Series:
Welcome back to Upon Further Review, where we will review each game of the 2018 season. This game against Savannah State was predictably a blowout win for the Canes, but it also gave us a chance to see a bunch of players for the first time. As such, I’ll highlight more of a consistent set of plays for each set of players, rather than focusing quite so heavily on the beginning of the game where the tone is generally set in more competitive contests.
First play of the game we come out on a 3-4 defense against their spread 5-wide look. For me, if you’re going to go 5-wide I’m going to blitz you pretty heavily to see if your QB/OL can identify the free rusher and adjust their protection accordingly. We stood up Joe Jackson on the edge to the top of the formation and walked Pinckney into the “A” gap (between C & G). McCloud moved down to the middle slot and Redwine directed traffic on who would be covering whom. It was a nice little gesture of leadership from Redwine and shows the steps he’s taken forward in understanding the defense. He made sure that McCloud knew what he was covering on the play. We stepped Shaq over to the inside hash to take away the slant front the inside WR and Redwine had that WR in the seam. At the snap, we backed Pinckney out of the blitz look and dropped him into coverage and actually blitzed Shaq. Sav St. slid their protection to account for Pinckney and completely disregarded Shaq who ran unblocked to sack the QB. Remember how I talked about how Redwine made sure McCloud knew who he was covering? That’s important because Redwine actually switched the responsibilities on the play due to the blitz by Shaq and replaced McCloud in the middle slot and moved McCloud inside where he had help from a backpedaling Pinckney. We dropped the standup Joe Jackson into coverage in the flat and it completely fooled the QB who wanted to take that area with the pass. In the second shot you can see #65 trying to block Pinckney instead of sliding out for Garvin so that the RT can then take Shaq. I often get asked how can players get wide open etc. and this would be how. Miscommunication. With as many players switching and replacing as there are on this play, you could easily see confusion. Excellent execution leads to an easy sack.
Next play, this is what you want to see- and didn’t see much against LSU- is that push up front from the DL. Then, Zach McCloud stays disciplined in his gap integrity. Here he is quickly diagnosing the run and attacking his gap, rather than running straight to where the RB is and opening up a cutback lane. McCloud didn’t make the tackle at all and won’t get any stat sheet credit, but he did his job well. Good play.
Joe Garvin, this is perfect! He eats up ground quickly into the backfield, recognizes the zone-read, breaks down so that he can take the RB on the give, or crash inside on the QB keep. Sav State isn’t going to be used to this sort of athlete in their games most of the time, but this is perfect by Garvin. Then you’ve got help screaming off the edge at the top to help with backside pursuit and this play goes nowhere. If you hear the broadcast, disregard the credit being given to Pinckney, this was Garvin making the tackle. Pickney avoids a block at the top of the screen and knifes in for clean-up work.
Deejay with the fair catch on the punt. (Not pictured)
Donaldson gets whipped on first down and they make a tackle for loss. (Not pictured)
Left side did their jobs on this play, but the right side is getting pushed back by Sav State. Gauthier is getting shocked back into the backfield one-on-one here. RG & RT are getting pushed back and that causes the angle to be a little wider for Homer and gives that LB time to crash that lane. If the OL pushes their DL another yard downfield, the LB has to go more sideways than at an angle to crash here and Homer has another yard upfield to work with. Langham was very slow to get up to his block at the top of the screen and is in a defensive position already. He needs to be coming in over his toes, rather than on his heels. Homer fumbles on this play as well.
Next play and not a single Sav State player defeated a Miami defender. Considering the OL should win 80% of the time, this is not good for them. Garvin has a facemask here, but I’m also pretty sure the OL isn’t allowed to do this. The referee is staring right at this. Sav State is as bad offensively as you’ll ever see.
You are blocking Garvin with a TE on the edge that you’re running into. You’re trying to pull two blockers AWAY from the side you’re running to. Fine, you’re trying to show counter action to pull a LB away, but you have to also understand your RG is never going to get to Joe Jackson on this play. The QB has to keep this ball, they seriously are not even attempting to block Shaq on this play. There just isn’t a guy designed to block him. They’re expecting the counter motion to take him out of the play on his own. That’s tough to scheme to expect a guy to make a mistake and if he doesn’t you have no other answer for him. The QB has to pull this ball and try to outrun Jackson to the corner. Otherwise it has no chance of success.
We stunt Bethel and Willis here. The C does a perfect swan dive into Willis here. It was a perfect swan dive, but let’s just say that’s not how they teach it on the teaching tape. Bethel creates early pressure and flushes him. Look at the motor that Willis has on this play.
