The
beast raises a great point: we bitched for years that McCarthy and Capers were too inflexible and bulkheaded in their determination to wedge players into their scheme instead of adapting the scheme to the players at their disposal. By all appearances, Pettine did just that—he adjusted his scheme to compensate for the weaknesses in the talent and reduce the attack surface as much as possible. I would like to give him another year to see what he could do with an infusion of new talent, and I would be surprised if LaFleur doesn't give him that.
I also hope that Gutekunst brings in the stallions required to install an up-tempo offense. With Jones and Williams in the backfield, Adams on the edge, Sternberger in the slot, and a burner (St. Brown?) deep, I think this offense could steamroll through opposing defenses.