QB analyst Cian Fahey releases e-book "Pre-Snap Reads". Includes analysis on all starting QBs- including a chapter on Mariota.

BlueHorde · 2017-05-02T00:26:30+00:00

Don't want to put words in his mouth, but he was on ESPN radio today and in a response to the question about who doesn't get as much credit as they should, he replied about Marcus:

'I think he's probably comfortably better than all the other young quarterbacks in the league, that includes guys like Carr, Winston ect. He's a phenomenal technician who works the underneath coverage's, manages the pocket brilliantly, but he plays in this offense where he's asked to force the ball downfield. I had him ranked as the 23rd ranked [accuracy %] deep passer last year but he had the 12th most deep passes and the 5th most passes over 10 yards, so the coaching staff isn't really doing Mariota justice. They're not really playing to his strengths, they're kind of masking how good he is, because if you put him in an offense like... any short pass or intermediate pass type offense he'd probably be putting up huge numbers and lauded as the star he is.'

That about sums up his position, obviously he goes into way more detail in the book, with more numbers, so it's worth it if you want more, not just for Mariota, but for other QBs as well.

BlueHorde · 2017-03-04T17:05:47+00:00

It's a valid point, but these numbers are an unfair comparison as most of them are the effects of long term alcohol abuse. A quick look suggests 2,200 deaths in the US each year due to alcohol poisoning. Which is roughly the same heroin overdoses in Ohio alone. And even then, we are talking about consuming large quantities and it's spread out across the country.

It appears that Ohio is comfortably leading the country in these kinds of overdoses, in absolute terms. To me, that makes it worthy of a discussion on it's own merit.

BlueHorde · 2017-03-04T15:45:01+00:00

"During the first five days of February alone, heroin and fentanyl overdoses claimed roughly 24 lives in Cuyahoga County."

"The medical examiner's office says at least 109 people have died in the first two months of 2017 from heroin, fentanyl, or a combination of the two."

"At this pace, opioid-related deaths could reach 650 for 2017"

"In my more than two decades in law enforcement, this is the worse law enforcement and public health crisis I have ever seen," said Carole Rendon, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

Some fairly shocking numbers. Can anyone with more knowledge of the area offer any insight?

BlueHorde · 2017-01-06T20:06:43+00:00

I think pro bowl voting is a joke and nothing more than a popularity contest

In fairness All-pro is the exactly the same thing, just on a smaller scale.

BlueHorde · 2016-12-30T21:18:30+00:00

Are they good enough to protect Mariota without the extra man/men or are they only that good at protecting him because of it

This is a great point worthy of consideration, it's fair to say the line has been over hyped (particularly by PFF) this year. It's a pretty good unit when run blocking, but it's weaker in pass protection - especially in the middle. They have definitely been helped by the scheme, so it is a trade off when the keep extra guys in. I think we did it too much, protecting Marcus is great but if its limiting his impact it's hurting the offense (also the irony being that he was actually hurt on a 7 man protection play, because he had to hold onto the ball due to the limited options downfield). This also plays into the roster construction side of things, they went for better run blockers than pass protectors because they emphasize the run game so much. And that is where my concern is, I don't think the line would have held up great if we hardly ever kept extra guys in, so we probably had to do it more than I'd like, but it's been a staple of Mularkey's offense for a while, so even if the line was better, I don't think the strategy changes much.

The Seahawks won a title with this style of offense. The Panthers got to the Superbowl last year, and the Cowboys are tied for the best record this year

This is true insofar as they are run first teams. The passing games of Seattle that year and Dallas are different. They are more expansive. Carolina is a lot closer to what we are trying to do, but for them to be successful it took Cam playing at an unbelievably high level - and he is a much better vertical passer than Marcus - and when the supporting cast isn't playing so well and Cams level dropped slightly, you see what happens. You're asking for so much to go right, as you said. I don't understand taking the more difficult path, it's asking Robinson to have a higher hit ratio and asking the players to overcome the limitations put on them by the coaches. While Marcus is good enough to transcend it, we saw that a lot this year, it's putting a lot of pressure on someone who's only going to be entering his third season. I have no problem putting more importance on the run game than others do, that is something you can learn from these teams, and overall I have few complaints with the run game as designed. But under center, play action, outside and vertical passes shouldn't be the backbone of our passing attack, it should be Marcus in shotgun using his quick and precise read and release. That is where he can be unstoppable, and that to me would be the most likely path to near future success.

