to suit Vad Lee's strengths?
Obviously we are running more formations that Vad Lee likes like the Pistol and Diamond. But do you think PJ has struggled calling the offense this year? We have a QB who isn't necessarily inclined to maximize the potential of the TO particularly the mesh read from the flexbone.
It seems to me that PJ has struggled calling the games this year moreso than in past years. Discuss.
I suppose you could argue what "struggle" means. I'll ramble for a bit before getting back to this.
Tim Stowers makes a great point in his book, "Coaching the spread offense": the triple option is the bread-and-butter of an option offense, and when all else fails, the triple option is the play on which the offense should depend. I truly believe that no play in football puts more pressure on a defense than the triple. Case in point: on 3rd-and-7 in the 4th quarter of the ACCCG in 2009, we ran triple option into the boundary and converted on a pitch to Roddy. We needed a conversion and our bread-and-butter play got it for us.
As PJ has pointed out, it's not like we run the triple every other play and he's noted that it really makes up only about 15% of our total plays. We've run 639 total plays this year through 9 games, or 71 plays a game. That means we
should be running the triple about 11 times a game, or roughly once per drive. That's not very often. I'm not sure how the numbers worked out in 2009 when we had the big 3, but I imagine it'd be roughly the same.
So it strikes me as funny when people say, "PJ's calling plays that sets up Vad for failure." Johnson specifically stated the last few weeks that we've been running less mesh read option plays, ostensibly to help Vad get some confidence. He knows Vad struggles with mesh reads, so why call those plays? He hasn't.
Therein lies the crux: if the triple option is the play we are supposed to depend on and the QB isn't good at the first part of it (B-Back vs. dive key), what is Johnson to do?
Let's say it's 3rd and 6. Back in the day we probably would've run the triple. If Vad's struggling with the first phase (and let's ignore footwork, OL gaffes, etc.) then PJ has to throw the triple out the window. Is that a problem? Yes and no. It certainly limits Johnson's playcalling, but balanced against that is the fact that we don't really run it 5 zillion times a game. We have a bunch of plays we can run but we just need to execute better: not whiffing a block, improving our pass pro, catching the ball (we forgive you De'Andre), properly reading coverages, and making nice throws. Let's also remember:
it's not like every time we run the triple we completely fail. I do think Johnson is struggling to call plays, though, but not because Vad is having trouble with mesh reads. In my opinion, I think Johnson's getting a little frustrated with the poor execution regardless of what play he calls.
"Guess I can't call triple. How about a sprint out? Naw, we can't pass block worth crap. I know, let's go rocket. Well, Synjyn's hurt and the other A-Backs block like my momma. I could go B-Back screen ... well, there's that pass pro again ... Aw, crap. Fine, let's run the dive and get it to 4th and 3 and see what happens."