Well, firstly, I'm not taking it personal.
I've explained at length over the course of today and going back several days, I think, what I mean.
In 2014, they spent the first 5 games trying to run the WCO. They went 1-4 and looked just awful. They then ditched that and reworked the playbook to focus on the run and went 5-6 after that. Not great, but better. The 2015 draft came along and what did they do?
They drafted a power back with explosion and? Tons of OL for a power running scheme. Were these OL that were excellent fits for a WCO? No. Fisher and Snead fleshed out the personnel for a power running play action offensive scheme. What would those be? Well, you could do it using the Coryell variant that Washington used or you could use the Earhardt Perkins variant that Pittsburgh uses. I prefer the Pittsburgh EP variant because it allows for more creativity and better use of "weapons" and deep threats. But WCO? NDSU used a power running WCO offense, but it also had some read options built in. I honestly don't know if the breakdowns fully work without a QB who does some running. Those pro concepts translate directly to the NFL, but I dunno if you'd want to run that offense IN the NFL.
So now we're in 2016. We've had 3 years of drafts and virtually every pick and FA acquisition has pointed to building a power running, play action offense. Now it's time to get the QB.
There are two QBs available at the top. One is a prototypical big armed, physical, athletic, super-smart, QB who's spent 5 years in a power running, play action, pro style offense. The other is a slim, accurate, slippery, very smart QB who's spent 3 years in a spread and looks to fit the WCO like a glove due to his decision making, arm and touch.
Now, every other player is basically a fit for this power running offense. We don't really have any receivers who are fits for WCO. Fisher prefers big receivers like Britt and Quick. We don't know about Bailey. Marquez is still very new and Tavon is more of a weapon than an X or Y, per se. Gurley is a bell cow back, not someone who's going to get 90 receptions a year. Not that he couldn't, mind you, he's good enough for that. Point being that there are no players on offense who FIT the WCO. The WCO uses lots of pulling guards, for example, smaller, faster guards who can get to the second level in a hurry. We've got hogmolleys who can crush that first block and then watch Gurley blaze past.
Now, in THIS environment, who are they enamored with? Who are they going to draft?
Yep, the WCO QB. And, in all likelihood, revert to that disastrous WCO that Fisher wanted to run before, but couldn't. So glad he spent the last 3 years drafting for an entirely different offense. /smh
As for Fisher, yes, we have 20+ years of his history that we can examine. It's not that hard. We know what he did and didn't do for McNair and Vince Young. We know how he had success and how and why he didn't. With Fisher, it's actually really simple stuff.
That's why those who really know their stuff, guys like Greg Cosell, Mike Mayock, and a bunch of other tape grinders said pretty early that Wentz was the "slam dunk" pick for the Rams. It's not that Wentz is SO much better than Goff. He's not. It's that when you look at how Fisher's constructed this roster and what kind of player has had success under Fisher, Wentz is just beyond the obvious choice. This is from people who've known Fisher for decades.
So, Fisher's going to have his WCO QB and his power running, play action offense. And we know how well this regime has done adjusting the offense to its personnel...
But back to Fisher. Developed means that a QB enters the league and they not only learn better the craft of being a Quarterback in the NFL, but also how to execute a Pro offense. It is clear after all this time that Fisher and his many OCs can get a QB to sometimes execute a hodgepodge offense. Sometimes. They cannot and have not significantly improved the ability to be a thrower, per se. Mike McCarthy truly developed Aaron Rodgers, not just from a scheme standpoint, but also his mechanics, his physicality...everything. Fisher has never developed a QB like that. The best Fisher can say is that he "coached up" a QB in McNair and he gets tons of credit for that. But "coached up" is not developed.
McNair never matured into the thrower that McNabb (his best game was a 5TD game on a badly sprained ankle near the end of his career) or Roethlisberger or Warren Moon became. He always had to rely on making something happen. That's great and he was great at it.
Problem for now is that they just got someone who needs to be actually developed and in over 20 seasons of being an HC...he's never, ever done it. Not once. Moreover, he just spent the last 3 years drafting people for an offense he's not going to run.
If you'd like more specific details on any part of this, just highlight the part and I'll try to break it down.
