There are a lot of players that can possibly be weapons.
That brings up something I’ve been wondering. Take Dax, Brown, Carter, Sims, etc for instance. Are they just not getting as much separation in games, OR is the lack of arm strength & possible lack of field vision from Heineken playing a part in their low production?
They may actually have decent if not good depth in the wr room, but the QB & or Turner is limiting their roles.
I think this question is like an onion... multiple layers and most make you want to cry.
Terry McLaurin had THE MOST contested catches in the NFL in 2021. How many times did we see him have to slow down allowing the DB to recover, putting him in a position for these contested catches?
I think the Turner playbook has something to do with it. I think we were relatively predictable. Now that COULD be because Turner had to call the game within the QB's abilities, but it also could be that the schematic playbook does not 'produce' separation as much as it relies on it's players to create it. Scheme can have as much to do with it as it does on defense. Our defensive philosophy is to let our front 4 win their matchup. I think there's a good amount of that happening here where the offense relies on the players to win their matchup. We see 'some' misdirection, but a lot of what we do, we can see it coming. When Deandre Carter goes in jet motion... 99.9% of the time it's just a play fake, we don't hand it off. Other than that, we see little pre-snap motion. How often did we see McLaurin motion across the formation? That's an easy tell if it's zone / man. How often did we see Gibson shift out of the backfield to an outside WR spot and move Terry inside to a better matchup? I don't remember much.
I do think there is another part of this that we're not changing the play at the line often (we may, it's just not obvious so i'll admit to that). I am curious how much of this is happening. The better QBs in the league have almost complete control at the line. Are we trusting Heinicke with that or its it a simple if this / than this with him only having 2 play options based on a simple base look of the defense.
I will say our weapons are not necessarily elite. That does not mean they CANT create separation, but the level of competition changes when you dont have a guy like Samuel on the field. When Dyami Brown (rookie) is facing a no. 2 CB in the NFL, the advantage is going to the CB. The trickle down effect matters. If Samuel / Logan Thomas are on the field, Dyami Brown is facing a 'lesser' level DB allowing for a 'better' matchup.
I also think part of this is TIME. I know we had a top 10 O-Line, but we all saw Heinicke having to scramble more than we wanted to. This is not all on the O-Line btw... Heinicke felt heat at times so there MAY have been separation and Heinicke either didnt see it, or was not in a position to be able to make the throw because he was running, off balance, or moving away from the play.
One of these days i'm going to just say screw it and buy ALL 22 so I can see a lot of this stuff, I just cant bring myself to spend that kind of money when i'm not doing it as a business.
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