Hard for me to evaluate at this point. He's always a threat so that keeps the defense guessing which can help other players. But considering the Rams lost out on draft Kyle Long OG and Larry Warford OG to draft Tavon Austin I'd say now that I with the Rams had not drafted him.
Two seasons of Tavon Austin
- Thread starter Mojo Ram
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I think he will be solid and make some REALLY exciting plays from time to time. Defenses will almost always have to account for him so I think that in itself makes him a great offensive weapon.
I'm gonna make this my last response to you about this topic, as we've bled it pretty good by now.
Like you, I am also a Rams fan, and yes, Schotty is a member of the Rams. Probably will be next year too. As such, I would like to see him become a better OC, which I don't think is an unreasonable request. Questioning specific areas where he is weak is part of that process. Granted, this is just a message board which he probably doesn't read or take much advice from. Still, the point is that I hope he looks at some of the same areas critics like myself are looking at and concludes he can improve - and then takes the necessary steps to do so. If he becomes a better playcaller, figures out a way to use Tavon in the passing game (I think he's done a decent job in the running game), considers some simplifications to the offense, etc., I'm confident we'll see better results - which we both want. And that's the crux, we both want the same thing, we may not agree on how to get it.
Similar to my last post to Boffo, I'm going to conclude here, you can have the last word.
The points I'm trying to address, and that Mackeyser was IMO were those things that are directly under Schotty's control. I don't fault him for the fact that Austin Davis became spastic under pressure or that Hill underwhelmed as well. There is no debate that we need to get better personnel on offense, we know where we need it on the OL and we all know we definitely need it at QB, be it Sam or someone else. But things like playcalls, personnel groupings, alignments, scheme design, etc., those things are under Schotty's purview. As such, they are fair ground for criticism if he's not doing the best that he can with those things given the factors. Thus, calling him out for those things when one doesn't believe they are as good as they could be hardly constitutes putting all the blame on the OC.
I didn't put all the blame for the problems in 2011 on Josh McDaniel - it wasn't his fault that we had a plethora of injuries on the OL, exacerbated by a horrible OL coach, that we had a lack of talent at WR, that we had injuries at QB again, etc. On the other hand, it damn sure was McDaniels fault that he kept calling plays as if none of those factors existed.
As I told Boffo, in the end we both want the same thing - success for the Rams. I simply believe that our OC - be it Schotty (likely next year) - or whoever else, has to do better with those areas that are under his direct control. YMMV.
I'd like to see Schotty become a better OC as well. I'd like to see every member of the Rams become better. It's just that the criticism of Schotty, which is been mostly comprised of either just straight up bashing on the guy, or unquestioning blame of him for things which very well may be execution issues is going to cause a reaction, just like it would for any Ram past a certain amount of criticism. Yes, you and Mackeyser and others have valid points on the guy, but let's just say there's a very poor signal-to-noise ratio on that subject and it becomes easy to tune out.
But I think it's important to note that NO ONE, whether mod or not, was telling you to not post about Schotty. So playing the "Oh, I guess we can't talk about Schotty! I guess we better ban the topic like we do relocation talk!" card was very disingenuous. You and others have the right to talk about Schotty. We and others have the right to reject what you're saying. That's not an attack on you. That's a rejection of the ARGUMENT, which we have as much right to do as you have to make the argument.
The lack of execution is a legitimate excuse for schotty. If the QB coulda made a better throw, if someone coulda blocked, if someone coulda made that catch there woulda been a lot more plays made.
But part of being an OC is recognizing your players deficiencies and strengths and plan accordingly. Was schotty able to do that?
Does he stay with what has worked or does he abandon it? I thought they were doing a good job with Tavon Austin running sweeps and quick outs. Seemed like he always got positive gains on those. Then Schotty decides to use Tavon as a decoy only in the Cardinals game. I still can't figure that one out. Tavon's speed outside on sweeps seem to always get a positive gain. Especially on first down. I wonder why the don't do that more?
But part of being an OC is recognizing your players deficiencies and strengths and plan accordingly. Was schotty able to do that?
Does he stay with what has worked or does he abandon it? I thought they were doing a good job with Tavon Austin running sweeps and quick outs. Seemed like he always got positive gains on those. Then Schotty decides to use Tavon as a decoy only in the Cardinals game. I still can't figure that one out. Tavon's speed outside on sweeps seem to always get a positive gain. Especially on first down. I wonder why the don't do that more?
A.J. Hicks
Hall of Fame
Anyone notice how often Seattle moves Sherman to cover Tavon. Doesn't that speak to how much of a threat other teams view Tavon as. . .