Steve Smith: Chudzinski was calling plays to get a new job

DawgTalkers.net

Steve Smith: Chudzinski was calling plays to get a new job

Posted by Darin Gantt on September 4, 2013, 4:24 PM EDT

The Panthers were often more creative than effective on offense last year.
And Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith said he thinks that’s because former offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski was more interested in getting a promotion than using the resources he had to their fullest. If he did, it worked, as Chudzinski’s now the head coach in Cleveland.

“The prior offensive coordinator [Chudzinski] really was positioning himself to just apply for that head coaching job,” Smith said during a conference call with Seattle reporters, via Terry Blount of ESPN.com. “I think our offense suffered a little bit because of that.”

When Chudzinski walked into Carolina in 2011, he had a set of personnel which included a stable of talented backs, one great deep threat in Smith and a good one in Brandon LaFell, a solid tight end in Greg Olsen and a young quarterback in Cam Newton who throws a good deep ball.

But the Panthers leaned too heavily toward the read-option game with Newton at times, and had more success when head coach Ron Rivera dialed back some of the versatility in the second half of last year. Expect them to stay more traditional under new offensive coordinator Mike Shula.

“At times, we got cute,” Smith said. “We did things that weren’t necessarily us, like the underutilizing of [running back] Mike Tolbert. But we’re out of that. The past is the past. . . .

“I think Coach Shula is going to change things up, and he has so far. He just does little different things. Some of it looks small, but we’re focusing more on the details, and that’s the difference.”

While it remains to be seen if Shula’s the right man for the job, it’s obvious that Chudzinski might not have been. Smith is a passionate player, and has traded in blunt honesty for other means of expressing himself in recent years.

So while Chudzinski’s motivations might be subject to debate, the results indicate that Smith’s got a point, even if it wasn’t expressed in time.

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Or......

the read-option stuff worked great the 2nd half of 2011, so they opened using it. Defenses had adjusted to their plan, so they adjusted their offense more in the 2nd half of 2012.

also known as: normal part of football gameplanning

How about that for a fine thank you?

The Panthers offense was rated dead last in the NFL in 2010, the year before Chud took over as their OC...

...Chud helped to transform the Carolina offense into the 7th ranked unit in 2011, with rookie QB Cam Newton.

In 2012, the Panther offense ranked 12th in total offense and this is the thank you Chud gets from one of the Panther's team leaders, Steve Smith.

I doubt that Chud will have to worry about being thrown under the bus like this... if the Browns offense is anything close to as successful as the Panthers.

Steve Smith is an ungrateful punk !

j/c

mac: This sounds like a hatchet job. When Chud saw something wasn't working, he adapted. This smacks of sour grapes...

Steve Smith is one of the most selfish players in the nfl. When he says the Chud wasn't effective the translation is he didn't get me the ball.

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Steve Smith is one of the most selfish players in the nfl. When he says the Chud wasn't effective the translation is he didn't get me the ball.

which is funny because Chud + Cam saved his career (2 years ago everyone thought he was washed up and soon to be out of the NFL)

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Steve Smith is one of the most selfish players in the nfl. When he says the Chud wasn't effective the translation is he didn't get me the ball.

This is how I also interpreted it...

Why, even if true, would steve Smith say that. I mean seriously, why?

If you say those things, you better damn well have an overwhelming improvement in your offense. They haven't played a game yet, who's to say it will be a better offense under Shula? What's he going to say if it's not better?

What an idiot. True or not, you gotta learn to keep your mouth shut Steve..

How exactly do you call plays to get a promotion rather than call plays to use the offensive to the best of their ability?? Aren't people looking to hire people that can get the most out of their team??

"Sorry coach, we wanted to hire you ... but you seemed to get the most out of your players and offense ... what we really wanted was a guy that had the coach chutzpah to just slam it into the line 3 times and punt"

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How exactly do you call plays to get a promotion rather than call plays to use the offensive to the best of their ability?? Aren't people looking to hire people that can get the most out of their team??

"Sorry coach, we wanted to hire you ... but you seemed to get the most out of your players and offense ... what we really wanted was a guy that had the coach chutzpah to just slam it into the line 3 times and punt"

his dream is HC of the browns. maybe he thought H&H were still going to be here. everyone knows they only hire failed OCs as a HC.

This makes perfect sense. Chud was just auditioning for our read option offense.

I would have hired Chud based on his 2007 performance and Turner connection regardless of anything he was doing in Carolina.

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... everyone knows they only hire failed OCs as a HC.

Your agenda is getting old and tiring...it's just not funny anymore, p-d-m...errr, pblack.

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... everCone knows they only hire failed OCs as a HC.

Your agenda is getting old and tiring...it's just not funny anymore, p-d-m...errr, pblack.

oh come on. no sense of humor? it was the first thing pop in my head.

And an even dumber endorsement by the author of the article to say it make sense.

Chud brought the read option to the NFL to fit his QB. He turned the QB few gave a 1st round grade into one of the most dynamic in the NFL. The Panthers run game shattered records. Just think he did all that just to spite Steve Smith and ruin the Panthers while he schemed his way to the top of the NFL coaching tree.

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I would have hired Chud based on his 2007 performance

JC

Steve Smith is an over-the-hill hater that will make any excuse he can.....

