What a Scam:" I've never run this style of offense before." Mike LaFleur
By Walter Mitchell
Last night while watching the Panthers versus the Packers on Thursday Night Football, I was thinking of how much Jonathan Gannon screwed the Cardinals while he was the head coach. The defense that the Packers were playing last night is night-and-day more aggressive and disciplined that Gannon's ever was in Arizona.
This disparity is as wide and deep as the Grand Canyon.
Yes, Gannon has more developed talent to work with in Green Bay, but as was the case with Vance Joseph in his first season with Sean Payton, now that for the first time in 4 years he was surrounded by experienced front office execs and coaches, someone in Packers' organization was able to show Gannon how to address and correct the flaws in his defensive schemes.
Now, having heard this week on the Burns and Gambo Show from Mike LaFleur that he has never coached the current style of offense that he has the Cardinals playing, I cannot help but believe that Mike LaFleur, an inexperienced, over-his-head, ill-equipped first year head coach is now screwing the Cardinals once again.
At least LaFleur is working his ass off on the sidelines, rather than standing outside the lines as aloof as a cross-armed statue.
The Wole Point of Hiring LaFleur
The whole point of hiring Mike LaFleur who has yet to prove he can run a top-level offense in the NFL (having failed in his two seasons as the Jets' OC in 2021 and 2022) was him bringing his keen inside knowledge of Mike Shanahan's and Sean McVay's offense to the Cardinals in what could and should be a conglomeration scheme of the best of both offenses.
Instead, LaFleur's offense in Arizona looks nothing like the 49ers' and Rams'.
Now we have learned why. Mike LaFleur is trying something brand new.
In terms of the reasonable expectations upon Mike LaFleur's hiring as head coach, this is like buying tickets to go see the world's best Led Zeppelin cover band and arriving to find it is actually a concert of your every-day run-of-the-mill rendition of the boy band Menudo.
If you are feeling the way I am, the, we want our money back.
What a freaking scam.
Look at these 2026 NFC West offensive numbers:
Points Per Game:
ARI --- 20.3 --- #26
LAR --- 24.3 ---#10
SF --- 28.1 --- #3
Yards Per Game:
ARI --- 313.9 --- #23
LAR --- 399.1 --- #1
SF --- 371.4 --- #8
PFF Pass Blocking Grade Rankings:
ARI --- #23
LAR --- #9
SF --- #1
PFF Run Blocking Grades:
ARI --- #18
LAR --- #6
SF --- #4
Note: Matthew Stafford is the most astute pre-game and pre-snap pass protection caller in the NFL. However, it appears that Mike LaFleur while in LA was not quite paying attention to Stafford's preparations. This year once again the Rams have a top ten grade in pass blocking, while the Cardinals are ranked #23.
LaFleur's OC should have been a veteran OL coach
At Red Rain we were pleading from the start, seeing as Mike LaFleur, like Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, is a head coach who calls the plays, the Cardinals had a great opportunity to hire one of the best offensive line coaches in the NFL to be the OC, the same way the Cowboys did for Brian Schiottenheimer when they hired Klayton Adams as OC. The Cowboys currently are scoring 27.0 points per game, which is #5 in the NFL.
Just as Mike LaFleur agreed to retain struggling defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, he also agreed to retain second year offensive line coach Justin Frye. These moves were surprising and highly disappointing because it showed that Mike LaFleur, as a head coach candidate, did not have his own choices for DC and OLC in tow.
It was also very disappointing. because Mike LaFleur's brother Matt LaFleur, as the veteran head coach of the Green Bay Packers would know as well as anyone, a new head coach should insist on hiring all of his own assistant coaches, because they would be beholding to him and likely much more aligned to his philosophies.
The question is --- who influenced Mike LaFleur to run a system that he had never run before?
Monti Ossenfort?
Nathaniel Hackett?
His brother Matt?
Or did Mike LaFleur, out of allegiance to Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, not want to be accused of plagiarism? Especially because the Cardinals play in the same division?
