Series:
Welcome back to Upon Further Review, where we will review all Miami Hurricanes games to see what the film tells us. This week we will take a look at the FIU game.
Gauthier initially loses leverage, but does re-anchor. He causes Homer to have to shift and go around him here, but the hole opens up because Donaldson and Mahoney kick their guys out. If Gauthier allows Homer to hit this hole hard and fast you could’ve been looking at a huge gain.
Next play is a swing pass to Jeff Thomas. Gets a nice block from Harley, accurate pass from Rosier allowed him to get upfield, and then a nice run for good yardage. Boulware got shocked at the point of attack, but recovered to make the block. Miami OL tends to struggle with that first strike. (Not pictured)
1st down and if Gauthier gets this block we are talking about a big run. He doesn’t and the run play picks up little. Look at that lane that has been created on the edge.
Same play, but above I wanted to show the hole that was there if Gauthier gets his block. Earlier in the play, this is not good. #97 has absolutely planted Boulware on his back. #91 has knocked Donaldson straight to the ground (he’s on his hands-and-knees here).
2nd down was a big mistake by Rosier. If he gives this ball he has Homer for a big gain. Look at the lead blockers on this play and that huge green zone in front of him. Yes, if he gives that backside player is going to be chasing, but he’s well behind at this point. Rosier keeps and gets tackled for a loss.
It’s all on film for why Rosier struggles with accuracy. His footwork is inconsistent. He completes this ball- and it was accurate- but in the long run this will lead to passes being just off etc. He’s stepping completely sideways here. Look where his foot is aiming. Wish Brevin had fought a little harder for this 1st down.
When the two LB’s are inside of the hash like this you have to check out of the sneak. There was no push, and St. Louis hasn’t even contacted anyone yet here, but you check to a pitch play or something outside of the hash and the LB’s can’t get there before a yard when they’re lined up like this. Rosier has made two poor decisions of the drive already.
Imagine having a plan of trying to block Willis 1-on-1 but doubling Bethel. Willis blows the play up. Garvin gets the sack after Willis flushes him right to him.
I talk often about why Malik needs to pull the ball sometimes even if it doesn’t end in a big play because otherwise ends will just ignore that threat. That’s exactly what Garvin does here. They don’t block him and Garvin doesn’t pay any mind to the QB pulling the ball here and makes the TFL.
We stand everybody but Willis on the next play and loop Garvin around. He should’ve had a sack but he came in a little tentative and the QB got the pass off for an incompletion. (Not pictured)
On the punt, Ivey makes a nice block as he gets his head in front of the defender to avoid a penalty. Thomas breaks a tackle at the 22, Amari Carter levels a guy at the 25, Nesta grabs a guy at the 50 and it was a hold. Thomas has that outside already and Homer escorting him. That guy might make the tackle on Thomas, but even if he does, they’re going to catch you when you lean and grab every time. It was still an encouraging return play.
1st down for us we throw a deep ball to Brevin down the right sideline and the ball is just slightly underthrown. The LB makes a good play to knock the ball out of Brevin’s hands. (Not pictured)
I write often about leverage and technique on the OL and here’s one of the things I often see that makes the difference on the play. Here, Mahoney has his outside shoulder turned in towards the LOS. If Mahoney has leverage and can get that shoulder turned past the LOS his man won’t be able to plug this gap. The DL controls him and Dallas has to cut back. Thankfully, Boulware and St. Louis win their blocks and it’s a nice 5-yard run.
On this play, Mahoney does what I’m talking about and has leverage to move his man out of the hole. But here, Boulware is shocked back by #91 and when the DL has extension like this he is easily able to come off a block and make a tackle. Our OL has to get that initial jolt to make our running game stronger and we are just a bit off with that. They had their S crashing hard on the play anyway. This is a 1-yard gain as FIU is playing the run all the way. If Rosier pulls this and throws the bubble to the bottom of the screen, it’s an easy 1st down. The RPO part of things is there for a reason.
