- Joined
- Oct 21, 2011
- Messages
- 15,479
Just finished a play by play game review. Not sure I'm interested in debating some of the narratives out there right now. Have seen a ton of confirmation bias as reactions and I'm trying my best to avoid the same. I *am* interested in trying to keep things to facts. Going to do my best to avoid leaps of logic and keep this to plain observations. Open to your help, too. Will focus mostly on the offense.
We gained 392 yards.
We ran 77 plays.
We averaged 5.1 yards/play. (that's around 80th in the NCAA, which lines up with about the rest of our year so far)
We were 5/14 on 3rd down conversions (that's about 36%, which is in the 70s).
We were 0/1 on 4th down conversions.
Here's what I found (click the thumbnails for larger view):
- Had to add this to a mostly "offensive" review of the game. Ivey takes a lot of heat when he's lackadaisical or his instincts fail him. He personally got us off the field twice last night. On two big 3rd downs, he played an in-breaking WR aggressively, used his long arm, and made plays. Let's keep the same energy on good and bad. He deserves credit for perhaps his best game as a Cane.
- Not necessarily "offense," but this PR made the list. Stevenson made an awful play here. It happens. I'm not sure why it was such a surprise. Despite his age and leadership, he made some risky punt return decisions (didn't he jump to catch one?) last week.
- I contemplated making "DROPS" a thread of its own. Here's one of the two clearest and most impactful of the game. Parrish made a mistake. It happens, too. Unfortunately, this one cost us a bunch as you can see by how the field was setup. For all the gripes about Gattis' RZ playcalling and overall approach, this was one of his very slick calls.
On the DROPS TOPIC, there was another obvious one: BSmith's to end the game. Other than that, I counted Key Smith on a crossing route where TVD had two LBs blitzing and threw the ball slightly high, though it's unclear on re-watch if the pass was broken up by the DB or just bounced off Key's hands. Parrish also had a possible "drop" on the last series on an angle route, though again it may be argued as a PBU by a defender. Even if we count those, that's 4. Are people counting the 16 yard completion as a drop because Key Smith might have let it slip on that under throw? It was counted as a reception.
**Plainly, I could not collect matching data to the "6-8" drops most people are claiming on the board. If you can help me identify them, maybe we can increase substantive, fact-based discussions.**
@cway313 has identified Redding drops. I don't have video/image confirmation yet, but will correct as the info becomes available. Again, just trying to keep it 100.
- Again, not "offense," but points-related. This blocked FG hurt.
- Without a headset or being inside the film room, difficult to fully say what the heck happened on this play. George comes across the formation on a crosser that he turns upfield (doesn't appear by design, but who knows). TVD locks in and gives the Safety ample time to get all the way across and disrupt the play. Did George get lost with the ball in the air? Should TVD have thrown George open toward the sideline? I read people called George lazy or soft on this play, and maybe that's true, but it looked like a sloppy mess if you watch the entire play closely.
- Don't know who you "blame" on this, necessarily. Saw another poster mention this is on Key Smith for being "soft." Thought that was a weird accusation, as this play ended up as an incompletion Key Smith essentially never touched. TVD threw the ball before the break and the timing was just completely off. This is more about expecting TVD and Key Smith to have this rapport to throw a precise, timing-based route.
- This play design was intended for a big vertical play. Key Smith feigns the run action/block and then takes off. TVD rolls right and just misses. Yes, Key Smith "touched" the ball. Not sure if people are counting this is as drop. He literally is horizontal while diving and nips it with one hand. The ball, as the announcers noted, was not given a lot of air/touch. Whose "fault?"
For the record, let me be clear that I don't think our WRs are "good." Clearly, they're not good enough to do what we need. I just like to keep things to facts and evidence. Where they struggle MORE seems to be in creating separation or scaring defenders to provide cushion. To me, that's an unreasonable ask of a bunch of WRs of whom have maybe 1-2 speed guys. More realistically, we have to scheme them open and, if they THEN drop the ball (like the last play), they deserve the "wrath."
- A play that's been highly debated already. Some say this "designed" TVD run was a mess of a call. I saw a couple people get on other posters claiming it was an RPO and therefore a bad decision. Let's be absolutely clear, if this was an RPO, there was no pass option TVD looked at...ever. No one on the boundary side, where TVD's eyes flow to, went out for a pass. If this was an option, it was a zone read (but I don’t see the optioned defender) and TVD kept it.
