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Tulane came out in the defense we are accustomed to seeing, that is, the 4 man front with the LBs in an inverted triangle (meaning MLB deep middle and OLBs shallow behind the DEs). The safeties usually played about 8 yards deep around the hashes and CBs head up on our WRs with varying depths. If we came out with an AB in the slot, they would normally roll a safety up towards the LOS in the field side pitch lane and put the MLB on the guy in the slot. You see, the MLB in their case, I am pretty sure, was not a LB at all. To me, he looked like a safety. He was #6. Clearly, when you line up this way, you need a guy at MLB who can really run, and run all day. Tulane tried all of the normal stuff we are used to seeing. They cross charged a fair amount, fired their CBs once in a while, blitzed the A-gap, and rolled up their MLB towards the slot and blitzed him off the edge. None of that gave us much trouble, and to be truthful, it looked really routine in how we handled their curve balls. We never appeared surprised by any of it and the reads were, for the most part good. Having watched the film, I would say they really made it a priority to take away the dive and force a pitch. During the first half, the DE pretty much crashed every TO play and the OLB ran straight at JT in an effort to get the ball out of his hands. As we should, we took what the defense gave us and executed pretty well. We hit them with a bunch of counters, because they would flow pretty hard towards the motion early in the game. Clearly, they felt pressure to get to the pitch lanes. When we ran straight TO, it was like looking at a grease board diagram. I would stop the tape, count heads, call the side I thought we should run to, roll the tape, watch the DE and OLB get optioned off, then get POed because we continually whiffed on the MLB (safety) with the releasing OT. We were one man away from busting huge plays all day and it would have happened had we got this guy on the ground. When we did, we usually did hit the plays.
I am of the opinion that Tulane is better on the defensive side of the ball than they are on offense. We just have a lot of weapons and JT is seeing the field even better than last year. That open seam that "seemed" (pardon) to go unnoticed last year is being found and we have the guys who can stretch the D from AB, as receivers, and make them pay. I wouldn't want to have to defend us. They have some good players. I really like #6, #52, and #20 playing at the second level. They can all hustle and make plays. On the interior, they aren't easy to move out of there. We are just a good team on offense plain and simple.
On to the positions:
Let's start with QB and MJ's debut. I know it has been a hot topic. Personally, I thought he did really well, and I will try and be as specific as possible. First of all, I loved his body language out there. He was excited, obviously, but he was also poised and confident. In his first series he read a couple of cross charges perfectly and got the ball pitched out. His pitches might have been a little forced and fast, but they got the job done. He kept the ball when surpried off a blitz and got what he could without forcing something stupid. One thing I really liked on his long TD pass (off toss sweep play action) was that he made sure he under threw his WIDE OPEN AB TaQuon a little to insure the completion. That showed poise and experience beyond his current pay grade. It was obviously his primary target so he didn't have to check down, but it is really easy to get excited and chuck it too far when you are out there for the first time. Folks, on his second drive and long run, don't get too excited because you are not going to believe what I have to tell you. The green comb-overs lined up with a grand total of 9 players on the field on that play. I don't know how that can happen at this level but I am 99% sure it did. I stopped the tape to see their alignment, counted heads, couldn't believe my eyes, counted again, made the assumption the safeties were just out of the picture, watched the play, and there was nobody back there, unless they got scared and ran off the field after the ball was snapped. I watched the play about 7 times, accounting for every jersey number in the picture and counted heads in the EZ. My conclusion? They had nobody back there. I can't wait to hear this talked about.
JT played well. The only missed read I saw was him handing off directly into the first cross charge of the day. We are so lucky to have this guy. He can make you pay so fast. He sneaks through holes and bursts into space like static electricity flies off a door handle.