1st down, Tito pushes the pile inside and Shaq fills hard behind him for a 2-yard run. Nice play by both. Then a facemask penalty on Willis. (Not pictured)
FIU tried to block Joe Jackson with a TE. It predictably didn’t work. Their QB tries to go deep to a TE and Amari Carter nearly picked it off. (Not pictured)
2nd down they tried the read option again and again our edge player pays no attention to him (Patchan). Willis destroys his guy and gets the TFL. This is beautiful. Quickness with right arm, strength and coordination with left arm (on the hip of the C to create space and clearance) and then right into the RB for a TFL. What he also does is that he is into the lane where the RG wants to pull as well. There is nothing he can do so Willis is actually freeing the other side up as well. Patchan has cutback. Dominant football. I mentioned on the podcast after Toledo that every team has changed what they do mid-game because Willis was just destroying everything when they didn’t compensate. This is what I meant, FIU is trying to run their normal stuff and block the 3-technique with a C and it’s just not going to happen. He’s too quick, too strong, too fast, too good.
We stunted Willis on 3rd and 13, left the middle open and they dump it off. He got a little more than you want to see, but Michael Jackson makes the tackle after 12. (Not pictured)
So, the N’Kosi Perry era starts here. Thank you to Malik Rosier, but this may be the end of the line as a starter. The staff has a group text going and they will tell you that I defend Rosier more than anyone on there, but I recognize the limitations that exist with his accuracy troubles. 1st down, we have Jahair Jones and Mahoney at the guard spots. St. Louis gets beat inside immediately and you can see Jones is tripped by St. Louis pushing the defender from the side into his legs. Jones goes to the ground immediately. Gauthier and Mahoney trip over each other’s legs and Mahoney goes down. St. Louis goes down here as well. We are lucky someone didn’t get hurt here and this was embarrassing.
Something you will see at times with freshmen is they want to get out of the pocket pretty quickly. St. Louis has stoned his guy here and while Donaldson was initially beaten, he recovered and pushed the defender wide and opened this running lane. I think what really bothered Perry was Gauthier getting walked back into his lap here. I wish Jones had punished that guy from the side before releasing. Look for work, Jahair. Perry gets basically nothing and left the pocket too quickly.
Gauthier whiffs on his block or Deejay has an easy first down right in the middle of the field. You can see #74 on the ground here at the 12. Perry escapes to his right and gets a generous spot to pick up the 1st.
We run the bubble to Brevin on 1st down and it’s a solid throw. He has it bounce off his face and catches it. Gains 5. OL all did their jobs. On 2nd down we go with tempo and throw the bubble again. It was the right decision based on numbers and Brevin picks up the 1st down easily. (Not pictured)
I’m not trying to pile on, but this is the familiar pose that Jahair Jones strikes this year. Upright, completely locked out by the longarm technique from the DL, which controls him as a blocker. Dallas is such a smart, patient runner. He lets the DL pick the gap he wants to take and then ducks off to the other side behind Mahoney and Gauthier and gets some yards. The DL should’ve taken the other gap because he had a free defender on that side to steer him towards.
We run outside zone on the next play. Brevin is kind of run over here, Jahair just gets there on the pull (honestly, this was an impressive block to get that far out), Donaldson literally blocked Mahoney right in the hip and knocks him to the ground. St. Louis straight pancaked his man and I want to give him a high-five after that (he’s the rear end you see here as he slams his man to the ground). Dallas hits this tiny crease here, avoids the arm tackle by Brevin’s man, and the WR’s all block (Pope even gets two blocks). Dallas even has a man slap for the defender at the end as he goes out-of-bounds. Andre Ware actually tried to call it a punch and says it can get him thrown out. No, Mr. Ware, no.
Oh, if only Mahoney could’ve kept this block for another second. Homer has a lane here, but Mahoney loses his block after initially having leverage. Obligatory Jahair Jones bent completely over shot. He’s getting knocked to the side here and looking at the ground. You see his head just to the right of Donaldson here.
