Film Review of FSU Game

HurricaneVision

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Nov 16, 2012
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Alright, you know the drill. This is going to be long. It is going to involve lots of stills from the game, and if that’s not your thing, I understand that. If you enjoy my work, please give me a follow on Twitter [MENTION=5374]HurricaneVision[/MENTION]

This is one that’s been a long time coming. I’m sure if you’re reading this you’ve been a suffering fan like myself. A lot of things have changed in our country, in my life, and in our program since the last time we walked out of Doak Campbell Stadium victorious.

I spent more time on the second half than the first, but I’ll still walk through the mistakes and opportunities from the first half to better understand exactly what happened. I charted our sets and how FSU fared against them, just to get a feel for what might’ve worked better for us than others.

Kickoff is played well by Amari Carter, who stayed in his lane outside and then flattened down the line once the returned went middle. Of times, young players in a game like this will get fired up and change their angle straight at the returner and lose their containment. Nice job #5 .

Big run by Florida State. We stood up Jackson, walked McCloud over to the LOS and had a five-man line with three down. Florida State ran a counter play where all the action was to the boundary and had a designed cutback to the wide side. Credit FSU’s OL for handling our defensive front, but #5 6 was far too aggressive and bit on the action from the FB. The cutback is his responsibility. Quarterman flowed too hard as well, but if he doesn’t fire quickly he risks getting lost in the trash if the play actually goes that way. McCloud set his edge perfectly on this play, so he did his job. Chad Thomas got knocked off his feet and Norton was moved out by the double team. I contemplated doing its own thread just to show the number of holds that Florida State had in this game that went uncalled. The neck wrap on Quarterman went uncalled here.
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If Pinckney takes the correct gap we actually have the play defended since Redwine crashes for the cutback hard. Pinckney got himself into the wash off the snap and took himself out of the play. Jaquan comes up and misses the tackle at the 39 of Florida State, allowing him to get 20 extra yards.
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So Florida State sticks with the same personnel (12) and throw a swing pass on the boundary and Delaney holds his ground and forces the WR out after 3 yards. Good play. Settle down now.

Next play we zone blitz and drop Chad Thomas into the field of vision of the QB and he throws that way. Pinckney makes a play on the ball, incomplete.

Get to 3rd down and we rush only four and drop seven into coverage. Nice push by the DL and Blackman runs for the sideline and gets nothing. We stayed in base vs. their four-wide look, granted one was Izzo split out wide. Izzo ran a hook off the slot at five yards, boundary ran a clear out deep, inside slot wanted to run a deep stop route but Quarterman read QB’s eyes and got in his vision and forced the QB to pull it down. We had McCloud running with a WR down the seam in this look with two deep behind it. RB released over the middle and Quarterman had him covered up if he checked down. Surprised Blackman didn’t let this rip a second earlier into the seam on McCloud. Great punt pins us down at the 4.

On our first down the OL pushes the defense completely to the side and Walton has a huge hole for seven yards. Second down we run a screen and Rosier makes a poor pass right into the chest of the defender. No prayer of getting over the 6-5 Josh Sweat.

On 3rd down, we run a staple of the Mark Richt offense and they were ready for it. We pull the C and RG around to the wide side of the field. Darling is supposed to cut his DT and St. Louis is supposed to block down on Christmas. That’s a lot to ask from your RT to get there given the explosiveness of Christmas, who recognized this play immediately and did exactly what he is supposed to. When that DT sees the C pull, he is taught to get right inside of his hip and explode into the backfield. That’s exactly what he did. If St. Louis gets to his block, this play still goes nowhere as Donaldson didn’t have the speed to get to #3 and he beats him inside quickly. [URL=https://www.canesinsight.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=7]#7 8[/URL] is shielding the DT, but once he gets even with you all your leverage is gone.
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On the punt, woof. You can’t just let a guy have a free run at your punter like this. Two guys take the man up-the-middle and leave a second man free to almost make a game changing play. Chris Herndon is the protector to that side and needs to pick him up. Scary.
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This play is why you live with some over-aggression from Pinckney. He blew this play up getting into the gap before the OL can get even close to the LOS. Demetrius holds the edge against their TE and shuts this run down. Demetrius Jackson is a force against the run (incidentally, I expect him and Trent Harris to play a huge role next week against GT, but I digress). Pay no attention to Richard McIntosh having his jersey ripped off here, the officials sure didn’t.
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Next play on 3rd and 5 we drop Demetrius Jackson into the area that Blackman wanted to throw and he came off his read and panicked a little bit. We blitzed McCloud off the other side, then Quarterman came into the backfield after there wasn’t a route threatening his zone (keep in mind it’s also possible this was a delayed blitz, only the coaches could tell you that, but the fact that he waited, looked at the QB’s eyes, then came when no one threatened his zone makes me believe it was a decision Quarterman makes based on the route combinations rather than a delayed blitz). The zone blitz gets a lot of hate, but it worked perfectly here as we sacked the QB. This is when Norton played the guitar on Blackman’s leg. What a cool sack celebration, but I also worry that it might draw a flag next time.
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On our 1st down we throw a slant to Herndon for 9. I really wish we targeted Herndon a bit more. He’s one of our most efficient receivers, but he’s such a good blocker he gets used in that role a lot as well. I’m a huge Herndon fan. We try an inside run on 2nd down and get stuffed. On 3rd down we burn a timeout before a sneak that was stuffed.

