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Fletch had 12 measly carries before that game-winning drive

I said it in the game thread and I’ll say it again. This offensive staff can only do one thing at a time. First half of the year it was spamming runs in between the tackles. Now it’s get the ball to Toney. Whether what they’re doing works or not, they continue to do it over and over and over.
 
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So why, at some point, did Mario (of all people!) not go to Dawson and demand: Pound 'em with running game
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
7 yards his first run of the game….immediate run with Toney. Punt.

10 yards to start the next drive…run to Lofton for 4, trick play Toney pass. Punt.

Next drive, Toney run on 1st down. Incomplete deep shot. 3rd and 6, may as well punt now.

Next drive starts with a 17 yard run by Fletcher. Immediate throw behind the LOS to Toney. Now we’re behind the sticks, 3 yard run, 3rd and 8, absolutely dead.

What are we doing here? The first 4 drives of the game, he had 3 carries and they went for 7, 10, and 17. And we didn’t run him back to back the whole half? Can we not find a happy medium between running successful normal plays and a gadget? We don’t need the most creative play of all time to Toney on every single drive. You’re allowed to just play normal football for a drive. Did Toney have a single target more than 1 yard down the field except for the fumble? I don’t understand. I’m all for getting him the ball as much as possible but we basically turned him into Deebo Samuel minus any downfield threat at all. Dawson does understand he’s still allowed to line him up in the slot and throw a slot fade to him, or one of 20 other situations where he doesn’t get the ball behind the LOS on a gadget play? That was such an insane game plan.
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In game thread I called this out.. Burn the gameplan after first drive, that run Bell collapsed that side and Fletcher looked different..

Our guys have no feel and if something is working, they rather stick to gameplan, even if its not working than what is actually working in game.. It was frustrating as **** and baffling..

 
Hold My Beer said:
I think some of our resident film gurus said in the week leading up to the game that we needed to pound ATM with the inside running game. They were soft in the middle

Like a fighter going to the body round and after round and the opponent eventually caves

Maybe that wasn't cute enough for Dawson?
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I saw the weakness in the B gap before the game. Their DEs didn’t set the edge like Bain and Mesidor. Just wish Dawson would have run it 10 more times.
 
Dawson was *** yesterday and Beck was scared to throw a pass beyond the line of scrimmage. Instead of using Toney as a decoy all day yesterday until we made them pay, we tried to force everything through him and forgot there 4 others guys that can move the chains.
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
7 yards his first run of the game….immediate run with Toney. Punt.

10 yards to start the next drive…run to Lofton for 4, trick play Toney pass. Punt.

Next drive, Toney run on 1st down. Incomplete deep shot. 3rd and 6, may as well punt now.

Next drive starts with a 17 yard run by Fletcher. Immediate throw behind the LOS to Toney. Now we’re behind the sticks, 3 yard run, 3rd and 8, absolutely dead.

What are we doing here? The first 4 drives of the game, he had 3 carries and they went for 7, 10, and 17. And we didn’t run him back to back the whole half? Can we not find a happy medium between running successful normal plays and a gadget? We don’t need the most creative play of all time to Toney on every single drive. You’re allowed to just play normal football for a drive. Did Toney have a single target more than 1 yard down the field except for the fumble? I don’t understand. I’m all for getting him the ball as much as possible but we basically turned him into Deebo Samuel minus any downfield threat at all. Dawson does understand he’s still allowed to line him up in the slot and throw a slot fade to him, or one of 20 other situations where he doesn’t get the ball behind the LOS on a gadget play? That was such an insane game plan.
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excellent summation and spot on.

I said yesterday in the Dawson thread that it was not the day to talk about his performance. Today is a new day. My god it was awful, just next level bad. zero feel. Fans of other teams were wondering what he was doing.

Credit where it’s due, coming out no huddle after the 1st play of the 2nd half, they weren’t prepared. That’s the type of stuff we need more of, not wildcat passes.
 
Hold My Beer said:
So why, at some point, did Mario (of all people!) not go to Dawson and demand: Pound 'em with running game
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They just seem slow to react, EVERYONE by halftime announcers and coaches, fans online, could see it, Mario even in halftime interview said it but its like we couldnt implement its. Frustrating
 
The worst part was Dawson said he saw on tape that they struggled stopping the run out of the pistol. So he saw it work on tape, saw it work during the game and still refused to stick to it. All while nothing else worked. IMO this was worse than the SMU game.
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
7 yards his first run of the game….immediate run with Toney. Punt.

10 yards to start the next drive…run to Lofton for 4, trick play Toney pass. Punt.

Next drive, Toney run on 1st down. Incomplete deep shot. 3rd and 6, may as well punt now.