Well, Liam Coen has had no problems taking Sean McVay's best concepts and play designs with him to the Jaguars. After all, it is a copycat league. This season, at 4-2 and coming off a stunning 13-4 rookie season has his Jaguars #6 in the league in scoring at 25.7 points per game. He and his staff have done a remarkable job of improving the level of QB Trevor Lawrence's play and upgrading the production of their playmakers.
Perfect Sense
It would have made perfect sense for LaFleur to run Mike LaFleur's same bread and butter, time-tested plays, not only because it would make the Cardinals' offense harder to stop, but it would also give the Cardinals' defense a stronger chance to defend those plays, which for years and even decades they have been consistently unable to do so.
The other glaring question is --- what Cardinals' players are benefitting the most from Mike LaFleur's ultra-conservative style of offense?
I can only think of one position group ---> the tight ends
Elijah Higgins overall grade: 82.3 --- #3 in NFL
Trey McBride's overall grade: 73.6 --- #15
Hunter Long's overall grade: 71.6 --- #21
Yet even for Trey McBride, while he continues lead the league in receptions and yards, the system, more often than not, is relegating him to running a plethora of short-yardage routes. For the past three seasons, Trey has averaged over 10 yards per catch. This season he is averaging 8.0. By contrast, George Kittle and Brock Bowers this season are averaging 12.5 and 13.4 yards per catch respectively.
Another thing about Trey McBride in Mike La Fleur's system is how poorly he is blocking, both in pass pro (56.4) and in run blocking (49.5). This is why one can only say Trey is the best "receiving" tight end in the game because overall, he is not "the" best tight end in football.
How well is Mike LaFleur's offense working for the QB, RBs and WRs? Thus far, it's been a whole lot of meh.
QB Jacoby Brissett --- 75.5 --- #15
RB Bam Knight --- 69.2 --- #30
RB Jeremiyah Love --- 67.7 --- #34
RB Tyler Allgeier --- 62.6 --- #58
WR Michael Wilson --- 73.2 --- #37
WR Jalen Brooks --- 60.2 --- #114
WR Kendrick Bourne --- 59.5 --- #117
Cardinals' Offensive Line:
LT Jayden Williams --- 44.6 --- #97 T --- (Paris Johnson Jr. --- 77.6 --- #12)
LG Isaac Seumalo --- 67.8 --- #33 G
C Hjalte Froholdt --- 63.9 --- #18 C
RB Jon Gaines II --- 71.9 --- #21 G --- (Isaiah Adams --- 55.9 --- #79 G) --- Hayden Conner (51.0, #88 G)
RT Elijah Wilkinson --- 55.0 --- #87 T
Key Offensive Stats:
Points Per Game: #26
Yards Per Game: #22
3rd-DC%: #24
4th-DC%: #11
Yds Per Play: #29
1st Downs Per game: #13
3rd Downs Per Game: #1
Time of Possession: #4
Sacks: #24 (8th most)
Key Stat of All:
Red Zone TD percentage NFC West
1. SF --- #1
2. LAR --- #7
3. SEA --- #23
4. ARI --- #32
Trading Marvin Harrison Jr.
Made no sense for an offense that is #32 in the NFL in Red Zone TD percentage and now teams are able to double team both Michael Wilson and Trey McBride.
What Makes Absolutely the Least Sense of All:
Mike LaFleur, as inexperienced and unproven as he is as a play caller, running a style of offense that he has never run before. Let alone assigning him as the head coach, given the team's struggles in all three phases.
"someone in Packers' organization was able to show Gannon how to address and correct the flaws in his defensive schemes."
ReplyDeleteSo true and this team doesn't have anyone competent enough to straighten LaFleur out. Nobody wants to work for this team. MO is over his head. LaFleur is over his head. If you google "Beggers can't be choosers" it says - see Michael Bidwill. Only first timers who are willing to get a shot at being a GM or HC will take the job. Here's how Gannons interview probably went with the Packers.
Packers - I see you went 15-36 zero playoffs with the Cardinals
Gannon - Yeah but I worked for Michael Bidwill and with Monti Ossenfort
Packers - Point taken, you're hired.
This is LaFleur's only shot at ever being a HC so I can't fault him for taking it even though he knew he wasn't qualified and working for MB is a stain on one's resume. Coaching wise, the Cards are the sloppy seconds of the NFL and 90% of this team roster, play here for the money and the money only.
