gilbert and other thoughts
Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 12:06 amGilbert was the one player who actually showed up tonight. He put the team on his back and somehow lead us to victory. Despite major drops, he completes 72% of his passes for 317 yards. Ran for a first down on first and 26 or something? That dude won this football game tonight.
It was shocking to see how badly we played on both sides of the line. Our defensive line was absolutely dominated, and their running backs bounced off of 3 or 4 tacklers on every play. Shocking performance from the front 7. Except Wright, who was just a beast in the second half.
Really hard to watch Sanders in pass coverage. When he blitzed, they would hit that tall white receiver wherever Sanders came from. When he stayed home, there was a huge gap between him and the safety and they ate that up all night long.
The offensive line is a disaster right now as well. They seemed to fix a little bit in the second half by putting ashcraft in and sliding Gott inside, but wow that was really tough. We are in a lot of trouble against any team with a good defensive line. A&M and TCU will be hard to watch, unless massive improvements are made in the next two weeks.
The reason why the offensive and defensive line performance (as well as the penalties) are so impactfull is that right now we just don't have any playmakers on the team. Nobody on defense makes a great play or forces a turnover, they are just reacting. Same thing on offense - we can make a catch (usually), but we can't make a great play and bust something small into something big.
That is why Nlemchi stands out so much - his quickness is shocking, and the reaction is that this guy can actually make a play. We need those people on the field. We need playmakers. Because this isn't a team that is going to go through and not make mistakes, and be able to get away with 5 yard gains. We are going to make penalties and give up negative plays. And we desperately need playmakers to make up for those mistakes. Who cares if Nlemchi can't block (he actually did BTW and looked good). Others are going to mess up too, but he can make up for those mistakes.
I suspect that we will see a lot more of Nlemchi and Taylor and maybe Gaines after the bye. Because right now the only playmaker on the entire team is Gilbert. And one person out there is only good enough to squeak by a division 2 team.
It was shocking to see how badly we played on both sides of the line. Our defensive line was absolutely dominated, and their running backs bounced off of 3 or 4 tacklers on every play. Shocking performance from the front 7. Except Wright, who was just a beast in the second half.
Really hard to watch Sanders in pass coverage. When he blitzed, they would hit that tall white receiver wherever Sanders came from. When he stayed home, there was a huge gap between him and the safety and they ate that up all night long.
The offensive line is a disaster right now as well. They seemed to fix a little bit in the second half by putting ashcraft in and sliding Gott inside, but wow that was really tough. We are in a lot of trouble against any team with a good defensive line. A&M and TCU will be hard to watch, unless massive improvements are made in the next two weeks.
The reason why the offensive and defensive line performance (as well as the penalties) are so impactfull is that right now we just don't have any playmakers on the team. Nobody on defense makes a great play or forces a turnover, they are just reacting. Same thing on offense - we can make a catch (usually), but we can't make a great play and bust something small into something big.
That is why Nlemchi stands out so much - his quickness is shocking, and the reaction is that this guy can actually make a play. We need those people on the field. We need playmakers. Because this isn't a team that is going to go through and not make mistakes, and be able to get away with 5 yard gains. We are going to make penalties and give up negative plays. And we desperately need playmakers to make up for those mistakes. Who cares if Nlemchi can't block (he actually did BTW and looked good). Others are going to mess up too, but he can make up for those mistakes.
I suspect that we will see a lot more of Nlemchi and Taylor and maybe Gaines after the bye. Because right now the only playmaker on the entire team is Gilbert. And one person out there is only good enough to squeak by a division 2 team.