Upon Further Review
Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2022 8:23 pmWent back and watched the first quarter and few minutes of the second.
1) I forgot about all of this, but little things... Maryland made a great play on the 4th down early, got 0. RJ dropped a TD, had to settle for 3. Biggest is that we were up 13-3, they hadn't stopped us at all, and first Condon gives up a sack, and then we had that non-facemask call on TM. If that facemask is actually called, Maryland isn't stopping us that drive. We should have had at least a 20-3 lead at that point, and I think game is over.
2) Our offensive line didn't block poorly at all in the run game. For the most part, we handled their 3 man front pretty easily. Hickman actually blew the nose off the ball a few plays. There was a play where 54 missed a block, and another where Bryant missed a block when he pulled from left to right. Thomas lost a block on a stretch run left that could have been a been a good sized run. On Camar's carry, 81 just didn't block the extra player on the edge who made the play. We didn't get losses, but there were good chunk plays available. Both Siggers and Lavine were guilty of flat out missing a huge hole and just getting a couple of yards instead of big runs. For the most part, though, the offensive line did fine, but when the run would take too long, the LBs and safeties would come in and make the play after 2 or 3 yards. Our problem isn't the point of attack, it is getting the guards out to the second level when they are playing against an odd-man front, which is pretty common with a new line working together. I suspect the 3-3 we play against this weekend is going to give us similar fits in the run game - we will have a push for 2 or 3 yards, but the second level of defense will come down and close the space. We are going to need our TE to do a better job blocking, and we need the guard to get to the second level. Rather than stretch runs, I would like to see more dive plays where the tackle and center seal and the guard gets to the next level. Hickman looks improved enough in the run blocking to succeed on those types of plays. I'm sure the coaches will see that as well, and make the adjustment. I think when the coaches talk about limiting the rotation, there are a lot of cutback opportunities that Siggers in particular missed early in the game, and I think getting players more carries, they start seeing those things. The sack Condon gave up, it wasn't a physical mistake. He thought for a second he was going to help inside, and then the TE went on a route, and by the time Condon reacted, it was too late. It was a mental mistake, not a physical issue. Correctable.
3) On the defensive side, the big run they got off the edge, Phillips took too much of an inside route, and Roberts was inside as well. Phillips wasn't quick enough to catch the back around the edge and he was gone for the long run. Phillips was at fault there, he didn't play his spot. It was interesting, we really tried to defend the run off tackle. We allowed inside gaps between the tackles, and our DE took the edge. It left gaps in the middle that the LBs and S were supposed to fill. We were basically trying to bait them into running the ball up the middle. The challenge we had in the redzone is that even though we would tighten the splits between the tackles, the fullback would come through the hole before our LB would fill the hole, and they would be able to get an easy push. The LB has to play physical there and hit the Fullback in the hole early so that you jam everything up and someone else can come in and make a play. It is going to be interesting to see if they can resolve that - if I were the coaches, I would have the scout team line up in power with a fullback and make the LB take that guy on. If you have a ON3 subscription, Billy has a practice video, and you can see the LBs practicing in the first clip where they are avoiding a blocker. We have agile LBs, but in the redzone, someone is going to have to take the pulling guard or FB on in the hole in order to get stops. It seems like we would sub in Burns and Reid in the redzone, but neither one of them would actually get physical. We are going to have to find out who those tough players are going to be and do some situation subs inside the 20. I'm sure Symons picked up on it and wasn't happy at all.
1) I forgot about all of this, but little things... Maryland made a great play on the 4th down early, got 0. RJ dropped a TD, had to settle for 3. Biggest is that we were up 13-3, they hadn't stopped us at all, and first Condon gives up a sack, and then we had that non-facemask call on TM. If that facemask is actually called, Maryland isn't stopping us that drive. We should have had at least a 20-3 lead at that point, and I think game is over.
2) Our offensive line didn't block poorly at all in the run game. For the most part, we handled their 3 man front pretty easily. Hickman actually blew the nose off the ball a few plays. There was a play where 54 missed a block, and another where Bryant missed a block when he pulled from left to right. Thomas lost a block on a stretch run left that could have been a been a good sized run. On Camar's carry, 81 just didn't block the extra player on the edge who made the play. We didn't get losses, but there were good chunk plays available. Both Siggers and Lavine were guilty of flat out missing a huge hole and just getting a couple of yards instead of big runs. For the most part, though, the offensive line did fine, but when the run would take too long, the LBs and safeties would come in and make the play after 2 or 3 yards. Our problem isn't the point of attack, it is getting the guards out to the second level when they are playing against an odd-man front, which is pretty common with a new line working together. I suspect the 3-3 we play against this weekend is going to give us similar fits in the run game - we will have a push for 2 or 3 yards, but the second level of defense will come down and close the space. We are going to need our TE to do a better job blocking, and we need the guard to get to the second level. Rather than stretch runs, I would like to see more dive plays where the tackle and center seal and the guard gets to the next level. Hickman looks improved enough in the run blocking to succeed on those types of plays. I'm sure the coaches will see that as well, and make the adjustment. I think when the coaches talk about limiting the rotation, there are a lot of cutback opportunities that Siggers in particular missed early in the game, and I think getting players more carries, they start seeing those things. The sack Condon gave up, it wasn't a physical mistake. He thought for a second he was going to help inside, and then the TE went on a route, and by the time Condon reacted, it was too late. It was a mental mistake, not a physical issue. Correctable.
3) On the defensive side, the big run they got off the edge, Phillips took too much of an inside route, and Roberts was inside as well. Phillips wasn't quick enough to catch the back around the edge and he was gone for the long run. Phillips was at fault there, he didn't play his spot. It was interesting, we really tried to defend the run off tackle. We allowed inside gaps between the tackles, and our DE took the edge. It left gaps in the middle that the LBs and S were supposed to fill. We were basically trying to bait them into running the ball up the middle. The challenge we had in the redzone is that even though we would tighten the splits between the tackles, the fullback would come through the hole before our LB would fill the hole, and they would be able to get an easy push. The LB has to play physical there and hit the Fullback in the hole early so that you jam everything up and someone else can come in and make a play. It is going to be interesting to see if they can resolve that - if I were the coaches, I would have the scout team line up in power with a fullback and make the LB take that guy on. If you have a ON3 subscription, Billy has a practice video, and you can see the LBs practicing in the first clip where they are avoiding a blocker. We have agile LBs, but in the redzone, someone is going to have to take the pulling guard or FB on in the hole in order to get stops. It seems like we would sub in Burns and Reid in the redzone, but neither one of them would actually get physical. We are going to have to find out who those tough players are going to be and do some situation subs inside the 20. I'm sure Symons picked up on it and wasn't happy at all.
