Series:
Welcome back to Upon Further Review, where we will review the plays from the most recent Miami Hurricanes matchup. This week is the week of weeks; FSU week. If you’ve read my reviews in the past you know that I tend to write them in a way that is free from commentary or opinion, and mostly just what do I see on film. This week will be a little different. This week there will be venom. I will add my opinion and commentary and will leave it out of my portfolio for professional gigs.
This game was an absolute battle and exactly what you love to see in a rivalry game. Both teams played as hard as they could and it was truthfully a vicious game. On to the game.
From the very start both teams were trying to exert their dominance on the other one. Pre-game trash talk from both sides and you could just feel the energy in the stadium.
First play, Boulware and Mahoney are overpowered and knocked backwards. St. Louis can’t control his blocks, his man comes off and combines with Boulware’s man to make a stop after two off-tackle. FSU playing from our side of the LOS on 1st down.
2nd down we run power with a FB lead and for the most part do the jobs. Gauthier is on the ground, but at least he keeps fighting and gets the block successfully. Gray doesn’t actually make this block at all, but Homer makes the LB miss and picks up decent yards.
The 3rd throw is a timing pass but the OL gives Perry time and a perfect throwing lane. Perry is throwing this ball as soon as his back-foot hits the ground in a 5-step drop. Once Harley hits the same 5-yard milestone he is to turn this slant in sharply. Ball is slightly behind him but he has to make this catch. Punt. If the ball is thrown out front he might have had something here because he has separation. Should’ve been easy money and is the start of a nightmarish first half for Perry.
Low punt from Spicer, #39 (Long snapper) gets de-cleated on coverage and Knowles takes a poor angle and lets returner outside. Solid return. (Not pictured)
FSU takes a 7-0 lead.
Burns #99 is their only DL who can really get after the QB with speed. Donaldson struggles with speed at RT. If you’re going to play Donaldson at RT, asking him to handle Burns 1-on-1 all game is a poor strategy. Donaldson barely gets his hands on Burns before he pressures Perry on a completion to Langham on the stop-route.
Run an inside-give to Dallas off the Read-Option and St. Louis blocks down on the DT with Boulware getting to the second level. St. Louis is completely overpowered here and Dallas makes something out of nothing to get the 1st down.
1st down was just all kinds of bad. Donaldson is whipped by Burns. Mahoney is immediately beaten inside by Christmas. FSU sends a blitz off the edge and St Louis kicks out to get him. Boulware has to kick out and get this free rusher up top (#21) but doesn’t. Dallas is ready to take the second LB blitzing but by then it’s too late. Perry is swallowed by the rush. The stunt problems return for this OL- especially on the left-side.
2nd &17 and we do a pretty cool run play. We “trapped” their DT who was just charging upfield all game. Gauthier stepped to his right as if he was pulling and then stopped behind Mahoney. As the DT rushes upfield, Gauthier turns and shoves him further upfield away from the runner. Pulled Brevin around and Donaldson got downfield. Wiggins took this man’s soul on this block (#27). They correctly picked the flag up for a horse collar on this play. It was jersey only and not the inside of the shoulder pads.
1st down we run inside-zone to Burns’ side and he plays it perfectly. Dallas finishes the run, but gets only 2. 2nd down both T’s get forklifted and shoved back into Perry’s lap off of bulrushes. Perry can’t step into a sideline throw to Thomas and it’s overthrown. (Not pictured)
3rd and 8 and Perry throws a laser where only his man can get it. Cager has this ball perfectly right in his hands here. The CB accepts lots of love but you can see Cager has already dropped this ball even if a defender weren’t there. Instead of a first down in FG range, we have to punt. Cager has to step up and be big. No more excuses.
Spicer with an awful punt. Please go back to Feagles, who at least has the talent to overcome his issues. (Not pictured)
Punt return and I’m here to pick nits. You cannot run a double returner return and not catch the ball. Dallas is faking as if he’s catching it here but the ball lands right behind him and rolls another 15 yards. Can’t have it. Go catch the ball even if it’s a fair catch. We get the ball at the 18-yard line here.
We’ve got the OL I want to see us run more of except for subbing Boulware in for Jahair Jones. 78/77/74/55/51
Incomplete on 1st down. Homer for 7 on 2nd. Not shown because it broke in with the Kavanaugh vote results. (Not pictured)
3rd down and Dee Wiggins shows me something. FSU is in press-man on the boundary and Wiggins jab steps outside and then crosses the face of the CB and gets inside him. He catches the slant that Perry throws perfectly, but then gets smacked by this S coming downhill and holds onto the ball for a 1st down. Then gets up and has something to say about it. Big boy stuff.
