I still blame this all largely on coaching.
Herman wasn't perfect by any means, but my general impression was that he was like a boxer. You could tell throughout the game that he had a plan- particularly when things were going well (obviously).
He seemed like he had a strategy, a set of plays that were the bread and butter (the jab), and then a set of plays to take advantage of a team trying to stop the bread and butter (the upper cut or knock out punch). Throughout the game is was apparent Herman had a plan to mix his set of plays together to keep the defense off balance and the offense rolling.
Herman wasn't always perfect and when a defense knocked him off his game he was just as flawed as anyone else at times, but he always had a plan.
Right now I am sadly reminded of the Bollman days when it seemed like the coaches rely on pulling plays out of a hat on any given down. There is no plan, there is no cohesion.
People have pointed this out before, but that could be because there is no bread and butter plays yet with Cardale at quarterback- that seems more than a bit inexcusable at this point.
Establish your bread and butter run plays (counters to EzE, for instance). Establish the run plays to counter the bread and butter (jet sweeps to Braxton, Samuel, or Marshall, for instance). Throw the ball with your NFL caliber arm (with the caveat that the WRs stop sucking and consistently catch it).
Establish an identity, which starts with establishing a set of go-to plays. Start calling plays like you have a game plan to keep defenses off balance.
It's funny, because with all of the weapons on offense my worry was the team would get too cute on offense trying to utilize it all. I thought, no way, Warriner is old school, if anything we will pound the rock too much.
I don't know what the hell happened, but it is an absolute mess. Warriner is a great offensive line coach, but at this point, without a drastic turnaround, I am on board with a complete overhaul of the offensive coaching staff following this season.