Delay of game and screen pass and nothing doing. Pinckney is showing his athleticism is on another level in this game. (Not pictured)
Roman stated last week that teams are going to see that tape from LSU and try to exploit it against us with regards to CB blitzes because Rosier didn’t see them that game. Here is Sav State early on trying to see what they can do with it. Mallory is pointing it out here from his H-back position. We throw the bubble screen to the other side. It’s there, but the slot CB reads it and Cager goes way too far upfield and completely misses the block. You always have to work inside-out on these blocks and Cager got too antsy to get upfield. If Cager makes the block you’ve got Thomas 1-on-1 on the S before the end zone. Instead it’s incomplete.
2nd down, Mallory badly misses his block on the edge out of an offset look. Thomas pancakes his guy to let Homer get wide for a few yards. If Mallory makes his block they also had the FS crashing hard. We just didn’t have the numbers or the blocking on this play. (Not pictured)
We roll Rosier to his left, which is the hardest throw for a right-handed QB there is. That said, he has beautiful protection here. Just get your shoulders turned here and deliver an accurate ball. You can see in the edge of the screen he’s got a wide-open guy. Look at how he tries to deliver it instead of getting square. Incomplete.
Feagles with a bad kick. Of course Homer covers it, because that’s what he does. Blades down there on punt coverage as well. (Not pictured)
Willis dominates the C and ruins the play. Next play they tried to run wide on our defense and basically everyone gets out there but Garvin is first. Willis beats his guy badly and forces the RB to bounce. They can’t block 9 or 97. (Not pictured)
Again, this is not teaching tape on how a RB should block. Not exactly under control here. Amari Carter gets around him with ease and sacks the QB.
I will probably always have a soft spot for Travis Homer just because of how good he is on special teams. He’s the guy at the 39 springing Dallas for his run and nearly decleating the kid he’s blocking. Credit to Knowles for getting just enough of his guy on the edge as well. Gurvan blocks down the field at the 35 and if we hold that outside block at the 32 it’s a TD. #8, not sure if it’s Ivey or Wiggins.
I’m not a fan of the technique that Mahoney (especially) is using here. He’s leaning onto the defender rather than trying to drive him. He also has his head down and can’t see what he’s trying to hit at all. As an OL, you can be one of two things; a waist bender or a knee bender. Waist benders need to struggle to provide real power and movement in the run game because they are losing the strength from their legs. Donaldson has always been a waist bender as well. Gauthier with the nice arm extension on the DT to help Mahoney as he gets to the second level. To be fair to Mahoney he makes the block well, but I like process over results in the long run.
If it feels like I’m picking on Mahoney, I’m not trying to, I’m just highlighting things I see when I watch the game. I don’t know anything about #4, but I do know a Savannah State CB pancaking a Miami OL when the OL has momentum on a screen play is not what you want. #50 for Miami (Boulware) is getting extended run at LG and performing well. He has excellent movement skills.
Gray picks up the 3rd and short with a run up-the-middle. Good push by the OL and Mahoney makes a strong block. Next down is a dump pass to Gray who gets a nice gain. Cool little play design where the TE released, the FB released, HB comes and blocks the closest rusher. Rosier is expected to take a hit from the extra man and pick the guy open at each level. He does a nice job and then shells up to avoid a big hit. (Not pictured)
Gray has a dive up the middle for a nice gain. Tough running. (Not pictured)
Mahoney pulls from his RG position and misses his block. If he makes his block Homer cuts off his hip and gets a TD. Mahoney tried to block the inside shoulder of the defender which allowed him to slide off the block and set an edge and force Homer back inside. Polendey missed his block on #68 as well. You can’t see Polendey because he’s on the ground (helmet just off of on 74 on the ground).
Next play and St. Louis blocks the wrong guy. Sav St. overloads and puts four guys on three blockers on the edge. 50 is supposed to crash down on the DT. St. Louis is supposed to take the DE and Brevin is supposed to take the LB. They are leaving the outside edge man free and holding him with a swing motion by Homer. We hold the opposite edge with a fake boot carried out by Rosier. St. Louis takes the LB with Brevin and leaves the DE free to run straight to the RB and make the stop. Bad execution but you see we aren’t getting much push either.
