HurricaneVision
Staff Writer
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2012
- Messages
- 943
I received some feedback that the post against App State was too long, so I’ll try to truncate this review somewhat.
Many on this site have posted their indignation at how the Canes played in this game, but I believe this game offered another sign that the team is truly on its way back to national relevance. The reason for that is because I believe the coaching staff showed their ability to devise a game plan to mask deficiencies. We all understand GT plays an offensive style that is unusual in today’s game and puts a lot of pressure on every player on your defense to tackle and play disciplined. To stop this offense you must first stop the dive play. All other action in the scheme is based on the fact the defense has to respect the immediate dive play to the FB up-the-middle. The hope is that your defense struggles with the play and you start to “pinch” your LB’s in to help stop this play. Once that happens, all the motion action and pitch plays to the outside become virtually impossible to stop.
I was confident that McIntosh and Norton could disrupt the dive and force the offense to attack the edges. Where I was less confident was in our freshmen LB’s staying in their gap and not taking the bait on all of the fakes inside. Coach Diaz hoped to help with this by playing multiple fronts and simplifying the lanes for the LB’s to attack.
First play of the game and Miami comes out in a 3-4 look. Shaq is tasked solely with the dive play, NT Norton is playing a 1 technique (“shaded” over the C), and Pinckney is off-the-ball. The reason he is off the ball is to keep his speed to allow him to run sideline-to-sideline and far enough away to try to keep linemen out of his legs. True to Diaz’ style, he has his safeties back to help with big plays, as GT hits a larger percentage of “explosive” passing plays as any team on a per-pass basis. GT runs the dive anyway and Norton gets the tackle on a 2-yard run.
This is interesting to me- another adjustment you can immediately see is that the DL is playing in a four-point stance. What that means is simply they have four points of contact on the ground. The two edge players are standing, so they are in a two-point stance. Generally, a DL will be in a three-point stance to allow them to be in a modified version of a sprinters stance, where they use their off arm as a mechanism to get their momentum moving forward. My guess is the rationale with the four-point stance is that GT is much less likely to pass the ball, so the four-point stance allows for the DL to remain in a stance that allows them to protect their legs from the cut-block that the OL employs. For me, I am always fascinated with the little adjustments that coaches make, as well as the players’ ability to implement those changes rather quickly. You’ll notice that the NT is now playing a zero technique (head up over the C) once the down-and-distance gets in the favor of the defense. He is two-gapping here, which might be a dirty word to some who remember the last scheme.
Kendrick Norton avoids the cutblock and makes the tackle for the second straight play. A NT with the talent of a Norton is really invaluable against this offense.
On 3rd down we went to a nickel defense and played Jenkins at the LOS. This is a 3-3-5 defense that I haven’t seen us run much at all this year. Everyone in press, single-high S. This defense is daring GT to throw the ball.
Throw they did, and Redwine gets roasted on the comeback. I’d definitely have preferred Redwine to play more to the sticks on this play, but he gets out of his backpedal and opens his hips. Once that happens he can’t stop this throw, regardless of his athleticism.
This play is an example of our freshmen LB’s thinking rather than playing. #55 stops his feet and is reacting rather than attacking.
Shaq, why are you stopping! Keep going up the field and this play is dead. He forces the QB to keep the ball or adjust the depth of the pitch further backwards. Instead, he blocks himself here and makes it easy on the QB. #33 has the cutback and is crashing down the line, McIntosh is filling that hole for the counter, and Shaq has all kinds of help inside. Get upfield and protect that edge. I’m sure he will learn from the play. It’s an easy pitch that goes for a first down, and would’ve been a TD if Cord doesn’t get off his block make the tackle.
Just to give you a visual of how it should be played, GT tries the same play to the other side of the line. Trent Harris gets way upfield and forces the QB to keep the ball. He cuts back inside and gets one yard. I give a lot of crap to Harris, but it’s plays like this one that make me get the reason that every coach loves this guy. He has hips parallel to the LOS, and is playing the pitch man as much as he is the QB. Never stop your feet when you’re playing the option.
I’m a dude on the couch and I know the play call that the offense will check to here. When you “pinch” in like I said in the open, it’s an easy pitch to the outside and you’ll almost never get there.
The H-back is just looking for someone to block. This could’ve gone for a TD, so I hope I don’t see much of that defense again. In fairness, in this screen shot you can see the LT diving into Jackson’s knees, so this play was called back on penalty, which killed the drive.
On offense, we run counter action, but pull the G and run power for the second week in a row (famously went for a TD against App State). Darling got rolled up on. No screen shot, just commentary.