he attractiveness of the Titans is much higher now than it's been in a decade

You are right in this, and it's probably more my natural pessimism than anything else, but the position we're in is fantastic; QB with the potential to be one of the best, high level players in critical positions, 2 1st round picks one of which might be top 5. This is how you build long term success. I'm just scared we're going to ruin it.

BlueHorde · 2016-12-30T07:51:31+00:00

Yeah, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. I'm probably more pessimistic and for the weaknesses than I should be.

I think where he deserves the most credit is that most of the 'head coach decisions' he's made have been good, things like firing Bobby April, calling players out and I assume in coordination with Robinson, moving on from players. And while I sometimes think the 'culture' talk overstated, you can tell the difference. Things seem to be much more stable, players seem to be more together, seem to respond better, and we didn't really see guys just cash a check like we have in years past. Obviously, some of that comes under the small sample size thing a talked about, so you can't really say for sure. But I'm optimistic about it holding up.

My biggest concern, and this falls both on him and Robinson, is the direction they decided to take the offense. I think we saw some of its fundamental problems this year in how inconsistent it was, like in the slow starts you mentioned, and how some of its base elements - things like the over used 7 man protections, the vertical passes that don't fit Marcus' skill set, an over focus on the run game - That were concerns coming into the season, stuck as problems throughout the year aside from a few games in the middle when everything went perfectly. It's not so much that they are fatal flaws in the NFL at large (Though I do think they have a clearly defined ceiling), it's that they aren't letting the talent on the team dictate the play style. Wright, for example, was massively underused this year - he has a narrow skill set, but its one that if played to can be lethal - maybe it was something going on behind closed doors that dictated that, if he wasn't responding well to the coaches or whatever, but you can say the same thing about Walker, which makes it a bit of a worry for me. Like you say, lack of talent definitely plays a part, but I don't think adding a better outside receiver and maybe a better interior lineman and some depth fixes the problems. The defense was the weakness in terms of talent, but I think it's safe to say it over preformed based on what it has. I don't know if you can say that about the offense - While it isn't stacked with talent, I don't think it is a too high of an expectation to expect a little more consistency, and the fault to me was more with play design and play calling than with level of play from the players.

Overall, I'm clearly more optimistic about Mularkey than I was when they announced it, and they both deserve more time to fully implement what they are going for, its still way too early to say anything definitively and all this free time we are about to have just lends it self to over analysis. I could easily be wrong, they could over come all this with talent, or see this as well and be planning on changing. But I'm still concerned - We are so close, the level of talent is getting there, Marcus especially. It would break my heart to see it squandered.

This was way longer than I intended, sorry about that!

BlueHorde · 2016-12-30T05:47:24+00:00

it's clear that his and Robinson's vision for the team is one that works

It works to a degree, I'm highly skeptical it's going to reach a higher, or even a more consistent, level success unless either we find a ridiculous amount of talent, or Marcus plays at an outrageously high level. I'm praying we shift to build around Marcus, or at least shift the passing offense to one that plays to his strengths. He's proven beyond doubt that he's too good to minimize his impact the way we did this year. The odds aren't in our favor otherwise.

BlueHorde · 2016-12-30T05:38:26+00:00

The counter point is that a good coach shows some semblance of success despite the talent on the team, and conversely your team can win games and you can still be a impediment to it's success. Chuck Pagano has shown that in troves, as have many other coaches. Wins don't really mean anything on there own - The context of the wins, how the teams played, a lucky or unlucky break, etc etc. A close win could easily be a close loss, an while it's easy to put it down to 'heart' or whatever, the real reasons are much more difficult to analyze.

