I Support Nathaniel Hackett

[Dorkington]

I'm not huge into how he used CJ. I feel like CJ needs to be given some better screens, and zone runs or something. The rest of the offense was fine, if a little predictable.

 

We have inaccurate QBs, and WRs wtih stone hands. If we fixed those two, we probably wouldn't be having an OC discussion.

[Turbosrrgood]

I'm willing to give Hackett the benefit of the doubt in many categories, but not for running TJ Graham out there play after play, despite failure after failure.

 

The other thing that bothered me was not designing pass plays for CJ. They were way too few and far between.

Edited January 7, 2014 by Turbosrrgood

[papazoid]

players execute.....

 

 

the bills were #1 by far in rushing attempts. did you want Hackett to call more running plays ??

 

the passing game stunk. hackett tried his best to limit EJ's mediocrity and the piss poor pass protection.

 

i'm no fan of Hackett yet, but to blame him first, is not the way i see it.

[Mango]

The biggest issue with Hacket is he isn't Chan. Seriously. We saw a bad Oline masked with scheme, how dangerous CJ can be when put in the right positions. Hackett did a terrible job at getting CJ in space and, did nothing to get the pressure of a weak O line.

[bananathumb]

Keep supporting him; he's gonna need you.

[The Big Cat]

The biggest issue with Hacket is he isn't Chan. Seriously. We saw a bad Oline masked with scheme, how dangerous CJ can be when put in the right positions. Hackett did a terrible job at getting CJ in space and, did nothing to get the pressure of a weak O line.

 

I'm curious as to what fans think Chan did to get "CJ in space" that was not attempted this year.

 

Was I the only one watching the unmitigated disasters that were 70% of our screen plays?

[hondo in seattle]

Hackett is a young rookie OC with limited NFL experience. I agree he did a good job with the backup QBs and didn't have the best tools to work with. I'm concerned, though, how poorly he used CJ. CJ's yards per carry went way down under Hackett.

 

Another concern is that Marrone used to be a NFL OC. You might think he'd do a better job of mentoring Hackett.

 

Finally, I'm a little bugged by the uptempo offense. Our defense gave up a fair number of yards because they were on the field all the time. We were 7th in most plays faced. An uptempo offense works best when you have an offense that can consistently earn first downs. We didn't have that. Our offense had fewer yards per play than 28 other teams.

 

I think the jury's still out on Hackett but there are some vaild reasons to worry.

[1billsfan]

Hackett is a young rookie OC with limited NFL experience. I agree he did a good job with the backup QBs and didn't have the best tools to work with. I'm concerned, though, how poorly he used CJ. CJ's yards per carry went way down under Hackett.

 

Another concern is that Marrone used to be a NFL OC. You might think he'd do a better job of mentoring Hackett.

 

Finally, I'm a little bugged by the uptempo offense. Our defense gave up a fair number of yards because they were on the field all the time. We were 7th in most plays faced. An uptempo offense works best when you have an offense that can consistently earn first downs. We didn't have that. Our offense had fewer yards per play than 28 other teams.

 

I think the jury's still out on Hackett but there are some vaild reasons to worry.

 

I think the league is heading this way like it or not. At least the Bills are on the front end of the learning curve though.

 

If the Bills somehow get Sammy Watkins, and add a couple quality starting OL through draft and FA, then I think this team will be very good offensively in 2014. There should be no reason at all why the Bills couldn't do what Philly did in 2013. Watkins, Spiller, Jackson, Woods, Johnson, Goodwin, WOW! EJ Manuel would have a hard time not playing really well given all of those targets and an uptempo QB friendly scheme.

[BigBuff423]

I'm glad someone does, but I just can't get behind the support at this time. For months now I have blamed the play-calling as a major cause for Offensive ineptability and I remain steadfast in my conviction. That is not to say I believe Hackett is incapable of improvement, much like others on this Offense, but I do believe that a more veteran and seasoned leadership would have gotten more out of the Offense in general. I also think there would be fewer head-scratchers on game day. However, since it appears Hackett is the OC going into 2014, I sincerely hope he takes HIS game to another level next year and with the advent of a more NFL ready QB and another Off-season working out the kinks of his Offense, that the Offensive unit takes a significant stride toward efficiency and excellence.

