D&C'S MAIORANA: Clock Is Ticking On Dennison

[Maine-iac]

6 hours ago, CardinalScotts said:

his offense has proven itself in the nfl.....the total disrespect of our passing game is choking it out, virtually all the problems are related to this. Have to be able to make throws, Tyrod wouldnt do it.

Dennison's offense's scored a whopping 20 and 22 ppg before coming here and that's with Peyton Manning on one of his teams.  Tell me again what great things Dennison has done.  Roman has outscored Dennison the last two years and is outscoring him this year also.  Have to be able to score points and Dennison can't do it.  Peterman may well fit Dennison's offense better so maybe, just maybe we'll go from 20 ppg to 22 like he did with the Broncos.

[GunnerBill]

When Dennison says "coverages" dictated it he obviously does not mean they didn't call plays to KB. He means Tyrod didn't like the coverages and so didn't throw the ball there..... the only plays he liked were dump offs the Tolbert. 

 

Dennison has not been perfect, don't get me wrong. The stat I think most plays against him from Sunday is that when Tyrod was under centre it was 70% run when he was in the gun it was 70% pass. That does demonstrate a tendency which helps defenses. 

 

But this offense's single biggest issue has been execution and it is there all over the game film to see. 

Edited November 17, 2017 by GunnerBill

[LABILLBACKER]

8 hours ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

I think Dennison is safe for this year, he is going to get a pass from the generally very loyal McDermott and Dennison can point to having Tyrod Taylor and a rookie as QBs.

Keeping players like Ducasse, Tolbert,  DiMarco etc should be enough for a pink slip. Letting Castillo coach,  another blunder. Oh well this is Sean's call next year but Rico is starting to smell.

[kkim0904]

If he does another option  play to Tolbert, Dennison is OUT.

[GunnerBill]

34 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Sure, but if your going to bench Tyrod for not executing after one awful game why is Vlad Ducasse still starting? He blows every game.

 

Hard to execute when you run first and second down for negative yardage forcing the offense into 3rd and longs. 

 

This is not 'just' a Tyrod Taylor issue. He was only one part of the problem. The oline in general has been bad even though, despite what people have said, the run scheme since the bye has looked much more like it did last year. The outcome has been poorer... and that is on execution again. 

 

We know why Ducasse is playing. He a favourite of our horrible line coach who was hired before Dennison by McDermott. We know why Dennison is forced into using Tolbert when McCoy come out for a blow... it's because McDermott and Beane want him here and want him on the field so much that they cut his competition before the season started. 

 

This is not Dennison vs Taylor at all for me. It is about overall execution of the offense. Dennison's play calling deserves a share of the blame but I think it is a much small share than most fans want to believe. It has been an execution mess the past two weeks. 

[BuffaloRush]

9 hours ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

I think Dennison is safe for this year, he is going to get a pass from the generally very loyal McDermott and Dennison can point to having Tyrod Taylor and a rookie as QBs.

For this year being the remainder of the season yes.  But think Dennison has a lot riding on Peterman.  The Bills benched Tyrod for a QB that fit his system better.  If there's no progress when Peterman takes over and the Bills miss the playoff, I do honestly believe McDermott/Beane will evaluate his scheme before spending high picks on a QB 

43 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Keeping players like Ducasse, Tolbert,  DiMarco etc should be enough for a pink slip. Letting Castillo coach,  another blunder. Oh well this is Sean's call next year but Rico is starting to smell.

LOL all true, though DiMarco is a very good blocking fullback.  I'd take him off your list

[GreggTX]

I beg to differ. There's nothing like outguessing the other teams's playcallers to give you a big edge.

[Luka]

Dennison is limited with the personnel he has at two key positions. QB and RB2. They made one change but I think the offense will still struggle with Tolbert as the RB2. I mean seriously, what a damn joke that is. They would have been smart to sign a second back with this QB switch.

[Luka]

14 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

So does that mean Roman/Lynn were limited at QB as well when the offense was top 10 in points scored last year?

 

Absolutely. You're always hamstrung when you have poor QB play. That offense was all about McCoy and Gilislee. 30th in passing, 1st in rushing.

[Wayne Arnold]

27 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

So does that mean Roman/Lynn were limited at QB as well when the offense was top 10 in points scored last year?

 

Dennison has been a disappointment. He hasn't been nearly good enough. But that doesn't mean the QB is good enough.

 

If the offense doesn't improve under Peterman then I would be surprised if Dennison isn't fired after the season.

[Domdab99]

10 hours ago, quinnearlysghost88 said:

Imagine drawing up a play where your QB takes a snap out of shotgun and throws a quick slant to the slot WR for 5 yards. Now imagine that you call that play and your QB hesitates, doesn't throw it, stabs into the pocket and then back out, rolls the opposite direction of his throwing hand, sprints toward the sideline while being chased by D lineman and gains a yard. Who do you blame? The O coordinator? Because I'm positive he's not drawing up half the things Tyrod was doing.

