Rewatch

[Boomergump]

I watched the game for the first time today. I didn't do a full study with 10 rewinds of every play, like normal. To be truthful, I have been busy, but also a little burned out with that too. There may have been a dozen plays or so where I watched several times if I was looking for something specific. So, I don't have a ton to share. Here are a few observations:

Jazz Lee is pretty fast. He gets out to the second level very quickly.

JT needs to force the commit a little more and stop slow playing the second phase of the option.

Adams is the only DL we have who consistently pushes his blocker backwards. The LOS moves into the backfield in his vicinity. He made a stop on the goal line where he just BLEW UP his guy and slapped the runner to the ground like he was a 6 year old running into his daddies thigh. He is the only guy we have at the moment who can do that kind of stuff up front. He is quick. His pad level is good. He is thick and he is explosive. Maybe he doesn't know all of his assignments. Maybe he can't go several series in a row without a breather. Whatever. There has to be a place for a guy who can stuff the center like that, assignments be dammed. What good is it to know where you are supposed to be, but you are getting pushed around? It is time we made a commitment to dictate a little on defense and he can do that.

Kallon did some good work in pass rush. Not so much against the run.

A great game for both safeties. Just great. It would have been a close game without them.

I know Mills has not put up eye popping yardage numbers yet, but he gets the most out of seemingly every run. There is so much to like. Great balance, vision, leverage, and instincts. He finishes runs. His block on JTs bootleg was great.

Our LBs are slow. Gone are the days of Watts, Nealy, Attaochu, and Hunt.

Lynch knows how to find grass. He always seems to find a way. His big play was a bust in coverage, but his other catch was a really good crisp route.

 

[ilovetheoption]

. There has to be a place for a guy who can stuff the center like that, assignments be dammed. What good is it to know where you are supposed to be, but you are getting pushed around? It is time we made a commitment to dictate a little on defense and he can do that.

Yaaaasssssssss. This ties into what I've been saying. Doing it "soundly" doesn't matter if you can't get it done that way. Take risks, because there's no downside.

 

[Lee]

JT needs to force the commit a little more and stop slow playing the second phase of the option.

This. For the most part, I think JT has played well this year. I don't know if it's lack of trust, hesitation, or what. I feel like he really attacked the pitch read in 2014. I've tried to block out last year, but he seems to be stringing things out instead of making that guy commit this year. Maybe it's me, but I feel like if he could just get a little better at this, our offense would be even better than it's been the last 2 weeks.

Before people get defensive, I'm not talking about when there are 5 guys waiting on him because everyone missed their block. I'm also not bashing the kid because I appreciate what he does for our team and knows he's tough and a great competitor. Just pointing out that I think this one improvement could greatly impact our offense.

 

[MGTfan]

Biggest takeaway is slow linebackers. Honestly, Brandon Watts may be the most underrated player of the CPJ era. Hardly got talked about while he was here, yet it's his third season in the league. I'm just not sure we've recruited many linebackers who are fit to get out in coverage, which is unfortunate.

 

[InsideLB]

Nice post. I agree JT was thinking way too much on the pitch. I think he'll see that and get it fixed. Cutcliff will be looking to try to exploit that and force a fumble.

I'd like to see Adams more too, not just in short yardage. If you burned the shirt play him.

Had Camp been getting any reps? I hope it's not like Waller where we burned the shirt and really could have used him last year.

Agree on the safety play. Corey Griffin was very active. They both looked like they were playing faster.

 

[InsideLB]

Also check your PM, Boomer

 

[Longestday]

I agree that JT should force the pitch more by attacking the read. But JT is not reading wrong as the pitch guy is giving him room to run inside and the pitch shoulders are turned away. The issue is we cannot block the MLB consistently. If we cannot block the MLB, then we should force the pitch.

Teams are forcing JT to keep the ball for a reason. But that has more to do with MLB than JT.

JT was not being decisive when we keeps and see a defender. He slows and jukes versus the step and go. A few of he A-backs are picking up the habit of slowing down as well. Step and go.... slowly pickup speed to give yourself time to see the block/hole, but don't slow down. "Step" and go at full speed.

 

[MWBATL]

Yaaaasssssssss. This ties into what I've been saying. Doing it "soundly" doesn't matter if you can't get it done that way. Take risks, because there's no downside.

I couldn't agree more strongly and this sort of decision making on our defense is what has me most alarmed and upset. GSU had a bunch of 3rd and short plays and Adams wasn't out there except in goal line. Why? WHY?

 

[MWBATL]

I agree that JT should force the pitch more by attacking the read. But JT is not reading wrong as the pitch guy is giving him room to run inside and the pitch shoulders are turned away. The issue is we cannot block the MLB consistently. If we cannot block the MLB, then we should force the pitch.

I did wonder if we wouldn't have been better off with Matthew Jordan running the ball in many of those plays. He wouldn't have scooted 58 yards for a TD like JT did, he doesn't have that speed, but he is a tougher inside runner and would have gotten 5 instead of 2 on many of those runs where the QB was forced to keep.

 

[SteamWhistle]

It's just seems like on those counter BB options JT goes SOOOOO slow. I remember against UNC last year we ran counter Option and he just skipped all the reads and took off for 15 yards.
I want to see more of that happen, JT is a playmaker. Sometimes I wish he would take over ignore all the reads and GO.

 

[Frenchise]

Could Vic or Anree help at LB? Or are we moving them to DE?

PJ wasn't playing yesterday because of a hammy.

