I go back to the bye week during the 2023 season. It was announced that Rising was done for the year so the splitting of the reps BS didn’t need to go on any longer. I remember saying on here that my hope was that they would look at the tape, figure out what it was that they were doing well, and then lean into it. Instead, they moved Vaki to offense which provided a quick sugar fix against a couple of bad defenses but was ultimately sniffed out and became a liability.
Fast forward a year and the Utah offense still has not figured out what it is they are good at. Yes, a healthy Rising can run the offense very well. Unfortunately, 18 of the last 20 Utah games have not had a healthy Rising (pun? what pun?). When the other team shows open disdain for your secondary “weapons” by not even devoting resources to stop them, you’ve got a very serious scheme issue. And unveiling a new super secret, extra fancy formation or personnel package that you will only call one play out of at one specific spot on the field is probably not going to change that.