I’m asking a question, but I may also possibly suggesting McCarthy set a limit for himself, and bench himself, if we’re in the 2nd half and down by 3 scores. Or I’m suggesting that the team work as a group, and have a system to hold even the HC responsible, since he’s juggling OC duties, and you can’t rely on individuals to self monitor.
The Standard.
McCarthy was talking about the standard for the team at the start of the season.
But I’m talking about a standard for a mid-game switch when there’s still enough time left. I’m not talking about a big, dramatic ordeal that gets leaked out to the media. But you can subtly hand play-calling duties over if you can’t get anything going. If you’re getting handled, the best thing you can do is have a backup plan. It’s usually the team with the best gunslinger, but it’s also often times the team with the best fallback plan, that usually has the most come-from-behind wins.
I’m not trying to bellyache about this team. I’m talking about McCarthy’s own words before the season. What do those words really mean? If we’re talking about "The Standard," aren’t we also applying that to McCarthy on a level more than just words? If we are applying it, then it would become policy and also part of implementing a new "The Standard."
Otherwise, you’re telling our players to set their standard to the highest, but games can also come down to who has the highest standard at Xs and Os. Let’s not pretend these games are always won by the best athletes. Sometimes, the better coached team wins, by outwitting the other team on the field, and just executing on their end. It happens. That’s why it truly is Any Given Sunday in this league.
There’s no need to continue captaining the Titanic after you hit the iceberg: you had one job, and you blew it.
Another captain would maybe have the guts to actually save the passengers. Or another captain may have had a more organized approach with the lifeboats. Unlikely, with so much panic, but there could have been a different outcome if another captain steered the ship the other way. Sometimes, a team has your number. Like I think the 9ers have McCarthy’s number.
One thing I dislike about McCarthy: he’s not great at engineering comebacks.
Since McCarthy has gotten here, he really hasn’t been able to engineer games to put Dak in a position to mount a comeback. The game against the Chargers, who I think are an underrated team, when all is said and done, if you look at them on paper, and their film is pretty good where I can see them getting hot down the stretch even.
Great game by Dak in LA. I just feel for him. I see he’s a good player. You can blame the 49ers game on him. But the fact is it’s difficult for anyone to have success at QB when the Cowboys come out and very predictably do the same thing they do every game. I feel like McCarthy thinks he’s hiding the playoff playbook. But if your scheme is good, it shouldn’t matter what they see on tape.
I would personally be open to having Dak calling plays. But this has always been one of my biggest gripes with McCarthy. Because Moore had the ability to perform well in this area, but McCarthy never developed any knowledge of what Moore was doing, and therefore, had no input on what plays to call. So, there was some obvious tension there from the beginning, and it didn’t have to be like that. There should have been some interaction there, because two people working towards the same goal are 9 times out of 10 better than one, although there are always examples of overachievers, and that’s what I believe Moore has the potential to be, at times.
My point is, at the beginning of the season, due to poor annunciating, I couldn’t quite understand most of what McCarthy was saying to the team. But it seemed to be his team theme of that opening speech was about a "standard," which, as great as some of our players are, comes down to how you carry yourself and even more about holding yourself accountable. So, what is the threshold to set egos aside and do what’s best for the team to get the win?
At what threshold or situation, if any, should McCarthy be willing to hand over the play-calls to someone else like Dak and/or Shottenheimer?
The Standard to me means planning for the worst and holding even the HC accountable. That’s a higher standard.