- Here's clearer proof of the above note. On the field side (to the right), we have two receivers. TVD ends up keeping this and running to his left.
- Another highly "debated" play. Some say this was a "drop" by Redding. The announcers laid the blame on the OL. Both of those perspectives, live and on re-watch, seem like reaches. This was a beautifully designed clear-out play to get Redding running free. The OL held their own for a nice few ticks here. I consider this incompletion a big miss by TVD - who could have put a tiny bit more air or just thrown a more accurate pass. This was likely a game changing play.
- If people want to gripe about a significant limitation of our offense beyond not having enough speed at WR, I think 1b is that our WRs often are "body catchers." While this play above may not be the perfect example because there is a closing defender (which often makes WRs shield and collect the ball with their bodies), I'm using it as an example of how little I see our WRs extend their arms and snatch the ball with their hands. I guess George does it sometimes, from what I've seen. We need more of it.
- Because I'm explicitly trying to keep this factual, everyone should give Gattis credit here for the play design. Beautiful clear out to isolate Mallory on a crossing route.
- My issue with the result is the same I said in this thread: https://www.canesinsight.com/threads/elijah-arroyo-vs-tamu.179806/. And, in other places. I think these plays are better suited for Arroyo. Once Mallory out ran the out-leveraged defender (by design), he had a one on one. He couldn't win it, unfortunately, and the play's chunk got limited. Kudos to Mallory for coming back in after getting banged up. I still think this is a play we should try with the player who can more likely win an athletic matchup downfield.
- Our offense will continue to be widely debated. Including in this thread, I imagine. I'm asking for more of this for TVD. This was a quick out to George, who had been given significant cushion by an inside defender. TVD apparently needs quicker throws. Talked about that after last week's game re: RPOs. This was a nice throw and gain.
- This is obviously NOT an image of the drop to seal the game. Instead, this is a dink on a key 3rd down. What I didn't understand is why many posters saw this as a limitation of our WR? The ball was thrown directly into a zone defender. There wasn't anywhere to go. We had some really good man coverages busters during the game, but missed a few chances to bust zone coverages. TAMU was happy to sit there a few times and let us limit ourselves.
Ok, on to the discussion and I can give my own conclusions later.
We gained 392 yards.
We ran 77 plays.
We averaged 5.1 yards/play. (that's around 80th in the NCAA, which lines up with about the rest of our year so far)
We were 5/14 on 3rd down conversions (that's about 36%, which is in the 70s).
We were 0/1 on 4th down conversions.
Here's what I found (click the thumbnails for larger view):
- Had to add this to a mostly "offensive" review of the game. Ivey takes a lot of heat when he's lackadaisical or his instincts fail him. He personally got us off the field twice last night. On two big 3rd downs, he played an in-breaking WR aggressively, used his long arm, and made plays. Let's keep the same energy on good and bad. He deserves credit for perhaps his best game as a Cane.
- Not necessarily "offense," but this PR made the list. Stevenson made an awful play here. It happens. I'm not sure why it was such a surprise. Despite his age and leadership, he made some risky punt return decisions (didn't he jump to catch one?) last week.
- I contemplated making "DROPS" a thread of its own. Here's one of the two clearest and most impactful of the game. Parrish made a mistake. It happens, too. Unfortunately, this one cost us a bunch as you can see by how the field was setup. For all the gripes about Gattis' RZ playcalling and overall approach, this was one of his very slick calls.
On the DROPS TOPIC, there was another obvious one: BSmith's to end the game. Other than that, I counted Key Smith on a crossing route where TVD had two LBs blitzing and threw the ball slightly high, though it's unclear on re-watch if the pass was broken up by the DB or just bounced off Key's hands. Parrish also had a possible "drop" on the last series on an angle route, though again it may be argued as a PBU by a defender. Even if we count those, that's 4. Are people counting the 16 yard completion as a drop because Key Smith might have let it slip on that under throw? It was counted as a reception.
**Plainly, I could not collect matching data to the "6-8" drops most people are claiming on the board. If you can help me identify them, maybe we can increase substantive, fact-based discussions.**
@cway313 has identified Redding drops. I don't have video/image confirmation yet, but will correct as the info becomes available. Again, just trying to keep it 100.