Play action on 3rd down and we have an easy throw for a 1st down. Rosier really struggles with taking velocity off the ball on touch passes (as inexperienced QB’s often do). We’ve seen it on a screen and now a touch pass over a DL. I’m a believer in Rosier now, but you have to make this throw to keep your offense on the field. Great play call by Richt gets exactly what you want in that situation. Just make the play.
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Miami gets a terrible punt, but at least it bounced forward. Good thing that the FSU returner inexplicably didn’t run up and catch it. Feagles is certainly a freshman. Flashes of brilliance, and flashes of -1 yard punts.

I wonder if the FSU receivers were just young, or nervous, or what, but the entire Miami defense is moving and three of their receivers haven’t even moved yet.
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Poor angle by Shaq on the swing pass. Look at how his shoulders are both inside of the RB here. There is no way you are getting there in time with that angle. He needs to flatten this angle out and almost run horizontal to the LOS marker here. RB easily gets by Shaq. Am I hard on our LB’s? Yes, but I want to see more growth and playmaking. Right now Shaq isn’t providing that, honestly. At the top of the screen, you can see Delaney does a great job avoiding the cut block on the edge and stops it after six yards. Nice play.
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Ok, this is one we just can’t have. You remember the first play where there was a hole and the RB went for big yards up-the-middle? My only guess is that so did Redwine, because this is just inexcusable. One guy. I say it all the time, but 10 guys can be right and all it takes is one guy. Here, that one guy is Redwine. His job is to contain this edge right here. There is no reason he should be flattening out towards the pile on this play unless he is remembering that first play. The RB is stopped for a loss on this play if he loops around J. Jackson on the edge and hits the RB. Instead, the RB cuts it back and gains 30. I label this a missed tackle, personally, so keep that in mind when you see those numbers elsewhere.
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Look at Malek Young! He trusts his eyes here. He isn’t playing nervous to make a mistake, or worried that he’s read it wrong. He knows there is coverage behind him and he understands what this heavy formation is going to send at him and he loads and fires immediately. He beats #89 inside before he knows what happened. Look at how early he is hitting this play. The QB hasn’t even extended the ball to the RB yet. This could be a play-action fake, it could be a bootleg. Malek isn’t scared though. He trusts himself and he hits this one hard. Loss of five yards. As an aside, Pinckney also reads his keys and gets into the backfield for the official tackle after Young slid off his leg.
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Next play Shaq Quarterman breaks up a pass over the middle on a nice play, where the QB also threw it too hard. On 3rd down, Demetrius Jackson tips the pass to bring up 4th down, but Michael Jackson playing FS comes late when no one was in his zone and roughs the passer. It was a legitimate call, nothing to add to my officiating thoughts there. Ball is gone and out of the screen when Jackson is still this far away. I talk about the little plays in a game that add up to wins and losses. This play was a 3-point play, but it also added wear and tear to the defense and kept the offense off the field. Be smarter.
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Here. Charles Perry crashes for the RB on the ZR and leaves a gaping hole. His only job here is to be the contain man on the edge. We dropped Joe Jackson out and ran a zone blitz off the edge. It’s defended perfectly, it’s just a mental error by Perry getting overexcited. Our starting players are legit, it’s just the dropoff to the backups is noticeable. Note, Charles Perry was pulled immediately after this play.
Note:I couldn't get this image to load. I apologize. It's Charles Perry taking the cheese inside and Blackman pulling right around him.

Demetrius Jackson played well in this game. No doubt about it, but you can’t get moved out of your edge contain by a TE on this play. This just can’t happen for us to be successful. Look at their [URL=https://www.canesinsight.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=7]#7 4[/URL] owning McIntosh as well. LB picks the wrong gap to crash immediately, and there is a huge running lane on the off-tackle play. This is a tough play for Quarterman because he has to pinch inside-out and rely on his edge contain to force everything back inside. Pinckney made the mistake here. He has to flow to this gap and Quarterman has to flow to the gap that Pinckney fills here, rather than vice-versa because it’s too far for the LB to get to from that distance.
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Still running base defense, even though they have four wide (one being a TE split out wide). Run inside for three yards. Quarterman makes a nice play and hits him at the LOS, but is lunging rather than bringing his legs with him and the RB gets almost four. You’d like to bring him down a minimal gain here, but he did beat #5 4 to the hole, so it was still a good play.
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Next play, pressure by Thomas blew this play up, otherwise it’s a TD. WR completely beats Zach McCloud (as you’d expect). Our philosophy is definitely to believe our front gets there before your WR can get away from our LB’s in base, but if it were me, I’d play nickel a little more, use that as the time you spell your LB’s for rest, and not play your backup LB’s nearly as much. You could even rotate each of the three to be off the field in nickel if needed (though that increases risk of miscommunication).
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It’s great when it works, as Chad Thomas took an inside move against the guard from his edge position on this play and blows up the pass behind him. That said, this is a high risk play. If Blackman saw this quicker, he can immediately pull this down and has nothing on the sideline but one defender and two blockers. (WR on edge and RT is able to roll that way as well). It worked though, so no complaints.
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Forced a 3rd and 8 and they ran up-the-middle on 3rd down and kicked the FG. Thank you to FSU for not even threatening, but I think FSU was nervous that Blackman isn’t seeing things quickly enough after the play before.

On our possession we lined up Jeff Thomas in the backfield and FSU was all over it. Still, with the injury to Walton we are going to need to be creative with our backfield. Thomas on jet sweeps, swing passes out of the backfield, and others such as Deejay Dallas fit into this perfectly.

Add it to the “officiating mistakes” thread, as FSU was offsides, not called. #5 5 right in the middle jumped early. Cager still needs to make this place, though.
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Note: Second image won't load, but it's a still of the ball clanging off Cager's hands at the high point.

