Will our offense be ranked in the top 5 this season?

[CoMoChief]

Just a typical question I guess. I hope we can but I cant lie about the fact that it sucks that AS left. He was a great offensive coordinator regardless of what others think. People here whine about the Wr screen passes on 3rd down etc, but every coordinator ****s up once in a while. Overall he was the mastermind of our passing game that allowed Trent Green to throw for over 4000 yards in the past 4 seasons and 2 trips to the Pro Bowl.

How is Mike Solari gonna do at developing passing packages and so forth? We all know he was the mastermind of our running game and run and pass block schemes, but can he develope routes and read defenses and such? I'll be rooting for him as much as possible to get the job done this season, but I really dont see how with a new OC that we can leave right off from where we were before AS left. I wouldnt be surprised if some people start complaining about how we missed AS during the season. We can't run the ball every down with LJ and co. Hopefully everything will turn out okay. I know were gonna run the same modified Air Coryell offense, but how will Solari approach it?

[Dave Lane]

No

Dave

[Chiefnj]

No. I think Herm will put his hands on the O scheme and it will be more Marty-like. More running plays taking up more time which means less possessions and more time to score. It'll slip in total points for because Herm will like to ground it out and kill time.

[Rausch]

Our passing game worked because we had a dominant running game.

It's not like Sammie Parker and Kennison struck fear into the hearts of defensive coordinators.

If you don't put 8 in the box LJ tops 150 yrds...

[Hammock Parties]

Yes. Hopefully Roaf and LJ stay healthy for all 16 games.

And I'm hopeful about Crap exploding.

[milkman]

So will Solari use the same plan as Al did in preparation?

Will he have his assistents set up the different aspects of the game plan, and then coordinate them into a full game plan package?

If he does, then the real question becomes, what kind of playcalling will we see?

I think Solari is smart enough to know that the offense can't succeed without some balance.

[Hammock Parties]

I do to....milkman....

I would love to see Trent call more plays on his own this year. He has always done a great job of it.

[Braincase]

I think AS created an unnecessary wall between himself and LJ. I think Solari will provide an even better working environment for the entire offense.

[Brock]

I don't know, but I'm pretty certain Larry Johnson is going to set a new rushing record this year.

[Coogs]

I still think the offense will be ranked high. Maybe not top 5, but certainly not a huge drop off. Around #10 would be my guess.

[FAX]

Barring injury, why not?

Are there 5 teams that can outscore this offense (when healthy) over the course of 16 games?

Doubtful.

FAX

[Hammock Parties]

I think AS created an unnecessary wall between himself and LJ.

According to the ESPN Magazine article, there was a wall, initially, because Dick didn't like Larry and Al and Dick are two peas in a pod.

Then after Larry emerged, Al would ask him what his four favorite running plays were every week, and they'd run them to death in the game that week.

Al visited Larry's dad up north and asked him how to repair the damage between them. Larry's dad told Al to show LJ that he was appreciated, and he would run through a wall for you.

Al tried to do it, but LJ just thought it was all lip service and BS.

[StcChief]

No top 15

[milkman]

I still think the offense will be ranked high. Maybe not top 5, but certainly not a huge drop off. Around #10 would be my guess.

I think a lot depends on the O-Line, and the contributions we get from the receivers not named Tony or Eddie.

If the O-Line stays healthy, and Parker develops into a dependable deep threat, and we get a solid contribution from anther receiver, then this offense will still be among the top 3.

[sedated]

If we win a playoff game, I don't really give a flying fugg

[FAX]

I agree with Mr. milkman. I don't think Solari and Herm are going to pull the reins in on this offense. Why would they? Since Trent got here, this has been a balanced offense. Why would they change that? Running LJ twice as much will just wear him down twice as fast. It doesn't make sense that they would do that. Especially, if they have aspirations for the playoffs.

So, if you have the same players (sans our kidney, of course) and an improved defense (hopefully giving the offense the ball and decent field position more frequently), why would offensive production be diminished?

And, for that matter, who are the 10 or so teams that can outscore this offense over the course of a season?