Next play we do get it into the end zone though. This is beautiful, the OL winning at the snap immediately. Mahoney with a flat back, leverage, turning that man out of the hole. Jones and St. Louis have a combo block on the DE and Jones can release onto the LB. Donaldson pulls through the hole and has a scrape on the DT as he runs past Gauthier. Homer follows Donaldson through the hole, but Donaldson really missed his block and ended up on the ground because he got too far over his toes. Homer eludes that LB in the hole and shows a nice cutback into the end zone. Pope gave him a sneaky good shield block by running at an angle into the side of a defender with his arms raised up.
Donaldson looked like a bull who just had the red curtain pulled by the bull fighter. Completely misses #3 here. Homer with a ridiculous jump cut in the hole. Donaldson never touched the defender.
Bandy slips right here or this is an interception. Look at how he’s driving on this ball already and flashing in front of the receiver.
Next play they tried a dive play and Ford clogged up the lane pretty well. He had this kind of funny paw going over the back of the OL and just snatches the RB and tackles him backwards. Couldn’t get a good picture, but it was a nice play by him. Pickney really attacked his gap as well. (Not pictured)
3rd down they tackled Willis- no call. He still hits the QB at the legs and the QB throws an out-route and the receiver stayed inside. (Not pictured)
1st down we run a bunch of clear out routes deep as they were in man and then lined up Brevin at H-back. Brevin just delays for a second before getting into his route and I think that confused the LB just enough. Brevin gets an easy release and runs away from the LB for a huge gain down the sideline. (Not pictured)
Clean mechanics for Perry on this throw. It’s an accurate ball that Harley can run with. No hesitation, just count the numbers and take the bubble when the numbers call for it.
Scaife in at RT and he does something crafty here. He’s pulling while Mahoney crashes down and is supposed to move this guy out so there is a hole for Scaife to release to the second level. Mahoney doesn’t win at the snap, so Scaife actually uses his arms to move Mahoney out just a touch and then releases through the hole. If he doesn’t do that there isn’t a gap for him to run through. Instead this play picks up the 1st down easily. Always worry about a guy getting his legs rolled up when you’re pushing the pile through here and grinding, but Mahoney came out unscathed.
We do ask Jones to get pretty far here, but he’s obviously slow to pull and while he falls on the guy who is trying to blow up this play, he also completely tackles the other puller and wipes him out. Look at the wide angle that Dallas has to take here because Jones didn’t get there and open a lane. Loss of four.
Big. Boy. Throw. He anticipates Cager clearing here, fits it into a tight window, and because of his absolutely lightning quick release and strong arm he doesn’t leave the defenders time to react. This is one of those times that it’s hard to do this throw justice, but what a dime. Cager takes it in for a TD. Second still is of Perry looking the route off because he knows he has the “Bang-8” behind it. A Bang-8 is just a fancy term for a post route where you "bang" your foot into the ground and turn to the post at exactly 8-yards. He freezes #3 & #5 just enough to leave a window to throw. This is just perfect QB’ing.
DL all dominate the OL. No gain. 2nd down and they throw a swing pass to the RB. Romeo Finley is a lot faster than I originally thought. He ran that play down in a hurry. He dinged his shoulder on the play. (Not pictured)
I am sure Knowles is a very hard worker and he does a nice job on special teams, but at some point the staff has to see that this SS blitz from a long ways away is not working. Here he is actually blocking the DE for FIU and nowhere near pressuring the QB. WR actually had a step, but it was a poor throw by the QB.
Punt. Nesta is very good at pressuring punts. Nearly blocks this one and takes a great angle so as not to rough the punter. (Not pictured)
1st down and we threw a bubble to Harley. It was a bit behind him. (Not pictured)
3rd down and St. Louis gets blown by. Just a poor pass set early then he couldn’t recover. Perry fumbled on the play, but Miami recovered.
1st down they tried an inside give and Willis and Bethel stand up the OL and allow Patchan to pursue down the LOS. Their QB has to keep on one of these. (Not pictured)
Here is Mike Smith literally running into his own DT on a run fill. Charles Perry makes the stop.