Edited January 7, 2014 by BigBuff423

[yungmack]

Football is the most team-oriented sport I can think of. Great receivers stink if the QB is poor, and a good QB stinks if the receivers are poor. A quick-release O plan masks a mediocre line, but a mediocre line exposes a QB who needs more time to read and react, and so on. This problem extends to the Offensive Coordinator as well...if your team can't execute a solid game plan, then you have to find one that does. And that limits your game design and play-calling. And nearly every call has multiple options for the QB (a pass play can be re-called as a run, and a streak pattern can be checked down to a quick slant, etc.) and depending on the outcome, the OC can look like either a genius or a fool.

 

It is this particular aspect of football that makes it so darned difficult to determine where the real problem lies. So I don't know how to evaluate Hackett. Maybe he's good, maybe he's bad; maybe the problem is the QB, maybe the receivers, maybe the head coach. If he was, say, the Chargers OC, would he now be interviewing for a head coaching position? Or would he be clearing out his locker? Like I said, I can't tell.

[3rdand12]

Hackett ran the offence with training wheels this year. I'd like to know how much of the playbook he opened this year...25%?

This is exactly how i perceived his method . Probably more than one reason for that.

I think Marrone is stubborn for better or worse , and wanted players to execute and master the most basic plays. Hello CJ up the gut ! Could it be the team really was in evaluation mode most of the season ?

I think Nate will grow into the position , i really do .

Obviously he has his work cut out for him.

Honestly a whole season and now full offseason together i feel comfortable having some playoff expectations .

No reason these guys are not capable of learning a **** ton from this past year and putting in fixes and a better plan/players going into next season.

Yep i am a homer. Obviously : )

Thanks Rob for the positive encouragement !

Edited January 7, 2014 by 3rdand12

[stuckinny]

I thought he did better when he was on the field and not in the booth..so that is a positive! I think he tried to be a read option style offense..but really never committed to running it that much!

 

I will give him another year to show me something exciting from his vaunted young mind!

[thewildrabbit]

I've defended Hackett all year long. The guy has rookies all over the field at skill positions and has had to design an offense that covers their inexperience and inability to quickly digest NFL schemes at this point in their careers. The result? A run oriented attack that frustrated fans because it wasn't aggressive enough. He kept his team in games by attempting to limit turnovers and mistakes. It was the smart play.

 

 

How many did FJ have? Part of CJ's problem is he hesitates in the backfield which allows for defenders to get to him before he gets to the LoS. That's not all on the OL.

I defended Hackett too, and all the way up until that Chiefs game in which he let an un drafted free agent rookie QB throw it 39 times. That idea didn't result in limiting turnovers. Whats the point of running the ball 38 times with great success and then letting that raw a rookie throw it in a critical situation. EJ was the one who was usually always very careful with the ball.

 

My point here is, there comes a time for diminishing returns on doing the same thing over and over, and not obtaining a better result. Being the #2 team in the NFL in rushing, and yet still 6-10. Hackett was a rookie play caller and it showed all year. Whether he can get better, and learn from this season has yet to be seen. Obviously since no change has been made, all we can do is hope he does get better.

 

 

My take is that it was almost entirely on the poor play of the O line. Perhaps you missed the excruciatingly poor play of the Bills LG's all season. Fred Jackson didn't have as many tackles behind the LoS because he has the ability to make the first tackler miss or he easily breaks that first tackle.

 

While Spiller had more trouble this season in regards to being elusive, and breaking tackles because of injuries. Teams were building their defensive game plans on stopping Spiller, keying on him and were very determined to stop him. However, he shouldn't need to break a tackle behind the line.

Edited January 7, 2014 by FeartheLosing

[NewEra]

I defended Hackett too, and all the way up until that Chiefs game in which he let an un drafted free agent rookie QB throw it 39 times. That idea didn't result in limiting turnovers. Whats the point of running the ball 38 times with great success and then letting that raw a rookie throw it in a critical situation. EJ was the one who was usually always very careful with the ball.