FAX

[sedated]

Possible better offenses:

Indy - lost Edge
Seattle - lost Pro-Bowl OG Hutchinson
Cincinnatti - Palmer's knee
Denver - Jake the Mistake won't allow it
NY Giants
San Diego - lost Brees, Rivers starting
New Orleans - Bush and Brees, but no OLine

[cdcox]

I fully expect Herm to slow the pace of the game so that it puts less pressure on the defense. Whether that translates into us dropping out of the top 5, remains to be seen.

[bobbything]

Solari is going to run a very similar type of offense. This team has done a wonderful job of maximizing its strengths and downplaying its weaknesses.

For instance, our wide outs aren't stellar, so, play action was implemented on about 75% of the passing plays. The shifting and motions created confusion, which freed up Kennison, Parker, Horn, et al. You rarely saw a receiver catch a pass in stride.

I anticipate the offense doing the same type of thing. Solari knows the strengths and weaknesses of this team. Less trickery and out-thinking (ie: slip screens on 1st and 10 when the defense thinks we're gonna run), and more sweeps, (RB) screens, and play action. But, overall, the same style of offense. Just less "what the f*ck did we run that for?" type plays.

Probably a little more predictable, but expect the motions, shifting, and pulling to remain the same.

[FAX]

I fully expect Herm to slow the pace of the game so that it puts less pressure on the defense. Whether that translates into us dropping out of the top 5, remains to be seen.

I respect your football acumen, Mr. cdcox, and hestitate to disagree with you in any way, but slow it down how?

Run draws on 3 and 8? Never throw sideline routes? Seriously, I don't understand. Fewer first downs mean more time on the field for the defense that Herm wants to protect. What am I not understanding here?

FAX THE FULL ON HOMER THIS YEAR

[FAX]

Possible better offenses:

Indy - lost Edge
Seattle - lost Pro-Bowl OG Hutchinson
Cincinnatti - Palmer's knee
Denver - Jake the Mistake won't allow it
NY Giants
San Diego - lost Brees, Rivers starting
New Orleans - Bush and Brees, but no OLine

Of this group, Mr. sedated, I would say that Indy, Seattle, and Denver have a shot at being in the top 3 in scoring offense. Still, I like our Jacksonvilleesque schedule this year.

Question ... if the Mamba scores touchdowns on defense, do those count toward our total offensive production or not?

FAX THE PROPORTIONALLY MORE HOMER THAN USUAL

[cdcox]

I respect your football acumen, Mr. cdcox, and hestitate to disagree with you in any way, but slow it down how?

Run draws on 3 and 8? Never throw sideline routes? Seriously, I don't understand. Fewer first downs mean more time on the field for the defense that Herm wants to protect. What am I not understanding here?

FAX THE FULL ON HOMER THIS YEAR

Vermiel and Saunders kept the pedal to the medal when they had the lead. When Herm gets a second half lead, I expect he'll clam up a la Marty and Cowher. It is in his coaching genes, he won't change. By this I mean that they will run the ball more late in the game. Running plays eat more clock than passing plays. Therefore fewer plays. And with less pass balance, we'll see 8-9 men in the box in these situations. Which will make the run less effective, fewer first downs, and less plays.

I'm not saying he will go to full Marty ball from the opening gun, but if he has a 10 point lead in the 2nd half or any kind of lead with less than 5 min, you can take it to the bank.

[htismaqe]

Herm isn't gonna touch the offense. But we won't be Top 5. Age is gonna hurt the line a bit, and pass blocking will be worse than in years past...

[htismaqe]

Vermiel and Saunders kept the pedal to the medal when they had the lead. When Herm gets a second half lead, I expect he'll clam up a la Marty and Cowher. It is in his coaching genes, he won't change. By this I mean that they will run the ball more late in the game. Running plays eat more clock than passing plays. Therefore fewer plays. And with less pass balance, we'll see 8-9 men in the box in these situations. Which will make the run less effective, fewer first downs, and less plays.

I'm not saying he will go to full Marty ball from the opening gun, but if he has a 10 point lead in the 2nd half or any kind of lead with less than 5 min, you can take it to the bank.

