or any proven OC in a heartbeat. Right now there is no upside to Schotty. I just dont want to risk getting worse. If we got worse under Norv at least I know it means the QB doesnt belong in the NFL.