FSU has their S’s just flying downfield on running plays. Jahair gets a tough block as the LB tries to get around him, Jones pushes him inside and opens a hole for Homer, who gets 3. S pops him hard. I think that was Brevin’s man but he didn’t have time to get there. (Not pictured)
Run OZ (Outside Zone) and I don’t see how Donaldson gets to this block with Burns flying up-the-field. Scaife has the athleticism to recover after he’s late off-the-ball (he was pointing at a blitzer when the ball was snapped). Homer gets around the edge and gets right to sticks. He has a bigger play if Hightower gets his block.
QB sneak it for a 1st down. Perry showing a little toughness. (Not pictured)
Donaldson is probably best at G, but it isn’t going to be a magic elixir either. Here he is thrown to the ground by the DT. Dallas sneaks through the hole and look at Wiggins lining up an absolute missile of a crack-back block to free Dallas up to run for a 1st down. Absolutely love the toughness that 8 plays with. Cager needs to start playing with that toughness or this young man is ready to take that spot.
Jahair Jones tossed to the side by the NT. Donaldson thrown down by #21. He actually tackles Scaife he is thrown so far. TFL. Man’s game.
We give on outside zone on 2nd down. Donaldson blocks down so hard on the end he knocks him clean to the ground. Brevin is doing his best dead beetle impersonation here. #90 (Christmas) takes Gauthier’s lunch money on this play and pushes him way into the backfield. He then comes off this block and cleans up the tackle downfield. Wiggins at the top of the screen is coming down for another crack-back block but he misses and the LB fills for a tackle after 4.
Scaife beaten with a speed rush here. Inside spin move gets St. Louis again here. Homer saves a massive shot on Perry from the blitzer, but the edge is inside and closing fast. Perry feels the pressure from his right side and steps up into the vacant area. Would have loved for Donaldson to notice that they sent pressure to the other side and come back over and help crash that blitzer. Awareness as an OL is a big asset if Donaldson can develop it, but he never touched a soul on this play. Feel in the pocket is something that Perry shows and to Scaife’s credit he pushed this rusher wide and allowed Perry to step up and run for a big first down. Almost every drive has a play that makes a huge difference and this one by Perry makes that list.
I beat them up pretty good, but you have to highlight some good things as well and Miami does a great job of creating a pocket here. St. Louis pushes his man wide, Scaife owns his man, Homer stones a blitzer, Gauthier and Jones have the NT stuck on the LOS, Donaldson is reaching a bit but gives time. This is the first PI that Wiggins draws. Look at this screenshot, Perry is into his motion to throw this ball right now and Wiggins is 8-yards downfield here. The ball lands in the end zone. One of the biggest differences at QB is the ability to throw with touch and anticipation rather than simply throwing lasers.
You want to be better on the OL you keep this alignment on the right side. Donaldson has put his DT on the ground here. Look at Scaife! Flat back, leverage, playing with power on the edge. #55 looks like he has Jones here, but Jones slides to his right and turns him and there is a lane for Homer to get 6.
Next play we run IZ again and Jones releases to the 2nd level. If he just makes the block on the LB it is a TD. Instead Jones lunges and completely whiffs on the block and Homer gets 2. St. Louis blocked down so hard it put the DT on the ground. Donaldson pulled and kicked out the edge, Brevin comes around for the MLB, it was there if Jones just makes this block at the 10-yard line. St. Louis looks like he’s falling down because he’s a burying a guy to the turf right on the hash in the middle of the field.
3rd & 2 and they run a double-LB run blitz. Brevin leads through the hole and has the SAM in the hole and completely whiffs. The LB meets Homer right in the hole. The OL did their job for the most part, but Brevin messed the play up. Homer fumbled but got it back to bring up 4th down. (Not pictured)
Here is the 4th down play. Jones is whipped immediately by #55 and just tossed aside. I wrote earlier about Donaldson not seeing inside pressure when he doesn’t have anyone to block but look at Gauthier save the day here. You can see him coming down to hit #55 here and keep the lane open for Perry to throw. You can see 18 right at the top of the screen and he already has him for the slant once he’s crossed his face like this. This ball is a bullet right on target. TD. Jones needs to buy Gauthier lunch.
Kick return and Lingard is knocked well out of his lane which opens up a nice return for the KOR. McCloud makes a nice tackle to get him down. (Not pictured)
St. Louis/Boulware/Gauthier/Mahoney/Scaife at OL.
We run IZ and Boulware misses his assignment. St. Louis takes Burns, Boulware tries to go to 2nd level and releases #55. Boulware was supposed to take 55 and Brevin was releasing to the 2nd level. We’ve got some yards if Boulware blocks his man.
2nd down and Boulware is beaten by 55 immediately. Perry has Harley wide open on the deep corner route. The timing is off because of the rush and Perry throws an inaccurate ball. Perry got a little jittery there with just a little pressure in his face. Boulware gets away with a hold, but Perry has to make this throw.
