Dan Henning playcalling stinks

i think it was very obvious in this game, play calling, and game-planning for the win went out the window. it went out the window the second we lined up jason allen, nolan carroll, and micah johnson all out on the field in the first quarter against the falcon's 1s.

and the play-calling was way different last week. deep shots, long routes on first down. im not concerned. i'm not worrying prior to week 1.

Really, if this was week 5 or 6 and we were seeing this type of stuff, I'd be pissed. But it is the 3rd preseason game, a game that was not game planned for nor practiced for.

I was hoping for Nolan to bring heat once or twice but I pretty much knew he wasn't going too. I think we'll look quite a bit better once the season starts, but I'm going to be ticked if we start slow again like the last 2 years.

"Sethdaddy8 wrote:

i think it was very obvious in this game, play calling, and game-planning for the win went out the window. it went out the window the second we lined up jason allen, nolan carroll, and micah johnson all out on the field in the first quarter against the falcon's 1s.

and the play-calling was way different last week. deep shots, long routes on first down. im not concerned. i'm not worrying prior to week 1.

Dude, we're not talking about personnel. It's simple 2 min offense 101.

Hell, we're not even talking about playcalling as much as we are formation and clock management. How difficult is it to see that this team sucks under 2 minutes?

Even Bob effin' Griese understands that it's just plain stupid to waste the time to run up and spike the ball when you have 2 timeouts left.

If we start off slow we are screwed. Atleast need to be 2-1 with the loss at Minnesota at worst. Need to win those division games.

"Da-PhinZ wrote:

I admit some of his calls were off, but the team should still be able to execute them. I hated how he would disrupt the offense with pointless run calls The biggest problem I saw was with the O-Line, they we pathetic today.

In lighter news at least "The Flyswatter"(VD) looked good.

Bingo. While I think Henning will occasionally out-smart himself, the offense can and will be productive if the team executes properly. Tonight, the offensive line play was pretty poor. Perhaps it's all the shuffling. Or perhaps all that shuffling is happening because guys really aren't stepping it up that much.

"Tin Indian wrote:

Really, if this was week 5 or 6 and we were seeing this type of stuff, I'd be pissed. But it is the 3rd preseason game, a game that was not game planned for nor practiced for.

I was hoping for Nolan to bring heat once or twice but I pretty much knew he wasn't going too. I think we'll look quite a bit better once the season starts, but I'm going to be ticked if we start slow again like the last 2 years.

Don't brush it off and then divert the topic to Nolan.

YOU DON'T NEED TO GAMEPLAN FOR A 2 MINUTE OFFENSE!

Every team practices the 2 min. drill!

They simply suck at it. Period.

"Pandarilla wrote:

Dude, we're not talking about personnel. It's simple 2 min offense 101.

Hell, we're not even talking about playcalling as much as we are formation and clock management. How difficult is it to see that this team sucks under 2 minutes?

Even Bob effin' Griese understands that it's just plain stupid to waste the time to run up and spike the ball when you have 2 timeouts left.

I liked the spike, the way it played out. we had the ball at the what, 7? with 11 seconds and a time out. we put in a package with fasano, martin and marshall...i dont know. i think the backer made a nice play...a play that a 12 year former pro bowler is gonna make.

as a whole, we need to liberate the passing game a bit, and im not gonna sweat it until the season starts. last week was good, this weak, you could feel the shackles...maybe it was for a reason.

"brandon27 wrote:

I agree... but lets not forget, its preseason. We're not going to show our hand just yet.

If his trend of strange play calls continues into the regular season like it has the last year or two, lets talk about it then. Right now, this shouldnt be much of an issue just yet.

Ive heard this bull**** excuse for the past 3 years now.

We do the same **** during the season.

it seems to me that henning doesnt trust henne. when penningtion got in there, it looked like he cracked open a new playbook

Henning is ****ing horrible and nothing anyone says about him will convince me to believe otherwise. I've hated him ever since the Cardinals game back in 2008. The only reason he's on this coaching staff is because of Parcells and his loyalty to his guys, and the success of the wildcat which I honestly wish we'd can outright.

I don't care about the personnel on this football team. As long as Henning is calling the shots this offense will be inconsistent at best. We ran the football twice with less than one minute to go in the half. Blew two timeouts, and took time away from a pretty nice drive on Henne's behalf, which is one of the reasons why he tried to force something in the redzone (still a mistake on his part, but come on).

In a way I wanted us to sign T.O. just so somebody would go off on the guy. In a sad way I still kind of hope Marshall ends up doing so.

"Rocky Raccoon wrote:

It's PRESEASON! The play calling is going to be vanilla and boring. They're not going to give anything away.

exactly. lol. complaining about preseason game playcalling :lol:

"Rocky Raccoon wrote:

It's PRESEASON! The play calling is going to be vanilla and boring. They're not going to give anything away.

I'd normally agree with this, but he's never impressed me to begin with, especially outside of the wildcat.... I wanted him canned from 2009. In fact I was never thrilled with the hiring to begin with.

i like henning. he may get too cute at times but 90% of his gameplans are solid. the guy always comes up with a game plan to exploit the other teams weaknesses, even when we're outmatched

the "its preseason" argument is ridiculous, when he made the same stupid ass calls during crunch time of the regular season all of last year. go watch the colts 2 minute drill last year if you dont believe me :wink2:

"Sethdaddy8 wrote:

I liked the spike, the way it played out. we had the ball at the what, 7? with 11 seconds and a time out. we put in a package with fasano, martin and marshall...i dont know. i think the backer made a nice play...a play that a 12 year former pro bowler is gonna make.

as a whole, we need to liberate the passing game a bit, and im not gonna sweat it until the season starts. last week was good, this weak, you could feel the shackles...maybe it was for a reason.