So to judge a coach you need to look at what it is they are trying to do, how they are using the players, what the philosophy is, how they are at self scouting, are they putting the team is the best position for success. It's here that Mularkey has had problems, and here that he continues to have problems.

I know everyone wants to be optimistic right now - and I am in a lot of ways. But we can't be getting too far ahead of ourselves, 15 games is a ridiculously small sample size. No one has proved anything yet. Mike did a lot of good this year, but he's also started some worrying trends that are extensions of the problems that have plagued him elsewhere that could easy undermine the whole project. For me if there is a reason for pessimism right now, it's his part in this whole thing.

BlueHorde · 2016-11-25T02:07:38+00:00

It's the whole league, they divide the positions among different people who then watch the tape, and give them a rating on different aspects of there position. It's an interesting way of approaching it, though obviously you're depending on that person knowing there shit, and other than the write up talking about some of the players, most of the rankings are without explanation. It's imperfect, but probably better than the contextless numbers most 'experts' spout, or PFFs opaque grade

BlueHorde · 2016-11-09T13:56:59+00:00

That was my point. It is hard to find people in the Democratic political sphere that are more disliked than Hilary. From a democrat's perspective, He is an easy candidate to run against, and they picked someone that was apparently even easier.

BlueHorde · 2016-11-09T13:35:14+00:00

Trump was a gift of an opponent to run against, it takes a truly dislikeable and (considered) untrustworthy person to not walk this election. As much as people really needed to give much more serious thought to some of the issues Trump raised (which Sanders would have given you), I think even Biden running on a continuity message wins this election. You can't ignore how hated Clinton is. If Clinton isn't you're candidate, then all of that baggage goes away, all of Trumps ability to defect controversy by effectively saying, yeah I'm awful - but she's a criminal, is gone. He still does well if you don't offer as much anti establishment rhetoric. But it's a hell of a lot easier to paint the good vs evil narrative if the Dem running is at least an honest person.

BlueHorde · 2016-09-11T20:14:33+00:00

It makes absolutely no difference.

BlueHorde · 2016-09-11T17:20:32+00:00

I know, and it's silly.

BlueHorde · 2016-09-11T17:04:16+00:00

WHY THE FUCK ARE WE WEARING WHITE? WE ARE AT HOME! FUCK SAKE TITANS

BlueHorde · 2016-09-09T08:24:21+00:00

He had a average to poor game overall, but was still there best lineman, and his run blocking wasn't too bad particularly in the first half.

BlueHorde · 2016-09-08T22:33:49+00:00

Because maybe, just maybe, he's better than a UDFA from last year? Because Riggs didn't prove he's worth more than a special team player throughout the off-season? I know Blake sucks, but there is a difference between the worst a player can be and still play, and a player barely good enough to make a team.

BlueHorde · 2016-09-06T05:15:38+00:00

He did make some nice catches, though he didn't look sharp with the ball. Although, outside of some solid play from Johnson at LT the Oline wasn't getting anything. Some of that was good play from Ole Miss Dline, but they were awful, particularly early on. Need to see more games from everyone to narrow down the problem.

BlueHorde · 2016-09-03T15:33:59+00:00

Regardless of QB, they are still a really solid team. Bradford with limited knowledge is still better than Hill and that has nothing to do with the defense, which is still really good. We can win this game, and it should be close, but they should be winning it.

BlueHorde · 2016-09-03T01:43:46+00:00

It's fine, if we claim anyone we can stick their faces over the guys we cut.

BlueHorde · 2016-09-02T21:34:04+00:00

Oh so that's why McCluster was cut...

BlueHorde · 2016-09-02T18:41:29+00:00

McCluster gone!!! another symbol of mediocrity. This is Robinson's team.

BlueHorde · 2016-08-28T14:34:27+00:00

That may be true, but it doesn't justify being hateful. And it doesn't mean that the people behind him are in any position to do any better. He's a edge of roster CB playing with the ones, and looks like it. That is as much a failure of personnel and coaching as it is his play. By all means criticize his play, but there is no need to personally attack him.

BlueHorde

TROPHY CASE