Jimmy Raye Approval Rating, Week 10

I want to vote undecided. I’m really not sure how much blame I should lump anywhere right now for the failures of this offense…

I see your point, Fooch, that the offensive is not executing, especially the offensive line. However, there are two things about the playcalling that bug me enough to vote “No” in the poll:

1) The refusal to use Smith in the shotgun in the majority of the plays. He’s obviously more comfortable in it, and it gets rid of the few precious seconds that he takes in his normal 5 to 7-step drop. The offensive line is giving him precious little time to make his throws, and putting him in the gun would help a lot.

2) I’m really sick of how they often run the ball on first and second down, especially early in the game, and then get into a 3rd-and-long situation. From my point of view, the variety in the playcalling only seems to come when the team is down by a significant amount, or when time is running down in a half.

Woot!

It has not been demonstrated to my satisfaction that the offense would be any better with a different playcaller.

I don’t think the criticism of him not using his “playmakers” carries much weight. If you guys can figure this out, so can the defense. It actually makes sense to use the 2nd tier in “gadget” plays… since the defense is focused on stopping the actual threats. On passing plays – there are always multiple options and I am sure that MOST of the time the first reads are on VD and Crabtree. On the 3rd and 4th and short… you might have noticed that our power run blocking is terrible. The worst in the league. And it’s not because they sometimes handoff to Norris instead of Gore.

I did think that QB sneak call was a little strange… but hard to say since he just slipped.

I am not saying Raye is great – I am saying that his talent is so sub par that it’s not really fair to expect him to eat garbage and poop out nickles.

He seems to lack gut instinct and a closeness to the reality of the players. Bill Wash was accused of being overly logical too, but Raye … you’re no Bill Walsh. It is like he thinks of diagrams carrying the ball, not the players doing the work. I voted no therefore. Perhaps I’m biased by his need to be up in the booth, and he just seems unconnected.

Or else Raye is on track to getting yet another HC fired.

but am warming up. My opinion is that Raye wasn’t adapting his play calling because his boss wanted to Fisical (with an F) football and run the ball. Once Sing warmed up to the fact that our Offensive line, was well offensive, and not the best in the league as he proclaimed they could be, we adapted.

I think this falls squarely on Singletary’s shoulders, which will show that fact when we bring back Raye next year. If it’s Raye’s fault, he will be gone, but I doubt we will see that. Sing called the game plan, Raye will be allowed another year to turn it around. Our future OC is already with the team, so give Raye another year, and then bring up Johnson.

I think it takes an offense time to gel together and we just switched QB’s so the gelling process is still in the process. Once we have a GOOD offensive outing, I will see if it is fluke and followed up by an egg being layed, then I will make another decision.

This is the problem:
1) Our team is in its first season under Jimmy Raye, so familiarity with the scheme also makes a pure evaluation of his offensive scheme play-calling difficult.
2) Our offensive line has struggled, making a pure evaluation of his offensive scheme and play-calling difficult.
3) Still, I don’t like what Jimmy Raye is doing, play-calling-wise.
4) I know that giving Jimmy Raye the boot during this year would potentially jeopardize the Niners playoff run.
5) I know that giving Jimmy Raye the boot after this year would mean that a new offensive system would have to be installed at the beginning of next season—and that would be like the 8th in 8 years (!).
6) I know that the team has earmarked Mike Johnson as Raye’s successor, and waiting to install him as the OC may cause him to get itchy feet (heck, even Norv Turner took off when SD gave him an HC position).
Result?
I don’t know what to say on this. I do wonder whether the Niners offensive philosophy is one that gets better as the season goes along—i.e. as weather and field conditions get worse and defense becomes more important.

It bears noting that I thought the team would’ve been better this year had it retained Mike Martz despite the fact that Martz was a pass-happy coordinator. Martz’s offense gave the team its highest ranking, yards-wise (23rd) since 2003. And with the complexity of his scheme, you know that the team would’ve been better in its second year under him.

We need to address the on-field play. we can call anything, but the o line needs to execute.

