Replaying yesterday's game and really paying attention to the D line. Looks like Pitt is still trying to figure who's for real. So far (Midway through 2nd) Hendrix looks like the only D end getting pressure. I know his name was never called for a sack or tackle, but when he out we had no pressure from the ends. I also noticed he went long periods on the bench. Not sure if it was game plan or still nursing an injury. Camp and Kam Carter also looked good. Not much more that excited me so far.
Rewatching game
- Thread starter gourdnibbler
- Start date
The losses of Price in terms of pass rush and Jarrett in terms of run D seem pretty big. Need these guys to step up against the tougher competition.
I was hoping for more out of the front 7. The second half we didn't get much pressure and we allowed some big runs. That more than anything else concerns me about the rest of the year. We have a lot of young guys playing so hopefully they make big improvement in a hurry.
I also re-watched the game. Additional thoughts after the re-look.
1. Everyone who was thrilled the first half defensive performance (yes, we did shut them out in the first half), should watch the game again. YSU moved the ball pretty well (at least in the air). Moreover, I counted at least 2 times where their QB completely blew an easy throw to a wide open receiver that could have scored. A good QB hits those throws and the score is more like 21 - 14. Multiple blown coverages.
2. Disappointed with what I saw from Brightwell. He was absent on far too many runs up the middle. When Wirginis comes back, I think Brightwell moves to his more natural position on the outside and Zeise takes a seat. No need to mention Zeise. We all saw him get smoked twice on the same play.
3. D-Line was not impressive, even in the first half. Very little push and very little penetration.
4. Jaylen Jones-Smith looks awfully slow. He got torched several times on pass rushes. Also, take a look at the replay of our OT touchdown and you'll see Jones-Smith with a clear hold on the play.
5. Hall - I simply have no idea why the staff is so in love with this guy. He gets the yards that virtually any RB would get on a particular play. The next time he actually makes someone miss will be the first time. Moss was way better last year.
6. On the positive side, I actually think our DB's were improved from last year (damned by faint praise). Jackson had at least two nice pass breakups and Maddox did too. Garner had a really nice breakup on a throw to their TE (not to mention the interception).
We have an incredibly long way to go to become a decent team. Offensively, it was a bit harder to tell where we're at because of the vanilla game plan. That said, we did not execute the plays we did run at all in the second half. You would think that we would have worn down YSU. Instead, we looked gassed. Defensively, I fear that we will really stink....sorry but no other way to put it. We were very, very fortunate that YSU didn't post any points in the first half and we saw them push us around in the second half.
If we play like this against Penn State, they will beat us by 30.
Cruzer
Of the existing DBs, then and now i think there is potential for Jackson to become a good corner. And he showed some progress yesterday i believe.
Sez you ... and, well, the civilized world (and even that remote Amazon tribe that communicate in tongue clicks and eye blinks)... But you don't realize we were running a Vanilla Yogurt formation ... bland and runny and full of gut bacteria. This is going to be their undoing.
I too thought the DBs looked better, except for Briggs, who looked like what we saw last year. But with no pass rush, their going to get beat, and they'll get blamed for it. We need a pass rush for this defense to be effective, so what we saw yesterday is a big concern.
There was very little blitzing yesterday, but I think we'll see a lot more in the coming weeks. It will help with the pass rush, but it will also leave some receivers open. The inability to cover the wheel route yesterday was bad, even after Narduzzi mentioned at halftime that they needed to clean it up. Obviously, they didn't.
The OL looked good running the ball in the first half, but the pass blocking didn't look great. Part of that was due to Browne not getting the ball out of hands quickly. I was ready to flush him yesterday and say bring on DiNucci, who I think moves better and can make plays, and makes quicker decisions. But I'll wait another week to see how he looks when they open up the playbook next week. I'm not optimistic at all, but hope I'm proven wrong. Assuming a downfield pass attack is part of the game plan, he may look different than he did yesterday. But maybe not. The constant check downs to Ollison may have been all on him.
We were unimpressive against Nova last year, then exploded in the first half against a better PSU team. Maybe it'll happen again. One can hope, but with no Peterman and no Conner....
There was very little blitzing yesterday, but I think we'll see a lot more in the coming weeks. It will help with the pass rush, but it will also leave some receivers open. The inability to cover the wheel route yesterday was bad, even after Narduzzi mentioned at halftime that they needed to clean it up. Obviously, they didn't.
The OL looked good running the ball in the first half, but the pass blocking didn't look great. Part of that was due to Browne not getting the ball out of hands quickly. I was ready to flush him yesterday and say bring on DiNucci, who I think moves better and can make plays, and makes quicker decisions. But I'll wait another week to see how he looks when they open up the playbook next week. I'm not optimistic at all, but hope I'm proven wrong. Assuming a downfield pass attack is part of the game plan, he may look different than he did yesterday. But maybe not. The constant check downs to Ollison may have been all on him.
We were unimpressive against Nova last year, then exploded in the first half against a better PSU team. Maybe it'll happen again. One can hope, but with no Peterman and no Conner....
I saw a lot of what you saw, and would add a couple of thoughts: the corners played pretty well, Jackson in particular, but this was YSU. Not a lot of challenge downfield on the outside.
Despite what you saw Garmer do, the safeties did not play well-they were a mess. They struggled all game long with their assignments and switches. There were holes all over the place in the deep middle. They were on their heels the whole game. Getting Whitehead back will help a ton-I assume he will play the fiield safety spot--but the boundary safety situation is not good. Amd by the time we get Whitehead back, we will have 2 embarrassing losses on the card.
Lastly, if we can't find a way to get some pressure from our front 4, the rest won't matter. We will be toast against everyone. The DBs are shaky enough, but without any pressure on the QB, they won't have a chance.
I'll reserve my thoughts on the offense until next week. But to be very blunt, the D looks to have real fundamental problems and deficiencies, and not the kind that will work themselves out this year.
I agree, the safeties busted a ton of assignments and guys were running free all over the place. We were fortunate YSU didn't make more big plays.
