These used to be bread and butter for our offense. Can someone with more football knowledge than me ( the average fan ) shed some light as to why these patterns are gone? I don't think it's solely due to pressure on the OL, these routes weren't so deep. Is there any logical reason why they might be incompatible with the play designs in lazor's offense, or is it just stubborn adherence to some theoretical aesthetic?
Bill Lazor maybe? Hartline not getting separation like he used to? What I want to see is more slants to Wallace and Miller. Let them use their speed to make plays.
Watch John Gruden Qb Camp with Ryan Tannehill on Youtube or Vimeo, it was predraft 2012. There, they explain a couple of RT interceptions where DB sits on the route, does not break out of pedal. Hartline is not a deep threat for a couple of reasons, one he is not fast or physical, and two, RT does not throw deep or can't throw deep on those routes, so corners sit on those routes frequently. I don't remember if it was against the Bills this years, or last year, RT opened the game on the 1st throw with a pick six on that route. It has not been featured much since.
When you look at the tape, one thing becomes very clear. Bill Lazor's #1 priority in regard to the WRs in this offense was to get Mike Wallace the ball more often. In the early weeks of the season we saw how Wallace was #1 in the progression on a majority of the passing plays. I had Wallace as a sleeper on my fantasy squad because I thought we'd wind up forcing him the ball more in the red zone which is something we definitely did. However, as Tannehill works across the field in his progression Hartline becomes a 3rd and 4th option on some plays. Usually, if the 1st and 2nd options aren't there, the play is more likely to result in a dump-off, throw-away or sack than it is in a completion to the 3rd or 4th option. This is sad considering how good the Tannehill-to-Hartline relationship was last year. Those highlights are fantastic. Hartline could really tightrope the sideline. At the end of the day, I think Lazor was banking on the Tannehill-to-Wallace relationship being better than it was. That relationship was supposed to make us all forget about whatever we were losing with Hartline becoming a less important figure.
You'd have to ask Bill Lazor that question. I'm not sure there is a particularly good answer. I would also like to know why basically all the wide receivers on the roster are under performing. Although, I'm not sure Lazor is going to the Dolphins concern in about a month from now.
Something's missing with his game this year though. He was able to take advantage of a lot of #2 CBs last year and he's not getting the separation this year. We've seen a lot of crucial passes being defensed.
The funny thing is even with the huge drop in production by Hartline he still has more yards after the catch per reception when compared to Wallace...(4.2 versus 4.1)
I'm real tired of the Hartline hate. He is fast - he had plenty of deep catches WITH TANNEHILL! in previous seasons. Also, he looked fast in lazors routes when he caught the ball running the last few games. Its not a coincidence he faded this year. Its Lazors offense. He is one of the last reads BC Lazor has been forcing the ball to Wallace since preseason. All this crap about he's not fast and he sucks is nonsense. They barely even have him running deep routes or sideline routes in this offense. I'm not a Wallace hater either, but everyone is always so thirsty for these great skill guys - truth is skill guys don't matter unless you play well in other areas, and our online allows no time and therefore our play calling is more limited than when we had penny in 08. Fasano played great that year but he "sucked" and was slow too. Everyone all the sudden thinks Hartline, clay, etc all must "suck" BC we are not producing. Who sucks is Dallas Thomas. Get ryan some time and open the playbook and Hartline is much better. Our wrs don't magically "suck" all the sudden. They suffer from poor coaching and poor OL play. Get a new coach who schemes based on talent and draft an OL or LB and we play better. Waste our time cutting a solid WR, and draft some skill position "stud" to play in this scheme w this OL and he'll magically start to "suck" too.