Next play is a beautiful play by Mallory. His leaping ability is great, but his ability to track the ball and catch it is rare for a player so young. TD. (Not pictured)
McCloud makes a nice tackle on the kickoff. First down run and Tito whips his OL and gets into the backfield. Rousseau ragdolls the edge OL and the run goes nowhere. Next play Patchan plays the speed option look they give perfectly. He gets upfield into the pitch lane and then is able to work back down towards the LOS (Line of Scrimmage) on the handoff. Tito gets great push from the backside and helps clean up. Not thrilled with Ford getting moved off the ball on back-to-back plays. (Not pictured)
Patchan gets upfield and flushes the QB. Nesta plays NT on 3rd down and shows excellent pursuit to make the tackle on the QB once he’s flushed. Sav State cannot handle this DL. (Not pictured)
1st down and give Rosier credit, he’s got a two-way read to the same side of the field. His first read is Harley out of the slot on a square-in. He looks at Harley and moves the LB. Dallas is wide-open on the swing and Rosier adjusts and throws it to Dallas. Moving S’s and LB’s with his eyes is something that Rosier does not excel at, so to see him do it here is encouraging. You’d like to see a lot better mechanics from Rosier, but he delivers an accurate ball for a first down. He’s actually striding away from his target here instead of adjusting his footwork. Hightower makes a nice block on the play to spring him.
Good protection. Looks for Brevin and hits him in a zone. (Not pictured)
I’d like to see Rosier start his eyes from back-to-front instead of front-to-back. He takes the checkdown to the slot here, but Hightower is wide-open on the deep-in if he looks there first. In fact, he’s probably more open than Harley if Rosier throws with anticipation for a bigger play.
Next play is a nice throw on a covered Brevin. Rosier stared this one down, but the LB’s cleared and the OL gave protection so he had a clear lane of vision. Brevin is going to be so good. Next play is a swing pass to Brevin that was telegraphed a bit. St. Louis is chipping the end and then trying to get to edge who rushes upfield and jumps up and knocks the pass down. (Not pictured)
Just a little slow getting to the edge here. Donaldson ends up dominating his man and pushing him out of the way, but it forces a little more bounce than you’d like for Homer. Mahoney gets away with a hook on the edge here because he overran the play a bit. Homer takes this to the 3.
St. Louis misses the block on 58 again and lets him go right through the line again and hit Gray in the backfield again. We are down blocking on the goal line and St. Louis isn’t getting there before the DE shoots the gap. I honestly am not sure if Mahoney ever sees the man he’s blocking because he looks at his shoes all game. If he just bent those knees a little bit he’d be so much more powerful and able to see the guy he’s blocking as well.
Rosier sneaks it in for a TD. (Not pictured)
1st down and Pinckney is peaking out of his zone too much. He sees two guys coming into his zone but the Z WR has already started a shallow cross and is well into his zone. Pinckney watches the TE come into his zone even though he’s supposed to pass him off to Jackson, who stays outside when his man runs the shallow cross. It’s an easy dump off and it goes for 9. Pinckney has to keep his eye discipline and play that shallow cross. Once the WR has his body past the LB like this and is already running, the LB is never going to recover in time.
Mike Smith sees the play, fires his gun quickly, has the RB for a loss and…misses the tackle. (Not pictured)
DL is blowing everything up and allowing the LB’s to stay clean. Announcer says “Michael Pinckney comes on the delayed blitz because of the coverage.” Nope. Pinckney rushes the QB because there are no receivers who come into his zone. Shaq already blitzed on the 3rd down and Pinckney is spying the QB. When the QB flushes, Pinckney goes and forces the QB to throw it away. (Not pictured)
Next drive, the OL is St. Louis, Jones, Gauthier, Boulware, Donaldson. Mahoney has gone to the bench. Boulware tries to get out to the second level and is nearly knocked down by the DT crashing. DT makes a tackle on the RB. Boulware at RG is a tough transition after being LG earlier. (Not pictured)
This isn’t gonna work, Donaldson. Also, you want to know why Rosier is so inaccurate, it’s all in the feet. His stride is perfectly forward. He’s throwing this with a misaligned torso. He throws this ball all the way to the sideline for a wide-open Thomas. The ball is high and Thomas has to make an exceptional catch attempt. They overturned it on replay and it all goes back to two things; Donaldson getting beat and Rosier having poor footwork.
Next play. Look at his mechanics on this play in a clean pocket. They’re perfect. It’s also the best throw of the year for Rosier. He puts the ball perfectly in stride with a streaking Jeff Thomas. If he makes Thomas break stride it’s just a nice gain. With a perfect throw it’s a TD. These small things add up to so much when you’re playing good teams. We need more of this Rosier.
