Receivers: A huge step down from last year?

[ponyboy]

Not nearly so much as I thought it would be. I knew Proche was going to step up -- but Roberson is an absolute stud.

[mrydel]

Just need to get them the ball

[peruna81]

Yes there is a drop-off, but perhaps we are seeing that there WAS depth by position at WR...if so, that bodes well for the immediate future...as mrydel stated, if we can get them the ball...consistently...

[Charleston Pony]

Roberson has speed we haven't seen in a while and Judah Bell's catch looked Sutton-esque

[ojaipony]

Roberson has speed we haven't seen in a while and Judah Bell's catch looked Sutton-esque

I agree - we just have to get them the ball. Both are big time playmakers without much game experience. The more they play and produce, the more I think we'll see their confidence grow. Roberson won't be able to run away like that from other fast teams like UCF, Memphis, Houston but he's definitely a gamer. And we need to get the ball up and over to Bell waaay more. Between those 2, West and Proche (and Brown), we have some playmakers on that offensive side of the ball. Just takes time to build and gel. Hopefully we can build on that with HBU.

[Digetydog]

Roberson has speed we haven't seen in a while and Judah Bell's catch looked Sutton-esque

Since I was at the game, I got to watch players in a way that is not possible from the telecast. Every time I watched him, he managed to get open.

Although Brown is a great prospect, he isn’t currently able to read the entire field.

[03Mustang]

He missed a lot of open reads. He will get better but we need Hicks if we want to get close to a bowl this year.

[JoeKidd]

After watching this game in person (I was also at TCU, but had a few beers by the time that one finally got underway) I don't believe the answer is simply Brown to start and finish all games. I think we need to balance Hicks and Brown rotating in games to take advantage of where each is stronger currently. Not only did Brown miss some reads, he missed some wide open throws and so I am not sold yet he is any more accurate than Hicks. Ben looked really sharp when he came in during OT.

I think we should start Brown next week, give him the first 2 or maybe even 3 series and then bring Hicks in and see how they both play. Whomever is playing better should get to open the second half. I think they will both continue to have ups and downs and we need both of them focused in and playing to the best of their ability to give us the best chance of winning each week.

As Jason B said in a couple of posts, perhaps simplifying the offense helped Hicks as much as it did Brown. One thing about Chad's offense is that is what easy and as such quicker to make reads for the quarterback....i.e. the choices are really made from the sidelines and not by the QB. That's why QB's that come out of that system are knocked going into the NFL. This could be some of the reason Hicks is struggling more than he has the past couple of seasons.

I would also add into this, that the QB's had by far the most time they have had all season this week....not sure if our OL is starting to play better or Navy just isn't very talented up front. I am hoping for the former, but really fearing its the latter and so we will just as bad again against talented Houston, UCF and USF teams.

[JasonB]

Getting Pursley back helped, and having Dennis at RG helps.

The two things to keep your eye on - Natour played better last week and this week. Can he hold up?

Navy didn't have an edge rusher agile enough to threaten Hughes at RT. He was burned repeatedly in the first three games. That is really the biggest pain point. Whenever we face a team that has an outstanding rusher who can lineup at LDE, I think we will struggle in protection.

All of that said, moving to a simplified offense with one quick read helps negate a poor OL as well.