 

[bke1984]

I rewatched the offensive possessions yesterday morning.

I agree that JT needs to make a decision on the counter options much more quickly. He also needs to actually turn up field and get 2-3 yards sometimes rather than stalling for an eventual loss or no gain. This happened about 3-5 times that I counted (may have been more, because looking at the play-by-play I think i missed a drive). It's funny though...watching it live, I thought it was much more prevalent than that, which brings me to my next point...

Our defense has to get off the damn field. I didn't realize it at the time, but the reason I was pulling my hair out in the game when that stuff happened is that it felt like we weren't able to get anything on offense when actually we were doing just fine...we just never had the ball. We scored on three of five first half possessions and should have made a field goal to make it four of five. In the second half we scored on two of three if you take out the last drive where we just killed the clock.

The only other thing that drives me crazy on offense is the drives where we just completely implode. In this game it was the 7 play, 4 yard drive where Justin fumbled. These drives kill us against better teams...especially when our defense is gassed from staying on the field for half a quarter at a time.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

A few of he A-backs are picking up the habit of slowing down as well. Step and go.... slowly pickup speed to give yourself time to see the block/hole, but don't slow down. "Step" and go at full speed.

This makes sense. I haven't watched a replay, but several times it seemed that the ABs were slightly out of pitch relation when JT kept. Maybe I was just seeing it wrong, though...

 

[Fatmike91]

This makes sense. I haven't watched a replay, but several times it seemed that the ABs were slightly out of pitch relation when JT kept. Maybe I was just seeing it wrong, though...

Yes, you are not seeing it wrong. We also had a B back who didn't have pitch relationship (and we had everyone blocked on the edge). These are mistakes that need to go away.

/

 

[Boomergump]

I couldn't agree more strongly and this sort of decision making on our defense is what has me most alarmed and upset. GSU had a bunch of 3rd and short plays and Adams wasn't out there except in goal line. Why? WHY?

Well, part of it is trying to sub in when the opponent is playing fast is nearly impossible. That is half the reason behind the hurry up offense to start with. It forces you to stay with current personnel regardless of down and distance. IMHO this is the biggest reason why Adams hasn't seen more time. If we put him in, he might be stuck out there 10 plays and get gassed, or maybe 6 of those 10 plays will be pass and maybe he isn't as good rushing the passer. I really don't know if he can rush the passer or not at this point. I am not at practice and he hasn't seen the field in that situation. The way he gets push, would have to help in my estimation, even if he can't chase very well. The center of the pocket getting pushed back is huge in terms of importance, so is taking a double team.

 

[jeffgt14]

I don’t care if he can’t rush the passer. I’m just tired of someone having a giant pocket to sit in because all we can do is try an outside rush. Gamble can rush the passer but he’s double teamed half the time.

 

[ATLGT14]

Well, part of it is trying to sub in when the opponent is playing fast is nearly impossible. That is half the reason behind the hurry up offense to start with. It forces you to stay with current personnel regardless of down and distance. IMHO this is the biggest reason why Adams hasn't seen more time. If we put him in, he might be stuck out there 10 plays and get gassed, or maybe 6 of those 10 plays will be pass and maybe he isn't as good rushing the passer. I really don't know if he can rush the passer or not at this point. I am not at practice and he hasn't seen the field in that situation. The way he gets push, would have to help in my estimation, even if he can't chase very well. The center of the pocket getting pushed back is huge in terms of importance, so is taking a double team.

Thanks @Boomergump, I was going to post this exact thing. It's easy to say why wasn't he in on 3rd and short, but against the HUNH unless you want us to burn a time out on every 3rd and short, there is no chance to sub in D Lineman. Adams has done really well in short yardage situations. People see this and think he should get a lot more playing time. Sometimes, not knowing your assignment on 2 of the 3 downs is a larger negative than your short yardage stuff or your pressure on the QB is a positive to the defense as a whole.

 

[AE 87]

It wouldn't be a problem if we stopped them on 3rd down.

 

[Techster]

Biggest takeaway is slow linebackers. Honestly, Brandon Watts may be the most underrated player of the CPJ era. Hardly got talked about while he was here, yet it's his third season in the league. I'm just not sure we've recruited many linebackers who are fit to get out in coverage, which is unfortunate.

This. I actually think we're better at DL than we have been, and our DBs are capable. Our LBs are more pluggers than playmakers. They are not fast, are not athletic, and seem lost in space. To make matters worse, they take to many false steps. The guy that covers the most ground is probably Terrell Lewis but lord knows what's going on there. Lewis can close space fast, but for some reason he's not seeing the field. Not sure what happened to Brant...it looks like he regressed since last season. I really thought he would take us back to the Brooking/Darryl Smith days, but it just hasn't worked out that way. Emmanuel Bridges has good length, and his HS showed a guy who could run, but he's just too young and not physically developed yet. Vic Alexander is another guy that closes space quickly, but it seems like he's just playing off instincts right now.

Maybe we should have groomed Jalen Johnson to play OLB instead of moving to offense and back to defense. That's what Jimmy Johnson at Miami and Arizona (Desert Swarm!) use to do. Take big DBs that could run, and turn them into LBs that were a bit undersized. They put a premium on speed on the defensive side of the ball. To me, we've gone away from putting speed on the defensive side of the ball and we're happy with the "high effort" guys.

 

[GTJake]

Didn't re-watch, but it seemed GSU's OL (like others) was getting a pretty good "push" on our DL.
I think that's where Brandon Adams could really help.