From the 5 yard line you only have 15 yards of real estate to work with. You either line up man on man and take what you want or you try to pass through a sea of bodies. You have to have plays that the defense does not expect you to run, or just maul your way into the end zone. Oh, by the way, I guess we not being able to line up man on man and get 5 yards in 4 plays is most likely the reason that CDM will be coaching some where else this coming season. When I said they need to run plays the defense is not expecting, I not talking about trick plays, I mean plays that are not on film, that have been held back for special occasions.
THIS!!!
I'm not here to castigate Bill O'Brien, Doug marrone, or Bryce Young. But the fact remains that, if you bunch three receivers on one side, you're basically letting two to three guys cover them for the first two to three seconds while they've got their eye on Bryce Young. And that's a really easy defense to run with a short field!
You can look what different commentators, during the game, right after the game, and then on YouTube video reviews, said about those. And they all said that very thing. Obviously any pattern can be run from those formations, but it's a lot easier for Bryce to assess the situation if you have two wide outs on each side, for instance, I tight end, and one running back. The defense, inherently, has to be more spread out, and there are more options.
On the other hand, I also have to agree with other posters on this subject, that, at least on first down at the four or five yard line, you can run behind the left side and crash down with a guard pulling and see what you get. Brian Robinson, despite any deserved criticism here, is a bruising running back. What happens if he gets to the one yard line and its second and one?!. Are we really going to think that we can't get one yard on three more tries?
Anyway, I think Bill O'Brien is, in general, a very good coordinator. Is he bringing some stuff back from the NFL and running less on shortyardage situations? Maybe. But as other posters have said, you don't necessarily know what he knew at that particular time and that particular game. Be it injuries, lineups, mismatches, etc. I really hope he'll be back for this next year and I think if the offensive line gets it together it can be an amazing offense again!
Roll tide roll!