I expected Harbaugh to say something like this: "Yeah we've watched/heard what the media said. It's always good to get some feedback in whether you like it or not. I'll absolutely look into hiring an extra guy if he can help us". Remember this wasn't Colin, Skip or Stephen A. this were legitimate analysts and player who know the game and were at the top at some point during their respective career. No need to shut it down as quick as he did. Why does Harbaugh categorically eliminate the possibility to hire someone new? I didn't expect Harbaugh to announce any move at all.
With that being said our issues on offense are not just because of Roman/his scheme or his playcalling. It starts with WRs who don't run/execute the routes the right way or understand the concept their running. What they're supposed to do when facing man or zone. Or they don't run routes with enough or too much depth. Idk what Culley teaches them or if they just can't execute. Hollywood did this thing and played like a soulja, but the rest...
Then Lamar not reading what the defense does or ignoring his checkdowns. This is on Roman and Lamar. Sometimes it's just better to get 4 yards than a sack. Lamar had to make a play off-script way too often.
Running backs: what's the point of staying in protection if there's nobody to block. Get out and try to be a checkdown option for Lamar. It's okay to misread what the defense does on occasion, but this happened multiple times every game.
Roman has to stop running these highschool plays. You're not fooling anybody this late into the season. Some concepts are just atrocious and some are actually great. Lamar didn't execute a couple of plays that we're great calls, but don't look good on TV because Lamar took a sack or threw to the wrong guy.
Last but not least: Boykin is a great blocker for a WR. But he looks lost at times running routes and understanding what the defense does.
This is where I am too. I feel like we have seen this OFF before. I was worried from the start this year when the passing was definitely the focus early in games. There were enough calls early where you could tell they were almost forcing the pass. I reject that.
The reason I reject that forced passing approach... because we saw the dividends last year of DEF's being off balance because of Lamar's ability to run. We still want that as part of the OFF, but not as an afterthought in trying to develop a passing game.... oh, if he can't find the open guy he can always run... that's a BS plan. But I think that's what we saw a lot of this year. You can't tell guys, WR's, just to do something because that's their position. I maintain this boils down to a coaching problem. I will blame a player when appropriate, but when you get to this level it's because you've demonstrated skill above others in your class at your position.
The reason players excelled last year was because of the uncertainty that Lamar provided. Were the rest of the guys coached up sufficiently to adapt to the NFL catching up with the latest thing? No, imo. Or they aren't as good as we thought. It's one or the other or a combination of both. But as bad as WR's were situationally, I'll err on the coaching.
Example... Hollywood lines up on the outside for a go route fading to the sideline. The TENN game we lost, he is running the route shading to the sideline the whole way. The bucket Lamar has to deliver the ball toward the sideline is shrinking. Hollywood doesn't hold his line from where he started or try to move it inside in any way. He shades to the sideline all the way. Imagine Lamar trying to throw into a 10foot x 10foot pool at about 15 yards down the field... that's a big area toward the sideline Lamar can throw to where if Hollywood had held his line or pushed it into the middle of the field he'd be able to run under to have a good chance at the catch. Instead, what happened was Hollywood ran the route shading toward the sideline the entire time. Out 15 yards the bucket is 10feet by 10 feet, but a few more yards down Hollywood has given so much space that the Lamar is throwing into a Homer Bucket. That pass was on the money, in the sense it couldn't have been anywhere else for Hollywood to have a chance other than out of bounds for an incompletion. Result..... TENN defender had position - - it was given to him - - he made the INT and that changed the game.
To me, that is coaching. Hollywood was not finding himself in those sideline route situations later in the season. So either that play stopped being called, he realized his mistake in ceding field and didn't have the body to do anything about it, or the coaches saw he wasn't able or prepared for it. Who knows...