Virginia Postgame

[THWG16]

Braves

 

[forensicbuzz]

This team is a year or two away from being VERY good. You guys can crap on our team if you want, but I see a lot of good things happening. I see things that need to be fixed, and I see things that will fix themselves with a little maturation. Although we lost, and that's a gut shot, I think we're going to be really good. It's not like Armstrong hasn't trashed 4 other teams this year. You guys act like they had some yahoo out there.

 

[JacketOff]

Offense had some issues but overall played well. There were some "yeah buts..." to consider but 570 yards and 41 points is hard to have an issue with.

Defense played bad to say the least. Part of that was Armstrong doing what he has done all year (we actually "held" him under his average yards passing) and their WRs making some great plays. A lot was just our defense having issues that we've seen for a while now, and likely will be exploited by good QBs most of the time.

Special teams was erratic. Missed extra point and a pair of bad punts, but perfect on the extra points + FGs, and the onsides were great (in general the kick offs were all great).

FWIW since returning against UNC (counting it as half a game) Sims is averaging 305 yards per game passing on 9.28 yards per attempt on ~63.5%, 9 TDs to 5 INTs, with 82 yards rushing on 6.8 ypc, 4 TDs. Each of the last 3 games have seen him pass for more yards than in any game last year. His INTs are still an issue but he has improved from about 1 INT every 20 pass attempts to once every 25. That still isn't good but the production(9.28 ypa ~top 10 in nation, 305 ypg would be 12th, and 82 ypg rushing would be second nationally for QBs) more than makes up for it, especially considering how young he is. It really is a shame some fans can't seem to understand how good he is and how high his ceiling is.

Sims does have an insanely high ceiling, but you really need to account for how much of that production you’re looking at is in garbage time. The Pitt game was already over after our first 2 possessions because he threw 2 interceptions and one of them was a pick 6. He spent the rest of the game padding stats because Pitt had a huge lead

Against Duke (one of the worst teams we’ll play) be had a stretch where he went 3-12 with 2 interceptions. If it wasn’t for Duke’s anemic offense and terrible kicking game that stretch would’ve been enough to lose the game.

Tonight we were driving with the lead, looking to extend it, and Sims made a terrible read and pass that lead to an interception and subsequent UVA touchdown and we never sniffed the lead again after that.

Sims’ has incredible potential as a playmaker, and he can definitely do more things with the ball than any other QB on the roster. But his turnover issues are killing us. If Duke was any good at all we would’ve lost the last 3 games because of his bad decisions. If he learns to take care of the ball he will be special. But until then, he will continue to cost Tech valuable points, drives, and field position, and given our terrible defense that will lead to more losses.

The only option we have right now is just to hope Sims reigns in his turnover issues, because it’s obvious he is the best option back there, but if we’re going to win games he’s got to be better.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Sims does have an insanely high ceiling, but you really need to account for how much of that production you’re looking at is in garbage time. The Pitt game was already over after our first 2 possessions because he threw 2 interceptions and one of them was a pick 6. He spent the rest of the game padding stats because Pitt had a huge lead

Against Duke (one of the worst teams we’ll play) be had a stretch where he went 3-12 with 2 interceptions. If it wasn’t for Duke’s anemic offense and terrible kicking game that stretch would’ve been enough to lose the game.

Tonight we were driving with the lead, looking to extend it, and Sims made a terrible read and pass that lead to an interception and subsequent UVA touchdown and we never sniffed the lead again after that.

Sims’ has incredible potential as a playmaker, and he can definitely do more things with the ball than any other QB on the roster. But his turnover issues are killing us. If Duke was any good at all we would’ve lost the last 3 games because of his bad decisions. If he learns to take care of the ball he will be special. But until then, he will continue to cost Tech valuable points, drives, and field position, and given our terrible defense that will lead to more losses.

The only option we have right now is just to hope Sims reigns in his turnover issues, because it’s obvious he is the best option back there, but if we’re going to win games he’s got to be better.

I guess you could look at it that way if you want to paint a certain picture. Doesn't mean it's true, but if that's what you want to take away from it...

 

[JacketOff]

I guess you could look at it that way if you want to paint a certain picture. Doesn't mean it's true, but if that's what you want to take away from it...

What picture am I painting? That Jeff has serious turnover problems and we won’t have a chance at being legitimately good until he figures it out? We don’t have a good enough defense for him to turn the ball over like he does

 

[LibertyTurns]

Im more worried about CGCs ties to some of his staff than I am Coach P being dedicated to Sims. P and Sims has been inconsistent but overall good enough to win. The D staff on the other hand…

Yes, that will ultimately be what take him out. His attempt to forge the beginning of a legacy by riding on the back of his QB and RB, is not a bad concept in general. Problem is he’s standing by watching them being not properly utilized and failing to correct mistakes, is tolerating players that repeatedly perform poorly eating up all the minutes, etc. I was hoping he’d grow out of it in year 3 because he’s a fairly decent recruiter, but it’s really hard to project what’s going on into long term success down the road. I’m not sure we’ll ever amass the depth of talent to overcome weak coaching.