3rd down and Patchan does a beautiful step-and-dip move to get past the LT and hits the QB as he throws. Redwine shows some nice range and intercepts the pass deep in Miami territory. WR had gotten a step on Michael Jackson. Andre Ware said Redwine is in his first year playing S after moving over from CB. That is false. (Not pictured)
1st down and you see some of the eagerness of a freshman in Perry. He should give this ball. There are running lanes for the RB. Instead he pulls and tries to get around the edge. They push him out after a gain of five simply because he’s an excellent athlete.
Mahoney has leverage on this play. He has to take a step with his right leg and turn his hips so that he is rooting the DT out of the hole. Instead, he tries to lean on him and the DT recovers after this initial crash and flicks Mahoney to the side and buries the RB. The numbers don’t call for it, so it’s not a mistake, but if he throws the bubble he probably gets the first down instead of a gain of one.
This throw should go to #7 here. He takes Harley instead, who is covered on the play. Perry has a good enough arm that he gets it there before the defender. It’s only tipped, Harley catches it and gets the 1st down. When Perry looks at this though, he’ll see that there is an easy throw to 7 rather than 3. On film, Perry just “looks” so much more like a QB than Rosier does. Motion, release, mechanics.
Gauthier on skates at first, but he re-anchors with the help of Mahoney. One thing I really like about Mahoney is he always looks for work. He drills the NT in the ribs on this play and that softens them up over the course of the game and saves your QB. Perry takes the safe throw on the shallow crosser here. As they say, you’ll never go broke taking a profit. He could’ve tried to hit that square-in to Hightower at about the 40, but that LB is dropping back into that zone and it would’ve been a more risky pass to go for the deeper route. OL gave him time though.
The 2nd down play really irked me when I was watching live. Deejay gets the swing pass here (which was a nice, soft pass in stride) and instead of sticking his foot in the ground, lowering that shoulder and really powering into this defender, he just stops. He was running full speed one yard prior and easily could’ve gotten this ball to the 35. Instead, he is tackled right here and makes it a more difficult 3rd down. Be big, play big.
This play was broken down quite well by QB guru, @romancane, in his fantastic series, From the Perch (you should read it). I agree he has that swing pass wide open for a 1st down and should throw it here. That said, there is more risk involved with a throw. Bad pass, drop, tipped by DL etc. The OL does an excellent job of controlling the initial push and then a Red Sea opens up for Perry to run through.
1st down we have Jones at LG and Boulware at RG. Jones gives up initial push, re-anchors, but then his man tackles Homer. Tough run by Homer nets six yards as the carried the DT. 2nd down inside give and Jones releases to the second level. He never actually blocked a defender. Homer gets three. (Not pictured)
3rd and 1 is the same FB give we have been doing. Donaldson absolutely caves a guy in off the edge. I think Brevin blocks the wrong guy because he was supposed to block the edge player I believe (he’s looking back like, “whoops”). Luckily, the edge player steps up due to the fake pitch to Homer. I can’t imagine the play design is to leave two guys unblocked. Gray bursts for seven yards.
Perry knows he has Harley right here. He’s just coming out of his break and he knows he has him. Already setting his feet and getting his release ready to throw the ball. This is great stuff right here and shows the anticipation that Perry brings that we may have previously lacked. Perry has to see this route now and have the arm strength to beat the S coming up the field off-the-screen here. Nice catch by Harley as well.
Something Boulware does really well is use leverage to turn defenders or crash down on defenders and give a lane for RB’s in zone blocking. He’s an ideal zone-blocking G and he’s an asset at either LG or RG. Donaldson leads here and the LB he’s trying to block absolutely levels him and throws him to his back and stood over him flexing. Not a great look for #55.
Next play and Boulware gets beat right off the snap. You can see #50 with his arm around the side of the DT who is swallowing Homer. You can see Donaldson wants his revenge on #5 for the last play. Instead, Donaldson completely whiffs on the block and #5 eludes him.
3rd down and Boulware shows off his athleticism. He initially crashes down on the DT at the LOS and helps Gauthier. Then he sees that Donaldson is going to get beat inside and he comes off that block and cleans an edge rushers clock inside. Perry gets flushed on the play, but he would’ve gotten smashed if Boulware doesn’t react quickly inside. For me, Perry can slide to his left and stay in the pocket and buy time for the receivers to work open but that’s going to take time with a young QB who can run. The pass falls incomplete. FG is good.