You might think that Scaife got beat on this 3rd down play but what happened is FSU runs a stunt, but their intention was never to get #35 to rush the passer, he is absolutely just supposed to hit Scaife in the hip here. It’s almost as if he’s a RB chipping a DE here. #13 loops off of this and tackles Perry after he tries to run. Perry had no chance to run for the 1st here anyway.
Punt return and this is bad coverage. Homer is down in coverage perfectly but you don’t want to be stacking defenders behind one another (#53 is too far inside but re-traces and makes the tackle). Flag on the play is beside the point on this poor kick coverage. The LS #39 is supposed to be out by the hash here. He drifts as he’s running down and the defender just seals him inside. He’s the big culprit here. With three defenders stuck inside here the returner has an easy lane to break this outside.
Punt return and McCloud makes a dumb block in the back penalty on their LS. Blatant and right in the open. That’s one thing that would drive me nuts if I were a coach because it’s so easy to avoid. If he makes the tackle, he makes the tackle, but I’ll take my chances with DeeJay Dallas on a LS. 23-yard penalty in the end. (Not pictured)
1st down and we run the double reverse flea-flicker and it was well-covered. The pass is underthrown on purpose but he needs to put a little more air under the ball and Homer can come back to it and make the easy catch. You ask for these plays and you set them up and when you get the chance you just don’t execute. This is a play that a gif would work better for, but it’s impressive that the OL all handled their assignments, Jeff Thomas threw a block on the edge after flipping it back to Perry and Homer makes a great effort. It’s all there but the throw. This is possibly a TD if Perry gets it out another 5 yards because Levonte Taylor is not even aware of where this ball is. I think Homer caught the ball honestly, but being called incomplete on the field made it where they couldn’t overturn it. (Not pictured)
You generally hear that QB’s do not like pressure off-the-edge and that’s how you truly disrupt an elite QB, but that’s not the case with most of them. Most of the time QB’s do not like pressure in their face from the interior of the OL. On this play you see a glimpse of the greatness that Perry can bring. Donaldson is beaten inside at the snap but does a nice job of continuing to work and pushes him wide.
St. Louis is pushed back by Burns, but is giving Perry time. Perry steps up into the pocket and starts working to his right with his eyes downfield. You saw it often with Rosier that the first sign of pressure and his eyes dropped and he was looking to run. This is a dime to Jeff Thomas the very next play after blowing the flea flicker. Excellent job from Thomas to break off his route and give his QB a target to run to when he breaks the pocket.
Just a heck of a play by Burns here. St. Louis is beaten off-the-snap but he recovers to push him around the edge. If Perry isn’t throwing the ball at that precise second this isn’t a sack/fumble, but he is and Burns gets one of those long arms on the ball. I’ll be glad when he goes pro. Scaife has had a clean sheet at RT. Side note: The announcer for the game had me in tears. He called the FSU turnover purse making the players look like “Dora the Explorer.” Then after the break when Brock Huard says you called it Dora the Explorer, the guy doubles down and says, “Well, it’s her Sunday bag. It’s her nice one.” I couldn’t laugh when the play happened, but now it’s the best thing I’ve heard a national announcer say on a national broadcast.
Scaife/Boulware/Gauthier/Mahoney/Donaldson at OL.
FSU kicks a FG to take a 10-7 lead.
FSU fakes a LB B gap blitz and he steps back at the snap but he is coming. Scaife blocks down and is too eager to do so. Boulware has the block on his own and if Scaife takes the LB here this is a nice gain. Instead the LB runs right into the gap and tackles Dallas after 2.
Donaldson back at RT and immediately Burns blows a big play up. If Donaldson can just give him another second on this play it is a big play to Dallas. He’s got Mahoney leading out front and all of the defenders running away from this play with Brevin. Donaldson is not a T and it just needs to be accepted. If there is good downfield blocking this even could’ve been a TD. Two defenders over there with three blockers. You know the S would be chasing from backside but one missed tackle might be a house call.
Donaldson got moved to RG after that play above and we moved Scaife to RT and put St. Louis in at LT. Look at Donaldson immediately bully the DT to the ground and stand over him. Scaife pushes Burns wide and we complete the pass. Harley makes a mistake and doesn’t run this square-in route far enough upfield and when he catches it he’s not quite to the sticks. You can see him on the 1st down line here. He needs to be two-yards further up-the-field when he makes his break. Dugans will be on him about this. Wiggins covered up Brevin on the play anyway, so it would’ve been a penalty if he runs the route better.
Punt. Homer overruns this one. He’s screaming down the field and is the only one who gets down in position to make a tackle. McCloud here has to do a better job of getting ahead of this blocker so he’s not sealed inside here. Really, we are just too slow and not getting off enough blocks here. Our coverage on punts shouldn’t be Homer or bust. 44-yard return.
Kickoff is the play that Thomas takes the ball out of the end zone and gets dragged down by his facemask. (Not pictured)
St. Louis/Boulware/Gauthier/Mahoney/Donaldson your OL.
