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Message: [QUOTE="RF2044, post: 732370, member: 40"] Oy vey. Let's try this again. The right side of the offensive line struggled immensely. No blocky, no runny. The WRs for the most part failed to achieve separation. No get openy, no catchy. The QB who's only been here for a month was out of sync with his teammates. No throwy, no movey the ball against stout run D. We went through a lengthy stretch in the game where we couldn't even complete a pass. No throwy = increasingly conservative and predictable play calls. There were some other factors, as well. The offense game plan, in a word, stunk. On paper, the PSU's defensive front seven was a big question mark, so I get why the plan was to try to run it down their throats. But when we couldn't establish the run, they couldn't go to plan B because Allen played so poorly in general. Play calling was also problematic. Too many "cute" calls, too many second and 10 runs that went for 2 yards. Both of these last two things are on McDonald. No question about it, and this debut was a cause for concern. Being a WR position coach is a lot different than being an OC, and there are bound to be speed bumps and a learning curve. Doesn't absolve him, just the way it is. However, it is foolish not to recognize that the poor execution of the players handcuffed what the offensive coaches could do during the course of the game, because they weren't confident in what the players were capable of delivering on Saturday. If Allen had come out and played the whole game like he did the first quarter, you don't think that we would have seen a more wide open, pass-oriented attack? Please. If you want to chalk all of that up to McDonald being so incompetent that he single handedly ruined the offense this offseason, that's pretty myopic. Sorry--I just don't accept that if you swap out GMD for another OC that the offense would have magically hummed on Saturday. Too many question marks heading into the opener, and we lack experience at several key positions. And if Allen doesn't show improvement, then it won't matter what plays are called, because the offense is never going to come together this year. Sticking with that earlier analogy that you misused, the blame might rest with the coaches, but the fault lies with the players and poor execution. [/QUOTE]

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