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I would have hired Chud based on his 2007 performance

And I'd hire those girls too.

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How about that for a fine thank you?

The Panthers offense was rated dead last in the NFL in 2010, the year before Chud took over as their OC...

...Chud helped to transform the Carolina offense into the 7th ranked unit in 2011, with rookie QB Cam Newton.

In 2012, the Panther offense ranked 12th in total offense and this is the thank you Chud gets from one of the Panther's team leaders, Steve Smith.

I doubt that Chud will have to worry about being thrown under the bus like this... if the Browns offense is anything close to as successful as the Panthers.

Steve Smith is an ungrateful punk !

Three........count em, 3

Liars can figure but figures never lie.

Here's the funny part .....

Chud started out the year trying to bring Newton and the offense more into the mainstream NFL. However, the team struggled, so he went back to more of the read option stuff. This is what I have read anyway.

I don't know if a team can play read option forever and keep their QB in one piece. I think that it can be used to help acclimate a new QB into the NFL, but you have to wean the baby off the read option before he gets broken.

JMHO

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Chud brought the read option to the NFL to fit his QB. He turned the QB few gave a 1st round grade into one of the most dynamic in the NFL. The Panthers run game shattered records. Just think he did all that just to spite Steve Smith and ruin the Panthers while he schemed his way to the top of the NFL coaching tree.

The nefarious bastidge.... and now we're stuck with him. I wonder what he'll do with the power he gets from winning a Super Bowl. Can total world dominance be far behind?

Smith =

Steve Smith has always been a little off center. This is the guy who cold cocked his own teammate at practice and has a long history of saying stupid crap

its something steve should say in week 14 when they are 10 and 4. Not before the season when they might have a worse record in week 14....

its also good to get behind your new coaches and buy into the new regime. Wish we had a steve smith in his prime

So in order to get a better job Chud called worse plays? Is that what he is saying? That seems counterproductive.

Smith is just bitter about Chud leaving. Notice how this is just days before the season starts and not early in training camp. My guess is that this new offense might not be as great as Chuds was and Steve just wants to convince himself and other that Chud was bad for them (when in reality he might have made Cam and saved Steve). Either way it sounds idiotic.. OCs don't audition for jobs... if they are promoted as interim coaches... then they are auditioning. Just seems to make no sense at all IMO.

I can agree. Went from awful to markedly improved with Chud. As for his assessment comparing first and second half of the season, people adjusted with film on them. Derek Anderson as an unknown surprised people. The next time, not nearly so much, and got much worse on his own IMO as proved out in the "Pro Bowl outing (horrid!).

The NFL is not in the "fool me twice" business. Obviously he needed to do more on offense. Cute or not, Chud made better numbers. Never cared for this player much, and much less so now. Cheap shots in hindsight is honey to attract bad writers.

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Steve Smith: Chudzinski was calling plays to get a new job

WAAAAAAA.....Easy to point the finger at the person no longer in the room..

j/c

Carolina Total Offense

2010- 32/32 4135 yds. 12.3 PPG

Enter Chud

2011- 7/32 6237 yds. 25.4 PPG
2012- 12/32 5771 yds. 22.3 PPG

Yeah, Chud was the problem Steve.

I know me and mine are stuck out here in Northwest Ohio, with only the local rag as a steady source of print to accompany our morning cups of Joe, but they did manage to run an illuminating article about Chud and his roots.

I particularly liked this quote, which bears little on history, but portrays the man greatly;

"Chudzinski’s cousin, Tony, remembers back-yard football games that began with the boys fighting over who got to be the Browns. On fall Sundays, he and his cousins would prop the television in the window of his aunt’s home in Bellevue, take their shirts off, and watch the game out in the cold pretending they were in the Dawg Pound.

And that story about eating dog biscuits Chudzinski dropped into his introductory news conference?

"It’s true," Nye said, recalling the tailgate before a Browns playoff game in the late 1980s. "Chud pulled out a box of dog biscuits and makes us all start eating them."

If you have the time, and interest, the complete article is available;

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Aaahhh, nice Joe...

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Chud brought the read option to the NFL to fit his QB. He turned the QB few gave a 1st round grade into one of the most dynamic in the NFL. The Panthers run game shattered records. Just think he did all that just to spite Steve Smith and ruin the Panthers while he schemed his way to the top of the NFL coaching tree.

The nefarious bastidge.... and now we're stuck with him. I wonder what he'll do with the power he gets from winning a Super Bowl. Can total world dominance be far behind?

Smith =

Loved it!

Steve Smith is just a mouth. I am sure the world took his words with a grain of salt, it wouldn't be the first instance.

Guy can ball big time, but can also run that trap of his... pretty pathetic I think. I never been a fan of mouths. He is in the realm of Terrel Owens, Ocho Cinco and etc, just he has a job and they don't.

These comments by Smith prove the point that players for the most part would be better served by keeping their mouths closed.

Like Shula has been a stunning success and Chud was trying pad his resume.

Brilliant.

Does anybody actually care about what Steve Smith says about anything? I wouldn't have cared if he praised Chudzinski. He has talked so much crap during his career, I've pretty much put him on mute at this point.