David Blough and the Offensive Staffing Thread

[DixieFlatline]

That’s why it was not an aspect of Kliff’s offense that I considered an advantage. We didn’t get the advantage of “catching” the D in the wrong personnel very often due to our own subs opening the door for them, and after they had a reasonable amount of time to sub to match us, they then also had an easier time jumping the snap on plays where we barely beat the play clock. At times it felt like the worst of both worlds.

And how many times did we have to call timeout or get a delay because they took so long getting the play in then had to wait for the defense to change?

 

[HTTR]

And how many times did we have to call timeout or get a delay because they took so long getting the play in then had to wait for the defense to change?

A lot. Was very disappointing to me that it was still happening in year two.

 

[burgold]

And how many times did we have to call timeout or get a delay because they took so long getting the play in then had to wait for the defense to change?

Honestly, I think that was a factor of playing backup QBs and third stringers as much as anyone else. They're just not as on the same page (though that excuse really shouldn't apply to Mariotta.)

 

[burgold]

And how many times did we have to call timeout or get a delay because they took so long getting the play in then had to wait for the defense to change?

On this, I think there's an NFL/ref issue, too. I remember a couple times when the ref refused to let the team go until there was less than a second on the play clock. Giving the defense some time to make a substitution is fair. Giving them twenty or thirty seconds or however much time they want as they walk slowly towards the defensive huddle, change their mind, send a player back, and a different group in is something else.

Several of those time outs should have been penalties on the defense for delay of game.

 

[Discobob]

Has the team confirmed that Blough will be the play caller? Meaning, is there a possibility that they could hire McDaniels at a later date as an assistant HC and let him call plays?

I'm not saying it's likely, just wondering if this is a possibility?

 

[heisenberg]

Has the team confirmed that Blough will be the play caller? Meaning, is there a possibility that they could hire McDaniels at a later date as an assistant HC and let him call plays?

I'm not saying it's likely, just wondering if this is a possibility?

Anything is possible, but I'd put it into the highly highly unlikely category.

Just wouldn't make any sense from bloughs perspective.
He'd have to be in on the potential plan otherwise they'd be doing him extremely dirty to promote him to prevent him from being hired away by Detroit or someone else and then essentially demote him later once most of the positions have been filled.

Why would he accept a title only non playcalling role when he could be interviewing for other positions that may not be title only?
Just doesn't make sense.

 

[Discobob]

Anything is possible, but I'd put it into the highly highly unlikely category.

Just wouldn't make any sense from bloughs perspective.
He'd have to be in on the potential plan otherwise they'd be doing him extremely dirty to promote him to prevent him from being hired away by Detroit or someone else and then essentially demote him later once most of the positions have been filled.

Why would he accept a title only non playcalling role when he could be interviewing for other positions that may not be title only?
Just doesn't make sense.

I don't know if this would be "doing him dirty" - it all depends on what he was told at the time of the hire.

There's no guarantee that if Detroit hired him that he would have been the play caller. Perhaps they had in mind to keep Campbell as the play caller. It's possible that all the opportunities were with teams that have HC play callers 🤷

 

[Simeon]

Blough has zero experience. No aura. He’s not flashy and has a fairly mundane personality. He has no accolades from his nonexistent playing career. He’s not a smooth talking sales pitch and he’s not hypnotizing anyone with his Hartman hair.

And yet, he has legit buzz and interest from at least one winning organization and apparently is on the rising star list around the league. His wife is an Olympian and a great culture building HC wanted him on his staff, which had a “succession plan” in place from the beginning.

My point is, he must have some real substance to his work behind the scenes. He must be showing serious traits and ingenuity to be so well regarded by association with strong league figures.

Nobody knows how it plays out but I’d so much rather take a shot on that type of hire than some uninspired retread like Daboll. McDaniel was my first choice, and I was at least intrigued by the idea of guys like LaFleur or Udinski or the Notre Dame guy, but wasn’t infatuated with any of them. Blough is in that same bucket for me and he’s already there in the building, so there’s less mystery about his fit.

This is a bold and forward thinking hire. The safe play was to keep Kliff and I fully expected diminishing returns from him, so I LOVE that we didn’t do that. I know as little about Blough as everyone else, but applaud the attempt.

Bottom line, I have as little idea as anyone else if it will work, but consider me on board. At least we’ll go down swinging.

Thank you. I don’t think that this is a “50/50” hire and believe his odds are much better than that. A lot of traits go into a successful OC and I feel pretty confident from what I’ve read the consensus is that he is very intelligent, creative and hardworking. Less certain but mentioned: demanding (and tough?). High character.

To me that means I have confidence he will design an effective scheme to score points while protecting and maximizing Jayden. It also means the first batch of preplanned plays may be effective, before the defense adjusts.

