David Blough and the Offensive Staffing Thread

[DWinzit]

A Blough-Morris combo would really be underwhelming!

 

[Faithful Fan]

Any guesses on his scheme? He played for Ben Johnson and worked for Kliff. So maybe one of those? We literally have no idea what his playbook looks like because he’s never called a play.

At least we know Jayden likes playing HORSE with him.

 

[Bulldog]

Most importantly Quinn and KIngsbury disagreed over the run-pass balance and the strategies to develop while at the same time protect Daniels.

So, if Blough and Quinn are on the same page philosophically this team hopefully won't appear as scattershot as it did last year where against the Chargers Merritt had over 100 yards and 2 touchdowns while in other games Daniels took a beating because Kingsbury was determined to throw the ball even when the protection and score at the time might have not been conducive.

Experience is GREAT when it is WINNING experience. But if you are looking at guys and they are 'in charge' and come from organizations/situations where they have experience but largely failed to deliver consistent results that to me is a negative.

You could play it safe as Dallas does on defense, they go through coordinators regularly but Jones always insists on hiring coordinators with a lot of experience.

Hasn't lead to that side of the ball being among the top 5 in the league. In fact the defense is the #1 reason they are not in the playoffs.

 

[Dlts20]

All I know is that Kliff, Ben, and Kevin are 3 of the best offensive minds in the game. Then you have Dan Campbell and DQ, 2 of the best leaders in the game. That's pretty much the best teaching you can get and all of those guys love Blough. That has to mean something.

I would love to see a young guy who isn't scared to try new innovative things and I would also like to see us one year try to make Terry an 85 plus receptions guy

 

[Boone]

He doesn't have a playbook brother. But he needs to get him one of those playbooks. ASAP.

 

[burgold]

Well, to those who worried that Peters and Quinn were dithering and would wait too long and not get their first choice... I think they snapped up their first choice pretty much in record time. Time will tell if they are right, but there is no question that they got their man.

 

[burgold]

He doesn't have a playbook brother. But he needs to get him one of those playbooks. ASAP.

C'mon. He's a pup. He absolutely has a coloring book... I mean playbook.

 

[burgold]

This is also about power dynamics imho. Quinn is standing there with egg on his face to a certain degree because he had to let an accomplished coordinator go reportedly because said coordinator didn't want to be told what to do with his offense by a defensive head coach.

His next move is to hire a guy with no juice whatsoever other than a rep as being a smart up-and-comer. But he's an OC who is going to do exactly what Dan Quinn tells him to do.

Am I the only one thinking this is a big factor in the hire?

I actually don't think so. From what we have heard, Dan Quinn is very much the CEO-style head coach. I mean look how long and how reluctant Dan was to step on Whitt's turf and that was his area of expertise. I really don't think Quinn wants a guy to lord over. It just goes against who he seems to be.

 

[Boone]

Kliff Kingsbury probably has a different viewpoint. We don't know who Quinn is behind the scenes. Just saying.

 

[Bulldog]

McVay seems to have worked out pretty well as a first time head coach at 33.

Joe Gibbs and Cowher were the youngest coaches in the league when hired and had no previous experience at that level.

Getting a 50 plus year old coach or coordinator is no guarantee of success.

Just ask the Cowboys about their DCs in recent seasons or the Raiders hiring 72 year old Pete Carroll because he had 'been there before'

I like the aggressiveness in moving forward, I hope it continues with our other coaches and with the upcoming free agent period where as a team we absolutely have to nail it in bringing in a couple of impact players to move this team forward before the draft.

 

[burgold]

We don't know about JD. Maybe. It only speaks volumes if we trust Quinn as some sort of hiring guru. And I'd be lying if I said I did trust him to that level. I don't distrust him either. I am Switzerland right now as to Dan Quinn.

I am shocked at some of these moves -- and in one sense I like being shocked, I hate complacency, but firing Kliff for Blough is a bit wild -- not an exciting wild for me, but I'll give Quinn credit for being bold.

Impossible to know if this is a home run hire or not. It's like watching a trailer and rating the movie purely on that.

I'm going to play what if here and engage in 100% speculation.

What if Dan Quinn sat in on a lot of offensive meetings and Blough just blew him away by his contributions and how he spoke up? Maybe the guy kept stepping up in a way that couldn't be ignored?

 

[prodigy]

Can somebody help me understand the appeal of this guy?

He had a 13-23 record as a college quarterback, an 0-7 record as a pro quarterback, and was an assistant QB coach of a team whose quarterbacks regressed in a 5-12 season. That’s his entire resume as far as I can tell.

The only good things I can find about him are that people say he is smart and he has an Olympic athlete for a wife.

I guess we have to hope that DQ saw something in the meetings and practices that really knocked his socks off.

while his resume is thin, I wouldn't hold his college and pro records against him. if being a good college and pro athlete always translated to greatness in coaching we wouldn't have so many failures. if anything, the QBs that never got a shot in college or the pros seem to make up the majority of elite offensive coaching minds.

 

[Boone]

That's not the point at all Bulldog. He has less than 2 years experience of ANY kind in coaching. Don't make me pull up the resumes of the guys you listed. Joe Gibbs had 14 years of coaching experience before he became an NFL OC. Coryell had 9 years of head coaching experience before he hit the NFL. There is no comparison.

 

[burgold]

Kliff Kingsbury probably has a different viewpoint. We don't know who Quinn is behind the scenes. Just saying.

Absolutely fair.

 

[Professor_Nutter_Butter]

Quinn's putting a lot of faith in a first-time playcaller when his job is probably in jeopardy. I take it the team figured McDaniel was taking a head-coaching gig elsewhere.

 

[Discobob]

He doesn't have a playbook brother. But he needs to get him one of those playbooks. ASAP.

Is there an outside consultant with a 600 page playbook that we could borrow? 🤫

 

[burgold]

I'm not sure Quinn thinks his job is in jeopardy. I agree with you that another stinker should make his seat very hot, but I don't know that Quinn shares that POV.

 

[Boone]

Probably right on that burgold.

 

[Riggo44]

The only thing that is going to keep me from losing sleep over this is the Detroit interest was real. This isn't promoting Jim Zorn on a whim. Other, successful organizations had their eye on him.

As others have said, will this work--who the hell knows. We'll see. It will be interesting at the very least.

One other thing: Keim was all over this this morning--he said it was McDaniel or Blough; and the decision could come quick. Never question Keim.

I am curious who the OL coach will be.

 

[RWJ]

Throwing this out there. Blough from Detroit and Newmark too, Detroit has had an excellent OL over the past several years. Hank Fraley is their OL and run game coordinator. I might be out in right field but keep on eye/ear open for Steve Oliver, Asst. OL coach. Just a thought.