FSU takes a 17-7 lead.
1st down we throw the long out to Cager, who has an easy first down if he goes down and catches the low throw. It’s dropped, needs to be caught for sure, but a pretty poor throw.
Next play is absolutely a ball that Rosier could never have completed. This ball is a missile into the honey spot of the defense between a CB and S and over a nickel CB for good measure. Overturned on review.
1st down is a screen to Homer and this should’ve been a big play. Gauthier gets there and for some reason he doesn’t block the LB. Instead he just lowers his shoulder into him. Use your arms Tyler! Boulware controls his guy and if Gauthier gets to his guy look at that lane that Homer has behind Gauthier. Homer had a poor run in my mind as he cut this in-between Boulware and Gauthier and gets very little extra.
Part of being an OT is just understanding blocking and the scheme with which you are in. Donaldson has to know we are going to chip Burns here with Homer, but for some reason he is trailing the entire time instead of being under control here. He overruns it and when Homer chips Burns he actually re-directs him right into the open space to pressure Perry, who has to throw it away. Wish Boulware had noticed it but he’s looking for work to the other side.
3rd down and #21 just steals Gauthier’s soul on this play. Do you see Homer at the very top of the screen just coming out of his break and Perry feels this pressure and is having to get rid of it now. If he can wait just a half tick longer it’s an easy completion as Homer broke wide open on the out route. Perry throws it early and it’s wide. Not a good throw by Perry.
The 4th down play I just wasn’t a fan of doing that. Barely midfield, down 10, out of timeouts. You run Dallas onto the field very late coming out of a timeout. Dallas runs out and tells Harley the call and then lines up in the slot. So much confusion on the play. I probably would’ve just punted the ball personally. Boulware obviously believes this is a screen pass or a swing pass to Homer as he releases way downfield already and is trying to get that LB covering Homer. Wiggins does win the slant early but doesn’t press his leverage nearly enough. He flattens out the slant and allows the CB to make up ground and tip the ball away. Wiggins at the bottom of the screen has him beaten right now. That slant has to be a lot sharper into the middle of the field instead of a slant initially and then flattened out later. I’m guessing Perry was expecting that as well because he threw the ball further into the middle of the field and it wouldn’t have been completed against air. It would’ve been a penalty even if we completed it but at least we could’ve punted it then.
FSU kicks a FG and has a 20-7 lead.
St. Louis/Boulware/Gauthier/Mahoney/Donaldson is the OL.
1st down, you can’t take this sack. We run a play-action rollout pass and try to sneak Brevin underneath but they pick it up beautifully. Burns is unblocked on the edge and he’s just a condor out there. Perry tries to avoid him and Burns grabs him. Perry fumbles the ball but it bounces right back up to him. That could’ve been disastrous and we can’t have Perry being loose with the ball. You either have to throw this away when Brevin is covered or hit Homer at the bottom of the screen releasing into a pattern as a check-down. Not sure if there is a LB sitting on the flat over there though.
2nd down and Boulware is supposed to down block on the DT and Mahoney is supposed to turn this man outside. Both lose their blocks immediately on the IZ run. Mahoney is pushed two yards back and Homer has nowhere to go. I write a lot about taking on blocks and the OL will make the tackle for you a lot of times and Mahoney should get credited with a tackle here.
3rd down and my goodness what a mess. The left side of the line is perfect. Boulware is passing this stunt off to St. Louis but is giving him a shove to reduce his momentum forward then moving down to Burns who is stunting inside. Gauthier is set to help so the OL protection was obviously slid to Burns’ side (as it should be). Mahoney has #21 and he absolutely destroys him. Donaldson has the LB in case he comes on the blitz (but he backs out). Brevin and Homer have a double team on the edge. The protection is there. This should be a clean pocket. #21 does a beautiful arm-over and runs in and sacks Perry. Donaldson immediately turns and starts yelling at Mahoney as if he blew that one. It seems from his reaction that he expected Mahoney to take him, and he got absolutely beat, but I wish Donaldson had seen the LB back out and immediately hit the DT from the side.
Really bad punt by Spicer. It hops and rolls and Matthews picks it upback at the 26. Oh Knowles. He is sliding away from the returner here and completely opens up this lane. Why? Why is he running away from the returner and towards other defenders here? He should be going the opposite direction of where he is and forcing the returning towards his help. Amari Carter at the top of your screen gets knocked down and actually blocks #7 to the ground. This punt is defended if Knowles just moves over to the ACC logo. This is a huge mistake by Knowles.
Down field Bethel and Dallas get completely blocked though and need to get off the blocks and make a tackle. Matthews clearly stepped out-of-bounds twice though. Heel on the first one, toes on the second one. Do better dude standing right there being paid to see these things.