Berrios played the game of his life after taking this knee to the head early in the game. I could create an entire thread of just Braxton Berrios images out of this game. I love that kid, maybe because he looks just like me, or maybe because he bleeds Orange and Green like the rest of us, but that kid can play for my team any day. AJ Westbrook is ridiculously good, by the way. There is no reason that he should’ve been able to get to this ball. Reports of the FSU talent demise are greatly overstated from my review.
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We ran another zone blitz and then sent everybody from the middle of the field. I am not a fan of this play call, and not because it didn’t work, but because the easiest throw for a young QB is over the middle and we made it simple. Redwine came from Coral Gables on this play and didn’t effect anything. You see Joe Jackson over covering #26 out of the backfield, and Izzo has a free release and a simple route behind the LB here for 16 yards. If that guy had any speed he might’ve housed it, but luckily he’s still no David Njoku and gets run down quickly.
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Next play we again lose contain on the edge. We are playing hard. We are being aggressive, so I’m not complaining, but you have to stay disciplined in your assignment. Here, Malek Young gets washed inside easily. He has to keep his outside shoulder outside the defender here. Keep in mind, this is FSU making a direct adjustment to this exact same play earlier. Malek Young did exactly this, ducked inside the blocker and made the tackle for a five-yard loss. FSU said, ok, you’re going to crash that hard, we will design the cutback off of it and get the edge. Exactly what happens. Hat tip to Jimbo. Another difference is Darrion Owens is the LB to this side, rather than Pinckney and he gets blocked out. As an aside, Sheldrick Redwine really wishes we had contained the edge, as this is the play he gets destroyed at the end of the run. We are Canes fans here, so we’ll leave that image for some sad Warchant poster.
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We send five on the next play. Knowles is in at FS and I’m not sure what he was doing. He looks like he’s blitzing, then he stops at the LOS and backs up into the middle. I’d have to know the play design to really make that judgment, but it’s possible he was just pressing the LOS, or he was spying the QB. Either way, we do send five and we get him to throw it away.

Knowles does the same thing on the next play, so he must just be coming up in run support without coverage responsibility deep. He missed the tackle and RB got four yards.

On 3rd down we sent five, with Quarterman coming late when no one was in his coverage. Delaney was on an island and disrupted the route of the receiver just enough to make his late getting his head around. Nice ball. Should’ve been a 1st down. That sad Warchant poster will point this out as a big play.
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Punt called a touchback, said the ball crossed the plane of the goal line and I’ll tell you, that’s one they’ll put in their officiating thread. We got lucky there. Bad call. FSU ends up netting 17 yards on the play, and should’ve had a 1st down at the 29 instead. We get the ball at the 20. Hidden yards. Little things. They all add up.

FSU knows that Mark Walton is hobbled on his ankle, which means that those horizontal runs we like to do, where he runs to his left and then has to cut off the edge are harder for him. FSU is overplaying him a bit to his right, as a result. We run the ball and ask him to cut off his ankle and he picks up five, but it looked like a sailboat trying to turn, not the magical ninja cutting ability that Walton generally has.

Walton has a cutback lane here, but just misses it. Yes, he probably gets tackled by #3 , but it’s better than the one-yard run he got by chugging up behind [URL=https://www.canesinsight.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=7]#7 8[/URL] . Whenever you read an assessment of an OL about him being a “waist-bender” look at the top of the screen at McDermott. He has no power like this and has lost this rep.
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On 3rd down we called a QB draw and Rosier made a tough run to get the first. He’s not super fast, but he’s bigger than you’d think and runs with real power. I’d like to see us run more veer or power runs with Rosier, but I imagine we are worried about injury.

Darling loses this rep badly and it blows up the run. McDermott is waist bending again and has no power. Donaldson loses this rep. Walton just can’t cut. I have no idea how he’s playing on that ankle, honestly.
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Next play is a slant to Richards, who beats Samuels, then breaks his tackle for a gain of 15.

Darling loses again.
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Cager is bullied on the next play and really went into his break very soft. Ball was well thrown, but he didn’t stick his foot in the ground and explode through his cut. I can’t say for certain, but the impression was that he wasn’t thrilled to engage in contact. On 3rd down Rosier saw Derwin James in underneath coverage and tried to stop his arm, but the ball came out and was luckily incomplete. Not good.

On the punt protection, Herndon and Demetrius Jackson have got to get this figured out. Another man simply runs right between them and gets a hand on this punt. Special teams continue to be an issue for Miami and they are lucky they didn’t cost us this game.
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We rushed Demetrius Jackson from the DT position on 3rd down and he easily beats the interior of the FSU line for a sack. The ball comes out and our guys just didn’t see it lying there. If I were their line coach I sure wouldn’t be thrilled with #5 4 here. Blocking no one while his LG gets beat like a drum (the OC needs to extend his right-hand and leverage the DT with his head forward to see both interior rushers and look for blitzers as well). It’s such a good example of the value of Coach Kool as well. Demetrius uses a flawless hand-shuck technique, where he shucks the hands of the OL as he tries to punch and uses his left hand to push the OL in the side as he gets leverage. At that point the LG is done.
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Berrios makes a mistake here. He tries to run to his right, where there is much more speed and closer defenders. He loses five yards. If he runs to his left here he probably gets to the 50. I’m sure the play was a return right, but Berrios is tackled at the 35. That’s a difference of 15 yards that I wish he’d taken. Berrios, of course, was called for a facemask penalty as well, so we got the ball back at the 21. Special teams. Hidden yards. They matter.
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This is why coaches just drool over athleticism. Josh Sweat pinches down when he sees the mesh point, but then flattens out and tackles Rosier after he correctly pulls the ball. Loss of three. Herndon is not supposed to block Sweat, he’s supposed to block Thomas. Sweat is supposed to block himself by crashing down on the RB, but he’s just a special athlete that wrecked the play. You can see his helmet there on the 20 and he is already starting to crash.
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Ahmonn gets hit in stride for a first down on the next play, but he drops it. FSU rushes three, drops into coverage and Rosier throws a bad pass towards Cager. Punt. FSU returner lets it drop and roll and it gets us another 15 yards. Hidden yards our way.