Why did LaFlop say that he has never coached the current style of offense that he has the Cardinals playing? Maybe he meant it literally and he has never coached this system but has watched McVay and Shanahan coach a similar system while he held their clipboard and brought them coffee.
It appears, Jethro, that Mike LaFleur was not as hands-on in helping to run the office as was originally thought.
DeleteYep. it looks that way. What boggles my mind is that there are only 32 NFL teams in the world and no coach with the right resume wants to be HC of this team.
Delete"At some point, there will be NFL teams outside the USA," Goodell told former NFL player Markus Kuhn during the interview. "I have no doubt that this will happen one day."
And as long as this team's ownership stays the same, one of those international NFL teams will probably win a Super Bowl before the Cardinals.
I never really understood the argument that LaFleur was going to call a similar offense to McVay or Shanahan when his only stint actually calling plays was the Jets. Maybe he was pretty good at helping Shanahan and McVay implement their systems, but that never meant those systems were his ideal. I don't really think it's about "not want to be accused of plagiarism" but rather that those were never the plays he was going to call in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking that myself. Good call.
DeleteThe only people Jr hires after BA are those who he can control, remember he believes he is an expert after watching 10 mins of game film a few years ago. Winning has never been a priority just like his old man, being apart of the billionaire club is his “piu importante”
ReplyDeleteYep. #BidwillOut
DeleteThe statistic that stands out is being #1 in the NFL in 3rd downs as a product of their ball control, short-yardage tendencies. What a stressful way to operate offense. What blows my mind is how Mike talks about how he watches the Packers game film and consults with his brother Matt on a weekly basis yet still deviates in a complete opposite direction of offensive philosophy. Jordan Love and the Packers are one of the league leaders in deep ball volume and downfield production this year and they are better for it. This offense is Mike Mccoy 2018 bland, what happened to WR jet sweeps, mis-directions, QB sprint outs......etc? I feel the same way at the moment, like we got a counterfeit McVay HC!
ReplyDeleteWell said, jobu.
DeleteMLF has a cogent argument for being the least deserving HC hire that’s ever existed. His seminal role as Jets OC (and more importantly play caller) he engineered a bottom 3 scoring offense over 2 seasons. Monti is the biggest fool in football thus he completely ignored that evidence and from a place of sheer delusion told himself he was hiring the brightest mind under Mcvay. That clearly wasn’t the case and it’s obvious he was a glorified executive asst for Mcvay. Spmeome who allowed Mcvay to have a better work/life balance. It’s way way beyond pathetic how bad Monti swings and misses at every thing he does, big and small. And even more pathetic that a random
ReplyDeleteFan like me can foresee every mistake in real time and provide a better way of going about things. Often a significantly superior way. He makes me look like I’ve got a crystal ball constantly, it’s ridiculous.
It truly infuriates me he’s still employed here. MLF I’ve got very little issues with in most respects, I’d have wanted to get paid millions to do something I was less than qualified to do as well, and do my best fake it til I make it. Especially if the alternative was being Mcvay’s grunt guy—as great and successful as Mcvay has been. That said he definitely carries blame for what’s materializing.
I will say his quip that he’s never ran this system before is loathsome in its own right. So you’re telling me you’re a powerless idiot? As a tuned in fan I understood as much but admitting it out loud reeks of a weak attempt to absolve himself of some type of accountability. You’re deferring to Monti Ossenfort and/or Nathaniel Hackett on offensive scheme/identity? Well that’s not too smart is it now Mike?
Time to grow a pair pal
Good rant, BB!
DeleteThis is not meant as a defense of LaFleur’s anemic play-calling, and certainly not an endorsement of his disclaimer about installing a new (failed) scheme he has never run. But take a look at the offensive line he's had to work with. How is he supposed to protect his quarterback, design explosive plays, and just move the football against Dallas or any opponent with this group? unwanted group of journeymen at best, PFF grades about as bad as they come, and now the center is likely sidelined.
ReplyDeleteThe promising offensive position players and maybe a young coaching staff, who emerged during the preseason were once again set up to fail by a front office and an owner whose own failures continue to undermine the team.