Down field Bethel and Dallas get completely blocked though and need to get off the blocks and make a tackle. Matthews clearly stepped out-of-bounds twice though. Heel on the first one, toes on the second one. Do better dude standing right there being paid to see these things.
This game was an absolute battle and exactly what you love to see in a rivalry game. Both teams played as hard as they could and it was truthfully a vicious game. On to the game.
From the very start both teams were trying to exert their dominance on the other one. Pre-game trash talk from both sides and you could just feel the energy in the stadium.
First play, Boulware and Mahoney are overpowered and knocked backwards. St. Louis can’t control his blocks, his man comes off and combines with Boulware’s man to make a stop after two off-tackle. FSU playing from our side of the LOS on 1st down.
2nd down we run power with a FB lead and for the most part do the jobs. Gauthier is on the ground, but at least he keeps fighting and gets the block successfully. Gray doesn’t actually make this block at all, but Homer makes the LB miss and picks up decent yards.
The 3rd throw is a timing pass but the OL gives Perry time and a perfect throwing lane. Perry is throwing this ball as soon as his back-foot hits the ground in a 5-step drop. Once Harley hits the same 5-yard milestone he is to turn this slant in sharply. Ball is slightly behind him but he has to make this catch. Punt. If the ball is thrown out front he might have had something here because he has separation. Should’ve been easy money and is the start of a nightmarish first half for Perry.
Low punt from Spicer, #39 (Long snapper) gets de-cleated on coverage and Knowles takes a poor angle and lets returner outside. Solid return. (Not pictured)
FSU takes a 7-0 lead.
Burns #99 is their only DL who can really get after the QB with speed. Donaldson struggles with speed at RT. If you’re going to play Donaldson at RT, asking him to handle Burns 1-on-1 all game is a poor strategy. Donaldson barely gets his hands on Burns before he pressures Perry on a completion to Langham on the stop-route.
Run an inside-give to Dallas off the Read-Option and St. Louis blocks down on the DT with Boulware getting to the second level. St. Louis is completely overpowered here and Dallas makes something out of nothing to get the 1st down.
1st down was just all kinds of bad. Donaldson is whipped by Burns. Mahoney is immediately beaten inside by Christmas. FSU sends a blitz off the edge and St Louis kicks out to get him. Boulware has to kick out and get this free rusher up top (#21) but doesn’t. Dallas is ready to take the second LB blitzing but by then it’s too late. Perry is swallowed by the rush. The stunt problems return for this OL- especially on the left-side.
2nd &17 and we do a pretty cool run play. We “trapped” their DT who was just charging upfield all game. Gauthier stepped to his right as if he was pulling and then stopped behind Mahoney. As the DT rushes upfield, Gauthier turns and shoves him further upfield away from the runner. Pulled Brevin around and Donaldson got downfield. Wiggins took this man’s soul on this block (#27). They correctly picked the flag up for a horse collar on this play. It was jersey only and not the inside of the shoulder pads.
1st down we run inside-zone to Burns’ side and he plays it perfectly. Dallas finishes the run, but gets only 2. 2nd down both T’s get forklifted and shoved back into Perry’s lap off of bulrushes. Perry can’t step into a sideline throw to Thomas and it’s overthrown. (Not pictured)
3rd and 8 and Perry throws a laser where only his man can get it. Cager has this ball perfectly right in his hands here. The CB accepts lots of love but you can see Cager has already dropped this ball even if a defender weren’t there. Instead of a first down in FG range, we have to punt. Cager has to step up and be big. No more excuses.
Spicer with an awful punt. Please go back to Feagles, who at least has the talent to overcome his issues. (Not pictured)
Punt return and I’m here to pick nits. You cannot run a double returner return and not catch the ball. Dallas is faking as if he’s catching it here but the ball lands right behind him and rolls another 15 yards. Can’t have it. Go catch the ball even if it’s a fair catch. We get the ball at the 18-yard line here.
We’ve got the OL I want to see us run more of except for subbing Boulware in for Jahair Jones. 78/77/74/55/51
Incomplete on 1st down. Homer for 7 on 2nd. Not shown because it broke in with the Kavanaugh vote results. (Not pictured)
3rd down and Dee Wiggins shows me something. FSU is in press-man on the boundary and Wiggins jab steps outside and then crosses the face of the CB and gets inside him. He catches the slant that Perry throws perfectly, but then gets smacked by this S coming downhill and holds onto the ball for a 1st down. Then gets up and has something to say about it. Big boy stuff.
FSU has their S’s just flying downfield on running plays. Jahair gets a tough block as the LB tries to get around him, Jones pushes him inside and opens a hole for Homer, who gets 3. S pops him hard. I think that was Brevin’s man but he didn’t have time to get there. (Not pictured)
Run OZ (Outside Zone) and I don’t see how Donaldson gets to this block with Burns flying up-the-field. Scaife has the athleticism to recover after he’s late off-the-ball (he was pointing at a blitzer when the ball was snapped). Homer gets around the edge and gets right to sticks. He has a bigger play if Hightower gets his block.
