Our redzone offense has certainly improved, ill give him that.

First up no team is firing any coaching staff at 10-1 unless it's for non football reasons, people should get that out of their heads.

At this point clearly the game planning for the first half of games is way off, it's like it doesn't take account of the opponents or the personnel we have available and that's on Johnson AND Sirianni, we go into a game without Lane and it doesn't occur to the coaches to run off the left edge until the end of quarter 3? Jesus god.

The other big worry I have is the players get high on their own farts and start believing they can soft pedal the odd quarter, because they can pull games out like this all the time. Last night was great, a walk off TD in overtime after being down most of the game is one of the best feelings there is, but you can't win like that consistently, eventually you will get a smack in the mouth. It's time to get down to business properly.

24 minutes ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

First up no team is firing any coaching staff at 10-1 unless it's for non football reasons, people should get that out of their heads.

I don’t think anyone is thinking we will fire Johnson. I just think people are saying that they should. Because they probably should look to fire him. They won’t but they should.

25 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I don’t think anyone is thinking we will fire Johnson. I just think people are saying that they should. Because they probably should look to fire him. They won’t but they should.

The people defending Johnson point to similar offensive stats this year to last year.  But as the saying goes, there are lies.  There are damn lies.  Then there are statistics.  Anybody who has watched the games last year and this year know the offense this year is not on the level as last year and that the play calling has been, at times, awful.

1 hour ago, Eagles1960 said:

The people defending Johnson point to similar offensive stats this year to last year.  But as the saying goes, there are lies.  There are damn lies.  Then there are statistics.  Anybody who has watched the games last year and this year know the offense this year is not on the level as last year and that the play calling has been, at times, awful.

Agreed. Yesterday it was about some magic by some players and some good halftime adjustments. BJ and Sirianni get some credit for the adjustments but they are coming in to games with terrible game planning and they need to do better.

2 hours ago, Eagles1960 said:

The people defending Johnson point to similar offensive stats this year to last year.  But as the saying goes, there are lies.  There are damn lies.  Then there are statistics.  Anybody who has watched the games last year and this year know the offense this year is not on the level as last year and that the play calling has been, at times, awful.

Nobody's defending Johnson as such, but they accept that Johnson is less than a season into the job and we're 10-1 and statistically the offense is good enough,  plus Johnson is running Sirianni's offense and Yesterday the opening drive was garbage and that will be scripted by Sirianni. 

Giving Hurts a new coordinator from outside the organisation mid season would not improve the offense and could well be the quickest way you could come up with to torpedo our chance of running it back to the big dance.

I'm sorry, biggest indictment happened yesterday....raining out, Lane is out, and you come out to start the game with 3 straight passes is just idiotic.  You are never going to replace Lane with Driscoll but in that situation, why not try and make him and the rest of the offense more comfortable with running the ball to start?  I said it in the moment, I'll say it now, that was sheer stupidity.

And let's look to next week....SF is going to come in here with their hair on fire. Use that against them, DO NOT come out trying to pass the ball.  Try screens, runs to the outside, just like they did to Buffalo (the runs in the 2nd half).  

15 minutes ago, NYEagle said:

I'm sorry, biggest indictment happened yesterday....raining out, Lane is out, and you come out to start the game with 3 straight passes is just idiotic.  You are never going to replace Lane with Driscoll but in that situation, why not try and make him and the rest of the offense more comfortable with running the ball to start?  I said it in the moment, I'll say it now, that was sheer stupidity.

Yeah but the opening drive will be scripted by Sirianni and Johnson in the walkthroughs, that's the one drive every week that is unquestionably a joint effort. I assume they came up with it before Lane was ruled out, and it was too late to dial up something different, or that was what they came up with last minute which is why it looked so half assed.

 

4 hours ago, Eagles1960 said:

The people defending Johnson point to similar offensive stats this year to last year.  But as the saying goes, there are lies.  There are damn lies.  Then there are statistics.  Anybody who has watched the games last year and this year know the offense this year is not on the level as last year and that the play calling has been, at times, awful.