Next play Joe Jackson gets pressure of the edge, Blackman bails, sacked. We now have three sacks, all have come from rushing four. We also forced a QB scramble for -1 yards earlier, but they didn’t call it a sack because he pulled it down and ran (I guess).

On second down, Dee Delaney steals this WR’s soul. It’s a good thing because McCloud was very late getting out there. Delaney makes the tackle for a gain of six.
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Next play we rush four, no one open, Blackman pulls it down, McIntosh tackles him after a gain of one. This is where Blackman dinged his ankle and FSU fans cry that we are turning their ankles. Punt. Berrios can’t get up to the poor punt, which takes an FSU roll for 15 yards. Teams are about even with hidden yards on specials now.

1st down, you can tell me Thomas is small, but you can’t tell me he doesn’t play tougher. Nice catch here, then runs through this tackle and gets the 1st down.
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Next play McFadden beats Richards to the spot and knocks it away. Nice play.

FSU’s defense is good. This is exactly the way you play the ZR. Get upfield, but not more than midway to the mesh point. Flatten if he gives it, stand edge if he pulls it. Great defense. I’d love to see a third option where we can pull this and then do a quick pass to Jeff Thomas here. Richards comes down and block in the back anyway.
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Next play, Rosier scrambles after Burns beats McDermott. Third down, Burns beats Gauthier and tackles Rosier after a gain of one. That kid is good.

First down we bring Knowles off the edge, but they run to the other side. Patrick breaks a Norton arm tackle, then a Pinckney shoulder. J. Jackson and Bethel fall on his ankle. Next play we bring six on a 2nd and two. Akers gets the edge and Delaney beats the WR again and makes the tackle.

Next play they run a pure inside dive and Akers gets five. Pinckney took the edge and Akers ran it right up the gut. Next play they run the exact same play, Pinckney does the exact same thing but avoids the block this time and makes the tackle in the backfield. Aggression. It sometimes gives up plays, but it also makes a lot of negative plays for the offense.

We run a zone blitz here and it ends up with Chad Thomas on Gavin 1-on-1. We blitzed McCloud off the edge and flooded the weakside. This play was easily defeated by Florida State by throwing over the middle. A lot to ask of Chad Thomas here on 3rd down. This route is called an arrow route because it looks like Gavin is running to the outside and then his cut back inside forms the shape of an arrow if you were to draw a line over the route. He was open by a long way.
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Next play is a run off the right-side for 8 yards. Then the next play they do the same exact play and get eight more yards. They try to block Chad Thomas with a FB on an inside rush and he blows the play up for a loss of five. 2nd down they rush four, QB drops it off, Owens makes the stop for a loss of a half yard.

Third down and Harris stunts inside and beats the T. He gets pressure into the face of Blackman here, who throws the pick to Jackson. The play is made first by the pass rush. It was a heck of a catch by Jackson as well.
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I’m honestly a Greg McElroy fan, so I’m not a hater of the announcers, but they were flat wrong on several occasions today. Earlier, McElroy said they ran an X stunt on the other side of the sack and forced fumble (they did not), then the other announcer said this isn’t pass interference, and of course McElroy got all upset about the block from Ahmonn as if he feels it should be outlawed etc. I mean, this is easy pass interference, guys.
Note:Another image not loading today. It's clearly McFadden interfering with Ahmonn if anyone needs the evidence.

I will forever strongly dislike Matthew Thomas. I dislike him so much I’m taking the time to upload his picture taunting our bench. He made a nice play by tipping this pass from Rosier. The Canes were lucky that every single tip either fell to the ground or made its way to our receivers in this game. Rosier remains a one-read QB, one that defenders can follow his eyes to the ball.
Note:The problem appears to be when the camera has zoomed in. Thomas is taunting our bench.

Swing pass to Berrios gets 8 yards. Then Berrios picks up the first with a nice contested catch over the middle. This is when his name starts to become legend.

Rosier pulls it and runs for five yards. Should’ve been a flag on Meyers hitting Rosier as he slid, but I’m ok with the no-call.

This is not a no-call I’m ok with. The officials missed another pass interference on this play. FSU got there quite early on Herndon and prevented him from running his route to the ball. Yes, that is an FSU defender with his arm completely wrapped around Herndon as the ball is still two yards away.
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Next play they called Berrios for offensive PI. It was the right call, but if they had made the right call on the play previously we’d be even. Luckily, Rosier makes an NFL throw on the next play and the FSU boundary corner doesn’t re-route Richards, which makes the S late in getting over, and Richards runs right down the sideline for a gain of 33. This throw right here might’ve been the biggest play of the game. It ignited everything for Miami. Even though we didn’t score a TD, and we missed a throw for a TD on this drive, this got everyone going.
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The next play didn’t hurt as far as getting everyone going, either.
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Walton is clearly not right. This play is setup perfectly. He needs to explode through this hole with a burst and maybe even score. He gets two yards out of this play. Two. Yards. This is the cut off that left leg and there is nothing there. I watched this play live and told my buddy Homer needs to play and Walton needs to sit the rest of the game. He’s hurt, which is making him a liability at this point (and I love Mark Walton, read anything I write and you’ll know that).
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Next play is a QB draw up-the-middle. Josh Sweat re-traces his steps and takes him down. He is a big-time player. A true star.

