Don’t post often, but moved to after watching an offense that — despite the loss of the player who is clearly the primary engine to the offense’s comfort — did not operate cohesively pre- or post-snap. The one exception may be the rhythm shared between Watson and Cooper. What’s concerning is that Watson appears subject to scheming players open on basic reads, in the infrequent occasions that happens in Stefanski’s play set.
Rather than elevating the play of his skill position teammates (DPJ, Njoku, Moore), Watson seems determined by their limitations. A good offensive play caller and a franchise quarterback elevate the play of those around them — rather than stand subject to them.
There are plenty of underachievers out there tonight, defensively (Garrett, Emerson, and Newsome among them) and offensively (Watson, Teller, Wills, Bryant) — which makes my concern two fold, neither option is pleasant and may be both at the same time:
1) Either Watson is facing defenses that limit what made him so valuable back in 2019-2020 (stretching the back side of the defense in 20-30+ yard attempts + completions), and he is unable to recognize, adapt to, or manipulate the coverages that limit what value he brings through the air.
And/Or
(2) Stefanski is at a crossroads between a playbook that on paper makes sense given his personnel with the reality of the players who are actually executing — be it Watson, Moore, Njoku, or the entire offensive line (which seems a tad overrated). I also recognize that making sweeping conclusions after two weeks of play in a new season is a fool’s errand — but I only share these two because they are so reminiscent of the issues we saw last year, when certain excuses held slightly more sway than this year…
In the end, this week strikes me as a regression from Week 1 to last season, wherein Watson tried to play hero too much by hanging onto the ball and seeking to make the big play (hence the sacks, without absolving Jed Wills of his characteristic uninspired play). In my mind, Stefanski needs to draw up more quick hitting/less slow developing plays that take the thinking and creativity out of Watson’s primary mindset and capitalize and leverage the quick-hitting accuracy(?) of Watson with skill positions players like Moore, DPJ, and Cooper. That’s not to say Watson need be a one-read quarterback, but we see the risk of holding onto the ball in hopes of “making” a play downfield can have.
Lots of issues to sort out on both sides of the ball. I’m more optimistic about the defensive side of the ball, despite the blown coverage on the Pickens TD. If we’re going to go anywhere, our offense needs to help take us there, and we aren’t “there” yet.