 

My point here is, there comes a time for diminishing returns on doing the same thing over and over, and not obtaining a better result. Being the #2 team in the NFL in rushing, and yet still 6-10. Hackett was a rookie play caller and it showed all year. Whether he can get better, and learn from this season has yet to be seen. Obviously since no change has been made, all we can do is hope he does get better.

 

 

My take is that it was almost entirely on the poor play of the O line. Perhaps you missed the excruciatingly poor play of the Bills LG's all season. Fred Jackson didn't have as many tackles behind the LoS because he has the ability to make the first tackler miss or he easily breaks that first tackle.

 

While Spiller had more trouble this season in regards to being elusive, and breaking tackles because of injuries. Teams were building their defensive game plans on stopping Spiller, keying on him and were very determined to stop him. However, he shouldn't need to break a tackle behind the line.

 

Good post. I've never defended Hackett, but it was obvious that our OL got demolished on many occasions. Especially with cj running. The defenses geared up for him and we just couldnt execute. If we plan on being a run first offense, we need to improve the OL. LG, RT and even RG. Ad our saving grace in the running game, Fred, won't be around much longer. Or will he?

Edited January 7, 2014 by NewEra

[San Jose Bills Fan]

I'm curious as to what fans think Chan did to get "CJ in space" that was not attempted this year.

 

Was I the only one watching the unmitigated disasters that were 70% of our screen plays?

 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that CJ was targeted 54 times in 2012 with 43 receptions and a 10.7 yards per reception.

 

This year in one less game he was targeted 40 times for 33 receptions and a 5.6 yards per reception.

 

I don't think there's any doubt that Spiller was used more effectively by Gailey, both in the run and the pass game.

 

As for Hackett, let me again express how much I'd like to see one more person on the offensive staff. I do not like the fact that Nate is both the OC and the QB Coach.

[uncle flap]

I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually like Hackett's play calling and schemes. A lot. This year I saw countless opportunities left on the field, which led me to believe that Hackett isn't necessarily the problem.

 

Ignoring the woulda/coulda/shouldas regarding this season, if there is a dilemma going forward, it's that the players can't execute (or simply aren't executing). And if that's the case- Do they A.) Get players who can/will execute, B.) Continue to coach up the existing players in the hopes that they'll be able to execute, or C.) Change the play calling and schemes?

 

There's certainly a middle ground among those choices. It isn't feasible to completely overhaul a roster if that's what they would deem necessary for success in Hackett's scheme. So next year we will likely see D.) All of the above.

 

I'm still pretty optimistic about EJ. The O line needs some serious upgrading. IF (that's a "big if," get it?) they can get everyone on the same page- which they didn't seem to be much of the year - the offense that Hackett is trying to run should be dangerous.

 

For those that are banging the "they ran the same draw play every first down" drum, please read the article linked below and re watch some of the games. I'd love to hear people's theories as to why EJ is seemingly so inconsistent at reading the defense post snap. Is it the sh***y O line that has him scared? Is it that EJ/Hackett purposely call the draw option to bait the defense and open up the pass options? Is it simply that Spiller wasn't following his blocks? Surely a lot of these factors were in play.

 

I mean look at this below. I agree with the author of the article. This play design is brilliant. And we saw it all year, except the vast majority of the time it was a hand off to Spiller despite one or two receivers being open or coming open. The results have been frustrating for sure, but I'm certainly optimistic that with proper execution, Hackett is more than capable of running a prolific offense.

 

 

I'm not sure how good Marrone and Hackett's offense in Buffalo will be, but they may have won the award for one of the niftiest plays I've seen. Against the Colts in their preseason opener, the Bills ran a four-in-one play that included a read-option concept for the quarterback to hand off to the runner or keep it himself, throw a bubble screen, andhave the option of throwing a quick "pop" pass to the tight end if the linebackers to his side crashed for the run — yet another counter to the plans defenses have been creating all season to handle the read-option.