QB sneak it for a 1st down. Perry showing a little toughness. (Not pictured)
Donaldson is probably best at G, but it isn’t going to be a magic elixir either. Here he is thrown to the ground by the DT. Dallas sneaks through the hole and look at Wiggins lining up an absolute missile of a crack-back block to free Dallas up to run for a 1st down. Absolutely love the toughness that 8 plays with. Cager needs to start playing with that toughness or this young man is ready to take that spot.
Jahair Jones tossed to the side by the NT. Donaldson thrown down by #21. He actually tackles Scaife he is thrown so far. TFL. Man’s game.
We give on outside zone on 2nd down. Donaldson blocks down so hard on the end he knocks him clean to the ground. Brevin is doing his best dead beetle impersonation here. #90 (Christmas) takes Gauthier’s lunch money on this play and pushes him way into the backfield. He then comes off this block and cleans up the tackle downfield. Wiggins at the top of the screen is coming down for another crack-back block but he misses and the LB fills for a tackle after 4.
Scaife beaten with a speed rush here. Inside spin move gets St. Louis again here. Homer saves a massive shot on Perry from the blitzer, but the edge is inside and closing fast. Perry feels the pressure from his right side and steps up into the vacant area. Would have loved for Donaldson to notice that they sent pressure to the other side and come back over and help crash that blitzer. Awareness as an OL is a big asset if Donaldson can develop it, but he never touched a soul on this play. Feel in the pocket is something that Perry shows and to Scaife’s credit he pushed this rusher wide and allowed Perry to step up and run for a big first down. Almost every drive has a play that makes a huge difference and this one by Perry makes that list.
I beat them up pretty good, but you have to highlight some good things as well and Miami does a great job of creating a pocket here. St. Louis pushes his man wide, Scaife owns his man, Homer stones a blitzer, Gauthier and Jones have the NT stuck on the LOS, Donaldson is reaching a bit but gives time. This is the first PI that Wiggins draws. Look at this screenshot, Perry is into his motion to throw this ball right now and Wiggins is 8-yards downfield here. The ball lands in the end zone. One of the biggest differences at QB is the ability to throw with touch and anticipation rather than simply throwing lasers.
You want to be better on the OL you keep this alignment on the right side. Donaldson has put his DT on the ground here. Look at Scaife! Flat back, leverage, playing with power on the edge. #55 looks like he has Jones here, but Jones slides to his right and turns him and there is a lane for Homer to get 6.
Next play we run IZ again and Jones releases to the 2nd level. If he just makes the block on the LB it is a TD. Instead Jones lunges and completely whiffs on the block and Homer gets 2. St. Louis blocked down so hard it put the DT on the ground. Donaldson pulled and kicked out the edge, Brevin comes around for the MLB, it was there if Jones just makes this block at the 10-yard line. St. Louis looks like he’s falling down because he’s a burying a guy to the turf right on the hash in the middle of the field.
3rd & 2 and they run a double-LB run blitz. Brevin leads through the hole and has the SAM in the hole and completely whiffs. The LB meets Homer right in the hole. The OL did their job for the most part, but Brevin messed the play up. Homer fumbled but got it back to bring up 4th down. (Not pictured)
Here is the 4th down play. Jones is whipped immediately by #55 and just tossed aside. I wrote earlier about Donaldson not seeing inside pressure when he doesn’t have anyone to block but look at Gauthier save the day here. You can see him coming down to hit #55 here and keep the lane open for Perry to throw. You can see 18 right at the top of the screen and he already has him for the slant once he’s crossed his face like this. This ball is a bullet right on target. TD. Jones needs to buy Gauthier lunch.
Kick return and Lingard is knocked well out of his lane which opens up a nice return for the KOR. McCloud makes a nice tackle to get him down. (Not pictured)
St. Louis/Boulware/Gauthier/Mahoney/Scaife at OL.
We run IZ and Boulware misses his assignment. St. Louis takes Burns, Boulware tries to go to 2nd level and releases #55. Boulware was supposed to take 55 and Brevin was releasing to the 2nd level. We’ve got some yards if Boulware blocks his man.
2nd down and Boulware is beaten by 55 immediately. Perry has Harley wide open on the deep corner route. The timing is off because of the rush and Perry throws an inaccurate ball. Perry got a little jittery there with just a little pressure in his face. Boulware gets away with a hold, but Perry has to make this throw.
You might think that Scaife got beat on this 3rd down play but what happened is FSU runs a stunt, but their intention was never to get #35 to rush the passer, he is absolutely just supposed to hit Scaife in the hip here. It’s almost as if he’s a RB chipping a DE here. #13 loops off of this and tackles Perry after he tries to run. Perry had no chance to run for the 1st here anyway.
