The Good, the Bad, the Ugly style.
The Good
Since many seem to have a problem with people having concerns and offering constructive criticism even when we squeak out a W, I'll offer some good observations first.
First off, I'll give props to Keon Howard. Lots of you know I've been his biggest critic on this board besides one particular poster. I still don't think he is anywhere close to Griggs, but the important part is he's improving. He managed to hold onto the ball when he took off running and that's a huge positive. He's at least trying to be smart with the ball. I'm not terribly mad about his interceptions because those are effort plays. He's trying to be a playmaker and while turnovers are never acceptable, I'm not as upset at effort plays as opposed to blatant stupidity. Sure he made a lot of familiar mistakes, but I saw a lot of maturity and growth from the kid and as I said when I was criticizing him a few weeks ago, if we can ask him to be a game manager and play a vanilla offense and let some of these other heroes win the games for us, I have no problem with that, and that's exactly what we saw tonite. Korey Robertson and Parker Shaunfield were our offensive heroes last night. No question. But KH went up against a pretty good defense and didn't fall apart and managed to move the ball.
Second, the defense stepped up huge for us tonite. I have a criticism for them as well, but the good I saw is we continue tackle well. The defensive line did excellent putting pressure in the backfield and managing to keep a pretty decent QB on the move and uncomfortable all night. He was one that could have picked us apart but we made him look like a high schooler last night. The defensive secondary and the backers had a lot to do with that as well. Aside from giving up some costly big plays (see bad) they played an excellent game against a good team.
Third, Parker Shaunfield. Nuff said.
Fourth, special teams played a good game. We had several punts downed inside the 10. The FG unit obviously executed well and the onside kick was a thing of beauty.
Fifth, Dorbeck played a good game being back. He had a silly penalty or two, but again those are effort plays and I'm not as upset about them. He is a man among children out there. I saw several times he put their DE on his butt.
Sixth, Tez, aside from his critical fumble, played really well in Ito's absence. He and Howard really helped move the ball.
Seventh, the WRs bailed us out as some of the unsung heroes. Obviously Robertson saved the game. Man on that play soon as he caught it, I was screaming get out of bounds!!! Then he makes two moves and scores... I swiftly took off my sock and stuffed it in my mouth. But the rest of the receivers really helped out their QB. KH was not his best on the mark and they made some really good catches. Only a couple of drops and that's been a positive all season. I haven't seen a whole lot of drops the last few games and that is a big help for us. It almost seems like we hit them in the chest and they'll drop it, but put it just inside their reach and they'll haul it in.
Eighth, Schrimsher is another man among boys. He destroyed the QB several times and I really like the defensive front seven playing the old stand up routine mixing in and out keeping the OL guessing. Also Tavarius Moore I think had over 10 tackles, and a pick, so that is a plus. Him and Armstrong just might be next level talent.
The Bad
I'm not going to dwell on the obvious here. We all know KH has issues and growing to do. He made some pretty awful throws and then the obvious bad audible + bad throw toward the end of the game. I know he's a youngster and has a long way to go.
First, despite the defense tackling well, they played consistently out of position all night which allowed some of those big plays to happen. I think some also got a little too cocky, such as Mikell toward the end. He had made some really good plays and for the most part been covering well, but then went for a knock down he had no chance of getting to and had no help. I know he's trying hard, but safe move would have been play the man, not the ball. Even if it allowed a catch, it was still a relatively short gain and instead allowed the big play to happen.
Second, the defensive line played well in pass rush, but in run defense allowed themselves to be blocked out of the play. Same with the secondary. We have got to come off blocks better.
Third, offensive blocking. The line played okay, but downfield blocking was just about non-existent. This left no room for Ito and Tez to make plays past the line of scrimmage. The screen game was also problematic because as soon as they made the catch they were in contact.
Fourth, situational awareness. There were a few times toward the end, the players didn't seem to realize we were in a two minute drill and needed to run to the sidelines. I already mentioned Korey's and thank God he didn't go out of bounds, but most of the time, you want to catch that ball and run out.