McDermott pulled and made the best block on the first play, and then look at him down field blocking for the screen here. My man crush on McDermott continues to grow. On the list of players that need to stay healthy, McDermott is way up on that list. Linder showing nice mobility as well.
Just your standard Stacy Coley out-toughing the CB for a pass that probably was a bad decision by Kaaya.
I sometimes get asked about some of the differences between zone blocking and gap blocking (power). On this play you see Mark Walton is running to the spot where the hole should be in a gap scheme. If this were a zone blocking play, the RB would be tasked with reading where the hole is based on the OL moving defenders out of their zone and then cutting within it. Note- Walton actually stops his momentum after Isidora loses his block, and cuts it all the way to the backside and gets a 1st down. Not between Isidora and Odogwu, but on the other side of Odogwu. It’s one of those runs that reinforces the talent that Walton possesses as a runner.
This MLB doesn’t lay a hand on Yearby, who goes a 1st down. Excellent quicks.
This is a lane that many of us could get a few yards on. This play goes for a TD, and Yearby gets the props, but Isidora destroys the defense, Odogwu blots out the sun, and the GT LB’s all took too shallow of an angle. Also, we all get upset when our LB’s take the cheese on defense, but here’s an example when they do not take the cheese. My man, Kaaya isn’t a lefty, so you got fooled here. Another example of things you see when you don’t focus solely on the ball. Kaaya directly contributed to this TD by carrying out his fake and fooling the LB.
This is a situation where aggression can be a negative. Sheldrick Redwine runs up into the reckless abandon, but his job is to contain the edge at all costs. On a 3rd and 1, he obviously wants to make a play, but doing your job is most important here. He’s got #9 (Thomas) doing his job well on this play and if he fills his spot, he pushes him back inside.
Instead…he overruns the play, opens up his legs because he doesn’t have any leverage to protect them, gets cut to the ground, loses contain, and this run goes for 25 yards.
Quarterman struggled in this game with linemen cutting him. This is a play he should make, but he stops his feet and leaves a target for the OL. Notice Pinckney at the top of the screen has avoided the cut block attempt with his athleticism. It’s a harder play for Shaq though because he’s coming from inside-out.
Most of our issues with the pitch can be traced to stopping our feet. If Harris (standing on the LOS line) keeps going upfield and towards the pitch man here, he stops the pitch and forces the QB to keep, who has help inside by #9 1 (Willis). You have to trust that you have the talent to break down, reverse down the line, and tackle the QB by the legs when he tries to get through.
This play you can see Miami is still using the same defensive setup, four point stance, and standup rushers to set the edge. GT has five blockers to this side if you include RB’s. When they motion the H-back into the play side, that gives them six players to four for Miami. This play you just tip your cap to GT. We hadn’t seen the motion yet, and it surprised us. Even though the defense was outflanked, Jaquan Johnson shows talent makes a play sometimes. He fights off a block, stones the runner, and waits for the calvary to get him down. Pretty studly play. #56 probably saves the TD because of his speed, but that edge is wide open if Jaquan gets cut down.
Not sure I’ve seen this alignment in the red zone very often, but we run it on back-to-back plays. Six in the box and they run the same motion *** the previous play. This time instead of pitching it, they run the dive, down block on the NT with the LG-C and the dive gets easy yards. I’m not a fan of the pre-snap alignment, but Manny Diaz is smarter than I am for sure.
Same story, different play, why are you stopping your feet Jackson! Push your inside shoulder outside of the QB, flow down the line, take the pitch man away, reverse field and allow your help to clean up the QB. This run goes for 25 yards. Joseph actually pitter-patters his feet in place like he’s doing the ladder drill, but he’s not doing anything.
I’m watching this play saying, he tackled our DL. Well, the officials called it. Good thing, because the pass went for 25 yards.
Jaquan Johnson is really impressive avoiding blocks. He needs more sand in his pants to make tackles though. He keeps bouncing off runners and allowing a few extra yards. No screen shot, just commentary.
This ball has been snapped. Notice the TB has lifted his hand and is starting the process of the play. Mike Pinckney is set to blitz the A gap in the middle of the screen.
Look at his explosion and athleticism…the kid is special.
You want explosive run plays? Your WR’s have to block. Great job, Berrios and Herndon (you can see his leg). This drive was extended due to a roughing the passer penalty. Little things add up to wins in football games.
The reason why most WR’s shy away from blocking downfield? The first reason is because they tend to shy away from the physical play, but second is because they tend to get hit from behind by the RB when they’re blocking like this.
