This could be a blessing in disguise where Cramsey finally has his guy.
If he is not being handcuffed by Doc.
I'm not sure that leads to something different. I have been bothered by the comments in this article since last year:
Green:
"Now, we've formed a bond. Going into this year, I'm more understanding of why he's calling certain plays at certain moments, and I understand what he wants to do when he sends certain personnel onto the field."
That bothers me. I know most QB coaches/OCs want their QB to think just like them. And I agree to a certain extent. But if your QB knows what play/direction the OC wants to go just based on the personnel he sends out onto the field, that is a bad sign. Why? A good DC will have an analyst/QC studying that all week. They will have tendencies based on your personnel. If you're sending out a two tight end look, if you're putting a certain tight end on the field, if you're putting an X receiver in a certain location unusual from where he usually is, then a good DC will know what you're trying to do (assuming his analyst/QC is worth anything). If your QB knows what you're going to do just based on the personnel an OC is sending on the field? That's bad news, because I assure you, a good DC will know the same thing.
When I was an analyst at an FBS, I had many play signals from an offense down by the second quarter. Between being able to steal some play signals that were inadvertently captured in game film from previous games, many offenses using similar signals for the same play (a hitch route many times is hitching up your pants, a hitch-and-go many times is hitching up your pants and then pointing up, a slant many times is just your hand doing a slanting pattern, a post many times is using your hand to put a post into the ground, a drive concept many times is driving a steering wheel, a mesh concept many times is meshing your hands together), and using binoculars from the box to identify who the signal caller was and seeing what play aligned with the signals, I could quickly get a good indication of what was going on. I almost always could tell if it would be a run or pass based on the type of signals and length of the signals. I'd have a GA with binoculars telling me the personnel about to go in, and once I got the signal, I'd relay to the DC what play he was about to see. Teams that would run a "look at me" philosophy where the QB would get to the line, have the defense show what it was doing, then step away from the line and look back to see the play signal didn't really change anything other than to force our defense to quickly get the defensive play call after I relayed it to the DC. So if your QB can determine what you're going to do based on simply the personnel, I damn well assure you that a good staff will know based on the personnel and signals.
Cramsey:
"There was another time in the spring and I started calling the formation and he rattled off the rest of the play. Once you get to that point, thinking the same way, then we're one step closer to being where we want to be."
Again, I don't like that. Now, if you just installed a play that day that utilizes a certain formation that isn't used a lot, it doesn't take a genius of a QB to know what you're going to call after calling the formation. Or if it's a game week and that formation isn't used a lot, especially in a specific situation (3rd-and-long), a QB may realize what pass play is coming based on what plays are on the call sheet that week. But that isn't a QB being on the same page as an OC. Other than those situations, if your QB knows what is coming based just on the formation, that is a very bad sign. A good defensive staff will be able to determine the same thing, especially if you've only run one or two plays out of that same formation in the past or earlier in the game.