Can I have more TaQuon Marshall please? This kid is really growing on me. He plays like a senior and understands what the word EFFORT means. He blocks hard and gets after it every play. There were many plays I loved, but the one nobody is probably even aware of is how he dove to the knees to kick out a blitzer from the edge to give JT some life and then got back to his feet and cut another guy (coming from the middle) to the ground, paving the way for a modest gain that would have been a loss otherwise. He will push you all the way into the bench before he lets up. There are big plays being made everywhere from this group. Search, Lynch, and Marshall all had big ones. Tulane tried to force the ball to these guys and they were more than up for the challenge. They aren't all blocking quite the way I would like, but they are making plays. I was disappointed with Snoddy fumbling that pitch. True, it got on him quick, but his eyes were in the wrong place. That is just a lack of mental discipline and it shouldn't happen with a senior. He doesn't have as good hands as his other AB brethren, so he HAS to focus more to make up for it. It is a good thing that lapse didn't happen further down the road.
It would have been easy to say we had a great game at the OL, but our failure to get the MLB taken care of repeatedly kind of dulls things for me really. That is the OT's responsibility and I don't think EJ is going to like what the film shows. Will Bryan blocks everything he sees, including his own players, sometimes doing more harm than good. You have to love the speed and effort, but you can't be pulling with TB and knocking him down while you are trying to block his man and not your own. Chamberlain had some good pancakes on the day, but he couldn't seem to get to the MLB either. On the interior of the OL, I would say it was a good day. We get movement up front and that is what counts.
The BBs played well I thought, even though it wasn't destined to be their day. I was glad to see the counter BB option (not sure what it is called officially) is alive and well. We will see MM in space using this play a lot more I am sure. Skov runs hard and never gives up on a run, assuming he is going down. You have to love the effort, ball security, and blocking from him. He is an experienced football guy.
Our WRs owned the Two-Lane CBs blocking. We have two physical players out there in Jeune and Summers. I really like their stand up game blocking. Summers looks like a different player this year to me. He is more confident and stronger. His cuts are more decisive and he is getting more separation. I don't have a high opinion of their CBs (nor Alcorn's) so it will be interesting to see how this translates next week.
One of the things you have to love about CPJ is his observation of opponent tendencies. One play that comes to mind was not a huge play, but rather a decent gain off a quick pass to the void left by a firing corner. I wound the tape back because I wondered how he knew it was coming. They hadn't done it in several plays, so in my mind anyway, it remains a mystery. Not in his though, I'm sure.
Folks, we have a lot of weapons on offense. Enough to make chicken salad on a lot of plays and absolutely bust out on others when things are blocked right. IMHO, there is too much there, when considering the weapons combined with experience in the scheme, to realistically be stopped. I wouldn't want to have to defend us right now. We have replaced a lot of our skill position roster with what I think are actually better players. It was perfectly normal for the football world to ask the questions in the off season when we turned over so many players on offense. It is still early, but with the returns so far, I am feeling like the bar has actually been raised. We are faster as a group. We have better hands. We are more slippery. The OL is just as physical up front. I am not confident that we will score in the 60's against everybody, but we are good enough to put a ton of pressure on opposing offenses as well as defenses. They better be ready to score too.
I am of the opinion that Tulane is better on the defensive side of the ball than they are on offense. We just have a lot of weapons and JT is seeing the field even better than last year. That open seam that "seemed" (pardon) to go unnoticed last year is being found and we have the guys who can stretch the D from AB, as receivers, and make them pay. I wouldn't want to have to defend us. They have some good players. I really like #6, #52, and #20 playing at the second level. They can all hustle and make plays. On the interior, they aren't easy to move out of there. We are just a good team on offense plain and simple.
On to the positions:
Let's start with QB and MJ's debut. I know it has been a hot topic. Personally, I thought he did really well, and I will try and be as specific as possible. First of all, I loved his body language out there. He was excited, obviously, but he was also poised and confident. In his first series he read a couple of cross charges perfectly and got the ball pitched out. His pitches might have been a little forced and fast, but they got the job done. He kept the ball when surpried off a blitz and got what he could without forcing something stupid. One thing I really liked on his long TD pass (off toss sweep play action) was that he made sure he under threw his WIDE OPEN AB TaQuon a little to insure the completion. That showed poise and experience beyond his current pay grade. It was obviously his primary target so he didn't have to check down, but it is really easy to get excited and chuck it too far when you are out there for the first time. Folks, on his second drive and long run, don't get too excited because you are not going to believe what I have to tell you. The green comb-overs lined up with a grand total of 9 players on the field on that play. I don't know how that can happen at this level but I am 99% sure it did. I stopped the tape to see their alignment, counted heads, couldn't believe my eyes, counted again, made the assumption the safeties were just out of the picture, watched the play, and there was nobody back there, unless they got scared and ran off the field after the ball was snapped. I watched the play about 7 times, accounting for every jersey number in the picture and counted heads in the EZ. My conclusion? They had nobody back there. I can't wait to hear this talked about.
