Not sure if this was mentioned or not, but one significant difference I noticed between the "Herm" era and the first game under Mangini is that the play seemed to get into the huddle a lot quicker, giving Chad more of a chance to take a look at the defence and call an audible if necessary. I think Chad called more audibles against the Titans than he did during all of his years under Herm. He never had time to do it before. Just wondering if anyone else noticed this.
Yep, it was noticeable in the preseason as well, but we really saw the impact it had in week 1. Great decision, one of Chad's biggest strengths is intelligence, and it's ridiculous that he didn't have this freedom during the Herm era.
It's been mentioned (by me). Our coaching staff realized something... Chad's best attributes is his "smarts", so let's take advantage. Pennington didn't actually call audibles on a lot of those plays. 2-3 plays were called, quickly, into his headset while the team was at the line (headset stays on until 15 seconds on the play clock). Pennington looked over the D, and picked the play he thought was best. This is similar to what Peyton Manning does. If you noticed, on one play, on the 1, Tennessee had 10 men on the field, and Pennington noticed it very quickly, and JUST MISSED getting the play off, a wide open throw to McCareins, but Jeff Fisher noticed it a split second faster and called Time Out.
There were a number of plays where the offense just didn't huddle, and Chad called the offense in sort of a half-hurry-up - he ran the clock down as he was making adjustments on the fly. I love the freedom he is being given, and it is in sharp contract to the muzzle he wore for the past 5 years.
Its a good sign and very surprising too. Considering Penny probably took less than 1/2 the snaps in TC im surprised he feels that comfortable especially on the road