Remember Pinckney blowing up a play by blitzing the A gap? Well, Miami changed up the look and sent that same blitz but also sent Trent Harris off the edge. The OL was focused on Pinckney and that opened it up for Harris to get the big hit.
This is an example of see-it, go get it! #9 9 sees the option to the short side and goes, rather than stopping his feet (remember when he did that on the 25 yard run, this time he goes when he sees it. Great job learning young fella). The QB is shut down and tries to get to the pitch but it’s too quick. He fumbles and this is the second TD return for the defense.
Great play by McCloud to beat and get there…but, you have to make the tackle. That’s not on the coaches, that’s on the players. Keep in mind, he did exactly what I’ve been asking in that he kept inside shoulder outside runner, then get athletic and come back down the line to tackle. He just missed the tackle. It’s the risk you run when you play that style.
This game featured excellent signs. The coaching staff made adjustments to mask some of our deficiencies, and you actually saw in-game growth from players.
Top players from this game:
1. Mike Pinckney- He used his athleticism to run down plays, kept linemen off his feet, and made several impact plays, or contributed to them with earlier plays he had made.
2. Kendrick Norton- Was a huge contributor to shutting down the dive play and getting their offense out of their comfort zone.
3. Corn Elder- He was fantastic in this game.
4. Jaquan Johnson- I have been impressed with his ability to get off blocks and make plays on the ball.
5. Kc McDermott- I can’t say enough how well he has played thus far.
Many on this site have posted their indignation at how the Canes played in this game, but I believe this game offered another sign that the team is truly on its way back to national relevance. The reason for that is because I believe the coaching staff showed their ability to devise a game plan to mask deficiencies. We all understand GT plays an offensive style that is unusual in today’s game and puts a lot of pressure on every player on your defense to tackle and play disciplined. To stop this offense you must first stop the dive play. All other action in the scheme is based on the fact the defense has to respect the immediate dive play to the FB up-the-middle. The hope is that your defense struggles with the play and you start to “pinch” your LB’s in to help stop this play. Once that happens, all the motion action and pitch plays to the outside become virtually impossible to stop.
I was confident that McIntosh and Norton could disrupt the dive and force the offense to attack the edges. Where I was less confident was in our freshmen LB’s staying in their gap and not taking the bait on all of the fakes inside. Coach Diaz hoped to help with this by playing multiple fronts and simplifying the lanes for the LB’s to attack.
First play of the game and Miami comes out in a 3-4 look. Shaq is tasked solely with the dive play, NT Norton is playing a 1 technique (“shaded” over the C), and Pinckney is off-the-ball. The reason he is off the ball is to keep his speed to allow him to run sideline-to-sideline and far enough away to try to keep linemen out of his legs. True to Diaz’ style, he has his safeties back to help with big plays, as GT hits a larger percentage of “explosive” passing plays as any team on a per-pass basis. GT runs the dive anyway and Norton gets the tackle on a 2-yard run.
This is interesting to me- another adjustment you can immediately see is that the DL is playing in a four-point stance. What that means is simply they have four points of contact on the ground. The two edge players are standing, so they are in a two-point stance. Generally, a DL will be in a three-point stance to allow them to be in a modified version of a sprinters stance, where they use their off arm as a mechanism to get their momentum moving forward. My guess is the rationale with the four-point stance is that GT is much less likely to pass the ball, so the four-point stance allows for the DL to remain in a stance that allows them to protect their legs from the cut-block that the OL employs. For me, I am always fascinated with the little adjustments that coaches make, as well as the players’ ability to implement those changes rather quickly. You’ll notice that the NT is now playing a zero technique (head up over the C) once the down-and-distance gets in the favor of the defense. He is two-gapping here, which might be a dirty word to some who remember the last scheme.
Kendrick Norton avoids the cutblock and makes the tackle for the second straight play. A NT with the talent of a Norton is really invaluable against this offense.
On 3rd down we went to a nickel defense and played Jenkins at the LOS. This is a 3-3-5 defense that I haven’t seen us run much at all this year. Everyone in press, single-high S. This defense is daring GT to throw the ball.
Throw they did, and Redwine gets roasted on the comeback. I’d definitely have preferred Redwine to play more to the sticks on this play, but he gets out of his backpedal and opens his hips. Once that happens he can’t stop this throw, regardless of his athleticism.
This play is an example of our freshmen LB’s thinking rather than playing. #55 stops his feet and is reacting rather than attacking.