If the concern with these plays is whether the quarterbacks can consistently make the right decision on a play with four options, both of the Bills rookie quarterbacks, first-rounder EJ Manuel as well as undrafted free agent Jeff Tuel, executed this play multiple times and read it correctly each time. And this is what makes these plays so effective. Although this play has four different options, all of them are, well, easy, especially if the offense is rolling along in the no-huddle and the defense is forced into base looks.

The insight Marrone and Hackett — two of the smartest football guys you'll ever meet — stumbled onto this time last year is that there's a new kind of option football, one that doesn't pose extra risk to the quarterback and also combines disparate concepts NFL teams have been successful with for year

Be sure to check the whole article as it highlights a number of teams and offers great insight into what we can hopefully expect from Hackett going forward. http://www.grantland...option-football

Edited January 8, 2014 by uncle flap

[The Big Cat]

For those that are banging the "they ran the same draw play every first down" drum, please read the article linked below and re watch some of the games. I'd love to hear people's theories as to why EJ is seemingly so inconsistent at reading the defense post snap. Is it the sh***y O line that has him scared? Is it that EJ/Hackett purposely call the draw option to bait the defense and open up the pass options? Is it simply that Spiller wasn't following his blocks? Surely a lot of these factors were in play.

 

I've been trying to amplify this point you've been making since week 2. The "play calling sucks" crowd and the "I'm sick of shotgun-run on first down" peanut galler usually only get two or three laps in before they go straight to ye olde ignore list.

[uncle flap]

I've been trying to amplify this point you've been making since week 2. The "play calling sucks" crowd and the "I'm sick of shotgun-run on first down" peanut galler usually only get two or three laps in before they go straight to ye olde ignore list.

 

Haha, yeah I mean I'm fully expecting the "If this is so genius, why didn't it work?" responses.

 

And I already said I don't know the answer. Maybe it isn't so genius if the QB can't execute and/or make the correct reads. Maybe it isn't so genius if the o line sucks. Maybe EJ was less willing to keep the ball because his knees were bothering him all season. Maybe they told him not to keep it to protect himself. That was another thing I saw especially early in the year. On those types of packaged plays, the D often crashed toward the RB and if EJ had kept it, he would have tons of space.

 

All of which brings me back to my original point. From and Xs and Os standpoint, Hackett is seemingly solid. The issue comes down to whether or not the players are executing. I'd say the onus is getting the players up to speed - especially EJ - or getting players that will. If your players suck or are lacking, and you have to simplify/limit your offense, then you're already conceding defeat.

 

I get the sentiment behind "putting your players in a position to succeed," and tailoring your offense to your players' strengths, but like we saw with Chan, that severely limits what you can call. Chan's screen game was awesome, but we all saw with defenses squatting on the quick hitters, that's all they had. Sprinkling in runs out of the spread was also successful, but again like we saw, one drop or one run for only a meager gain was often enough to kill a drive. They simply didn't have enough plays to convert third and longs.

 

Lastly, I'm not trying to "blame" the players. They're learning a new offense and that can take time. I just can't help but look at Philly doing a lot of the same things and being far more successful. Their O line isn't ranked much higher than the Bills.

 

If there's one thing I'll criticize Hackett for, it's that he hasn't got EJ to make the correct reads. Maybe a dedicated QB coach is the answer, maybe Hackett needs to spend more time or employ different methods in doing so, or maybe EJ just needs more reps. Or maybe EJ just can't, and the times we did see him make the right reads he just got lucky. Who knows? I just can't wait for next year when hopefully we'll have some answers.

[Max997]

Hackett ran the offence with training wheels this year. I'd like to know how much of the playbook he opened this year...25%?

 

I disagree as I don't think u need to open up the playbook in order to find ways to get ur best offensive player the ball in better situations

 

The amount of the playbook that was used doesn't change who was calling the plays either as Hackett made a lot of bad calls and didn't seem to consider down and and distance most of the time

[CardinalScotts]

Hackett ran the offence with training wheels this year. I'd like to know how much of the playbook he opened this year...25%?

 

thought the same thing