FWIW, we don't really have a strong talent at the TE position. They played well as a unit but I don't see any talent there outside of Hurst and Andrews and both are rookies who missed time. Boyle is really just a blocker and Maxx Williams is who he is, nothing spectacular but he's decent on both ends of the spectrum. They played well as a unit but they really overachieved IMO.
Yeah it was a lofted pass but the replay shows Hurst not catch it correctly which is why it was easily knocked down. Could’ve been a better pass but should’ve been caught.
I agree with you that this is the reason we haven’t focused as much on the middle of the field, but there have been times where we could have taken advantage, yet didn’t do so.
Andrews hasn’t played like a rookie. Hurst I agree is still getting acclimated due to his injury.
He’s not playing like a rookie but it’s not really going to get it done for a #1 TE production. I like Mark a lot and I’m not expecting starting caliber play but that’s what we need rn at the TE position.
His production is lacking due to limited usage and shit play calling, not his skills/readiness.
I think we need to dial back on the expectations here. I really like Andrews a lot but it’s a learning process with the TE position and one of the hardest to learn overall. In order to really emerge as an option you have to show that you can consistently get open and beat 1v1 coverage. People are really giving Marty heat and while I have an issue with some of the calls, I don’t think you can completely blame him given the emergence of the other receivers, I think the run game is where you can put heat on Marty at.
It won't be for Hurst. Literally the only thing that was wrong with him as a prospect was his age. He looked the part in the pre-season. I don't think he's fully back in shape yet.
Remind me to never post post a workout and sauna session.
I have to question if you’ve studied Mark Andrews college tape, because he was one of my most studied prospects before the draft, I said very early that if we took him at 16 I wouldn’t bat an eye, and if we took him after the trade backs I would have liked it as well. Mark Andrews isn’t just some rookie TE who’s overachieving, he has a knack for doing things that players with long careers don’t even develop a knack for, he has a feel for working space well and manipulating defensive positioning that you don’t see from even a lot of savvy veterans, and he pairs this with a set of hands that is well above average by #1 TE standards, very physical play when needed, and sneaky athleticism and YAC ability, he will make one good cut and suddenly break downfield in a hurry and turn short passes into big plays.
I never knocked Andrews skills and I'm very well aware of everything you outlined. I actually mocked him to us in the 2nd round and was surpised that he fell to our pick come draft day.
Even then we should be living over the middle dude. We have too many options to attack it that shutting it down should be close to difficult. Even then, with as good as Snead is playing, Andrews and Hurst alike should be getting their fair shakes in the slot. One of the main benefits of having as many good targets as we do is we can keep throwing you something different at different spots on the defense, leaving opposing defensive coordinators utterly confused. If you this supporting cast in the hands of an Andy Reid, Payton, McVay, etc. they'd be salavating at the opportunities this creates. It's why I don't buy into this narrative that "Marty has been decent". Crabtree and Brown in particular should have been used far more over the middle from the get go. I feel like half of the time we solely use Brown as a deep threat; his tape in Arizona proves that he's better than that. Doing stuff like sending Snead and Crab deep makes no fundamental sense unless we decide to send them on jumpball routes, but even then they'll likely be draped with a safety. Not getitng Alex Collins involved more in the passing game is low key one of the dumbest things he does. If we can't get him going on the ground after those insanely idiotic stretch calls, then that's the way to do it. It's being too quick to abandon the run, it's still, after ten years being unable to properly execute a simple screen play. Marty hasn't been horrid like Sarkisian, but it's not just that we can do better, it's that we can do MUCH better. Marty is a below average OC at this point in his career. He's not utterly ruining everything, but there's a lot of wasted opportunities thus far. For example, vs. the Saints was the first time we finally used Brown correctly on a crossing route and it worked beautifully. Flacco has been accurate, he's been smart this season. There's not an excuse. I'd argue he's better than Cam Cameron and Marc Trestman, but he's still not good.
I don't care what offensive scheme a OC runs. A OC has to make logical and rational decisions that's why McVay is so far ahead of other play callers combined with his offensive genius. He exploits matchups. Run if you see a light front or outside because your outnumbering the defense. Run no-huddle if your offense's clicking. The saints had no answers for J.Brown. They couldn't defend him on deep nor short/intermediate routes. They settled for 8 yards off coverage every snap and couldn't defend stop/comeback routes. There were other opportunites but Marty didn't take full advantage of it.
If you never send Snead or Crabtree deep that takes away the threat entirely. That will make the defense’s job 3x easier because we would be more predictable and they could hone in on specific things. Just because they aren’t as fast as John Brown doesn’t mean they can’t ever go deep. A good route can get someone open deep just as speed can.
