Realistically, I don’t believe O’Brien will be fired this offseason. Cal must hire a GM and a new OC; two men that have no previous relationship with O’Brien.
Basically, O’Brien needs to have his work duties reduced to coaching only - and he needs to improve at that job.
Sean Salisbury said this morning that Watson needs to improve and once he does he’ll be playing at a higher level. I believe that to be true if he gets to work with an OC that develops a scheme that enhances his abilities.
Bottom line is, until the things above happen the offense will continue to be inconsistent. The loss to KC perfectly encapsulated what we’ve seen all year. An offense that one minute looks like a juggernaut and the next a wounded duck
There's a lot wrong with this offense and it starts with OB …. and lets run it up the gut on first down , poor route designs and a host of other issues.
But lets face it , Watson isn't the decision maker he needs to be for this offense or any other system to flourish. He holds the ball until its doomsday …. and teams have zeroed in on that flaw and invite him to do so while keeping him in an ever shrinking pocket. Teams are using his strength of avoiding pressure and extending plays against him - They know he'll stand back there and hang onto it so they invite him to do just that.
Yes , OB's offense sucks …. but Watson sucks at executing OB's sucky offense.
Then maybe we need to call up Cincy and inquire about 1:1 and whatever else we can squeeze out of them for a superstar QB.
That’s not at all what I wrote. I expect him to improve his pocket awareness. That can be coached.
Pocket awareness isn't the issue here , Watson's pocket awareness is very good. He feels pressure and slides around the pocket ….
what he doesn't have is any urgency to get rid of the ball because he thinks he can escape that looming pressure and make a play - Very often he's right but there are also far too many times he isn't or it isn't enough to move the chains or results in sacks.
Watson has to either get the ball out quicker or get out of the pocket quicker - He cant be content to just stand in the pocket waiting for something to open up.
I know people don't want to hear it …. but that offense generated a total of 14 points against the Chiefs Sunday , the defense and special teams accounted for 17.
After going up 24-0 the offense generated a grand total of 7 points the rest of the game.
They couldn't sustain a single drive against a very weak defense missing its best lineman.
Don't take that as me exonerating the defense for their epic failure giving up TD's on 7 straight possessions but …. the offense did NOTHING and Watson is the trigger man of that offense and deserves his share of the criticism.