In thinking about the legitimate criticism of the play-calling in the second half in which we bascially abandoned the running game even while the game was within one score, the real underlying issue is that going away from the running game made us lose our identity. We are a running team, and without that element in place, the rest of the team can get off-kilter.It's the use of Doug Martin and Charles Sims up the middle and to the outside that opens up the passing lanes for Evans and Jackson, and holds the linebackers in so that our tight end can get free. It's the running game that gives Winston an extra half-second to throw the ball, or brings the safety up to open up the bomb or the screen. Koetter has given this team's offense an identity...we need to be true to it, or for you old-timers, it'll be 2001 all over again when a talented team struggled all year because it wasn't doing what it was built to do.On defense right now one of the big problems is that I'm not sure we have a consistent identity. No one knows if we are blitzing team or if we are a team that stays back. We don't know if we are stopping the run first. We don't know if we are a man team or a zone team. All we know is that we give up a lot of seam/dart/slant patterns. However, an identity is formed by what YOU do, not in what the other team does. I have faith that Koetter recognizes his mistakes and changes things back for the Atlanta game and the others, or we will not be doing what we are built to do right now. As for the defense, there are five games left. Let's go back to what we did vs. Dallas and the Eagles and live or die with playing more man coverage, doing some A-gap blitzes and corner blitzes, and covering the screen. I want the play-offs, and whether we go or not though, it's my hope that we and the defensive players go through the rest of the season knowing what they are being asked to do. Against the Colts, it looked like random play calling because there was no continuity with what we had done before. That's one thing I think happened against the Colts. It's also what I hope can be addressed vs. the Falcons.
