We can say the players don't do this or don't do that all day long but at the end of the day Fisher seemingly has final say in almost everything about this team since he got here. It's his job to choose what players hit the field, it's his job to make sure they are ready and coached properly, it's his job to make sure he has coaches capable of doing the job. It all falls on him. He said it himself this week to the media... the record is on him. And it is 100% true. I like Fisher, I really do. But it is 100% on him to fix this ship if he gets another chance this offseason.
In my opinion, that falls on fixing offensive play calling and coaching across the board on offense. We can say the players don't execute but when the defense always knows what's coming it makes it so hard even if executed properly. I don't know how anyone could defend the play calling this season. It's basic and completely predictable. Opposing teams are jumping plays and ALWAYS right. This has to change period. I've seen a couple of good halves of play calling. The first half of Detroit was amazing.... imaginative, unpredictable, and used the field both vertically and horizontally. Besides that game I just haven't seen anything remotely NFL like in creativity and flexibility.
I seriously think that's all we need.
A well versed and creative OC. We can keep the ground game as a focus, I am completely fine with that. But the run plays have to be diverse and the pass plays have to stretch the field. A real NFL OC adapts to his weaknesses and I've never seen that once from Boras.
As far as players go, I rag on the receivers and TEs a lot but I'm OK'ish with them. It would be wonderful to have a Beckam of course but what we have is serviceable. I like all of our rookies skillsets and think they are a bright future for us.
O-Line- I like Barnes but the dude gets abused a lot and we could use a huge upgrade for our young QB. A stud guard would help as well. Wichman and Brown both look like rookies still so I could see development happening there. Havenstein is ok enough at RT. Grob just needs to clean up his technique still. He loses too early on plays still, needs better foot movement at times... takes his body out of the play too easily at times.
Gurley needs used in the passing game more creatively. He's also more of a one cut and run RB and he's not being used like that. This run straight up the ass of your guard and into tackles isn't working. I think play creativity would help him more than anything. And as others have stated I think he's been playing with some injuries all season.
On defense, we need another DE pass rusher not named Quinn. Quinn is what he is, an amazing edge rusher but nothing else. He has his one trick, turn the corner and pray the QB gets flushed backwards or the tackle is too slow but usually teams know to simply push him out of the play. We need a power rusher opposite of him. Hayes is still serviceable but he's not getting much pressure this year.
OLB, I was really liking Forrest before his injury and I am liking Littleton. If Kroenke decides to blow team management up and Williams leaves we'd need to invest in some depth here because more than likely a new DC would go more traditional sets.
Secondary, we need Gaines to heal up more and get back to his rookie form. If that happens and Tru comes back we're not bad here. Obviously depth is always a great thing, how Jordan performs the rest of this season would go a long ways in answering whether we need help here. At safety, McD is still a thumper for Williams D. I'm not sure how he'd perform in a traditional safety role if the defense were to be changed. Alexander I'm take him or leave him at this point. Would like an upgrade if possible but he's serviceable.
Special teams is basically the gold standard of the NFL at the moment. Change as little as possible.
tldr: We need a stud OC and I think our current team as is can go far. And other mostly useless position opinions.