Gauthier initially loses leverage, but does re-anchor. He causes Homer to have to shift and go around him here, but the hole opens up because Donaldson and Mahoney kick their guys out. If Gauthier allows Homer to hit this hole hard and fast you could’ve been looking at a huge gain.
Next play is a swing pass to Jeff Thomas. Gets a nice block from Harley, accurate pass from Rosier allowed him to get upfield, and then a nice run for good yardage. Boulware got shocked at the point of attack, but recovered to make the block. Miami OL tends to struggle with that first strike. (Not pictured)
1st down and if Gauthier gets this block we are talking about a big run. He doesn’t and the run play picks up little. Look at that lane that has been created on the edge.
Same play, but above I wanted to show the hole that was there if Gauthier gets his block. Earlier in the play, this is not good. #97 has absolutely planted Boulware on his back. #91 has knocked Donaldson straight to the ground (he’s on his hands-and-knees here).
2nd down was a big mistake by Rosier. If he gives this ball he has Homer for a big gain. Look at the lead blockers on this play and that huge green zone in front of him. Yes, if he gives that backside player is going to be chasing, but he’s well behind at this point. Rosier keeps and gets tackled for a loss.
It’s all on film for why Rosier struggles with accuracy. His footwork is inconsistent. He completes this ball- and it was accurate- but in the long run this will lead to passes being just off etc. He’s stepping completely sideways here. Look where his foot is aiming. Wish Brevin had fought a little harder for this 1st down.
When the two LB’s are inside of the hash like this you have to check out of the sneak. There was no push, and St. Louis hasn’t even contacted anyone yet here, but you check to a pitch play or something outside of the hash and the LB’s can’t get there before a yard when they’re lined up like this. Rosier has made two poor decisions of the drive already.
Imagine having a plan of trying to block Willis 1-on-1 but doubling Bethel. Willis blows the play up. Garvin gets the sack after Willis flushes him right to him.
I talk often about why Malik needs to pull the ball sometimes even if it doesn’t end in a big play because otherwise ends will just ignore that threat. That’s exactly what Garvin does here. They don’t block him and Garvin doesn’t pay any mind to the QB pulling the ball here and makes the TFL.
We stand everybody but Willis on the next play and loop Garvin around. He should’ve had a sack but he came in a little tentative and the QB got the pass off for an incompletion. (Not pictured)
On the punt, Ivey makes a nice block as he gets his head in front of the defender to avoid a penalty. Thomas breaks a tackle at the 22, Amari Carter levels a guy at the 25, Nesta grabs a guy at the 50 and it was a hold. Thomas has that outside already and Homer escorting him. That guy might make the tackle on Thomas, but even if he does, they’re going to catch you when you lean and grab every time. It was still an encouraging return play.
1st down for us we throw a deep ball to Brevin down the right sideline and the ball is just slightly underthrown. The LB makes a good play to knock the ball out of Brevin’s hands. (Not pictured)
I write often about leverage and technique on the OL and here’s one of the things I often see that makes the difference on the play. Here, Mahoney has his outside shoulder turned in towards the LOS. If Mahoney has leverage and can get that shoulder turned past the LOS his man won’t be able to plug this gap. The DL controls him and Dallas has to cut back. Thankfully, Boulware and St. Louis win their blocks and it’s a nice 5-yard run.
On this play, Mahoney does what I’m talking about and has leverage to move his man out of the hole. But here, Boulware is shocked back by #91 and when the DL has extension like this he is easily able to come off a block and make a tackle. Our OL has to get that initial jolt to make our running game stronger and we are just a bit off with that. They had their S crashing hard on the play anyway. This is a 1-yard gain as FIU is playing the run all the way. If Rosier pulls this and throws the bubble to the bottom of the screen, it’s an easy 1st down. The RPO part of things is there for a reason.