People watching also know that what worked last year defenses adjusted for and doesn't really work all that well this year. Especially with Hurts being off early in the season and gimpy. They had to switch things up a bit. When the play looks horrible this year it's typically when the OL hasn't been dominant. There's been a lot of mental mistake miscues this year by the players themselves that I don't recall last year. Can't absolve player execution. Yesterday it was good to see some method to the madness. Like the dumb slip screen to Julio in 3rd and 14 was clearly a give up play but they used that to set up a big play later. That's when appreciate what they're doing 

6 minutes ago, judunno said:

People watching also know that what worked last year defenses adjusted for and doesn't really work all that well this year. Especially with Hurts being off early in the season and gimpy. They had to switch things up a bit. When the play looks horrible this year it's typically when the OL hasn't been dominant. There's been a lot of mental mistake miscues this year by the players themselves that I don't recall last year. Can't absolve player execution. Yesterday it was good to see some method to the madness. Like the dumb slip screen to Julio in 3rd and 14 was clearly a give up play but they used that to set up a big play later. That's when appreciate what they're doing 

There were bad play calls last year as well. I do believe execution has been the most significant difference. Last year, as you brought up, Hurts was running with no cares in the world. This year, he has been cautious and/or gimpy. 

Feels like maybe 5 of our wins are despite the playcalling. Hopefully the guy learns and improves by playoff time. 

Just now, brkmsn said:

There were bad play calls last year as well. I do believe execution has been the most significant difference. Last year, as you brought up, Hurts was running with no cares in the world. This year, he has been cautious and/or gimpy. 

Absolutely. He's getting down a lot sooner as he should. Shows progress and that he learned from the Chicago game last year. Gotta protect himself. Let it lose when it really matters inthe playoffs or something. Guys not on the same page in the pass game resulting in turnovers. Untimely penalties. Players running into each other like the three stooges on run plays. I just don't recall seeing a lot of that last year. Or at least I buried it from my mind because statistically they were tops in the league.

6 minutes ago, BirdsFanBill said:

Feels like maybe 5 of our wins are despite the playcalling. Hopefully the guy learns and improves by playoff time. 

At what point do you start blaming the players and lack of execution though? I don't think it's in the play book for guys to run the wrong routes resulting in turnovers or people turning it over in the run game in the red zone or hitting each other before hand offs. The OL uncharacteristically has been getting smoked in more games than I'm accustomed to that's for sure. Hurts has been great at times but he's been missing some reads and making bad decisions on occasion as well. 

2 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

Nobody's defending Johnson as such, but they accept that Johnson is less than a season into the job and we're 10-1 and statistically the offense is good enough,  plus Johnson is running Sirianni's offense and Yesterday the opening drive was garbage and that will be scripted by Sirianni. 

Giving Hurts a new coordinator from outside the organisation mid season would not improve the offense and could well be the quickest way you could come up with to torpedo our chance of running it back to the big dance.

I have a  bigger problem with 3 passes and out to start the game, instead of either balanced offense, or some planned runs, as a game strategy. Want to see more balanced offense that supports a qb with a bad knee, instead of relying on qb entirely to pass. Entire first half we had multiple pass, pass, pass, and outs.

2 minutes ago, Traveler Vic said:

I have a  bigger problem with 3 passes and out to start the game, instead of either balanced offense, or some planned runs, as a game strategy. Want to see more balanced offense that supports a qb with a bad knee, instead of relying on qb entirely to pass. Entire first half we had multiple pass, pass, pass, and outs.

If that was scripted they need to learn how to adjust the script based on game time conditions. Lane suddenly out, rain, come on man.

Just now, judunno said:

If that was scripted they need to learn how to adjust the script based on game time conditions. Lane suddenly out, rain, come on man.

Agree. And instead of run, pass..they script pass, pass, in the rain. Bad planning in the first half.

Looked to me like the O Coordinator saved all of his adjustments for overtime. 

Frank Reich is now available. 🤣

Come home, Reich!

Reich needs to be brought in as a consultant. Similar to Vic Fangio last year for Gannon.

Bring Back Frank Reich!!!

2 hours ago, Traveler Vic said:

I have a  bigger problem with 3 passes and out to start the game, instead of either balanced offense, or some planned runs, as a game strategy. Want to see more balanced offense that supports a qb with a bad knee, instead of relying on qb entirely to pass. Entire first half we had multiple pass, pass, pass, and outs.

I don't disagree, I've said in multiple game threads this year, I don't understand when we have the best quick slants receiver in the NFL, we so rarely call slants when the offense is bogged down trying to find a rhythm, just to get the chains moving with a few quick completions and give the defense something to think about, rather than let them just settle into covering the 20+yard bomb with the secondary and stacking the front 7 to stuff the run.