Punt return and this is bad coverage. Homer is down in coverage perfectly but you don’t want to be stacking defenders behind one another (#53 is too far inside but re-traces and makes the tackle). Flag on the play is beside the point on this poor kick coverage. The LS #39 is supposed to be out by the hash here. He drifts as he’s running down and the defender just seals him inside. He’s the big culprit here. With three defenders stuck inside here the returner has an easy lane to break this outside.
Punt return and McCloud makes a dumb block in the back penalty on their LS. Blatant and right in the open. That’s one thing that would drive me nuts if I were a coach because it’s so easy to avoid. If he makes the tackle, he makes the tackle, but I’ll take my chances with DeeJay Dallas on a LS. 23-yard penalty in the end. (Not pictured)
1st down and we run the double reverse flea-flicker and it was well-covered. The pass is underthrown on purpose but he needs to put a little more air under the ball and Homer can come back to it and make the easy catch. You ask for these plays and you set them up and when you get the chance you just don’t execute. This is a play that a gif would work better for, but it’s impressive that the OL all handled their assignments, Jeff Thomas threw a block on the edge after flipping it back to Perry and Homer makes a great effort. It’s all there but the throw. This is possibly a TD if Perry gets it out another 5 yards because Levonte Taylor is not even aware of where this ball is. I think Homer caught the ball honestly, but being called incomplete on the field made it where they couldn’t overturn it. (Not pictured)
You generally hear that QB’s do not like pressure off-the-edge and that’s how you truly disrupt an elite QB, but that’s not the case with most of them. Most of the time QB’s do not like pressure in their face from the interior of the OL. On this play you see a glimpse of the greatness that Perry can bring. Donaldson is beaten inside at the snap but does a nice job of continuing to work and pushes him wide.
St. Louis is pushed back by Burns, but is giving Perry time. Perry steps up into the pocket and starts working to his right with his eyes downfield. You saw it often with Rosier that the first sign of pressure and his eyes dropped and he was looking to run. This is a dime to Jeff Thomas the very next play after blowing the flea flicker. Excellent job from Thomas to break off his route and give his QB a target to run to when he breaks the pocket.
Just a heck of a play by Burns here. St. Louis is beaten off-the-snap but he recovers to push him around the edge. If Perry isn’t throwing the ball at that precise second this isn’t a sack/fumble, but he is and Burns gets one of those long arms on the ball. I’ll be glad when he goes pro. Scaife has had a clean sheet at RT. Side note: The announcer for the game had me in tears. He called the FSU turnover purse making the players look like “Dora the Explorer.” Then after the break when Brock Huard says you called it Dora the Explorer, the guy doubles down and says, “Well, it’s her Sunday bag. It’s her nice one.” I couldn’t laugh when the play happened, but now it’s the best thing I’ve heard a national announcer say on a national broadcast.
Scaife/Boulware/Gauthier/Mahoney/Donaldson at OL.
FSU kicks a FG to take a 10-7 lead.
FSU fakes a LB B gap blitz and he steps back at the snap but he is coming. Scaife blocks down and is too eager to do so. Boulware has the block on his own and if Scaife takes the LB here this is a nice gain. Instead the LB runs right into the gap and tackles Dallas after 2.
Donaldson back at RT and immediately Burns blows a big play up. If Donaldson can just give him another second on this play it is a big play to Dallas. He’s got Mahoney leading out front and all of the defenders running away from this play with Brevin. Donaldson is not a T and it just needs to be accepted. If there is good downfield blocking this even could’ve been a TD. Two defenders over there with three blockers. You know the S would be chasing from backside but one missed tackle might be a house call.
Donaldson got moved to RG after that play above and we moved Scaife to RT and put St. Louis in at LT. Look at Donaldson immediately bully the DT to the ground and stand over him. Scaife pushes Burns wide and we complete the pass. Harley makes a mistake and doesn’t run this square-in route far enough upfield and when he catches it he’s not quite to the sticks. You can see him on the 1st down line here. He needs to be two-yards further up-the-field when he makes his break. Dugans will be on him about this. Wiggins covered up Brevin on the play anyway, so it would’ve been a penalty if he runs the route better.
Punt. Homer overruns this one. He’s screaming down the field and is the only one who gets down in position to make a tackle. McCloud here has to do a better job of getting ahead of this blocker so he’s not sealed inside here. Really, we are just too slow and not getting off enough blocks here. Our coverage on punts shouldn’t be Homer or bust. 44-yard return.
Kickoff is the play that Thomas takes the ball out of the end zone and gets dragged down by his facemask. (Not pictured)
St. Louis/Boulware/Gauthier/Mahoney/Donaldson your OL.
FSU takes a 17-7 lead.
