Thoughts on the Charlotte game
Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2023 1:37 pmJust finished the rewatch. Overall, things held true to what we knew going into the game - Charlotte had some big players on defense, but weren't fast, and have nothing on offense outside of the QB. As annoying as the last bit was to watch, it is important to remember this thing was 27-3 at one point.
- I really like that Rhett added the Miami Dolphins motion play into the playbook on the first drive. I bet we see that more moving forward.
- Bryant struggled with number 0 at LT on the first drive, then got pulled for Williams. Not sure if that was due to injury or performance, but something to watch.
- Sparks struggled inside with the very good DT for Charlotte. That is something where if Osborne was able to play, you don't see as much pressure on Stone. The sack on the second drive, Our tackles do a good job forcing the ends wide, and Stone goes to step up in the pocket, but Sparks was pushed so far back that he couldn't step forward.
- First drive, Preston threw a corner of the endzone ball to Kerley. Kerley went up, but then waited for the ball to come to him and the corner slapped it a way. Those are plays where in the past you see a Proche or Rice reach out with their hands to grab the ball earlier and you either get to the ball before the DB does or it forces interference.
- The long QB run they had was a defensive alignment issue. Everyone was lined up on the strong side, the weakside was wide open. Really nice play design, but a great job by the coaching staff to make sure it didn't happen again.
- Against an athletic QB, your LBs are really put under stress, and for the most part they played really well. Walker was fantastic. Wilson lacks a little size and gets pushed back sometimes, but he is quick to the ball and not afraid of contact. Burns struggled a little, with the holding call and just overall not in the right spots and not physical enough.
- Third offensive series, Williams came over to RT and Bryant was back at LT. Williams got the blocking assignment wrong and let the player go free on Stone for the sack. Later he got beat for another sack on third down. Doesn't look near as good on that side.
- The late hit call against Chatman was awful.
- I haven't watched interviews of what happened with Camar, but Gardner did well in his place. You can see he has the flash of acceleration. Just would be nice if he lowered his shoulder sometimes - he backs out of contact and it hurts us on the runs inside.
- We heard all spring and fall about Chatman at H-Back and then never saw it. Finally busted it out today, and oh my god, wow. He is just a fantastic, punishing blocker. Focus on him every time he gets in the game. That H-Back look hasn't done the job yet with Eby in there, but Chatman blocking makes a huge difference. He sealed the edge on the 95 hard TD run.
- When we had to settle for our first FG, we had first and goal on the two. Second down, Preston keeps it on the read but should have handed that ball off. Third down, Daniels has to make that catch. But Stone he had Bailey on the slant on that play early and also Smith in the flat but couldn't pass to him because again our RT (this time White) blocks inside and leaves 0 (their best player) free to rush the passer. The blocking schemes really need to be cleaned up, it is sloppy and to this point it already cost us several sacks and now a FG instead of TD.
- The illegal downfield call on the TD they took away for K Smith was awful. Sure, White is blocking like it is a running play. But he was engaged in blocks the entire time and was really close to the 3 yards, and it had no impact at all on anything.
- On Stone's INT, yes RJ cut the route off, but still there was safety coverage, he should have never made that through. He knew it immediately and said "my bad", but that was a poor decision. That said, this should have been 24-3 at half.
- NWO and Moses were fantastic. To be honest, Moses might be our best safety. That play he made when he shoots from safety to cut down Jones for a loss at the end of the half was such a great play. Not only was he a missile, but both 34 and 8 had covered the back out of the backfield and so someone (I think
lost the QB responsibility. if Moses doesn't have his head in the game, that run could have gone a long way.
- Second to last play of the half should have been intentional grounding against their QB. He threw the ball out of bounds but there is no way it went out in front of the line of scrimmage.
- Paul has come such a long way in terms of his ability to play against the run. He is a really good compliment to Roberts on the other side.
- The 95 yard run is the first time all year we have blocked the H-Back run the way it is supposed to work. The HBack takes the DE, the RG seals inside, and the LG pulls so that he and the RT can block the LBs at and open the next level. Every single time we run it, Either the H-Back misses or the OL can't find a guy to block. This time, Williams and Parr both found their guys, Knighton hit the right hole, and it was a home run.
- They should have called a PI on the deep pass from Stone to K Smith. K Smith is starting to show a little bit, maybe he can emerge as that top WR.
- Don't forget the only reason we got stopped on that FG drive when we make it 27-3 is the bad snap.
- When they put their passing QB in, we sat Walker and the LB play took a big step back. 8 struggled a bit with his positioning. He got called for holding on 3rd and 18, then blocked out of the play on the next run. That said, that roughing call on Wilson was terrible. After that double penalty, we put Myzano and Kilgore at LB and they made back to back great plays to force 4th down.
- That should have been targeting on the late hit on Stone.
- The holding penalty against Williams after that call was terrible and well behind the play and had no impact at all. Terrible call that killed that drive.
- Besides Burns, the other player who really struggled when he came in was Massey. Great straight line speed, but misses a lot of tackles.
After I left the game last night, my overall feeling was "meh". I thought we played well defensively early, were sloppy defensively late, and things didn't click on offense all that well.
After re-watching, I feel a ton better about how we did. We sat Walker for Burns and that allowed them to grind out a couple of drives. When the game mattered, however, the defense was great. On offense, we had some self inflicted mistakes, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. If a couple of really bad penalties aren't called, this game is 41-10, which everyone would feel a lot better about. That was absolutely our best game of the season running the ball - Charlotte has a good DL, we were without Camar and LJ, and we still went over 200. It is a great sign of things to come. Add Osborne to that mix after the bye week, more Chatman at H-Back, and this running game should be pretty dominant the rest of the season. ECU has been much worse than expected this season and their offense is terrible. Temple is not good either. We should be 5-2 with a couple of blowouts by the time we play our next home game against Tulsa before Halloween.