Kickoff, Mike Smith pounds the ground after he misses the tackle on the returner. Derrick Smith makes the tackle. (Not pictured)
Missed handoff on a jet sweep recovered by Bandy. (Not pictured)
Next drive, Mahoney back in at RG. Jones at LG still. Boulware out. Perry in at QB. Perry throws it to Langham on the out. Perry throws it too hard, but he had good mechanics on the pass. Too much speed caused it to get there before Langham was there. Guessing the difference in arm strength messed up the timing a bit, but need a little more touch there. Understandable given his first collegiate pass. (Not pictured)
Next pass is tipped. Gauthier had his guy locked up but he got his hands up and tipped the pass. A little more touch to get it over the line is needed there. (Not pictured)
3rd & 10 and we go swing pass to Brevin. He gets 8 with some nice blocking downfield. (Not pictured)
Tough run on the zone give to Homer. OL just not moving anyone. They’re waiting too much instead of moving people with first contact. Gauthier is pushed back on the next run and it forces Homer to go wide and get very little. (Not pictured)
It’s a noticeable difference in mechanics with Perry into the game. He throws that quick slant to Cager beautifully. TD. (Not pictured)
Pinckney knifes into the backfield but misses the tackle on the QB. Rousseau runs him out of bounds. 2nd down and they try to read on Tito. He just makes a beeline for the mesh point (point where QB fakes or gives the ball to the RB). Forces a keep well into the backfield and it’s a loss on the play. He doesn’t get anything on stat sheet, but good quickness by 94. Patchan makes the tackle and has played very well. (Not pictured)
Jaquan misses a tackle in the backfield but he gets the receiver down before he gets a first down. (Not pictured)
Perry fakes the handoff, does a rollout away from the pulling action. Has Brevin in the flats but Perry is looking deeper. He had Brevin early but waits too long and then he treats to put touch on the pass and it’s a floater. Pass is very short. Awkward play. Perry “looks” so much better playing QB than Rosier but he’s struggled with the intricacies of when to put touch and when to throw hard on his first few passes. (Not pictured)
Bad run by Dallas on the next play. Runs right into the blocker and misses the hole to his right. Gets nothing. Donaldson didn’t do a very good job on the block but Dallas has to take the three yards here to his right and hammer it between 62 & 58. Dallas normally has better vision than this. Announcer is criticizing the OL for being too high and I agree completely. Look at Mahoney here just standing straight up. No power in his base or through his knees. He’s absorbing the blow rather than delivering one.
More mechanics film. Arm is low, bit lazy delivery. This ball tails and is behind Dee Wiggins. If he has his arm up a bit higher he won’t get that fade in his throws. Boulware straight up-and-down absorbing blows again. Have to wonder if this is how they’re coaching it (if they are, I’m sure they have their good reasons).
Awful Feagles punt. (Not pictured)
1st down and Mike Smith makes the tackle. (Not pictured)
On 2nd down I have no idea what Jennings is doing. His man is the RB at the top of the screen. Mike Smith is rushing here and is responsible for the edge. Jennings has to take the RB but is way too shallow and takes the fake hard. He’s already beaten right here (his foot is on the edge of the U at the 45).
Mike Smith blitzes and has a free rush. He’s got McCloud to his right who is responsible for the QB. Smith runs to the QB as well, which allows the give. If Smith goes to the RB as he should, this play is a huge loss. Garvin beats his man and makes it a loss anyway, but that’s some of that instinct on what your assignment is that is missing from many of our backup LB’s. (Not pictured)
Next play Garvin blows his man up and gets upfield. He misses a tackle for what would’ve been a huge loss. McCloud does a nice job flowing from behind and smacks the RB after a short gain. McCloud has played well. (Not pictured)
On 3rd and long Michael Jackson misses his jam and allows the WR to get into his route quickly. Jackson turns to chase and it opens up a back-shoulder throw for a big gain. This Sav State team completed one pass the entire game last week, so the fact that they’re getting some completions against our defense is a bit deflating. (Not pictured)
4th down they stop them, but it really looked like the RB got the yardage and got a bad spot. This was the worst rep of the game for Willis, who got mauled and completely moved out of the hole on the run by one OL. (Not pictured)
Quick swing pass to Harley and Cager again misses the block on the edge. Harley had a nice run making people miss. Good run on second down where the line had a hat on a hat and opened up a lane for Homer.(Not pictured)
There is no reason to be pulling your eyes down from this pocket. He really just needs to slide a little bit or dump it off to Homer if he’s antsy. Jahair Jones is getting put onto the ground here though. While Jones got turned out, he still held the DL off even from a knee. He gets nothing on this play. Perry needs to allow the play to develop a bit better than this.
