Thoughts on the Cincy game
Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 5:05 pm- Cincy is the best team in the league. No question. Both lines are really good, secondary is fantastic, and they have enough players on offense. Rooting for them to run the table. Legit top ten team. Tons of credit to them. This game was visibility in what we need to to become a great program, not just a good team.
- Getting a couple of other things out of the way... the clock management at the end of the first half was ,of course, a disaster. I don't think it mattered in the grand scheme of things, but they had two time outs, there is no reason not to burn one at 20+ seconds at the end of the last play. And definitely no reason when you see Shane starting to audible at 12. I get it, that you don't want to give their staff a timeout to rest and think about what they want to draw up, but Dykes and Shane both had brain farts there.
- The crowd booed heavily when we kicked a field goal when down 18. It was the right decision. The horrible call was third down when Shane kept it on the zone read. The only reason you call that on third is if you are going for it on fourth. If you were going to kick a field goal, that has to be a pass play.
- Getting on with it... Cincy's offense showed you what an impact a good WR has. They got their best WR back and it opened up the running game, made the entire offense more effective. Gray is good and will be better. But he is no Roberson, yet. Losing him and TJ makes a huge difference against a really good defense.
- Cincy played with one safety a lot because of their secondary. They had an extra player in the box to take away the run, and they pressed our receivers tight with the thought that their pass rush could get to Shane before we got open. It was a great defensive strategy, and Cincy is one of the few teams in the country who can pull it off. Once Gray went out, you could see it was going to be blitz city on Shane. Made the game a nightmare.
- Interesting try by the staff - because of how they played Gray in the first half, first play of the second half, they put Gray in motion to get him a little head start against the press. Unfortunately, they played off on that down, and he was well covered on the deep throw down the middle. It would have been nice to see that adjustment more often.
- Lots of mistakes in the game, with drops and the coaching staff and penalties... but really, when you line up against a good team in the red zone, you have to be able to run the football. Our o-line, for whatever reason, has unexpectedly regressed since last year. 71 has been called for more penalties this year than I ever remember in the past. And there is really no dominating push up front. Our oline isn't bad, they aren't getting destroyed, but they also aren't winning at the line of scrimmage. They are just kind of meh. A real surprise, a disappointment. To take that next step forward as a great offense that can succeed against really good defenses, we need a better offensive line.
- We thought we had a bunch of playmakers coming into the season... I think what we are seeing is that the depth isn't as ready as we were hoping it was.
- Our defensive secondary is really pretty good. Good corners, 1 is great, and we have a talented mix of safeties.
- Fox position is again a challenge. That position has to be a great athlete, and we just aren't there yet.
- At DE, Coxe and Paul have the frame to both be able to take on a blocker and the athleticism to win. 55 and 38 just aren't really big enough. Phillips definitely isn't big enough. We need to figure out if we are a 4-3 or a 3-4 and recruit for it, because right now we have tweeners. DE that are too small to play on the line in a 3-4, but not athletic enough to play the hybrid end/LB position in that 3-4. I wish we would run a 4 man front so that we could play a 4-2-5 nickel. Instead, we aren't good enough to run a 3-3-5 or a 3-4.
- At DT, if 57 and 40 were fully healthy, that is a hell of a tandem. If 57 comes back next year and is fit, that will be the best pair in the league. And we have a bunch of players who will be way above average as second and third teamers.
- Getting a couple of other things out of the way... the clock management at the end of the first half was ,of course, a disaster. I don't think it mattered in the grand scheme of things, but they had two time outs, there is no reason not to burn one at 20+ seconds at the end of the last play. And definitely no reason when you see Shane starting to audible at 12. I get it, that you don't want to give their staff a timeout to rest and think about what they want to draw up, but Dykes and Shane both had brain farts there.
- The crowd booed heavily when we kicked a field goal when down 18. It was the right decision. The horrible call was third down when Shane kept it on the zone read. The only reason you call that on third is if you are going for it on fourth. If you were going to kick a field goal, that has to be a pass play.
- Getting on with it... Cincy's offense showed you what an impact a good WR has. They got their best WR back and it opened up the running game, made the entire offense more effective. Gray is good and will be better. But he is no Roberson, yet. Losing him and TJ makes a huge difference against a really good defense.
- Cincy played with one safety a lot because of their secondary. They had an extra player in the box to take away the run, and they pressed our receivers tight with the thought that their pass rush could get to Shane before we got open. It was a great defensive strategy, and Cincy is one of the few teams in the country who can pull it off. Once Gray went out, you could see it was going to be blitz city on Shane. Made the game a nightmare.
- Interesting try by the staff - because of how they played Gray in the first half, first play of the second half, they put Gray in motion to get him a little head start against the press. Unfortunately, they played off on that down, and he was well covered on the deep throw down the middle. It would have been nice to see that adjustment more often.
- Lots of mistakes in the game, with drops and the coaching staff and penalties... but really, when you line up against a good team in the red zone, you have to be able to run the football. Our o-line, for whatever reason, has unexpectedly regressed since last year. 71 has been called for more penalties this year than I ever remember in the past. And there is really no dominating push up front. Our oline isn't bad, they aren't getting destroyed, but they also aren't winning at the line of scrimmage. They are just kind of meh. A real surprise, a disappointment. To take that next step forward as a great offense that can succeed against really good defenses, we need a better offensive line.
- We thought we had a bunch of playmakers coming into the season... I think what we are seeing is that the depth isn't as ready as we were hoping it was.
- Our defensive secondary is really pretty good. Good corners, 1 is great, and we have a talented mix of safeties.
- Fox position is again a challenge. That position has to be a great athlete, and we just aren't there yet.
- At DE, Coxe and Paul have the frame to both be able to take on a blocker and the athleticism to win. 55 and 38 just aren't really big enough. Phillips definitely isn't big enough. We need to figure out if we are a 4-3 or a 3-4 and recruit for it, because right now we have tweeners. DE that are too small to play on the line in a 3-4, but not athletic enough to play the hybrid end/LB position in that 3-4. I wish we would run a 4 man front so that we could play a 4-2-5 nickel. Instead, we aren't good enough to run a 3-3-5 or a 3-4.
- At DT, if 57 and 40 were fully healthy, that is a hell of a tandem. If 57 comes back next year and is fit, that will be the best pair in the league. And we have a bunch of players who will be way above average as second and third teamers.