It's simply not possible to run the ball late more than we did last year.

[dj56dt58]

Nobody thought we would be top 5 last year..especially after the slow start. Then we ended up #1. So I'm gonna say yes

[Braincase]

If our D improves, our O looks better, as we'll have the ball more often, and have better field position.


That's a big IF.

[cdcox]

It's simply not possible to run the ball late more than we did last year.

Ok, I checked the last two games of the season. In both KC had at least 13 point leads going into the 4th quarter. I didn't count penalties, punts or kneel downs in the list of plays.

Agains the Chargers we passed on 6 of 19 4th quarter plays with two additional runs by Green that were probably called pass plays.

Against the Bengals, we passed 7 out of 13 4th quarter plays.

So we were slightly more oriented to the run (17 out of 32 plays) but still pretty balanced.

Compare this to the Steelers. Same situation (large leads going into the 4th), same method of counting plays.

Against the Browns 1 pass out of 9.

Against Detroit 2 passes out of 19 plays.

I'm not saying we'll turn into Pittsburgh in the 4th quarter, but I bet with 4th quarter leads of 10 or more, passing drops below 25% this year.

[Coogs]

http://www.nfl.com/stats/2005/regular

Last season we were...

1st in overall offense
4th in rushing offense
6th in passing offense
6th in scoring offense


I still think we slide a bit in overall due to the age factor on basically the same cast to characters, and the question marks surrounding Holmes. Very good? Yes. Status Quo? No.

[Halfcan]

You guys have failed to mention Special teams. They killed us. Dante should bounce back, plus we will hopefully stop giving the other team the ball on the 40 every time.

[beer bacon]

People don't seem to remember that we were actually were more a run heavy and time of possession team last season. We were at the top of the league in ToP, rushes per game, rushing yards per game, and average yards per rushing attempt.

In 2003 when we had the best offense in the league we were 2nd in passing offense and something like 12th in rushing offense. Our ToP wasn't that good because we scored so quick, but we scored five more ppg then last season.

[JBucc]

Yes in yardage, no in points.

[bobbything]

but we scored five more ppg then last season.
I think that had a lot to do with our opponents being complete garbage that season too.

[KCChiefsMan]

yes, LJ is gonna dominate

[King_Chief_Fan]

A.S. restricted Green from changing the play(s) at the line of scrimmage. He was only allowed to check down to something else that might have been not much better than the original play. I am hoping that Green has full range to do what ever he sees when he gets under center.

[FAX]

http://www.nfl.com/stats/2005/regular

Last season we were...

1st in overall offense
4th in rushing offense
6th in passing offense
6th in scoring offense

I still think we slide a bit in overall due to the age factor on basically the same cast to characters, and the question marks surrounding Holmes. Very good? Yes. Status Quo? No.

Mr. Coogs, thanks for looking this up.

So, if we were first in overall offense (that's ypg, correct?) but as low as 4th in the rush and 6th in the pass, that means balance, right? Here's the way I am going to look at it - at least until I change my mind.

1. Herm says no change to the offense. He and Solari have each said this numerous times, Trent has said it publicly as well. I accept these statements at face value and assume that we're taking the field with a good mix of here's some run, here's some pass, here's some LJ up your a$$.

2. These guys want to get to the playoffs with as fresh an LJ as possible (and who wouldn't?). This means either the midget backup gets tons of pt, or we have no leads, or the theory of extreme Martyball doesn’t pan out, or we keep defenses off balance and control the clock through execution (which we have done well in the DV era).

3. Age is a factor, as Mr. htismaqe rightly mentions. But it was last year as well. This team seems to be able to perform at a high level with one foot in the grave and another in the endzone.

4. Pass blocking will suffer due to our lack of kidney. That's a real issue and concern. Carl should be fired for screwing this up.

Still and all, I cannot think of 5 teams that one could reasonably forecast to take the field with the kind of balance and execution we displayed last year and can reasonably expect this year with our good schedule (Seattle, Indy, goats, maybe Arizona now that they have Edge and considering they had two receivers in the top 5 in receiving yards last year). It's a stretch.

FAX

[ChiefFripp]

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