First play of the game we come out on a 3-4 defense against their spread 5-wide look. For me, if you’re going to go 5-wide I’m going to blitz you pretty heavily to see if your QB/OL can identify the free rusher and adjust their protection accordingly. We stood up Joe Jackson on the edge to the top of the formation and walked Pinckney into the “A” gap (between C & G). McCloud moved down to the middle slot and Redwine directed traffic on who would be covering whom. It was a nice little gesture of leadership from Redwine and shows the steps he’s taken forward in understanding the defense. He made sure that McCloud knew what he was covering on the play. We stepped Shaq over to the inside hash to take away the slant front the inside WR and Redwine had that WR in the seam. At the snap, we backed Pinckney out of the blitz look and dropped him into coverage and actually blitzed Shaq. Sav St. slid their protection to account for Pinckney and completely disregarded Shaq who ran unblocked to sack the QB. Remember how I talked about how Redwine made sure McCloud knew who he was covering? That’s important because Redwine actually switched the responsibilities on the play due to the blitz by Shaq and replaced McCloud in the middle slot and moved McCloud inside where he had help from a backpedaling Pinckney. We dropped the standup Joe Jackson into coverage in the flat and it completely fooled the QB who wanted to take that area with the pass. In the second shot you can see #65 trying to block Pinckney instead of sliding out for Garvin so that the RT can then take Shaq. I often get asked how can players get wide open etc. and this would be how. Miscommunication. With as many players switching and replacing as there are on this play, you could easily see confusion. Excellent execution leads to an easy sack.
Next play, this is what you want to see- and didn’t see much against LSU- is that push up front from the DL. Then, Zach McCloud stays disciplined in his gap integrity. Here he is quickly diagnosing the run and attacking his gap, rather than running straight to where the RB is and opening up a cutback lane. McCloud didn’t make the tackle at all and won’t get any stat sheet credit, but he did his job well. Good play.
Joe Garvin, this is perfect! He eats up ground quickly into the backfield, recognizes the zone-read, breaks down so that he can take the RB on the give, or crash inside on the QB keep. Sav State isn’t going to be used to this sort of athlete in their games most of the time, but this is perfect by Garvin. Then you’ve got help screaming off the edge at the top to help with backside pursuit and this play goes nowhere. If you hear the broadcast, disregard the credit being given to Pinckney, this was Garvin making the tackle. Pickney avoids a block at the top of the screen and knifes in for clean-up work.
Deejay with the fair catch on the punt. (Not pictured)
Donaldson gets whipped on first down and they make a tackle for loss. (Not pictured)
Left side did their jobs on this play, but the right side is getting pushed back by Sav State. Gauthier is getting shocked back into the backfield one-on-one here. RG & RT are getting pushed back and that causes the angle to be a little wider for Homer and gives that LB time to crash that lane. If the OL pushes their DL another yard downfield, the LB has to go more sideways than at an angle to crash here and Homer has another yard upfield to work with. Langham was very slow to get up to his block at the top of the screen and is in a defensive position already. He needs to be coming in over his toes, rather than on his heels. Homer fumbles on this play as well.
Next play and not a single Sav State player defeated a Miami defender. Considering the OL should win 80% of the time, this is not good for them. Garvin has a facemask here, but I’m also pretty sure the OL isn’t allowed to do this. The referee is staring right at this. Sav State is as bad offensively as you’ll ever see.
You are blocking Garvin with a TE on the edge that you’re running into. You’re trying to pull two blockers AWAY from the side you’re running to. Fine, you’re trying to show counter action to pull a LB away, but you have to also understand your RG is never going to get to Joe Jackson on this play. The QB has to keep this ball, they seriously are not even attempting to block Shaq on this play. There just isn’t a guy designed to block him. They’re expecting the counter motion to take him out of the play on his own. That’s tough to scheme to expect a guy to make a mistake and if he doesn’t you have no other answer for him. The QB has to pull this ball and try to outrun Jackson to the corner. Otherwise it has no chance of success.
We stunt Bethel and Willis here. The C does a perfect swan dive into Willis here. It was a perfect swan dive, but let’s just say that’s not how they teach it on the teaching tape. Bethel creates early pressure and flushes him. Look at the motor that Willis has on this play.