Jed York Approval Rating: not so much in the sense of green little Jed Jr.’s performance, but in his choice of suits, ties, and when to sport the short beard.

ScotM Approval Rating: This is more of a countdown to whether he gets praise or blame, depending on the outcome of the season, or Smith finally proves bust for the umpteenth time.

Mike Williams Approval Rating: Thumbs down from me because I’m sick of all those “HIT ’EM IN THE MOUTH” promos. He needs better schtick.

Andy Dolich Approval Rating: Big thumbs up from me. Mostly because of Jerry West, Memphis Grizzlies, and Pau Gasol. Forget about what he does with the 49ers (what does he do anyway?).

though I’m mostly undecided. The playcalling the first couple of games was atrocious. Thankfully we had a stellar defense that stepped up to give us some wins. The play calling has gotten much better. We’ve been able to put together some long drives but rarely do those drives score.

I think that rests on the play calling as much as the execution. When a long drive fizzles out I have to blame the playcalling because the players were obviously executing very well to that point.

I want to see us finish drives and finish games.

and because of that, I give him the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes they show up & sometimes they don’t. It’s hard enough for an offense to ‘execute’ plays when your o-line is only so-so and that isn’t Jimmy Raye’s fault. My solution: either fire the o-line coach or else find o-linemen who will consistently get the job done.

One other thing I’d like to say: Swapping out Offensive Coordinators every season doesn’t solve anything. By now, I’d have thought we’d of had enough of that crazy merry-go-round. I mean seriously, what’s the point in learning an offense if it isn’t gonna be there the following year??? We practically go through O-coordinators like a book of matches. One and done. Has it ever donned on anybody that maybe every once in a while, taking the wait-&-see approach might not hurt?

Because time and time again I have seen this team fail to finish, and more often than not, it’s the play call I’m scratching my head over. And I’m not just talking about the Vikings game: hell, even last week, a game we won, had me screaming at the set.

I understand clock management is incredibly important, and that taking risks that backfire get you blasted like Belichick this week. On the other hand, taking risks and making the right move gets you things like trophies and stuff. You know, just sayin’.

I’m not as ultra-stat nerd as most of the folks here (and I love reading all of your posts so much that I rarely say anything myself), but one thing I do know is that Alex Smith is not (as Chicago fans once said of Kyle Orton) a “dink-and-dunk” quarterback. He can do it, sometimes, but when you’re passing up opportunities to let him shine in favor of what you think is the “safe” call, you’re already pissing me off.

Just because you’re calling plays out of the shotgun doesn’t mean you’re calling the right plays for Alex Smith. I know it sounds like a cliche post from some guy who doesn’t know what he’s talking about when I say this, but this guy needs to air it out, and Jimmy Raye just doesn’t call the deep ball enough.

We have the most difficult man to single-cover in the NFC, and maybe the entire league. We have a great receiving backfield, an incredibly talented rookie wideout who has already made NFL corners miss, and a quarterback who is only comfortable starting a play from six yards behind the line. It ain’t rocket surgery: throw the damn ball.

I don’t want to replace Raye with Holmgren, but I’d like to see an offense that at least looks like they’re trying to let Alex shine. He ain’t Shaun Hill Turbo, guys. He’s Alex Smith.

The 49ers offensive numbers are all improved from last season. The numbers say it’s a better passing team than under Martz and slightly worse running team than under Norv Turner.

He’s done this with his three of his four best offensive players missing multiple games: Gore, Staley and Crabtree. Not to mention a QB switch in the middle. The only additions to the offense from the previous season where Moran Norris (spot player), Glen Coffee (backup) and Crabtree (starter).

What kind of improvement did you reasonably expect? The offense had been bottom of the barrel for two previous season and they have improved to below average without really changing the personnel.

There was a good clip of Dick Vermeil from his time back in Philly where he was addressing the press about the fans displeasure at QB. To paraphrase because I couldn’t fin the quote, “Fans have been getting away with picking the QB here for years . . . they have yet to find one.”

For a weak O-line.

Sometimes I do scratch my head at the play calls. I think the system is a good match for our team. I’d like to see less run on first and second, pass on third.