This is a big play in the game here. Donaldson gets bullrushed right into Rosier who can’t set and make a good throw. You can see Berrios is open at the top of your screen for a TD. Rosier misses the throw and that one hurt.
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This is what you’re going to miss from Mark Walton. Look at this pass protection. He looks like an H-back making this block and he’s playing on one leg.
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This blitzer does tip the ball on a nice play, which prevents a TD as Richards had McFadden beat here in the end zone. FG ties the game up, but back-to-back plays had a chance to get the TD. Again, McElroy says this is great coverage and nowhere to go with it, but that is open in big-time football. McFadden “closed the gap” because the ball was tipped and it just died.
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Chad Thomas being held by the TE. Announcer says “good job by the TE not to hold.” Ummmmmm…
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At least it turned out well. Delaney is playing trail technique here, which fools the QB because he identifies this as man-to-man. Delaney actually has help deep and falls off to the underneath zone and is just sitting there hoping for a pass to be thrown his way. This technique actually allows the WR to run past you. It’s designed to stop comeback, curl, back shoulder, stop routes. QB took the bait on this one. He should’ve thrown the ball to the underneath man because he had yardage in front of him. That’s the downside to this coverage is it leaves the flat open.
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Speaking of should’ve run the ball. This is just terrible by Delaney on the return. This is setup for big return yards. Maybe even a TD down the sideline. There are blockers and only a couple of Seminoles over there. I don’t think enough people talked about this play and what a missed opportunity it was. If he just steps to his right one step he avoids the receiver on the ground and gets big, big yardage. I’m telling you, this was setup to at least get inside the 20 and maybe score. Just a little bit of awareness here. Uggggh.
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Redwine can’t believe he let him tackle him like that.
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Walton gets four on the inside handoff. Next play Christmas gets inside of Donaldson and Gauthier misses the pickup and Rosier has to leave the pocket. Nnadi beats Darling and forces Rosier to the sideline. Their DT’s are good.
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Rosier is really good at throwing the ball to the intermediate area of the field when it requires a big arm. This throw to Richards was a drive saver. Props to the line for giving time for this deep square-in route time to develop.
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Next play Darling gets physically overwhelmed by Nadi and Walton doesn’t have the burst to just slam the ball into the hole. He tries to bounce and loses a yard. Next play this happens. Bad pass, ball sails, targeting Cager has really not gone well thus far.
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This ball has to be to the post. It sails and Rosier gets picked. Cager is truly wide open on this play and Rosier had a nice pocket. This is the type of miss you can’t have happen. Now Delaney’s failure to side step a dude laying on the field really hurts. One play builds on another.
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First down for FSU and Norton gets inside of the C on a toss play and draws a holding call. Next play, McIntosh beats the LG immediately and is in the backfield. He has to make this play, or at least stop the RB for his teammates to get him. Give some credit to Akers as well.
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Interesting little wrinkle here. We had Thomas down on the line in the four-man front and we stand him up and Pinckney walks up to replace him. Thomas steps back to get a running start from the LB position. Both come on the overload blitz with Thomas stunting inside. Thomas got immediate pressure, but it was a screen pass. This play was going to work, and work big, but the RB flat dropped the ball. Lucky, here. This is also the play that Pinckney hits him after the whistle and they picked up the flag.
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Here is the Berrios punt return. I’ve watched it a bunch of times. The FSU players would’ve had almost no idea that a flag had been tossed instead of a bean bag on this play. They are watching the ball, their lane, Berrios, and whomever is trying to block them. They aren’t watching the referee and I certainly didn’t see a single player slow up on the play. Now, to the actual return, give some love to #3 0 Romeo Finley here. He makes this block and then escorts him all the way down the sideline. Homer makes the block that seals the edge and allows Berrios to get an extra 15 yards.
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Dime. An absolute dime from Rosier to Berrios here. Think about the body control it takes to be sprinting full-speed over your left shoulder, and then spin around to your right and make the catch on a football while getting tackled. It’s hard to do it spinning the other way as well (this is known as foreshadowing).
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In single-high S looks, Derwin James cannot be favoring the far side of the field. Miami has Richards and Berrios to the top of the screen and no S help. Rosier identifies this is where he’s going IMMEDIATELY. That is what they call “QB’ing.” Bad play by James in that coverage look.
Note:It's zoomed coverage of James being on the incorrect side of the field in single-high.

This dude with the upside-down visor is STOKED!
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FSU foolishly brings the ball out of the end zone and Homer makes a huge tackle at the 12-yard line. That’s a 13-yard positive play for Miami on special teams. Hidden yards.