Delay of game and screen pass and nothing doing. Pinckney is showing his athleticism is on another level in this game. (Not pictured)
Roman stated last week that teams are going to see that tape from LSU and try to exploit it against us with regards to CB blitzes because Rosier didn’t see them that game. Here is Sav State early on trying to see what they can do with it. Mallory is pointing it out here from his H-back position. We throw the bubble screen to the other side. It’s there, but the slot CB reads it and Cager goes way too far upfield and completely misses the block. You always have to work inside-out on these blocks and Cager got too antsy to get upfield. If Cager makes the block you’ve got Thomas 1-on-1 on the S before the end zone. Instead it’s incomplete.
2nd down, Mallory badly misses his block on the edge out of an offset look. Thomas pancakes his guy to let Homer get wide for a few yards. If Mallory makes his block they also had the FS crashing hard. We just didn’t have the numbers or the blocking on this play. (Not pictured)
We roll Rosier to his left, which is the hardest throw for a right-handed QB there is. That said, he has beautiful protection here. Just get your shoulders turned here and deliver an accurate ball. You can see in the edge of the screen he’s got a wide-open guy. Look at how he tries to deliver it instead of getting square. Incomplete.
Feagles with a bad kick. Of course Homer covers it, because that’s what he does. Blades down there on punt coverage as well. (Not pictured)
Willis dominates the C and ruins the play. Next play they tried to run wide on our defense and basically everyone gets out there but Garvin is first. Willis beats his guy badly and forces the RB to bounce. They can’t block 9 or 97. (Not pictured)
Again, this is not teaching tape on how a RB should block. Not exactly under control here. Amari Carter gets around him with ease and sacks the QB.
I will probably always have a soft spot for Travis Homer just because of how good he is on special teams. He’s the guy at the 39 springing Dallas for his run and nearly decleating the kid he’s blocking. Credit to Knowles for getting just enough of his guy on the edge as well. Gurvan blocks down the field at the 35 and if we hold that outside block at the 32 it’s a TD. #8, not sure if it’s Ivey or Wiggins.
I’m not a fan of the technique that Mahoney (especially) is using here. He’s leaning onto the defender rather than trying to drive him. He also has his head down and can’t see what he’s trying to hit at all. As an OL, you can be one of two things; a waist bender or a knee bender. Waist benders need to struggle to provide real power and movement in the run game because they are losing the strength from their legs. Donaldson has always been a waist bender as well. Gauthier with the nice arm extension on the DT to help Mahoney as he gets to the second level. To be fair to Mahoney he makes the block well, but I like process over results in the long run.
If it feels like I’m picking on Mahoney, I’m not trying to, I’m just highlighting things I see when I watch the game. I don’t know anything about #4, but I do know a Savannah State CB pancaking a Miami OL when the OL has momentum on a screen play is not what you want. #50 for Miami (Boulware) is getting extended run at LG and performing well. He has excellent movement skills.
Gray picks up the 3rd and short with a run up-the-middle. Good push by the OL and Mahoney makes a strong block. Next down is a dump pass to Gray who gets a nice gain. Cool little play design where the TE released, the FB released, HB comes and blocks the closest rusher. Rosier is expected to take a hit from the extra man and pick the guy open at each level. He does a nice job and then shells up to avoid a big hit. (Not pictured)
Gray has a dive up the middle for a nice gain. Tough running. (Not pictured)
Mahoney pulls from his RG position and misses his block. If he makes his block Homer cuts off his hip and gets a TD. Mahoney tried to block the inside shoulder of the defender which allowed him to slide off the block and set an edge and force Homer back inside. Polendey missed his block on #68 as well. You can’t see Polendey because he’s on the ground (helmet just off of on 74 on the ground).
Next play and St. Louis blocks the wrong guy. Sav St. overloads and puts four guys on three blockers on the edge. 50 is supposed to crash down on the DT. St. Louis is supposed to take the DE and Brevin is supposed to take the LB. They are leaving the outside edge man free and holding him with a swing motion by Homer. We hold the opposite edge with a fake boot carried out by Rosier. St. Louis takes the LB with Brevin and leaves the DE free to run straight to the RB and make the stop. Bad execution but you see we aren’t getting much push either.