After that, well I do expect a learning curve for playcalling as part of the in-game flow but I do expect him to get better by season end. I don’t see any way a coach with his purported smarts couldn’t get with patience.

Other things really are 50/50 and could blow it up if he doesn’t have it or can’t learn. Does he have command of position coaches, many much older than himself? I’m not talking about open rebellion or disloyalty , I’m talking more about for example how much well he can teach them to teach the players which requires their real by in. It’s great he’s apparently getting along so well with the other staff, but sometimes friendships change when authority changes.

Has anybody seen a comment about how much the rest of the offensive staff will change? Curious how much leeway Quinn is giving him to input on the position coaches.

 

[HTTR]

On this, I think there's an NFL/ref issue, too. I remember a couple times when the ref refused to let the team go until there was less than a second on the play clock. Giving the defense some time to make a substitution is fair. Giving them twenty or thirty seconds or however much time they want as they walk slowly towards the defensive huddle, change their mind, send a player back, and a different group in is something else.

Several of those time outs should have been penalties on the defense for delay of game.

Absolutely. It’s lame, but that’s the way they’ve been calling it. My point is just we were very slow to adjust. Cant sub late, especially near the goal line.

 

[Conn]

Giving them twenty or thirty seconds or however much time they want as they walk slowly towards the defensive huddle, change their mind, send a player back, and a different group in is something else.

lol I’d be shocked if you could actually find a clip of this happening. Feels like an extreme exaggeration, I never felt like I witnessed that

 

[burgold]

lol I’d be shocked if you could actually find a clip of this happening. Feels like an extreme exaggeration, I never felt like I witnessed that

It literally did happen at least once. The refs held it until the play clock read two. I don't know that I can find it, but it absolutely did. We were forced to take a time out.

 

[Conn]

It literally did happen at least once. The refs held it until the play clock read two. I don't know that I can find it, but it absolutely did. We were forced to take a time out.

But because the D is changing their mind and sending people on and then off and then back on the field for 30 seconds? Come on. It definitely was wonky a few times but mostly because of our own extreme personnel swapping and lack of urgency. I think we only truly got screwed once or twice, and towards the end of the season so it’s more memorable. But mostly I think we shot ourselves in the foot when we’d snap the ball close to :00

 

[heisenberg]

It literally did happen at least once. The refs held it until the play clock read two. I don't know that I can find it, but it absolutely did. We were forced to take a time out.

I think the nfl should stop the play clock when they're holding the snap because the defense hasn't finished substituting.
I remember several occasions where they were standing over the center preventing the snap as the playclock was about to expire and I was going nuts thinking its bullshit if we're ready to go and the holdup is defense then why are we gonna get the delay of game.

I get the dilemma that the defense should have a chance to substitute but if you're preventing the snap then stop the playclock, its not fair to release the ball with 2 seconds left on the clock and expect the offense to get the play off.

 

[RedWolf]

Thread drift?

 

[Boone]

Yeah, let's get back on topic guys.

 

[leonard_washington]

The Shanahan offense is not looking that great during wildcard weekend. We shall see if the 49ers can wake up or the Texans can represent.

 

[Riggo44]

Thread drift?

Is that anything like the Tokyo Drift?

Ok, so Boone doesn't yell at me, I hope we open against some softer defenses. Blough is going to have some growing pains, there is going to be a steep learning curve. I fully expect Commanders Twitter to be patient and not call for his execution at the first three and out

 

[NoCalSkins]

I am not sure if this is a Shanahan trend or more of a Shanahan tree trend but it seems like situational playcalling is a big issue. A lot of these OC's look good when everyting is rolling and firing on all cylinders but for example yesterday in the Packers/Bears game....the second to last drive when the game was running thin on time, the play calling made it seem like they were just going for all or nothing TD type plays when you really just need to get a first down which keeps the clock running and doesn't hurt your chances to still score, in which case you then leave the Bears with even less time to do whatever it is they would have needed to do in that case. Just feels like all logic turns off with some of these OC's sometimes.

 

[method man]

I would assume we announce new staff this week to take advantage of hiring Blough early. The ATL OL coach ran the Shanny tree run scheme this year. Pay him.

QB coach is going to be interesting.

Also does he keep Raih and Brian Johnson around?

I think Slowik would be a sneaky good add to this staff somewhere

 

[RedWolf]

I would assume we announce new staff this week to take advantage of hiring Blough early. The ATL OL coach ran the Shanny tree run scheme this year. Pay him.

QB coach is going to be interesting.

Also does he keep Raih and Brian Johnson around?

I think Slowik would be a sneaky good add to this staff somewhere

I'm also concerned about secondary offensive coaching positions and who fill for who?