Side note: McIntosh’s jersey is literally ripped apart and he has not drawn a holding call thus far.
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Quarterman blows up the 1st down play and drops them for a loss of two. On 2nd down we blitz Delaney off the edge again but Blackman is looking to the other side of the field. Pay no attention to McIntosh’s jersey being pulled away from his body here, the officials sure did. The previous picture of his jersey ripped up was before this play here.
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On 3rd down Miami had them stopped on a throwaway but Trent Harris roughs the passer. I didn’t see the play so I can’t comment on the call. The camera didn’t show it and they never replayed. Those are the kinds of plays that kill you though. On the replay of the down due to offsetting penalties we have them stopped. Joe Jackson has him dead here. Blackman makes him miss and gets the 1st down. A consistent theme with Miami is getting a little off-balance and missing tackles as free rushers.
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Keep in mind we had them stopped on 3rd down but roughed the passer. Then the play above we have them stopped with our best lineman standing free against the QB and they picked it up. Next play this happens. McCloud loses contain, as we have done multiple times thus far in this game. Akers bounces it outside and gets a big gain. It’s also the play that Redwine gets hurt.
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Next play is the judo throw by Izzo for a hold. The next play we had both Mike Smith and Charles Perry on the field together and they had the screen setup perfectly. McIntosh tipped it or it would’ve been a big play. Another one of those plays that looks small on the play list, but is huge in how things go overall. Look at all that space if he catches this.
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Turns out we also have Darrion Owens on the field as well. All three backup LB’s are in here. Owens runs right by the ballcarrier here and he gets positive yards.
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Joe Jackson steals the LT Kelly’s soul on the next pass rush and hits Blackman right as he’s throwing the ball. Kelly comes in and full-on shoves Joe Jackson long after the play here. No call by the officials.
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Hate this fair catch right here. Make this one man miss and you’ve got serious yardage for the return. He signals for the fair catch long before the defender is there.
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1st down Rosier throws the ball too far inside to Richards and it is broken up by Derwin James. On the next down Rosier pulls the ball and scrambles for 11 yards. That element to our offense is such a welcomed treat.

Next play we throw a swing pass to Richards and Mike Harley drives his man backwards eight yards. I like that kid a lot. On second down I again show you why Walton is really a liability on the field. He can’t stick his foot in the ground here and burst into this hole for the 1st down. Instead, he actually goes around Berrios’ block here and loses yards. Hate to see this, as he’s a warrior for being out there, but he can’t run.
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On 3rd down Rosier gets it to Berrios who dives forward for the 1st down. Kid is playing his guts out.

Next play Rosier gets out of the pocket and runs. I’d like to see him just throw this away, but he goes down and loses two yards. Cager makes a tough catch on the slant and we got to the 4th quarter up 10-3. The third down play should’ve been pass interference, but the officials didn’t call it when Mullins was interfered with over the middle. Punt.

Florida State has the ball and run it up the gut on first down. J. Jackson has an arm tackle, but really McCloud got put on his behind on this run. This should be a three-yard run, instead it goes for 46. Delaney saves the TD by keeping his feet against the block of the OL and then running Akers down.
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They run the same play on the next snap and Quarterman picks the correct gap and stops it for no gain. Running base against three WR leaves you open to double slants if you aren’t jamming the WR (it leaves you open to four verticals if you do jam). This play is easy money and goes for 17. I like how FSU uses formations to dictate coverage the way they want it. Blocker to the weak-side of the formation, TE to the strong side, motion to pull the MLB and WLB a step toward that way. Jackson is beat easily.
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Free shot here by Quarterman. He has to make this tackle. I use stills a lot because you can see more subtlety in them. In this one, you can clearly see Quarterman did not bring his legs with him, he wants the big hit with his shoulder and Akers spins off of it. D. Jackson and Norton clean this play up and it’s a loss of one, but if they aren’t there it’s a big opportunity missed by Quarterman, who made a great play to avoid the OL flailing in this screen shot, but finishing the play is something we need to be better at. I hold our LB’s to a very high standard.
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Next play we rush four and Jaquan reads the QB’s eyes. He has to make this play. Has to. It’s finishing the play again and it’s right there. You’ve read that Diaz said in their film session, “there’s Jaquan saving us again.” Here are my thoughts on that: It is a safeties job to make the tackle downfield if they break contain. That’s the point of calling them “safety.” He had a big chance for a true game changing play here and he missed it. He had a nice game, but I’m unhappy with this one for sure. It’s really not a great picture, but this is a simple play, honestly.
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This is the next play, which obviously goes for a TD. That is the weight of that non-play by Johnson. We have Izzo covered at the snap on 3rd and 10.
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My guess is we are spying Blackman and/or the draw with Quarterman here. Izzo has already ran six yards up-the-field and Quarterman hasn’t dropped at all. Not an inch. At this point, in this film frame, Quarterman is already beat on this route. Knowles has to take everything behind Quarterman, so the deeper Quarterman can get back, the more help Knowles has. It’s Blackman’s only read. He stares Izzo down the whole way. I wish Quarterman had recognized that a step quicker, re-routed Izzo and dropped deeper. Instead. TD, as Knowles flat out played this poorly. He was flat-footed and not defending the end zone at all. I honestly don’t know what it is he was doing.
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In fairness, this coverage puts him in a tough spot as he has to also defend the slot WR to that side deep as well. He needs to be several steps deeper here, though.
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We have Deejay Dallas return the KO and he has a decent return, but we hold on the play and start at the 9.

Homer runs off the edge for six yards. Next play McFadden threatens blitz, Rosier recognizes it so FSU calls it off, Rosier thinks he is still coming and throws a stop route to Richards while Richards correctly runs his original fade route. It falls in no-man’s land to bring up 3rd down.

They don’t call the obvious PI on McFadden and it’s 4th down. The ball is in the air in this screen shot. I like how physical FSU plays on the edge because they aren’t going to call them all.
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Homer gets down on the punt and grabs the jersey of McFadden who spins away. Mark Walton, gotta love him, is down there on punt coverage and makes a huge tackle as McFadden reversed field. He had room if he gets away from Walton. Walton stands up in his face and tells him about it. True Cane that dude.