Next play is a beautiful play by Mallory. His leaping ability is great, but his ability to track the ball and catch it is rare for a player so young. TD. (Not pictured)
McCloud makes a nice tackle on the kickoff. First down run and Tito whips his OL and gets into the backfield. Rousseau ragdolls the edge OL and the run goes nowhere. Next play Patchan plays the speed option look they give perfectly. He gets upfield into the pitch lane and then is able to work back down towards the LOS (Line of Scrimmage) on the handoff. Tito gets great push from the backside and helps clean up. Not thrilled with Ford getting moved off the ball on back-to-back plays. (Not pictured)
Patchan gets upfield and flushes the QB. Nesta plays NT on 3rd down and shows excellent pursuit to make the tackle on the QB once he’s flushed. Sav State cannot handle this DL. (Not pictured)
1st down and give Rosier credit, he’s got a two-way read to the same side of the field. His first read is Harley out of the slot on a square-in. He looks at Harley and moves the LB. Dallas is wide-open on the swing and Rosier adjusts and throws it to Dallas. Moving S’s and LB’s with his eyes is something that Rosier does not excel at, so to see him do it here is encouraging. You’d like to see a lot better mechanics from Rosier, but he delivers an accurate ball for a first down. He’s actually striding away from his target here instead of adjusting his footwork. Hightower makes a nice block on the play to spring him.
Good protection. Looks for Brevin and hits him in a zone. (Not pictured)
I’d like to see Rosier start his eyes from back-to-front instead of front-to-back. He takes the checkdown to the slot here, but Hightower is wide-open on the deep-in if he looks there first. In fact, he’s probably more open than Harley if Rosier throws with anticipation for a bigger play.
Next play is a nice throw on a covered Brevin. Rosier stared this one down, but the LB’s cleared and the OL gave protection so he had a clear lane of vision. Brevin is going to be so good. Next play is a swing pass to Brevin that was telegraphed a bit. St. Louis is chipping the end and then trying to get to edge who rushes upfield and jumps up and knocks the pass down. (Not pictured)
Just a little slow getting to the edge here. Donaldson ends up dominating his man and pushing him out of the way, but it forces a little more bounce than you’d like for Homer. Mahoney gets away with a hook on the edge here because he overran the play a bit. Homer takes this to the 3.
St. Louis misses the block on 58 again and lets him go right through the line again and hit Gray in the backfield again. We are down blocking on the goal line and St. Louis isn’t getting there before the DE shoots the gap. I honestly am not sure if Mahoney ever sees the man he’s blocking because he looks at his shoes all game. If he just bent those knees a little bit he’d be so much more powerful and able to see the guy he’s blocking as well.
Rosier sneaks it in for a TD. (Not pictured)
1st down and Pinckney is peaking out of his zone too much. He sees two guys coming into his zone but the Z WR has already started a shallow cross and is well into his zone. Pinckney watches the TE come into his zone even though he’s supposed to pass him off to Jackson, who stays outside when his man runs the shallow cross. It’s an easy dump off and it goes for 9. Pinckney has to keep his eye discipline and play that shallow cross. Once the WR has his body past the LB like this and is already running, the LB is never going to recover in time.
Mike Smith sees the play, fires his gun quickly, has the RB for a loss and…misses the tackle. (Not pictured)
DL is blowing everything up and allowing the LB’s to stay clean. Announcer says “Michael Pinckney comes on the delayed blitz because of the coverage.” Nope. Pinckney rushes the QB because there are no receivers who come into his zone. Shaq already blitzed on the 3rd down and Pinckney is spying the QB. When the QB flushes, Pinckney goes and forces the QB to throw it away. (Not pictured)
Next drive, the OL is St. Louis, Jones, Gauthier, Boulware, Donaldson. Mahoney has gone to the bench. Boulware tries to get out to the second level and is nearly knocked down by the DT crashing. DT makes a tackle on the RB. Boulware at RG is a tough transition after being LG earlier. (Not pictured)
This isn’t gonna work, Donaldson. Also, you want to know why Rosier is so inaccurate, it’s all in the feet. His stride is perfectly forward. He’s throwing this with a misaligned torso. He throws this ball all the way to the sideline for a wide-open Thomas. The ball is high and Thomas has to make an exceptional catch attempt. They overturned it on replay and it all goes back to two things; Donaldson getting beat and Rosier having poor footwork.
Next play. Look at his mechanics on this play in a clean pocket. They’re perfect. It’s also the best throw of the year for Rosier. He puts the ball perfectly in stride with a streaking Jeff Thomas. If he makes Thomas break stride it’s just a nice gain. With a perfect throw it’s a TD. These small things add up to so much when you’re playing good teams. We need more of this Rosier.
