TexasRam
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- Joined
- Jan 13, 2013
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- 7,857
I agree with your take here. I mean there is a little hybrid of both posters ideas here because it’s not like we never run on first down nor should we never run on first down vs good fronts. But I view Mcvay as distinctively and commonly avoiding the traditional run on first down concept for the reasons you mentioned. First, it’s expected and so percentage wise is more prone to fail putting a team in 2nd and long. Second,I understand your point and it's an important philosophy to stick with the run to keep their DL honest. Even if it isn't yielding great results. I just think there is a better way to sequence those runs. Because if you get stuffed on 1st down, 2nd down is almost always a pass. If that pass goes incomplete, then you're stuck in another known pass situation on 3rd and long. Whereas if you pass on first down and get to 2nd and 5. You can run on 2nd down and if you get stuffed its no big deal because its already 3rd and manageable. I agree we had to stay with the run, but it's important to be efficient on 1st downs versus those physical fronts. This week against CIN we will have our complete playbook available and will have an ability to do whatever we want on early downs. We should be able to run the ball against them at will which should bode well for us.
It created a predictable pass on 2nd down if not effective. So Mcvay has always been a pass first type. Even with the 2017 and 2018 teams he was
Heavy run in the red zone but commonly passed the ball to
Get to that red zone. This was commonly done through PA which as has been documented, was effective even without establishing the run game first.
Now, with Stafford, a top rated pass pro Oline and two Pro Bowl level WR’s, Mcvay has more possibilities for throwing on first down.
I liked the approach vs Tampa and SF that emphasized a heavy pass game which was required to win those games. However vs the Bengals we could see the opposite. Heavy run game due to the bengals light and mostly ineffective run defense.