Fifth, the two minute drill sucked. I'll tackle this a little more in the ugly, but we needed two scores and seemed like we weren't even trying to go for the TD first. Took nearly 3 1/2 minutes to get in FG range and then rely on the slim chance of recovering an onside kick, which praise the Lord we did! In the end, it obviously all worked out, but that was placing a lot on chance and miracles, which will work occasionally, but honestly, I'd rather a well disciplined team executing rather than playing on chance. That will work not always work out for you. We got away with it this time.
The Ugly
Here comes the boom...
These coaches seem lost. I saw very VERY few half-time adjustments. We were making some of the same mistakes that we were in the first half that the defense was exploiting. There is so much talent on this team, it's almost like they don't know what to do with it! I already mentioned the 2-minute offense, I mean come on! A FG should be a backup. Try for the TD and if that doesn't work, take your FG and go for the onside. Running up the middle while we're in a hurry? Persistence in running the quick screens and slot screens when LaTech was eating them up? We actually had success with deep ins and corner routes being open, which means their safeties couldn't cover. Exploit that! We hardly ever went back to it. I know they want to run a simplified playbook for Keon, but he wasn't doing too bad on the moderate throws and their safeties were out of position and couldn't stay with our guys.
I saw a lot of discipline issues as well. I already talked about the secondary being out of position a lot, but the linebackers were ineffective unless they were rushing the QB. Schrimsher is a beast and was all over the place, but he can't do it by himself.
Playcalling continues to be a problem on offense. Dawson doesn't know how to exploit defenses' weaknesses. He persists on doing the same thing until it works, but it rarely does. We get spoiled with Ito bailing us out of ugly situations and the receivers being able to get YAC, but if it weren't for them, we wouldn't be doing so well. It almost seems like the players are giving the extra effort to make this special plays and bail us out to spite Dawson and his ugly playcalling.
That's my take guys. I know I left things out (some on purpose) and sorry it turned into a novel. I truly stand behind this team, and am proud to see them fight through the ugly and squeak out a win. I continue to believe that if we had better coaches who could bring out the best in our strengths and improve our weaknesses, we would be undefeated and destroying teams right now. There is a lot of positive to take away from the game last night, but I also recognize a lot of concerns that continue to need to be addressed before we get exposed and embarrassed again. Thanks for reading.
The Good
Since many seem to have a problem with people having concerns and offering constructive criticism even when we squeak out a W, I'll offer some good observations first.
First off, I'll give props to Keon Howard. Lots of you know I've been his biggest critic on this board besides one particular poster. I still don't think he is anywhere close to Griggs, but the important part is he's improving. He managed to hold onto the ball when he took off running and that's a huge positive. He's at least trying to be smart with the ball. I'm not terribly mad about his interceptions because those are effort plays. He's trying to be a playmaker and while turnovers are never acceptable, I'm not as upset at effort plays as opposed to blatant stupidity. Sure he made a lot of familiar mistakes, but I saw a lot of maturity and growth from the kid and as I said when I was criticizing him a few weeks ago, if we can ask him to be a game manager and play a vanilla offense and let some of these other heroes win the games for us, I have no problem with that, and that's exactly what we saw tonite. Korey Robertson and Parker Shaunfield were our offensive heroes last night. No question. But KH went up against a pretty good defense and didn't fall apart and managed to move the ball.
Second, the defense stepped up huge for us tonite. I have a criticism for them as well, but the good I saw is we continue tackle well. The defensive line did excellent putting pressure in the backfield and managing to keep a pretty decent QB on the move and uncomfortable all night. He was one that could have picked us apart but we made him look like a high schooler last night. The defensive secondary and the backers had a lot to do with that as well. Aside from giving up some costly big plays (see bad) they played an excellent game against a good team.
Third, Parker Shaunfield. Nuff said.
Fourth, special teams played a good game. We had several punts downed inside the 10. The FG unit obviously executed well and the onside kick was a thing of beauty.
Fifth, Dorbeck played a good game being back. He had a silly penalty or two, but again those are effort plays and I'm not as upset about them. He is a man among children out there. I saw several times he put their DE on his butt.
Sixth, Tez, aside from his critical fumble, played really well in Ito's absence. He and Howard really helped move the ball.