JT played well. The only missed read I saw was him handing off directly into the first cross charge of the day. We are so lucky to have this guy. He can make you pay so fast. He sneaks through holes and bursts into space like static electricity flies off a door handle.
Can I have more TaQuon Marshall please? This kid is really growing on me. He plays like a senior and understands what the word EFFORT means. He blocks hard and gets after it every play. There were many plays I loved, but the one nobody is probably even aware of is how he dove to the knees to kick out a blitzer from the edge to give JT some life and then got back to his feet and cut another guy (coming from the middle) to the ground, paving the way for a modest gain that would have been a loss otherwise. He will push you all the way into the bench before he lets up. There are big plays being made everywhere from this group. Search, Lynch, and Marshall all had big ones. Tulane tried to force the ball to these guys and they were more than up for the challenge. They aren't all blocking quite the way I would like, but they are making plays. I was disappointed with Snoddy fumbling that pitch. True, it got on him quick, but his eyes were in the wrong place. That is just a lack of mental discipline and it shouldn't happen with a senior. He doesn't have as good hands as his other AB brethren, so he HAS to focus more to make up for it. It is a good thing that lapse didn't happen further down the road.
It would have been easy to say we had a great game at the OL, but our failure to get the MLB taken care of repeatedly kind of dulls things for me really. That is the OT's responsibility and I don't think EJ is going to like what the film shows. Will Bryan blocks everything he sees, including his own players, sometimes doing more harm than good. You have to love the speed and effort, but you can't be pulling with TB and knocking him down while you are trying to block his man and not your own. Chamberlain had some good pancakes on the day, but he couldn't seem to get to the MLB either. On the interior of the OL, I would say it was a good day. We get movement up front and that is what counts.
The BBs played well I thought, even though it wasn't destined to be their day. I was glad to see the counter BB option (not sure what it is called officially) is alive and well. We will see MM in space using this play a lot more I am sure. Skov runs hard and never gives up on a run, assuming he is going down. You have to love the effort, ball security, and blocking from him. He is an experienced football guy.
Our WRs owned the Two-Lane CBs blocking. We have two physical players out there in Jeune and Summers. I really like their stand up game blocking. Summers looks like a different player this year to me. He is more confident and stronger. His cuts are more decisive and he is getting more separation. I don't have a high opinion of their CBs (nor Alcorn's) so it will be interesting to see how this translates next week.
One of the things you have to love about CPJ is his observation of opponent tendencies. One play that comes to mind was not a huge play, but rather a decent gain off a quick pass to the void left by a firing corner. I wound the tape back because I wondered how he knew it was coming. They hadn't done it in several plays, so in my mind anyway, it remains a mystery. Not in his though, I'm sure.
Folks, we have a lot of weapons on offense. Enough to make chicken salad on a lot of plays and absolutely bust out on others when things are blocked right. IMHO, there is too much there, when considering the weapons combined with experience in the scheme, to realistically be stopped. I wouldn't want to have to defend us right now. We have replaced a lot of our skill position roster with what I think are actually better players. It was perfectly normal for the football world to ask the questions in the off season when we turned over so many players on offense. It is still early, but with the returns so far, I am feeling like the bar has actually been raised. We are faster as a group. We have better hands. We are more slippery. The OL is just as physical up front. I am not confident that we will score in the 60's against everybody, but we are good enough to put a ton of pressure on opposing offenses as well as defenses. They better be ready to score too.
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