 

[forensicbuzz]

What picture am I painting? That Jeff has serious turnover problems and we won’t have a chance at being legitimately good until he figures it out? We don’t have a good enough defense for him to turn the ball over like he does

If that's the picture you're painting, I agree. Not how I interpreted what I read. Sims needs to get more consistent; he will. The Defense needs to get better; I really hope it will.

 

[Root4GT]

i just don’t understand the coaching staff trotting the same mediocre players out for the last 3 years on defense
we have not 1 new starter in the secondary in the last 3 years

We play about 8-9 guys in the secondary. It doesn’t matter who is playing the results are the same. Very bad.

 

[lv20gt]

Sims does have an insanely high ceiling, but you really need to account for how much of that production you’re looking at is in garbage time. The Pitt game was already over after our first 2 possessions because he threw 2 interceptions and one of them was a pick 6. He spent the rest of the game padding stats because Pitt had a huge lead

Ahh yes, the 55 minutes of garbage time because 14 points leads in the first quarter are insurmountable. Lucky for UVA we missed that extra point or everything Armstrong would have done would have been in garbage time. Was their first string defense not in after that? Were they just running out the clock on offense and not really trying to score? No? Then it wasn't garbage time. There also was no garbage time against Duke nor against UVA.

But hey, when you try to say that we lost the UVA and Pitt games because of his decision making process then it's obvious it doesn't really matter how he plays. You'll discount the good, highlight the bad, and reach the conclusion you want to.

 

[bke1984]

Anyone who says something about Patenaude needs to be banned


Defense is soft

Agree on the D. It was bad…but some of the sets don’t exactly feel like they’re being out in position to succeed. Not sure how you rush 3 and run soft zone behind it and expect to stop that offense.

I hear you on P, but he did call the series at the end of the half that was a train wreck and called all the series in Q3 as well. It’s unrealistic to expect scores on every drive, but all of those drives at the end should be taken in context as well.

Honestly much more concerned with our staff’s inability to develop Sims into a QB that doesn’t stare down receivers and throw likely interceptions every game.

 

[Root4GT]

What picture am I painting? That Jeff has serious turnover problems and we won’t have a chance at being legitimately good until he figures it out? We don’t have a good enough defense for him to turn the ball over like he does

Sims isn’t our problem. He does make mistakes. All very inexperienced QBs make mistakes. He also makes a lot of very good plays. He likely has 3 years after this one. Look at how much better 5th year senior Pickett at Pitt is as a QB than he was 3 years ago.

 

[Golden Tornadoes]

Every time they completed a pass if felt like there were 4 of our guys behind him. We need to be more aggressive on defense with how we play DBs.

If we blitz, opposing QBs diagnose it and get it out quickly. For instance tonight we brought a safety blitz but he never walked up to close the gap so he was literally blitzing from his safety posting 10-15 YARDS OFF THE BALL!!! What kind of recipe for success is that with a QB whose whipping it out 2-3 seconds after the snap?

If we press, our DBs get torched or called for PI because we face guard receivers instead of turning and locating the ball. I mean seriously, how hard is it to look and see the WR you’re manned up on start to track the ball and think hmm, maybe I should get my head around and try to find the ball too instead of running through the guy or tackling him before he catches it. It’s been an issue for three years. If I was an opposing OC, I’d throw it deep against us every play because I know I’m getting at least 15 out of it. Stop playing the receiver, start playing the ball. It’s simple.

 

[stech81]

I tried to think of a nice way to say it , but our defense plays like Sh*t and looks worse. Not sure how you can look worse than Sh*t but they found a way to do it.

 

[LargeFO]

Does anyone besides Thacker and Collins think that playing 3 DL is working out swell? Geez…don‘t even try to make adjustments.

 

[MWBATL]

Maybe we should get a respected defensive-minded coach……oh, wait…..

 

[BleedGoldNWhite21]

I tried to watch it on my phone at the battery, but that didn’t last. Happy to see we scored 40 points

 

[Lavoisier]

We need a better QB coach. We need better defensive coaches. We need better players. None of this is going to happen though.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

Oh well. BRAVES NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPS!!!

 

[WreckinGT]

Pros:
- We finally got Mason and Gibbs going. Both looked great and our running game looked like it should have looked all season.
- WRs looked pretty solid outside of a couple of bad drops. McGowan had a nice game.
- We are oddly good or lucky at onside kicks.

Cons:
- Our defense is a special kind of bad that can't really be explained.
- Our QB makes too many mistakes. The interception was crucial. We had our foot on the pedal with three good drives before that and another drive that looked like it was going in for a score before the turnover. Then we punt on four of the next five drives.

Without this win a bowl game seems really unlikely. Hopefully we can scrap two more wins together and get to 5.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

Anyone who says something about Patenaude needs to be banned


Defense is soft

The only issue I had with the offense was Sims INT when we had been running it down their throats. Yes it was threw Sims that made a bad decision and threw the pic but AGAIN Run the ****ing ball.

WE WERE GASHING THEM. It’s our strength and Sims picks have been the weakness. Run the ****ing ball.

Someone tell me our average yard per rush this game. Higher than 3.3? I’m guessing yes.