This is what I've been saying. Stop with the cutesy crap. Throw the ball to Marshall, Decker and Enunwa, draw up the routes that work for them. Run the ball with Forte. Keep it simple and let the players excel at what they do best.
I would always take what the coaches say with a grain of salt. Most of the time the coaches are not going to hang their QB out to dry. Many times they will "defend" the QB right up until the time that they replace him. Simplifying things and "getting back to basics" is a pretty standard coachspeak.
As book smart as Fitz is, I think he might be a complete idiot at football. I remember an article from last summer about how Gailey runs the simplest offense in the NFL. There's a base play in the playbook that's named "trips right all slants". That's 10x less complex than playing Madden. Even though it's a simple play, it's generally beefed up with terminology in other offenses. The fact that Fitz struggles anytime he's not with Chan, and even HE has to simplify the playbook for him, speaks volumes to Fitz's ability to process information on a football field. The Bills came out with a quote before we played them about how Fitz doesn't even attempt to read zone coverages, he just picks a receiver and throws to them. Here's a concrete example from last week: Zone, Brandon Marshall streaks wide open but Fitz had already decided he was going to look off the coverage by briefly glancing at Marshall, then coming backside to Enunwa. He doesn't even try to decipher the zones because he knows he can't, his brain just doesn't work that quickly at this stuff. Do you know what the "simplifications" were that jump started our offense last season? We pretty much just stopped running plays in the red zone. Inside the 10 yard line, plays move way faster than they do elsewhere and the QB needs to be able to make lightning fast decisions or it's too late. Fitz was repeatedly failing when we were running actual route combinations, so we just started using one read plays every time we got in the red zone. Jump balls to Marshall and Decker, pick plays using Enunwa, that mid screen to Powell. I can go back to the game logs from the Texans loss onward and point to each one of his touchdown passes if you want, this is what they were doing. There was no thinking involved for Fitz, he just had to not fuck up and let the good players make plays. Honestly, that's exactly what's happening now too. Fitz is just shitting the bed when we get near the end zone and we're probably gonna go back to running those simplified reads. Because our quarterback is book-smart but a football moron. Or at least his brain doesn't process football information quickly.
Fitz's touchdowns week 12 on last season: vs Miami: - Jump ball to Marshall (one read) - post to Devin Smith (great play, read and throw by Fitz) - pick play, slant to Decker (one read) - Jump ball to Marshall (one read) @ NYG: - Middle screen to Powell (one read) - jump ball to Marshall (one read) vs Tennessee: - post to Decker (he looked left before throwing right but that was predetermined) - middle screen to Powell (one read) - Titans forget to play defense, Marshall takes off (one read) @ Dallas: - pick play, flat route to Decker (one read) vs New England: - pick play, flat route to Marshall (same play as Dallas) - lobbed a ball into double coverage that Marshall just flat out won - fade to Decker (one read) @ Buffalo: We don't talk about this game. The main reason Fitz was praised last year was the amount of touchdowns he threw. His completion percentage sucked, he turned the ball over way too much, but he threw lots of touchdowns so it was all overlooked. But the touchdowns he there were almost all simplified reads where the receivers won and he had to just not screw up.
Fitz is no great reader of defenses but he's better at it thank Sanchez and Geno. Bottom line is that you can cherry pick a lot of QB's missing and open man and checking down too quickly. Fitz completion % wasn't' great last year but he was also victimized by a lot drops. The 2 years before it was over 60% Where was the play vs Cinci? Great perfect throw down the middle late in the 4th to Marshall...drop. Huge gain right there would've had us in business to win A shit ton of Bradys completions are on pick type plays. 70% of the time he's throwing it to wide upen guys. They run great routes and the design tricky schemes.
If you're right, then Fitz is an idiot on the football field. If that's the case, then why in the HELL did we bring that moron back, especially to the tune of $12 million per? Why would Gailey want him? If you're right, then I think it probably has to be a matter of Bowles wanted him and Mac caved just to keep Bowles happy. If that is true, then Bowles absolutely must go. Your explanation also explains why Fitz gets the ball out so quickly (he's made up his mind prior to the snap). Geno HAS to be better than this.
Well, what's your feelings after only 4 games???? This thread is rather dumb. I picked the Jets to win about 5 or 6 games this season. I thought they would go 0-7 before they won their first game. I was wrong about the Buffalo game but other than that I have been spot on. The Jets beat ONE winning team per season and that is the one piece of info that seemingly every fan chooses to ignore, meanwhile, it is the most important piece of information to serve as a barometer for the skill of the team.
I was actually somehow able to find the article about how simple Gailey's offense is, I didn't think I would be able to. Here's an excerpt: "I hate to say it's simple, because nothing is simple, but it's always easier when the terminology is easier to deal with." It was a system that earned Fitzpatrick, previously a career 8-14-1 quarterback with a lifetime completion percentage under 60 and more interceptions than touchdowns, a six-year extension worth almost $60 million ($24 million in guarantees). It was also a system that molded around Tyler Thigpen in Kansas City. Despite a dismal record, Gailey used a pistol-type concept to keep Thigpen on the move. He finished the 2008 season with 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. The reason is a relatively straightforward passing game that starts with a play call. Some systems are digit-based and involve a coded call that directs the receivers, much like the Jets had under Brian Schottenheimer. Other systems are concept-based, which force players to put together their piece of the puzzle in the huddle. According to one of Gailey's long-time assistants, Buddy Geis, one of Gailey's favorite calls will literally be read in the huddle as: "Trips Right, All Slants." Literally, everyone is running a slant. "I mean, let's not make something hard that can be simple, right?" Geis, who coached with Gailey in Dallas and at Georgia Tech, told Around The NFL on Tuesday. "Like, Holy s---, I guess we're all running slants. I think coaches sometimes get too fancy, but when you're 3 years old you know what a slant is. And when you're 32, you still know what a slant is. "I'll tell you what, NFL coaches today try and make it complicated. That's when it gets scary to me." http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...-chan-gailey-ball-save-geno-smith-in-new-york Actually, here's another one from last year about players on the team raving about how simple the offense is. http://www.newsday.com/sports/footb...ts-offense-simple-and-it-s-working-1.10845109 The fact that Gailey had to cut back the complexity last year and again this week tells me everything I need to know about Fitz's ability to handle an NFL offense. Some genius. The guy literally fakes going through his progressions with designed lookoffs because he can't read zones.
If Fitz is an idiot, and if Gailey didn't want Fitz, and if Bowles wanted Fitz, and if Mac caved to Bowles, then fire Bowles. Sounds about right.