1st down, Tito pushes the pile inside and Shaq fills hard behind him for a 2-yard run. Nice play by both. Then a facemask penalty on Willis. (Not pictured)
FIU tried to block Joe Jackson with a TE. It predictably didn’t work. Their QB tries to go deep to a TE and Amari Carter nearly picked it off. (Not pictured)
2nd down they tried the read option again and again our edge player pays no attention to him (Patchan). Willis destroys his guy and gets the TFL. This is beautiful. Quickness with right arm, strength and coordination with left arm (on the hip of the C to create space and clearance) and then right into the RB for a TFL. What he also does is that he is into the lane where the RG wants to pull as well. There is nothing he can do so Willis is actually freeing the other side up as well. Patchan has cutback. Dominant football. I mentioned on the podcast after Toledo that every team has changed what they do mid-game because Willis was just destroying everything when they didn’t compensate. This is what I meant, FIU is trying to run their normal stuff and block the 3-technique with a C and it’s just not going to happen. He’s too quick, too strong, too fast, too good.
We stunted Willis on 3rd and 13, left the middle open and they dump it off. He got a little more than you want to see, but Michael Jackson makes the tackle after 12. (Not pictured)
So, the N’Kosi Perry era starts here. Thank you to Malik Rosier, but this may be the end of the line as a starter. The staff has a group text going and they will tell you that I defend Rosier more than anyone on there, but I recognize the limitations that exist with his accuracy troubles. 1st down, we have Jahair Jones and Mahoney at the guard spots. St. Louis gets beat inside immediately and you can see Jones is tripped by St. Louis pushing the defender from the side into his legs. Jones goes to the ground immediately. Gauthier and Mahoney trip over each other’s legs and Mahoney goes down. St. Louis goes down here as well. We are lucky someone didn’t get hurt here and this was embarrassing.
Something you will see at times with freshmen is they want to get out of the pocket pretty quickly. St. Louis has stoned his guy here and while Donaldson was initially beaten, he recovered and pushed the defender wide and opened this running lane. I think what really bothered Perry was Gauthier getting walked back into his lap here. I wish Jones had punished that guy from the side before releasing. Look for work, Jahair. Perry gets basically nothing and left the pocket too quickly.
Gauthier whiffs on his block or Deejay has an easy first down right in the middle of the field. You can see #74 on the ground here at the 12. Perry escapes to his right and gets a generous spot to pick up the 1st.
We run the bubble to Brevin on 1st down and it’s a solid throw. He has it bounce off his face and catches it. Gains 5. OL all did their jobs. On 2nd down we go with tempo and throw the bubble again. It was the right decision based on numbers and Brevin picks up the 1st down easily. (Not pictured)
I’m not trying to pile on, but this is the familiar pose that Jahair Jones strikes this year. Upright, completely locked out by the longarm technique from the DL, which controls him as a blocker. Dallas is such a smart, patient runner. He lets the DL pick the gap he wants to take and then ducks off to the other side behind Mahoney and Gauthier and gets some yards. The DL should’ve taken the other gap because he had a free defender on that side to steer him towards.
We run outside zone on the next play. Brevin is kind of run over here, Jahair just gets there on the pull (honestly, this was an impressive block to get that far out), Donaldson literally blocked Mahoney right in the hip and knocks him to the ground. St. Louis straight pancaked his man and I want to give him a high-five after that (he’s the rear end you see here as he slams his man to the ground). Dallas hits this tiny crease here, avoids the arm tackle by Brevin’s man, and the WR’s all block (Pope even gets two blocks). Dallas even has a man slap for the defender at the end as he goes out-of-bounds. Andre Ware actually tried to call it a punch and says it can get him thrown out. No, Mr. Ware, no.
Oh, if only Mahoney could’ve kept this block for another second. Homer has a lane here, but Mahoney loses his block after initially having leverage. Obligatory Jahair Jones bent completely over shot. He’s getting knocked to the side here and looking at the ground. You see his head just to the right of Donaldson here.
Next play we do get it into the end zone though. This is beautiful, the OL winning at the snap immediately. Mahoney with a flat back, leverage, turning that man out of the hole. Jones and St. Louis have a combo block on the DE and Jones can release onto the LB. Donaldson pulls through the hole and has a scrape on the DT as he runs past Gauthier. Homer follows Donaldson through the hole, but Donaldson really missed his block and ended up on the ground because he got too far over his toes. Homer eludes that LB in the hole and shows a nice cutback into the end zone. Pope gave him a sneaky good shield block by running at an angle into the side of a defender with his arms raised up.