 

Imagine calling a halfback option to your 250 llb. fullback because of "rotation." Dennison sucks, and the sooner he's gone, the better.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Domdab99

[Brand J]

When an offensive coordinator lines up Tolbert as part of a 5 WR package, that tells me all I need to know about the coordinator. A 250 pound fullback running pass routes??? That's almost as egregious as Marcel Dareus dropping into coverage.

[JM2009]

2 hours ago, Luka said:

 

Absolutely. You're always hamstrung when you have poor QB play. That offense was all about McCoy and Gilislee. 30th in passing, 1st in rushing.

TT was a big reason why the running game worked so well. cant't the crusaders give him credit for anything?

[HappyDays]

12 hours ago, Starr Almighty said:

I'm not defending Dennison in anyway but you do realize we had Watkins,Woods, TD Mike and Goodwin last year.

 

I personally think Dennison calls a much better pass offense than Roman ever did but Roman had a much better rush offense. It’s just that Dennison’s pass offense doesn’t work with a Tyrod type of QB. Dennison is fighting for a future role here as much as Peterman is in these last 7 games IMO.

2 hours ago, Luka said:

 

Absolutely. You're always hamstrung when you have poor QB play. That offense was all about McCoy and Gilislee. 30th in passing, 1st in rushing.

 

Dennison hamstrings the run game on his own. His obsession with getting Mike Tolbert involved is insane. Tolbert has accomplished nothing all year. There’s really no arguing against it, he simply ruined our #1 rush game. That being said if the pass game starts clicking with Peterman we will all forget that very quickly.

[Starr Almighty]

12 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

Dennison hamstrings the run game on his own. His obsession with getting Mike Tolbert involved is insane. Tolbert has accomplished nothing all year. There’s really no arguing against it, he simply ruined our #1 rush game. That being said if the pass game starts clicking with Peterman we will all forget that very quickly.

They cant pass everytime shady needs a breather. The issue is that he's fat and slow. I have no idea why they call so many outside runs for him.

[GunnerBill]

3 hours ago, Starr Almighty said:

They cant pass everytime shady needs a breather. The issue is that he's fat and slow. I have no idea why they call so many outside runs for him.

 

Correct. So it comes back to why isn't there a different #2 back on the team? That is on McDermott and Beane. 

[Chris66]

Dennison is awful I doubt he makes it through next season

[BuffaloHokie13]

I think if Hue Jackson becomes available he gets a look.

[Cash]

17 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

This is not Dennison vs Taylor at all for me. It is about overall execution of the offense. Dennison's play calling deserves a share of the blame but I think it is a much small share than most fans want to believe. It has been an execution mess the past two weeks. 

 

Obviously if the players execute at a very high level, they'll have some success regardless of the coach/scheme.  I don't think Dennison is so bad that he can singlehandedly torpedo our offense, but I also don't think (so far) that he's doing anything to help it.  Seems like we need high-end talent across the board to have a good offense in this scheme.  Whereas Roman's scheme (and Lynn's on-the-fly adaptation of it) had a genuinely positive impact on the run game, especially in terms of using Taylor's mobility to free up space for the RBs.

 

One other point:  Part of a coach's job is to scheme, gameplan, call plays, etc.  But an equally large (larger?) part of it is coaching players.  I.e., getting the players to play well in the scheme.  There's a lot to that - teaching, motivation, understanding players' strengths and weaknesses, plus plain old management like in a regular business.  When one player isn't executing, that usually means there's something wrong with him (injury, off-field issue, lack of talent) and he needs to go.  When all the players aren't executing, that's indicative of a coaching issue.

 

4 hours ago, BuffaloHokie13 said:

I think if Hue Jackson becomes available he gets a look.

 

I would be very into that.

[section122]

I wanted to do some digging to see how successful Dennison had been.  Here is what I found:

 

Denver:

2006 21st in yards, 17th in points

2007 11th in yards, 21st in points

2008 2nd in yards, 16th in points

 

Houston:

2010 3rd in yards, 9th in points

2011 13th in yards, 10th in points

2012 7th in yards, 8th in points

2013 11th in yards, 31st in points

 

Ravens

2015 14th in yards, 25th in points

2016 17th in yards, 21st in points

 

That breaks down to 2 out of 9 years fielding top 10 offense by yards and points, finishing top 5 in a category once out of 18 opportunities, and finishing top 10 in a category 6 out of 18 opportunities.  I don't see this success other than 2010 and 2012.  To make his resume that much more impressive after 2008 he was demoted by the Broncos to offensive line coach.  After 2013 he was hired by the Ravens as a quarterbacks coach.  Currently Buffalo sits at 28th in yards and 20th in points.  Last year they finished at 16th in yards and 10th in points.  I dug into this hoping to prove myself wrong and I ended up feeling worse about him lol.