FSU first down we send six after Blackman and Knowles is late in coverage. His lack of foot speed is the biggest issue with him. It’s just apparent every single game I do these. Tries hard, probably an FCS All-American, but it’s the one step that’s the difference at this level.
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FSU runs it for four on first down. Tried it again with a cutback on second down and Jaquan and Quarterman shut it down. On 3rd down we tried the FS blitz with Knowles and it was disastrous. He doesn’t have the speed and FSU went max protect and we bailed on the edges allowing the WR’s a free release into the post route. Knowles doesn’t even get to #9 before the QB has thrown the ball. We dropped Trent Harris out to that side and he did a good job, honestly, the blitz just takes way too long to get there and Blackman throws a perfect throw.
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FSU throws a backwards pass that would’ve gotten good yardage but the WR dropped it. On second down we have him. Pinckney is right there to make the tackle and just doesn’t.
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They just run to setup a FG on 3rd down. Get six and make the FG. 13-10.

On 1st down we run the ZR into an RPO. Rosier stands in, takes a shot from two defenders, fires a strike to Berrios on a deep crossing route. That is a big boy throw. The next play FSU does the exact same thing they did earlier in the game when Richards went deep and Rosier throws a stop route. Only this time, McFadden does come, Richards runs an in-cut at about 10-yards deep which opens up the flat completely as McDermott got the line call from Rosier to slide to that direction and pick up the corner if he comes. Herndon comes underneath the play into the vacated flat zone and is wide open for a huge run down the sideline. This is QB’ing by Rosier and Richt putting in a play that counteracts this corner blitz. Nice work.
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Cager had a tough game. No doubt about it. He missed some chances for big plys, let some balls slip through his fingers, and at times played small. However, when we’re down in the 4th quarter he’s a big part of this play. This is just a simple bubble screen to Herndon out of the slot. Cager completely crashes his defender away from the play and actually blocks his man into the defender over Herndon here with his dominance.
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Walton might score here if Donaldson gets this block. Instead, Walton gets to the six-yard line as #16 sheds this block and makes the tackle. Donaldson and Walton both get hurt on this play.
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Rosier makes the wrong read here. McDermott pushes the defender wide, as he should. He decides to run towards the sideline, but the defender has leverage that direction on Darling. If he steps up to his right here he can either run towards the Herndon block, or he can create more time to throw. Either way, he’s already pulled it down here and had a better escape the other direction. He loses a yard here.
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This is also the play that Matthew Thomas completely spears Rosier in the head with his helmet. The announcers said the replay officials felt this was on his shoulder. No. Replay officials, no. This is not his shoulder. This is why his helmet came off and we had to use a timeout. Terrible call here.
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Rosier throws the dime on the next pass and #14 is toasted. This would be a good play for a Gif, as Berrios sets him up perfectly with his footwork at the line. He jab steps and then beats his man cleanly. The ball is right on time. TD.
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On first down for FSU we drop Chad Thomas out into a zone blitz and blitz off the side Blackman is throwing into. It’s an easy reception for 15-yards to the TE. We bring five on the next play, the pass is to Patrick in the flat. McCloud has a chance to make it a minimal gain, but he misses the tackle to allow nine yards. Akers gets three on the next play to pick up the first down.

Next play we rush four and Blackman has nowhere to go. Steps up for a two yard run. Don’t worry about that fist full of jersey that [URL=https://www.canesinsight.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=7]#7 0[/URL] has on #7 Norton in the middle. The officials sure weren’t. Charles Perry has good coverage on the TE to the top of your screen here.
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Rushed four on the next play but had Quarterman matched up on the WR #18 . I’d have rather had the CB Delaney follow the WR on this play and Quarterman pass his coverage to the TE here, but we didn’t do that.
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Sent Pinckney off the edge on the next play and we stood up D. Jackson, who looked gassed before the play, but gave it everything he had on his rush. Pinckney flushes Blackman, Jackson and Trent Harris run him down. Both of those two DL have excellent motors.

After the sack the defense is changed. Both Delaney and Young are trying to get the call quickly.
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The result is that Young and Pinckney both take the TE and no one takes the flat. This is a big bust on 2nd and 17 and lets them get 16 yards on this play.

The next play was game over. Miami wins. It’s a huge defensive stand and Akers gives up the ball to lose it in heartbreaking fashion. This is the moment that Joe Jackson takes it away from him. The moment that the officials say his forward momentum is stopped.
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Here’s Richard McIntosh running the ball into the end zone for a 24-13 lead with 1:30 to go. Only, somewhat inexplicably, they ruled his forward momentum stopped really quickly and gave this one to FSU. In a game of horrendous officiating, this might’ve been the worst.
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Everybody knows what happens on the next play as Knowles sticks with the underneath receiver and no one goes with the deep man. TD. Delaney even communicated with Knowles on the play beforehand.
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The play is defended. If Knowles stays deeper than the deepest, Delaney has the trail technique. Everyone else is covered up.
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First down is knocked down by Sweat. 2nd down is nice coverage on Berrios, but he comes down out-of-bounds.

This stack trips receiver formation gave FSU trouble in this game. Here, Berrios runs a crossing route, Rosier steps up in the pocket, and boom. We are off to steal their soul.
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Homer picks up a first down on a tough run on the next play. Into FSU territory.

Homer breaks a Matthew Thomas tackle attempt right here and it’s a big play. It saves us a bunch of time because the clock stops on a first down. Big play here, and underrated in this game.
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On first down Cager doesn’t run tough enough to stay upright and get to the ball. On second down they run the same play and McFadden just beat him up. Third down is another epic play in this victory. Rosier encourages the fans to get loud before the play. I love that little tidbit of this game.
Sit down young man. Without this stiff arm and this first down, we have to call timeout and kick it right there. No chance to win it in regulation. This play. This play right here needs to live as well, my friends.
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Mark Richt wants Malik Rosier to be smart with the ball now. I want Darrell Langham to come off the bench on his second snap of the entire game and etch his name in the lore of Canes history. Welp, mission accomplished. He spins around, just off the bench, in this moment, and catches it at the 5-yard line. He gets this ball into the end zone. I mean, that’s just huge. Also keep in mind the officials gave us an unsportsmanlike penalty, which would’ve meant the ball at the 16-yard line and not the six-inch line if they had overturned the call on the field.
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This game had a bunch of things go against Miami. Not the least of which was the downright horrendous officiating. Yet, through all of that, Miami overcame. They overcame the FSU crowd. They overcame the injuries. They overcame the holding of our DL. They overcame Jimbo. They overcame seven long years of losing to this rival.