- Again, not "offense," but points-related. This blocked FG hurt.
- Without a headset or being inside the film room, difficult to fully say what the heck happened on this play. George comes across the formation on a crosser that he turns upfield (doesn't appear by design, but who knows). TVD locks in and gives the Safety ample time to get all the way across and disrupt the play. Did George get lost with the ball in the air? Should TVD have thrown George open toward the sideline? I read people called George lazy or soft on this play, and maybe that's true, but it looked like a sloppy mess if you watch the entire play closely.
- Don't know who you "blame" on this, necessarily. Saw another poster mention this is on Key Smith for being "soft." Thought that was a weird accusation, as this play ended up as an incompletion Key Smith essentially never touched. TVD threw the ball before the break and the timing was just completely off. This is more about expecting TVD and Key Smith to have this rapport to throw a precise, timing-based route.
- This play design was intended for a big vertical play. Key Smith feigns the run action/block and then takes off. TVD rolls right and just misses. Yes, Key Smith "touched" the ball. Not sure if people are counting this is as drop. He literally is horizontal while diving and nips it with one hand. The ball, as the announcers noted, was not given a lot of air/touch. Whose "fault?"
For the record, let me be clear that I don't think our WRs are "good." Clearly, they're not good enough to do what we need. I just like to keep things to facts and evidence. Where they struggle MORE seems to be in creating separation or scaring defenders to provide cushion. To me, that's an unreasonable ask of a bunch of WRs of whom have maybe 1-2 speed guys. More realistically, we have to scheme them open and, if they THEN drop the ball (like the last play), they deserve the "wrath."
- A play that's been highly debated already. Some say this "designed" TVD run was a mess of a call. I saw a couple people get on other posters claiming it was an RPO and therefore a bad decision. Let's be absolutely clear, if this was an RPO, there was no pass option TVD looked at...ever. No one on the boundary side, where TVD's eyes flow to, went out for a pass. If this was an option, it was a zone read (but I don’t see the optioned defender) and TVD kept it.
- Here's clearer proof of the above note. On the field side (to the right), we have two receivers. TVD ends up keeping this and running to his left.
- Another highly "debated" play. Some say this was a "drop" by Redding. The announcers laid the blame on the OL. Both of those perspectives, live and on re-watch, seem like reaches. This was a beautifully designed clear-out play to get Redding running free. The OL held their own for a nice few ticks here. I consider this incompletion a big miss by TVD - who could have put a tiny bit more air or just thrown a more accurate pass. This was likely a game changing play.
- If people want to gripe about a significant limitation of our offense beyond not having enough speed at WR, I think 1b is that our WRs often are "body catchers." While this play above may not be the perfect example because there is a closing defender (which often makes WRs shield and collect the ball with their bodies), I'm using it as an example of how little I see our WRs extend their arms and snatch the ball with their hands. I guess George does it sometimes, from what I've seen. We need more of it.
- Because I'm explicitly trying to keep this factual, everyone should give Gattis credit here for the play design. Beautiful clear out to isolate Mallory on a crossing route.
- My issue with the result is the same I said in this thread: https://www.canesinsight.com/threads/elijah-arroyo-vs-tamu.179806/. And, in other places. I think these plays are better suited for Arroyo. Once Mallory out ran the out-leveraged defender (by design), he had a one on one. He couldn't win it, unfortunately, and the play's chunk got limited. Kudos to Mallory for coming back in after getting banged up. I still think this is a play we should try with the player who can more likely win an athletic matchup downfield.
- Our offense will continue to be widely debated. Including in this thread, I imagine. I'm asking for more of this for TVD. This was a quick out to George, who had been given significant cushion by an inside defender. TVD apparently needs quicker throws. Talked about that after last week's game re: RPOs. This was a nice throw and gain.
- This is obviously NOT an image of the drop to seal the game. Instead, this is a dink on a key 3rd down. What I didn't understand is why many posters saw this as a limitation of our WR? The ball was thrown directly into a zone defender. There wasn't anywhere to go. We had some really good man coverages busters during the game, but missed a few chances to bust zone coverages. TAMU was happy to sit there a few times and let us limit ourselves.
Ok, on to the discussion and I can give my own conclusions later.
