Worst coaching play calls of 2020?

The War Room Detroit Lions — The Den
#1

Since there is not a ton of news at this time of year… I have been watching some film and games from 2020 to learn more about some of our new players and coaches.

In another thread here there has been a little discussion about well Lynn (OC) and Glenn (DC) will call plays… plus I have highlighted a few plays recently that shows McVay was not a perfect play caller for Goff as well.

Gregg Williams got fired as the Jets DC after he called a zero coverage against the Raiders… which led to an unlikely game-winning bomb to Henry Ruggs. That seems like the obvious choice for #1 bad play call of the year.

Also sitting here watching a game on NFL network (Raiders vs. Dolphins) that I watched already once during the year… and I knew the Raiders blew it late in the game. I just didn’t realize how bad the defensive call was that allowed the Dolphins to win the game.

The Raiders chose to NOT score a TD when they had the ball, perhaps afraid to resemble the Falcons loss after Gurley accidentally fell into the endzone against the Lions. They settled for a FG, giving them onlya 2 point lead with 19 seconds left. But… the Dolphins had zero TOs left. Just tackle 1 guy in bounds and the clock runs.

So what does the DC call?
Drop 8 in coverage? Nah.
Cover 4? Nope.
Surely they would cover the sidelines to force a throw in middle of field? eh… maybe not.

They run a cover 2 zone with 3 short zone defenders inside the numbers!

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Miami needs 35 yards to get even a 57 yard FG attempt… and the Raiders have 5 guys playing underneath coverage in an old Tampa 2 look.

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And there is Mack Hollins running free to make the catch that would result in an embarassing loss for Gruden… right in his TURKEY HOLE. :rofl: :poultry_leg:
They ran a defensive coverage that has a weakness of giving up plays down the sidelines!

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When I saw that coverage… I just couldn’t resist this post!!!
For anyone that needs a little refresher on Gruden and his ridiculous comments…

ESPN did a disservice to viewers with Jon Gruden’s “turkey hole”

Posted by Michael David Smith on November 7, 2017, 3:22 PM EST

If ESPN wonders why last night’s ratings were so bad, perhaps it should examine how many people turned off the TV after the fifth time Jon Gruden said the words, “turkey hole.”

An embarrassingly bad segment of ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast started when Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford made a nice throw downfield, finding a receiver in the Packers’ secondary. At first, Gruden appeared to simply be analyzing the play.

“Watch Stafford fit the ball in the hole between the corner and the safety,” Gruden said. “I call that the turkey hole. Don’t ask me why.”

I just love the irony on this play!

Feel free to share some more plays that make you scratch your head a bit.

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#2

Gregg Williams should have been fired for being Gregg Williams. Then again it’s also the Jets fault for hiring Gregg Williams knowing the whole time that he was Gregg Williams.

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#3

Terryl Austin didn’t get whacked for guarding the sidelines on Erin’s Hail Mary…which was arguably the most terribleist call this millennium…

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#4

We had 6 frickin guys in the endzone. Are we really that hell bent that guy #7 was going to come in and be the savior the other 6 were not?

At some point we have to say the guys on the field didn’t execute, and the Packers did a hell of a job executing. They came right back with successful hail mary’s against the Giants and Cardinals. In the end it turned out the Mike McCarthy put in an abnormal amount of time dedicated to throwing hail mary passes in practice.

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#5

Just ignore the bad facemask call that allowed Erin the second chance. That “hail Mary” never happened in my book.

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#6

From a Lions fan perspective, I saw horrific play calling every week last year.

Here comes AP subbing into the game for Swift, automatic running play every time for a 1 yard gain, setting up 2nd and 9, completely wasted downs.

And then almost every series on defense, Patricia would play cover 0 across the board, including his large, slow linebackers matched up on TE’s and RB’s over and over and over again, just getting lit up like a tree on Christmas eve. And he couldn’t figure out why the other team had 500 yards and 40 points every week, lol.

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#7

The Gurley TD has to be on the list. Zero reason to run the ball.

#8

They wanted Pitts and it worked!

#9

No, guy #4 needed to be rushing instead if standing 15 yards from the LOS on the sideline

#10

I can’t even buy into that idea because the results of the next 2 hail mary’s from Rodgers pretty much crushed most of the talk that was going on at the time. We kept saying “well what you needed to do was X! Its easy! He wouldn’t have stood a chance!”

The Giants rushed 4 and got smoked for a TD by Erin. Then there was the talk of “well everyone knows you just have to overload blitz and force him left! Any dummy knows that!” In comes the Cardinals who rush 7 and flush him left. Touchdown Erin Rodgers!!!

Green Bay Packers Reaction GIF by Martellus Bennett's Text Back Pack

#11

Bad defense, bad execution. Bad ref play before.

One guy guarding the dude holding the 1st down marker is a problem.

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#12

Getting back to the theme of the thread, I’m going to guess that anytime Mitch Trubisky enjoys your defensive playcalls to end a game…its horrible playcalling. Remember when he shredded us to end the game last year and then said they 100% knew what Patricia was going to do so it made the reads easy after struggling with multiple looks all game up to that point?

Ah, good times!

chicago bears hug GIF by NBA