Thoughts on the LA Tech game...

[JasonB]

Some thoughts on the game and season in general.

First of all, I was way wrong about this game. I thought we had the chance ofr an upset. But wow, is Moats one heck of a back or what? That guy is a great player. He has a little Barry S in him, great cuts, strong runner, and great burst. Hits the holes a million miles an hour. Great back. Look forward to seeing him on Sundays.

I will start on Defense.

That was the worst game by a group of linebackers that I have ever, EVER seen. We are horrible at linebacker. If you watched the D-line closely, we weren't getting blown off the ball or anything like that. The D-line did okay. But our linebackers were horrible. They ran right at McCray almost every time. There was even a play in the first quarter, they were pinned back. Strong side of the line was to the short side of the field. So to keep McCray from getting run at on the long side of the field, we switched sides with him and Stansbury. So they change the play at the line and run a counter right at McCray ont eh strong side. Great call. They picked on him all game. If you are undersized, you have to have great speed. And it was painful to watch LT on their second touchdown, Moats has McCray one on one on the outside, hesitates a bit, and just runs around him. McCray just was helpless. Any time he had Moats one on one (I think the same thing happened on the long TD run), he would just freeze instead of attack.

Harris was guilty of the freeze as well. He is not big enough to play in the middle, but runs up the middle weren't the problem, it was runs to the outside around McCray. But in the second quarter, when the LT QB had a long scramble, Harris had him lined up, and just froze, and gave him 25 extra yards. Bad play.

Finally, Stansbury. Didn't miss too many tackles or anything like that - most of the night they ran away from him. But there was a big play he was responsible for. LT is up 7, Foster has the fumble. First play, LT play-action roll out. Stansbury is playing the run aggressive, but once it turns into a pass play, he just froze. No-man's-land. If he keeps going forward, he has a free path at the QB and gets a sack or forces a bad throw. But he just froze, doesn't cover anyone, doesn't blitz, just freezes. And the QB makes an easy pass over the middle for a good gain.

As bad as the LB core played, I don't understand why no changes were made at all? Why not try Avery in the middle and move Rico outside when McCray was struggling so bad? Instead we just let the kid get beat up all game. Just really frustrating to watch one part of the defense get killed over and over again. Having Adami and Rogers next to each other on the line in front of McCray and Harris, there just isn't enough size to stop the run in that direction.

[JasonB]

Now the offense.

Eckert has a nice arm and all that, but he has no feel for the offense right now.

1) He is not calling any (or at least the correct) audibles. I have never seen a QB roll directly into the blitzing linebacker that often. Early in the game, 3rd and two. We have 5 linemen and two backs, other receivers spread wide. LT lines up to blitz everyone. No audible, we hand off, and the RB gets killed. Bad play, need to get out of that. Second quarter, Romo at WR. Reverse is called. Again, LT is blitzing everyone. Have to get out of that play call, or you get killed for massive yard loss. They weren't really disguising it that much, it was pretty obvious when everyone was coming.

2) He is picking a primary receiver based on the play call or the formation, and staring him down the entire time. He didn't look off his primary the entire game. He picked who the primary was before the snap, and threw there no-matter-what. He is throwing into double and triple coverage because his eyes don't leave that receiver, and he has to make a decision to let it fly or to take a sack. He is not following his progressions at all.

3) I love the idea of deep balls to Chase, or throwing it in the corner of the endzone, but he is not putting enough arc on the throw. Throws on a line don't use the height, you have to throw a jump ball up there and let your WR make a play.

As a positive note, that was a great TD pass he threw.

How would I fix this? Well, if a QB has trouble with progressions, limit his options. I would line up a in a 2 TE set just about every play. Make the decisions basic for him. We would run the ball more, but we would also only have two receivers and 1 TE going out on routes every play. Only three receivers to progress on, instead of 5 that we have right now. Sure, our offense will be more basic for a little while, but you have to take baby steps. Run blocking is also easier than pass blocking, so it will help out our young O-Line.

The other benefit, in my mind, is that when you look at the roster next year, Kennedy and V Chase will be the two best receivers on the team, and that double TE formation should be used a lot anyway.

I know, I know, it sounds like last year's offense. But we have a better Qb and will throw out of it more. And on top of that, having 5 receivers in the game doesn't do much good if you are staring one of them down the entire time anyway. Forcing the other team to play more LBs and pull a safety up into the box eliminates the opportunity to double a WR, even if you stare him down the entire route.

Just my 2 cents...