Kickoff, Mike Smith pounds the ground after he misses the tackle on the returner. Derrick Smith makes the tackle. (Not pictured)
Missed handoff on a jet sweep recovered by Bandy. (Not pictured)
Next drive, Mahoney back in at RG. Jones at LG still. Boulware out. Perry in at QB. Perry throws it to Langham on the out. Perry throws it too hard, but he had good mechanics on the pass. Too much speed caused it to get there before Langham was there. Guessing the difference in arm strength messed up the timing a bit, but need a little more touch there. Understandable given his first collegiate pass. (Not pictured)
Next pass is tipped. Gauthier had his guy locked up but he got his hands up and tipped the pass. A little more touch to get it over the line is needed there. (Not pictured)
3rd & 10 and we go swing pass to Brevin. He gets 8 with some nice blocking downfield. (Not pictured)
Tough run on the zone give to Homer. OL just not moving anyone. They’re waiting too much instead of moving people with first contact. Gauthier is pushed back on the next run and it forces Homer to go wide and get very little. (Not pictured)
It’s a noticeable difference in mechanics with Perry into the game. He throws that quick slant to Cager beautifully. TD. (Not pictured)
Pinckney knifes into the backfield but misses the tackle on the QB. Rousseau runs him out of bounds. 2nd down and they try to read on Tito. He just makes a beeline for the mesh point (point where QB fakes or gives the ball to the RB). Forces a keep well into the backfield and it’s a loss on the play. He doesn’t get anything on stat sheet, but good quickness by 94. Patchan makes the tackle and has played very well. (Not pictured)
Jaquan misses a tackle in the backfield but he gets the receiver down before he gets a first down. (Not pictured)
Perry fakes the handoff, does a rollout away from the pulling action. Has Brevin in the flats but Perry is looking deeper. He had Brevin early but waits too long and then he treats to put touch on the pass and it’s a floater. Pass is very short. Awkward play. Perry “looks” so much better playing QB than Rosier but he’s struggled with the intricacies of when to put touch and when to throw hard on his first few passes. (Not pictured)
Bad run by Dallas on the next play. Runs right into the blocker and misses the hole to his right. Gets nothing. Donaldson didn’t do a very good job on the block but Dallas has to take the three yards here to his right and hammer it between 62 & 58. Dallas normally has better vision than this. Announcer is criticizing the OL for being too high and I agree completely. Look at Mahoney here just standing straight up. No power in his base or through his knees. He’s absorbing the blow rather than delivering one.
More mechanics film. Arm is low, bit lazy delivery. This ball tails and is behind Dee Wiggins. If he has his arm up a bit higher he won’t get that fade in his throws. Boulware straight up-and-down absorbing blows again. Have to wonder if this is how they’re coaching it (if they are, I’m sure they have their good reasons).
Awful Feagles punt. (Not pictured)
1st down and Mike Smith makes the tackle. (Not pictured)
On 2nd down I have no idea what Jennings is doing. His man is the RB at the top of the screen. Mike Smith is rushing here and is responsible for the edge. Jennings has to take the RB but is way too shallow and takes the fake hard. He’s already beaten right here (his foot is on the edge of the U at the 45).
Mike Smith blitzes and has a free rush. He’s got McCloud to his right who is responsible for the QB. Smith runs to the QB as well, which allows the give. If Smith goes to the RB as he should, this play is a huge loss. Garvin beats his man and makes it a loss anyway, but that’s some of that instinct on what your assignment is that is missing from many of our backup LB’s. (Not pictured)
Next play Garvin blows his man up and gets upfield. He misses a tackle for what would’ve been a huge loss. McCloud does a nice job flowing from behind and smacks the RB after a short gain. McCloud has played well. (Not pictured)
On 3rd and long Michael Jackson misses his jam and allows the WR to get into his route quickly. Jackson turns to chase and it opens up a back-shoulder throw for a big gain. This Sav State team completed one pass the entire game last week, so the fact that they’re getting some completions against our defense is a bit deflating. (Not pictured)
4th down they stop them, but it really looked like the RB got the yardage and got a bad spot. This was the worst rep of the game for Willis, who got mauled and completely moved out of the hole on the run by one OL. (Not pictured)
Quick swing pass to Harley and Cager again misses the block on the edge. Harley had a nice run making people miss. Good run on second down where the line had a hat on a hat and opened up a lane for Homer.(Not pictured)
There is no reason to be pulling your eyes down from this pocket. He really just needs to slide a little bit or dump it off to Homer if he’s antsy. Jahair Jones is getting put onto the ground here though. While Jones got turned out, he still held the DL off even from a knee. He gets nothing on this play. Perry needs to allow the play to develop a bit better than this.