On this day. In this game. The University of Miami told the world they can take whatever you throw at them and win the game anyway.

These are the Canes I grew up with. This is the program I’ve loved since I was three years old even though I was born in Springfield, MO. This is what Hurricanes do. Malik Rosier. Braxton Berrios. Mark Walton. Darrell Langham. Chris Herndon. Everybody that suffered with this program and brought it back. This was for you.
 
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Great work, thanks

Real concerns about safety going forward, hope Redwine isn't out for long. Wish Carter showed the ability to play over Knowles, I have no faith in that guy.
 
man, OP needs to start a gofundme page ... i got the first five on it ... good ****
 
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Do you think we are staying in base defense too much?

Yes, buried in the post is me saying I'd play more nickel and sub out LB's less frequently. I'd rather have Bandy in coverage than McCloud.

The problem is that we got ran all over when we rushed only four against FSU, which I think will make Diaz more reluctant to get out of base. I'll probably have a statistics post about the game, but truthfully, posts on gossip type news get big views on this site, so there may not be much interest in that sort of thing here.
 
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great insight bro. Cant believe i read the whole thing. One thing to note as well. On the play Walton was hurt, Pugh (16) first took on Donaldson and knocked him down injured, then he injured Walton. He took on both guys and put both out of the game on the same play. FSU defense is nasty and we held up through it all. We are definitely close to being back.
 
This is an incredible amount of work you do for everybody here. Your effort is greatly appreciated.
 
Dont see Josh Sweat being anything to special. Brian Burns is more tough to deal with...and he isnt as good as Joe Jackson. I guess its a preference for you. He doesnt impress me ..he has a good get off and thats pretty much it.

Honestly we could have had more rushing yards had Homer gotten carries earlier there were yards to be had on a few runs that Walton couldnt get.

Robert Knowles was bad. The td to Izzo...was called because the play before Izzo ran a double move and broke scott free on Shaq AND Charles Perry and was livid in the endzone by himself while Jaquan Johnson dropped a pick. Knowles didnt actually see it because on that play he was covering the slot. But anyone with a clue of how offense works would know Jimbo was coming back to that..**** he called a timeout and cursed out the qb for throwing that and not to Izzo. Not sure why no one relayed to him (Knowles). Shaq isnt good in coverage. **** none of the LBS are ..which is why Charles Perry plays alot guess hes the best in practice as he is likely the fastest playable linebacker.

St Louis at RT wasnt that bad hes been pretty solid all year.

Izzo held all night and was dirty or TRYING to be tough. Even before he slammed Jaquan , He tried the exact same thing with Redwine who brought it to him. He roughed up Mccloud ona play to. Mccloud was really bad as well.

This maybe the softest FSU oline in awhile they have no toughness.

At this point i would come out of base and see what Carter can do nearer to the line of scrimmage. We wont get touched this week..but VT will try to LIGHT US up big time..
 
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jaysus it would be week 8 by the time I finished reading all that, but I appreciate the effort

This seems to be common feedback. Got through the biggest game at least. Maybe I'll cut them down moving forward.

I'm guessing my writing is more niche writing.

I really enjoy your insight, as I said maybe you could do one thread for each quarter?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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interesting & informative post as always, thanks hurricanevision.

in terms of the linebackers, some telling stats here on football outsiders https://www.footballstudyhall.com/pages/2017-miami-fl-advanced-statistical-profile

our LBs are ranked 103 in havoc rate (part of this is because our DL is ranked 3, but still). and our defense is ranked 92 in what they call "opportunity rate," meaning when RBs get past our line they make noise at the second level. i have plenty of faith in the LBs but they are not playing very well.

the silver lining is that the defense ranks 117 in run rate and 99 in passing downs run rate, so we're still seeing about as few running plays as possible.
 
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jaysus it would be week 8 by the time I finished reading all that, but I appreciate the effort

This seems to be common feedback. Got through the biggest game at least. Maybe I'll cut them down moving forward.

I'm guessing my writing is more niche writing.

don't listen to these people. make them as long as you want, so much info packed in there.
 
Dont see Josh Sweat being anything to special. Brian Burns is more tough to deal with...and he isnt as good as Joe Jackson. I guess its a preference for you. He doesnt impress me ..he has a good get off and thats pretty much it.

sweat reminds me of the NFL version of jadeveon clowney, who is clearly an awesome athlete and is a terror against the run but just doesn't make a consistent impact as a pass rusher. in a way sweat and chad thomas are similar, though chad is more powerful and physically overwhelming where sweat wins with speed and athleticism.

burns and him are a good compliment, though. we know kool loves tall/lanky pass rushers, i bet he's jealous he doesn't have burns.
 
jaysus it would be week 8 by the time I finished reading all that, but I appreciate the effort

This seems to be common feedback. Got through the biggest game at least. Maybe I'll cut them down moving forward.

I'm guessing my writing is more niche writing.

don't listen to these people. make them as long as you want, so much info packed in there.

I was just bustn yer balls brah, do yer thing
 
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