- I really like that Rhett added the Miami Dolphins motion play into the playbook on the first drive. I bet we see that more moving forward.
- Bryant struggled with number 0 at LT on the first drive, then got pulled for Williams. Not sure if that was due to injury or performance, but something to watch.
- Sparks struggled inside with the very good DT for Charlotte. That is something where if Osborne was able to play, you don't see as much pressure on Stone. The sack on the second drive, Our tackles do a good job forcing the ends wide, and Stone goes to step up in the pocket, but Sparks was pushed so far back that he couldn't step forward.
- First drive, Preston threw a corner of the endzone ball to Kerley. Kerley went up, but then waited for the ball to come to him and the corner slapped it a way. Those are plays where in the past you see a Proche or Rice reach out with their hands to grab the ball earlier and you either get to the ball before the DB does or it forces interference.
- The long QB run they had was a defensive alignment issue. Everyone was lined up on the strong side, the weakside was wide open. Really nice play design, but a great job by the coaching staff to make sure it didn't happen again.
- Against an athletic QB, your LBs are really put under stress, and for the most part they played really well. Walker was fantastic. Wilson lacks a little size and gets pushed back sometimes, but he is quick to the ball and not afraid of contact. Burns struggled a little, with the holding call and just overall not in the right spots and not physical enough.
- Third offensive series, Williams came over to RT and Bryant was back at LT. Williams got the blocking assignment wrong and let the player go free on Stone for the sack. Later he got beat for another sack on third down. Doesn't look near as good on that side.
- The late hit call against Chatman was awful.
- I haven't watched interviews of what happened with Camar, but Gardner did well in his place. You can see he has the flash of acceleration. Just would be nice if he lowered his shoulder sometimes - he backs out of contact and it hurts us on the runs inside.
- We heard all spring and fall about Chatman at H-Back and then never saw it. Finally busted it out today, and oh my god, wow. He is just a fantastic, punishing blocker. Focus on him every time he gets in the game. That H-Back look hasn't done the job yet with Eby in there, but Chatman blocking makes a huge difference. He sealed the edge on the 95 hard TD run.
- When we had to settle for our first FG, we had first and goal on the two. Second down, Preston keeps it on the read but should have handed that ball off. Third down, Daniels has to make that catch. But Stone he had Bailey on the slant on that play early and also Smith in the flat but couldn't pass to him because again our RT (this time White) blocks inside and leaves 0 (their best player) free to rush the passer. The blocking schemes really need to be cleaned up, it is sloppy and to this point it already cost us several sacks and now a FG instead of TD.
- The illegal downfield call on the TD they took away for K Smith was awful. Sure, White is blocking like it is a running play. But he was engaged in blocks the entire time and was really close to the 3 yards, and it had no impact at all on anything.
- On Stone's INT, yes RJ cut the route off, but still there was safety coverage, he should have never made that through. He knew it immediately and said "my bad", but that was a poor decision. That said, this should have been 24-3 at half.
- NWO and Moses were fantastic. To be honest, Moses might be our best safety. That play he made when he shoots from safety to cut down Jones for a loss at the end of the half was such a great play. Not only was he a missile, but both 34 and 8 had covered the back out of the backfield and so someone (I think
lost the QB responsibility. if Moses doesn't have his head in the game, that run could have gone a long way.- Second to last play of the half should have been intentional grounding against their QB. He threw the ball out of bounds but there is no way it went out in front of the line of scrimmage.
- Paul has come such a long way in terms of his ability to play against the run. He is a really good compliment to Roberts on the other side.
- The 95 yard run is the first time all year we have blocked the H-Back run the way it is supposed to work. The HBack takes the DE, the RG seals inside, and the LG pulls so that he and the RT can block the LBs at and open the next level. Every single time we run it, Either the H-Back misses or the OL can't find a guy to block. This time, Williams and Parr both found their guys, Knighton hit the right hole, and it was a home run.
- They should have called a PI on the deep pass from Stone to K Smith. K Smith is starting to show a little bit, maybe he can emerge as that top WR.
- Don't forget the only reason we got stopped on that FG drive when we make it 27-3 is the bad snap.
- When they put their passing QB in, we sat Walker and the LB play took a big step back. 8 struggled a bit with his positioning. He got called for holding on 3rd and 18, then blocked out of the play on the next run. That said, that roughing call on Wilson was terrible. After that double penalty, we put Myzano and Kilgore at LB and they made back to back great plays to force 4th down.
- That should have been targeting on the late hit on Stone.
- The holding penalty against Williams after that call was terrible and well behind the play and had no impact at all. Terrible call that killed that drive.
- Besides Burns, the other player who really struggled when he came in was Massey. Great straight line speed, but misses a lot of tackles.
After I left the game last night, my overall feeling was "meh". I thought we played well defensively early, were sloppy defensively late, and things didn't click on offense all that well.
After re-watching, I feel a ton better about how we did. We sat Walker for Burns and that allowed them to grind out a couple of drives. When the game mattered, however, the defense was great. On offense, we had some self inflicted mistakes, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. If a couple of really bad penalties aren't called, this game is 41-10, which everyone would feel a lot better about. That was absolutely our best game of the season running the ball - Charlotte has a good DL, we were without Camar and LJ, and we still went over 200. It is a great sign of things to come. Add Osborne to that mix after the bye week, more Chatman at H-Back, and this running game should be pretty dominant the rest of the season. ECU has been much worse than expected this season and their offense is terrible. Temple is not good either. We should be 5-2 with a couple of blowouts by the time we play our next home game against Tulsa before Halloween.