It's a classic error Seth. Maybe I'm wrong but didn't they have 2 timeouts at that juncture? They could have had first and goal with 20 seconds and had three shots at the end zone with time left for a field goal and a timeout left. This makes it less risky on first and second down. I'm not even upset with the playcall in that instance, just the clock management.

"SICK wrote:

the "its preseason" argument is ridiculous, when he made the same stupid ass calls during crunch time of the regular season all of last year. go watch the colts 2 minute drill last year if you dont believe me :wink2:

That was the worst clock management in the history of football at any level.

And there's no way that could have been on Pennington. I'll never buy that argument.

Seriously though, if I see Ronnie Brown rushing the football with 40 seconds to go in the half with Miami in the opposing team's territory.... I'm going to flip.

"Sethdaddy8 wrote:

I liked the spike, the way it played out. we had the ball at the what, 7? with 11 seconds and a time out. we put in a package with fasano, martin and marshall...i dont know. i think the backer made a nice play...a play that a 12 year former pro bowler is gonna make.

as a whole, we need to liberate the passing game a bit, and im not gonna sweat it until the season starts. last week was good, this weak, you could feel the shackles...maybe it was for a reason.

exactly. the shackles were on and we called vanilla all night long. no film preparation juts plays designed to see how players match up one on one. not designed to win a game but get a better feel for our players

"adamprez2003 wrote:

i like henning. he may get too cute at times but 90% of his gameplans are solid. the guy always comes up with a game plan to exploit the other teams weaknesses, even when we're outmatched

The Bills had a weakness defending passes thrown by running backs?

For a team that has traditionally struggled early, this TC and preseason hasn't been a revelation, but appears to be mostly more of the same. There is a difference between calling vanilla plays and just calling crap.

Will David Lee replace him by the midway point of the season? Here's the thing, Henne is going to get off to a little bit of a slow start this season... it's to be expected with a new #1 receiver, while he works out the timing... btw, Marshall is a ****ing beast... he cuts better than Bess at times. So amazingly fluid out of his breaks. Ok, I digressed... lol... With Henne getting the slow start, the focus is really on the running game to carry (pun intended) the offense thru these first four games. I'm expecting 2 and 2 out of the gates. Anything less is a disaster... anything better is a god send. But the narrow margin of error for this offense still exists until Henne gets the shackles removed and times up with his receivers. Saw glimpses last week... maybe we're better on the road for some reason from a timing standpoint.

"texanphinatic wrote:

The Bills had a weakness defending passes thrown by running backs?

For a team that has traditionally struggled early, this TC and preseason hasn't been a revelation, but appears to be mostly more of the same. There is a difference between calling vanilla plays and just calling crap.

in preseason you generally want isolation type plays to see how players play one on one. its closer to training drills than it is a football game. viewing it as a football game is just the wrong way to look at it IMO. Just the way I feel.

Honestly the only position I'm worried about is Cam Wake. The guy is simply not showing me any ability of being able to dominate and we really need someone to wreak havoc from the WOLB position

"adamprez2003 wrote:

exactly. the shackles were on and we called vanilla all night long. no film preparation juts plays designed to see how players match up one on one. not designed to win a game but get a better feel for our players

We need to get this team rolling. Theres no feeling out process anymore. Get the ball moving to get our guys some EFFING confidence!

Theres no reason to throw any shackles on Henne. When Henne starts rolling its a thing of beauty, the playcalling indeed was bullsh*t.

Matt Ryan was airing it out, wtf can't we try to get some timing down? We just paid B Marsh a billion $$$ to what? Block for the screens and wildcat?

I know its preseason, but this isnt a vet team. Let this passing game get some timing down...

"adamprez2003 wrote:

exactly. the shackles were on and we called vanilla all night long. no film preparation juts plays designed to see how players match up one on one. not designed to win a game but get a better feel for our players

Nobody's upset about that aspect of our offense tonight. There's no Vanilla to clock management. There's no point to dumbing down your 2 min offense.

"Mcduffie81 wrote:

We need to get this team rolling. Theres no feeling out process anymore. Get the ball moving to get our guys some EFFING confidence!

Theres no reason to throw any shackles on Henne. When Henne starts rolling its a thing of beauty, the playcalling indeed was bullsh*t.

Matt Ryan was airing it out, wtf can't we try to get some timing down? We just paid B Marsh a billion $$$ to what? Block for the screens and wildcat?

I know its preseason, but this isnt a vet team. Let this passing game get some timing down...

we were 2-0 going into this preseason game. we had no reason to win this game. it was more important to evaluate players. the only time winning a preseason game is important is when you are 0 for whatever. I think you have to win one game but thats about it. The Colts are one of the worst preseason teams in the NFL and they always come out ready to play weeek one. We'll be fine as long as our offensive line can block and Cameron Wake can actually create a play

"Pandarilla wrote:

Nobody's upset about that aspect of our offense tonight. There's no Vanilla to clock management. There's no point to dumbing down your 2 min offense.

i think we have clock management problems every year early. thats more on sparano and the players than henning. doesnt sparano call all the timeouts