Seventh, the WRs bailed us out as some of the unsung heroes. Obviously Robertson saved the game. Man on that play soon as he caught it, I was screaming get out of bounds!!! Then he makes two moves and scores... I swiftly took off my sock and stuffed it in my mouth. But the rest of the receivers really helped out their QB. KH was not his best on the mark and they made some really good catches. Only a couple of drops and that's been a positive all season. I haven't seen a whole lot of drops the last few games and that is a big help for us. It almost seems like we hit them in the chest and they'll drop it, but put it just inside their reach and they'll haul it in.
Eighth, Schrimsher is another man among boys. He destroyed the QB several times and I really like the defensive front seven playing the old stand up routine mixing in and out keeping the OL guessing. Also Tavarius Moore I think had over 10 tackles, and a pick, so that is a plus. Him and Armstrong just might be next level talent.
The Bad
I'm not going to dwell on the obvious here. We all know KH has issues and growing to do. He made some pretty awful throws and then the obvious bad audible + bad throw toward the end of the game. I know he's a youngster and has a long way to go.
First, despite the defense tackling well, they played consistently out of position all night which allowed some of those big plays to happen. I think some also got a little too cocky, such as Mikell toward the end. He had made some really good plays and for the most part been covering well, but then went for a knock down he had no chance of getting to and had no help. I know he's trying hard, but safe move would have been play the man, not the ball. Even if it allowed a catch, it was still a relatively short gain and instead allowed the big play to happen.
Second, the defensive line played well in pass rush, but in run defense allowed themselves to be blocked out of the play. Same with the secondary. We have got to come off blocks better.
Third, offensive blocking. The line played okay, but downfield blocking was just about non-existent. This left no room for Ito and Tez to make plays past the line of scrimmage. The screen game was also problematic because as soon as they made the catch they were in contact.
Fourth, situational awareness. There were a few times toward the end, the players didn't seem to realize we were in a two minute drill and needed to run to the sidelines. I already mentioned Korey's and thank God he didn't go out of bounds, but most of the time, you want to catch that ball and run out.
Fifth, the two minute drill sucked. I'll tackle this a little more in the ugly, but we needed two scores and seemed like we weren't even trying to go for the TD first. Took nearly 3 1/2 minutes to get in FG range and then rely on the slim chance of recovering an onside kick, which praise the Lord we did! In the end, it obviously all worked out, but that was placing a lot on chance and miracles, which will work occasionally, but honestly, I'd rather a well disciplined team executing rather than playing on chance. That will work not always work out for you. We got away with it this time.
The Ugly
Here comes the boom...
These coaches seem lost. I saw very VERY few half-time adjustments. We were making some of the same mistakes that we were in the first half that the defense was exploiting. There is so much talent on this team, it's almost like they don't know what to do with it! I already mentioned the 2-minute offense, I mean come on! A FG should be a backup. Try for the TD and if that doesn't work, take your FG and go for the onside. Running up the middle while we're in a hurry? Persistence in running the quick screens and slot screens when LaTech was eating them up? We actually had success with deep ins and corner routes being open, which means their safeties couldn't cover. Exploit that! We hardly ever went back to it. I know they want to run a simplified playbook for Keon, but he wasn't doing too bad on the moderate throws and their safeties were out of position and couldn't stay with our guys.
I saw a lot of discipline issues as well. I already talked about the secondary being out of position a lot, but the linebackers were ineffective unless they were rushing the QB. Schrimsher is a beast and was all over the place, but he can't do it by himself.
Playcalling continues to be a problem on offense. Dawson doesn't know how to exploit defenses' weaknesses. He persists on doing the same thing until it works, but it rarely does. We get spoiled with Ito bailing us out of ugly situations and the receivers being able to get YAC, but if it weren't for them, we wouldn't be doing so well. It almost seems like the players are giving the extra effort to make this special plays and bail us out to spite Dawson and his ugly playcalling.
That's my take guys. I know I left things out (some on purpose) and sorry it turned into a novel. I truly stand behind this team, and am proud to see them fight through the ugly and squeak out a win. I continue to believe that if we had better coaches who could bring out the best in our strengths and improve our weaknesses, we would be undefeated and destroying teams right now. There is a lot of positive to take away from the game last night, but I also recognize a lot of concerns that continue to need to be addressed before we get exposed and embarrassed again. Thanks for reading.
