I think we also have to consider his leaving might also take other assistants from our staff that might further change things.
If so, then BP probably promotes somebody off the current staff and work with them instead and hire other assistants to replace whomever he moves up and/or whomever leaves if Payton takes them.
And as he did with moving to defense to help Zimmer with the 3-4 shift..
..BP will takeover the offensive playcalling again and assist the new OC with putting together the gameplan per his wishes..as Payton did for BP in 2003-2004.
At this point in the game, I don't see BP bringing in anybody with two years left on his contract as a new OC and suffering thru the problems of having to re-teach the offense.
BP will seize complete control of the offense and the OC will be strictly an organizer and protege' in a learning position.
I'm OK with that.
If BP does this off-season for the offense what he did for the defense last year, we'll be fine. And him taking complete control of the players signed or drafted and drawing up the gameplans and working closer with Drew Bledsoe to get the offense cleaned up and running better is all that's needed.
And some good luck for a change with injuries, of course.
One of the biggest issues for our team since BP arrived has been injuries to key players over the season and how it affects what it can do. In 2003, this team was remarkably injury-free and we performed beyond expectation with marginal talent.
In both 2004 and 2005, we had significant injuries to this team starting all the way back to Marco Rivera and his back injury in the off-season to losing Cundiff before the opener and it never stopped all season long.
It's one of those things that if it happens, because the cap doesn't allow depth to any extent, it's going to change your team's abilities.
To me, the biggest injuries were losing our K early and then OT, CB and RB all at the same period of the season and we never were able to recover.
Those four guys were cornerstones of the offense and the CB going down was a revisit to the problems in 2004 where we had no strong play once Henry was injured from that position..even as good as Aaron Glenn played..and he too was injured.
So while losing Payton might be either a blessing or a curse at this point, I think with BP taking a more hands-on interest in the offense and getting players healthy again and adding a couple more key ingredients to the offense..
..we'll be fine.
I wish Payton well. Frankly, I expected more from him after he came from the Giants and I didn't see it. I saw the exact same problems with our offense that I saw when he was in NY and got fired as their OC there.
An offense that was predictable, an offense that was conservative, turned over the ball too often, didn't spread the defense with enough throwing downfield and that had trouble in the RedZone.
None of those issues ever changed for the better in my opinion in the last three years. Even with Bledsoe here, some of it improved, but only because I always got the feeling that he wasn't completely happy with it but was a good soldier and did what he was asked..not what he does best.
I think with Payton gone and BP and Bledsoe directly in each other's head, we'll see more improvement offensively.
Here's hoping.
parcellswaterboy