Donaldson looked like a bull who just had the red curtain pulled by the bull fighter. Completely misses #3 here. Homer with a ridiculous jump cut in the hole. Donaldson never touched the defender.
Bandy slips right here or this is an interception. Look at how he’s driving on this ball already and flashing in front of the receiver.
Next play they tried a dive play and Ford clogged up the lane pretty well. He had this kind of funny paw going over the back of the OL and just snatches the RB and tackles him backwards. Couldn’t get a good picture, but it was a nice play by him. Pickney really attacked his gap as well. (Not pictured)
3rd down they tackled Willis- no call. He still hits the QB at the legs and the QB throws an out-route and the receiver stayed inside. (Not pictured)
1st down we run a bunch of clear out routes deep as they were in man and then lined up Brevin at H-back. Brevin just delays for a second before getting into his route and I think that confused the LB just enough. Brevin gets an easy release and runs away from the LB for a huge gain down the sideline. (Not pictured)
Clean mechanics for Perry on this throw. It’s an accurate ball that Harley can run with. No hesitation, just count the numbers and take the bubble when the numbers call for it.
Scaife in at RT and he does something crafty here. He’s pulling while Mahoney crashes down and is supposed to move this guy out so there is a hole for Scaife to release to the second level. Mahoney doesn’t win at the snap, so Scaife actually uses his arms to move Mahoney out just a touch and then releases through the hole. If he doesn’t do that there isn’t a gap for him to run through. Instead this play picks up the 1st down easily. Always worry about a guy getting his legs rolled up when you’re pushing the pile through here and grinding, but Mahoney came out unscathed.
We do ask Jones to get pretty far here, but he’s obviously slow to pull and while he falls on the guy who is trying to blow up this play, he also completely tackles the other puller and wipes him out. Look at the wide angle that Dallas has to take here because Jones didn’t get there and open a lane. Loss of four.
Big. Boy. Throw. He anticipates Cager clearing here, fits it into a tight window, and because of his absolutely lightning quick release and strong arm he doesn’t leave the defenders time to react. This is one of those times that it’s hard to do this throw justice, but what a dime. Cager takes it in for a TD. Second still is of Perry looking the route off because he knows he has the “Bang-8” behind it. A Bang-8 is just a fancy term for a post route where you "bang" your foot into the ground and turn to the post at exactly 8-yards. He freezes #3 & #5 just enough to leave a window to throw. This is just perfect QB’ing.
DL all dominate the OL. No gain. 2nd down and they throw a swing pass to the RB. Romeo Finley is a lot faster than I originally thought. He ran that play down in a hurry. He dinged his shoulder on the play. (Not pictured)
I am sure Knowles is a very hard worker and he does a nice job on special teams, but at some point the staff has to see that this SS blitz from a long ways away is not working. Here he is actually blocking the DE for FIU and nowhere near pressuring the QB. WR actually had a step, but it was a poor throw by the QB.
Punt. Nesta is very good at pressuring punts. Nearly blocks this one and takes a great angle so as not to rough the punter. (Not pictured)
1st down and we threw a bubble to Harley. It was a bit behind him. (Not pictured)
3rd down and St. Louis gets blown by. Just a poor pass set early then he couldn’t recover. Perry fumbled on the play, but Miami recovered.
1st down they tried an inside give and Willis and Bethel stand up the OL and allow Patchan to pursue down the LOS. Their QB has to keep on one of these. (Not pictured)
Here is Mike Smith literally running into his own DT on a run fill. Charles Perry makes the stop.
3rd down and Patchan does a beautiful step-and-dip move to get past the LT and hits the QB as he throws. Redwine shows some nice range and intercepts the pass deep in Miami territory. WR had gotten a step on Michael Jackson. Andre Ware said Redwine is in his first year playing S after moving over from CB. That is false. (Not pictured)
1st down and you see some of the eagerness of a freshman in Perry. He should give this ball. There are running lanes for the RB. Instead he pulls and tries to get around the edge. They push him out after a gain of five simply because he’s an excellent athlete.