Next drive starts with a 17 yard run by Fletcher. Immediate throw behind the LOS to Toney. Now we’re behind the sticks, 3 yard run, 3rd and 8, absolutely dead.

What are we doing here? The first 4 drives of the game, he had 3 carries and they went for 7, 10, and 17. And we didn’t run him back to back the whole half? Can we not find a happy medium between running successful normal plays and a gadget? We don’t need the most creative play of all time to Toney on every single drive. You’re allowed to just play normal football for a drive. Did Toney have a single target more than 1 yard down the field except for the fumble? I don’t understand. I’m all for getting him the ball as much as possible but we basically turned him into Deebo Samuel minus any downfield threat at all. Dawson does understand he’s still allowed to line him up in the slot and throw a slot fade to him, or one of 20 other situations where he doesn’t get the ball behind the LOS on a gadget play? That was such an insane game plan.
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I don’t want to complain too much since we got the W, but I don’t understand Dawson 1 bit. Like he has no feel for the game. Why not pound the rock when that’s the only thing working? Love how far we have come, loved our offense with Ward, but Id like for us to move on from Dawson. Need to find the Heatherman equivalent for OC
 
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Hold My Beer said:
... and we'd produced zero TDs and a pitiful 103 yards passing with 4 minutes left in the game.

I rode the short bus to school.

Forget any nonsensical bull**** the coaches said after the game. Why, seriously, did we not prioritize the running game for the first 56 minutes?

Confused Thinking GIF by MOODMAN
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ZERO carries in the first 9 plays in redzone
 
NC_Canes_11 said:
The worst part was Dawson said he saw on tape that they struggled stopping the run out of the pistol. So he saw it work on tape, saw it work during the game and still refused to stick to it. All while nothing else worked. IMO this was worse than the SMU game.
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**** it Malicat reverse pass bro!
 
To me it looked like Dawson wanted to punish their aggressive nature by going quick to the perimeter.

I'm not sure what took him so long to just get it and change it up.

And it's not just Fletcher getting that little carries despite his success. Brown had zero carries and Pringle had one. I'm not sure how you can get into a playoff game thinking this would be enough.
 
Absolute coaching malfeasance.

We have a big problem with adjusting the game plan based on how the game is going. But also we are terrible at creating a gameplan based on the other teams strengths and weaknesses. I spent a fair amount of time on the Texas A&M board this week. Leading up to the game they talked a lot about how bad their run defense is and how worried they were about our run game. And their super strength is third down defense so you don't want to get in third and long. All of this screams a gameplan of running the ball.

For Texas A&M their plan on defense was stop Toney at all costs and be prepared for gadget plays. So we played right into their strengths and their preparation and completely ignored their major weakness.

Not gameplanning for the other team's weaknesses/strengths cost us the SMU game too. SMU had one of the top run defenses in the country and one of the absolute worst pass defenses. We came out and tried to pound pound pound the rock and no surprisingly it didn't work. It's all very square peg/round holeish.
 
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Hurracanes said:
Dawson has zero feel for the game. He constantly goes away from things that work. Has no ability to get Beck rolling and build momentum with simple routes and quick releases that aren’t screens. He sucks.

If you guys thought A&M defense was good, wait until we see OSU. Dawson better stop being stubborn and run a real offense.
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Trumpycane thinks the drive coming out of the half and the last drive of the game were out only 2 good drives of the game
 
90scane said:
I know 3-4 posters said run Fletcher all day in the game thread starting after the first drive. It was clear to anyone watching Fletcher was eating and ATM couldn’t stop him on multiple downs. The kid could have added another 100 on 10 more carries. Marty likely should have been given a few touches as well. Those DBs couldn’t tackle the big boys.
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I’ve said it a few times but I didn’t hate what Dawson was thinking early on

I just can’t believe how long he stuck to it

It was giving me Damien Martinez vs Syracuse flashbacks
 
JHallCanes said:
I’ve said it a few times but I didn’t hate what Dawson was thinking early on

I just can’t believe how long he stuck to it

It was giving me Damien Martinez vs Syracuse flashbacks
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We won! That is all that matters. The defense is ELITE. The offense can play much better and didn’t give away the game. 2 of the next 3 are indoors. No rain, no wind, Beck and the boys should be fine. The 3rd is a home game and that better be a 60-70% cane crowd!
 
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what is concerning to me is that at no point did Mario try to take over. I mean at some point you gotta make an executive decision and at least bench the OC from play calling for a quarter
 
Only thing I can think of is that Dawson had to throw out his gameplay shortly before kick off after seeing how bad the wind was during warm ups.

Threw him off his game and over thought everything.

Still inexcusable but I do expect to see a better game plan on the 31st.
 
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