Our next coach??

I have a feeling that no matter who the coach is, we will be watching another new offense. In the 10 years, oh how I love the continuity we see from this junk:

Norv's sort of running/downfield attack (which is what I prefer)
Marty's smashmouth
Spurriers whatever he ran
Gibbs outdated running/downfield attack (including the Saunders time)
Zorn's west coast.

One would think a smart front office would try to maintain some semblance of rationality. I am not the first to say it but square pegs, round holes.

Nice initial post, keep it up!! I thought Martz would have been perfect in '08 when we were searching but purely from a football standpoint. He would be calling virtually the same offense we'd been running under Saunders, had success with undersized WR in the past, could have made Portis into more of a threat in the screen/passing game and could have developed Campbell to his strengths. Also, he had a strong relationship with Fletcher on the defensive side so he'd have credibility with the defensive players. I'd wonder how his ego would work with Snyder and Cerrato but on the field it would have been a great fit.

At this point however, I don't think that's a good move. We'd be changing offenses AGAIN, our personnel isn't suited to his style and the front office structure is still broken.

To tell you the truth I think you have it backwards. I don't think the players have bought into this whole WCO scheme and are having trouble with the terminology. I think most are used to the Gibbs/Saunders terminology issue better and to be honest our whole OL is set up for that style of offense. For the WCO to work we need smaller faster more agile OL which we don't have. If we blow this thing up I can only hope that if the next HC comes in and is utilizing the WCO he realizes he needs to drastically pick up OL for this scheme to work. Shanahan will have his work cut out for him.

I don't think it is hard to argue that no matter what offense will be run next year, the entire offensive line needs to be addressed. Fear not though, Cerrato and Dan are working on our next QB but since this isn't a thread on a QB (and I think we have obvious more pressing needs) I will not add to that. My biggest fear is that Cerrato and Dan see some offensive improvement and feel just another guy away from winning. I laugh.

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To tell you the truth I think you have it backwards. I don't think the players have bought into this whole WCO scheme and are having trouble with the terminology. I think most are used to the Gibbs/Saunders terminology issue better and to be honest our whole OL is set up for that style of offense. For the WCO to work we need smaller faster more agile OL which we don't have. If we blow this thing up I can only hope that if the next HC comes in and is utilizing the WCO he realizes he needs to drastically pick up OL for this scheme to work. Shanahan will have his work cut out for him.

See if it's Shanahan I think the transition will be minimal. The offense he runs is also an offshoot of the Walsh WCO that Zorn & Lewis run via Holmgren. The players I'm concerned with are the WR group (Thomas, Kelly, Mitchell) and Davis because they've learned one offense and would have to reset after just starting to show they're getting comfortable. We're probably looking at a new QB, new RB and a new RT after this season so there will be some learning curve.

On our '10 projected (as I see it) OL there will only be two Gibbs/Saunders holdovers in Rabach and Dockery. Levi Jones came from Cincy and Mike Williams came from Buffalo. Unless we completely reset by letting them all go, there's not going to be a true WCO line for a couple of years.

See if it's Shanahan I think the transition will be minimal. The offense he runs is also an offshoot of the Walsh WCO that Zorn & Lewis run via Holmgren. The players I'm concerned with are the WR group (Thomas, Kelly, Mitchell) and Davis because they've learned one offense and would have to reset after just starting to show they're getting comfortable. We're probably looking at a new QB, new RB and a new RT after this season so there will be some learning curve.

On our '10 projected (as I see it) OL there will only be two Gibbs/Saunders holdovers in Rabach and Dockery. Levi Jones came from Cincy and Mike Williams came from Buffalo. Unless we completely reset by letting them all go, there's not going to be a true WCO line for a couple of years.

Pain, i agree with everything you say there. Shanahan is not my first (or second, third, or forth) choice to be our next HC, but that is the main positive I see with him taking over. If we go with anything other than a WCO style offense, then all the progress we've seen our receivers (and even Campbell) have made over the past two years will be for nothing. With Shanahan, we have a high probabilty of being competetive sooner - although i think there's a "lower ceiling" with Shanahan than there would be if we just blew the whole thing up and started building from scratch.

And while the offense could greatly benefit from Shanahan, our defense would no doubt suffer. If we went with a smaller name HC, he would be more inclined to to keep our defense in tact. Shanahan's likely going to bring in entirely new coaching staffs on BOTH sides of the ball. Given the relative success of our defense, perhaps Shanahan could be convinced to just promote Jerry Gray to DC, but I wouldnt count on it.

Pain, I understand what your saying. I agree with you. At this point the best we could do is keep a WCO because of terminology and consistancy. I was just pointing out that if we are going to "blow" this thing all up then changing won't matter. Especially if our OL is going to consist of mostly new players.

Shanahan is not my first choice. but what does intrege me is what he had in Denver with the OL. I always thought they had the best blocking scheme. If Shanahan can bring that with him then I'm somewhat ok with the decision. It always seemed like they could run on anyone. Plus I think his WCO style is more of a down field scheme (passing) vs some of the others we have seen.

Pain, I understand what your saying. I agree with you. At this point the best we could do is keep a WCO because of terminology and consistancy. I was just pointing out that if we are going to "blow" this thing all up then changing won't matter. Especially if our OL is going to consist of mostly new players.

Shanahan is not my first choice. but what does intrege me is what he had in Denver with the OL. I always thought they had the best blocking scheme. If Shanahan can bring that with him then I'm somewhat ok with the decision. It always seemed like they could run on anyone. Plus I think his WCO style is more of a down field scheme (passing) vs some of the others we have seen.

That was because of the O-line coach Alex Gibbs. I think he now coaches in Atlanta.

I've gone back and forth on Zorn all year, but I'm starting to firm up my view. I think he needs to go.

Going back to the 2nd half of last year is record right now is 5-15. Chew on that for a minute.

The offense only showed improvement when Sherm Lewis was brought in and his playcalling duties were stripped. The guy has no real power or clout in the locker room, it's been pretty clear through his tenure here that Vinny is calling most of the shots and the players know that. Zorn wasn't even able to assemble his own staff.

I love that the team has played their hearts out these last few weeks, but I'm not so sure how much of that credit can really go to Zorn. The players know Zorn is on his way out. Guys are playing hard because they know it's evaluation time for the next staff that comes in, or they are trying to spice up the resume for another team.

I agree with this and have argued for it on the same points. However I did read that after meeting the staff Zorn wanted to keep them and not bring in his own guys, well other than stump and smith of course

No need to have a HC that can't be a HC

That was because of the O-line coach Alex Gibbs. I think he now coaches in Atlanta.

Oh my god you scared the hell out of me. No he's not with Atlanta. He's actually with Houston who is looking to possibly blow their team up at the end of the season. I guess it would be a plus if we get Shanahan here he could bring his son in from Houston and possibly Alex Gibbs.

Oh my god you scared the hell out of me. No he's not with Atlanta. He's actually with Houston who is looking to possibly blow their team up at the end of the season. I guess it would be a plus if we get Shanahan here he could bring his son in from Houston and possibly Alex Gibbs.

Ok Alex Gibbs is with the Texans now. Im sure he spent a few years with the Falcons maybe when Vick was still there. I also believe the Texans will fire their coach this season, due to the teams failure to make the playoffs. High expectations this season for the Texans but again they have struggled. Sounds like our team.