Mahoney has leverage on this play. He has to take a step with his right leg and turn his hips so that he is rooting the DT out of the hole. Instead, he tries to lean on him and the DT recovers after this initial crash and flicks Mahoney to the side and buries the RB. The numbers don’t call for it, so it’s not a mistake, but if he throws the bubble he probably gets the first down instead of a gain of one.
This throw should go to #7 here. He takes Harley instead, who is covered on the play. Perry has a good enough arm that he gets it there before the defender. It’s only tipped, Harley catches it and gets the 1st down. When Perry looks at this though, he’ll see that there is an easy throw to 7 rather than 3. On film, Perry just “looks” so much more like a QB than Rosier does. Motion, release, mechanics.
Gauthier on skates at first, but he re-anchors with the help of Mahoney. One thing I really like about Mahoney is he always looks for work. He drills the NT in the ribs on this play and that softens them up over the course of the game and saves your QB. Perry takes the safe throw on the shallow crosser here. As they say, you’ll never go broke taking a profit. He could’ve tried to hit that square-in to Hightower at about the 40, but that LB is dropping back into that zone and it would’ve been a more risky pass to go for the deeper route. OL gave him time though.
The 2nd down play really irked me when I was watching live. Deejay gets the swing pass here (which was a nice, soft pass in stride) and instead of sticking his foot in the ground, lowering that shoulder and really powering into this defender, he just stops. He was running full speed one yard prior and easily could’ve gotten this ball to the 35. Instead, he is tackled right here and makes it a more difficult 3rd down. Be big, play big.
This play was broken down quite well by QB guru, @romancane, in his fantastic series, From the Perch (you should read it). I agree he has that swing pass wide open for a 1st down and should throw it here. That said, there is more risk involved with a throw. Bad pass, drop, tipped by DL etc. The OL does an excellent job of controlling the initial push and then a Red Sea opens up for Perry to run through.
1st down we have Jones at LG and Boulware at RG. Jones gives up initial push, re-anchors, but then his man tackles Homer. Tough run by Homer nets six yards as the carried the DT. 2nd down inside give and Jones releases to the second level. He never actually blocked a defender. Homer gets three. (Not pictured)
3rd and 1 is the same FB give we have been doing. Donaldson absolutely caves a guy in off the edge. I think Brevin blocks the wrong guy because he was supposed to block the edge player I believe (he’s looking back like, “whoops”). Luckily, the edge player steps up due to the fake pitch to Homer. I can’t imagine the play design is to leave two guys unblocked. Gray bursts for seven yards.
Perry knows he has Harley right here. He’s just coming out of his break and he knows he has him. Already setting his feet and getting his release ready to throw the ball. This is great stuff right here and shows the anticipation that Perry brings that we may have previously lacked. Perry has to see this route now and have the arm strength to beat the S coming up the field off-the-screen here. Nice catch by Harley as well.
Something Boulware does really well is use leverage to turn defenders or crash down on defenders and give a lane for RB’s in zone blocking. He’s an ideal zone-blocking G and he’s an asset at either LG or RG. Donaldson leads here and the LB he’s trying to block absolutely levels him and throws him to his back and stood over him flexing. Not a great look for #55.
Next play and Boulware gets beat right off the snap. You can see #50 with his arm around the side of the DT who is swallowing Homer. You can see Donaldson wants his revenge on #5 for the last play. Instead, Donaldson completely whiffs on the block and #5 eludes him.
3rd down and Boulware shows off his athleticism. He initially crashes down on the DT at the LOS and helps Gauthier. Then he sees that Donaldson is going to get beat inside and he comes off that block and cleans an edge rushers clock inside. Perry gets flushed on the play, but he would’ve gotten smashed if Boulware doesn’t react quickly inside. For me, Perry can slide to his left and stay in the pocket and buy time for the receivers to work open but that’s going to take time with a young QB who can run. The pass falls incomplete. FG is good.