1st down we throw the long out to Cager, who has an easy first down if he goes down and catches the low throw. It’s dropped, needs to be caught for sure, but a pretty poor throw.
Next play is absolutely a ball that Rosier could never have completed. This ball is a missile into the honey spot of the defense between a CB and S and over a nickel CB for good measure. Overturned on review.
1st down is a screen to Homer and this should’ve been a big play. Gauthier gets there and for some reason he doesn’t block the LB. Instead he just lowers his shoulder into him. Use your arms Tyler! Boulware controls his guy and if Gauthier gets to his guy look at that lane that Homer has behind Gauthier. Homer had a poor run in my mind as he cut this in-between Boulware and Gauthier and gets very little extra.
Part of being an OT is just understanding blocking and the scheme with which you are in. Donaldson has to know we are going to chip Burns here with Homer, but for some reason he is trailing the entire time instead of being under control here. He overruns it and when Homer chips Burns he actually re-directs him right into the open space to pressure Perry, who has to throw it away. Wish Boulware had noticed it but he’s looking for work to the other side.
3rd down and #21 just steals Gauthier’s soul on this play. Do you see Homer at the very top of the screen just coming out of his break and Perry feels this pressure and is having to get rid of it now. If he can wait just a half tick longer it’s an easy completion as Homer broke wide open on the out route. Perry throws it early and it’s wide. Not a good throw by Perry.
The 4th down play I just wasn’t a fan of doing that. Barely midfield, down 10, out of timeouts. You run Dallas onto the field very late coming out of a timeout. Dallas runs out and tells Harley the call and then lines up in the slot. So much confusion on the play. I probably would’ve just punted the ball personally. Boulware obviously believes this is a screen pass or a swing pass to Homer as he releases way downfield already and is trying to get that LB covering Homer. Wiggins does win the slant early but doesn’t press his leverage nearly enough. He flattens out the slant and allows the CB to make up ground and tip the ball away. Wiggins at the bottom of the screen has him beaten right now. That slant has to be a lot sharper into the middle of the field instead of a slant initially and then flattened out later. I’m guessing Perry was expecting that as well because he threw the ball further into the middle of the field and it wouldn’t have been completed against air. It would’ve been a penalty even if we completed it but at least we could’ve punted it then.
FSU kicks a FG and has a 20-7 lead.
St. Louis/Boulware/Gauthier/Mahoney/Donaldson is the OL.
1st down, you can’t take this sack. We run a play-action rollout pass and try to sneak Brevin underneath but they pick it up beautifully. Burns is unblocked on the edge and he’s just a condor out there. Perry tries to avoid him and Burns grabs him. Perry fumbles the ball but it bounces right back up to him. That could’ve been disastrous and we can’t have Perry being loose with the ball. You either have to throw this away when Brevin is covered or hit Homer at the bottom of the screen releasing into a pattern as a check-down. Not sure if there is a LB sitting on the flat over there though.
2nd down and Boulware is supposed to down block on the DT and Mahoney is supposed to turn this man outside. Both lose their blocks immediately on the IZ run. Mahoney is pushed two yards back and Homer has nowhere to go. I write a lot about taking on blocks and the OL will make the tackle for you a lot of times and Mahoney should get credited with a tackle here.
3rd down and my goodness what a mess. The left side of the line is perfect. Boulware is passing this stunt off to St. Louis but is giving him a shove to reduce his momentum forward then moving down to Burns who is stunting inside. Gauthier is set to help so the OL protection was obviously slid to Burns’ side (as it should be). Mahoney has #21 and he absolutely destroys him. Donaldson has the LB in case he comes on the blitz (but he backs out). Brevin and Homer have a double team on the edge. The protection is there. This should be a clean pocket. #21 does a beautiful arm-over and runs in and sacks Perry. Donaldson immediately turns and starts yelling at Mahoney as if he blew that one. It seems from his reaction that he expected Mahoney to take him, and he got absolutely beat, but I wish Donaldson had seen the LB back out and immediately hit the DT from the side.
Really bad punt by Spicer. It hops and rolls and Matthews picks it upback at the 26. Oh Knowles. He is sliding away from the returner here and completely opens up this lane. Why? Why is he running away from the returner and towards other defenders here? He should be going the opposite direction of where he is and forcing the returning towards his help. Amari Carter at the top of your screen gets knocked down and actually blocks #7 to the ground. This punt is defended if Knowles just moves over to the ACC logo. This is a huge mistake by Knowles.
Down field Bethel and Dallas get completely blocked though and need to get off the blocks and make a tackle. Matthews clearly stepped out-of-bounds twice though. Heel on the first one, toes on the second one. Do better dude standing right there being paid to see these things.
Down field Bethel and Dallas get completely blocked though and need to get off the blocks and make a tackle. Matthews clearly stepped out-of-bounds twice though. Heel on the first one, toes on the second one. Do better dude standing right there being paid to see these things.