Shaq, why are you stopping! Keep going up the field and this play is dead. He forces the QB to keep the ball or adjust the depth of the pitch further backwards. Instead, he blocks himself here and makes it easy on the QB. #33 has the cutback and is crashing down the line, McIntosh is filling that hole for the counter, and Shaq has all kinds of help inside. Get upfield and protect that edge. I’m sure he will learn from the play. It’s an easy pitch that goes for a first down, and would’ve been a TD if Cord doesn’t get off his block make the tackle.
Just to give you a visual of how it should be played, GT tries the same play to the other side of the line. Trent Harris gets way upfield and forces the QB to keep the ball. He cuts back inside and gets one yard. I give a lot of crap to Harris, but it’s plays like this one that make me get the reason that every coach loves this guy. He has hips parallel to the LOS, and is playing the pitch man as much as he is the QB. Never stop your feet when you’re playing the option.
I’m a dude on the couch and I know the play call that the offense will check to here. When you “pinch” in like I said in the open, it’s an easy pitch to the outside and you’ll almost never get there.
The H-back is just looking for someone to block. This could’ve gone for a TD, so I hope I don’t see much of that defense again. In fairness, in this screen shot you can see the LT diving into Jackson’s knees, so this play was called back on penalty, which killed the drive.
On offense, we run counter action, but pull the G and run power for the second week in a row (famously went for a TD against App State). Darling got rolled up on. No screen shot, just commentary.
McDermott pulled and made the best block on the first play, and then look at him down field blocking for the screen here. My man crush on McDermott continues to grow. On the list of players that need to stay healthy, McDermott is way up on that list. Linder showing nice mobility as well.
Just your standard Stacy Coley out-toughing the CB for a pass that probably was a bad decision by Kaaya.
I sometimes get asked about some of the differences between zone blocking and gap blocking (power). On this play you see Mark Walton is running to the spot where the hole should be in a gap scheme. If this were a zone blocking play, the RB would be tasked with reading where the hole is based on the OL moving defenders out of their zone and then cutting within it. Note- Walton actually stops his momentum after Isidora loses his block, and cuts it all the way to the backside and gets a 1st down. Not between Isidora and Odogwu, but on the other side of Odogwu. It’s one of those runs that reinforces the talent that Walton possesses as a runner.
This MLB doesn’t lay a hand on Yearby, who goes a 1st down. Excellent quicks.
This is a lane that many of us could get a few yards on. This play goes for a TD, and Yearby gets the props, but Isidora destroys the defense, Odogwu blots out the sun, and the GT LB’s all took too shallow of an angle. Also, we all get upset when our LB’s take the cheese on defense, but here’s an example when they do not take the cheese. My man, Kaaya isn’t a lefty, so you got fooled here. Another example of things you see when you don’t focus solely on the ball. Kaaya directly contributed to this TD by carrying out his fake and fooling the LB.
This is a situation where aggression can be a negative. Sheldrick Redwine runs up into the reckless abandon, but his job is to contain the edge at all costs. On a 3rd and 1, he obviously wants to make a play, but doing your job is most important here. He’s got #9 (Thomas) doing his job well on this play and if he fills his spot, he pushes him back inside.
Instead…he overruns the play, opens up his legs because he doesn’t have any leverage to protect them, gets cut to the ground, loses contain, and this run goes for 25 yards.
Quarterman struggled in this game with linemen cutting him. This is a play he should make, but he stops his feet and leaves a target for the OL. Notice Pinckney at the top of the screen has avoided the cut block attempt with his athleticism. It’s a harder play for Shaq though because he’s coming from inside-out.
Most of our issues with the pitch can be traced to stopping our feet. If Harris (standing on the LOS line) keeps going upfield and towards the pitch man here, he stops the pitch and forces the QB to keep, who has help inside by #9 1 (Willis). You have to trust that you have the talent to break down, reverse down the line, and tackle the QB by the legs when he tries to get through.
This play you can see Miami is still using the same defensive setup, four point stance, and standup rushers to set the edge. GT has five blockers to this side if you include RB’s. When they motion the H-back into the play side, that gives them six players to four for Miami. This play you just tip your cap to GT. We hadn’t seen the motion yet, and it surprised us. Even though the defense was outflanked, Jaquan Johnson shows talent makes a play sometimes. He fights off a block, stones the runner, and waits for the calvary to get him down. Pretty studly play. #56 probably saves the TD because of his speed, but that edge is wide open if Jaquan gets cut down.
Not sure I’ve seen this alignment in the red zone very often, but we run it on back-to-back plays. Six in the box and they run the same motion *** the previous play. This time instead of pitching it, they run the dive, down block on the NT with the LG-C and the dive gets easy yards. I’m not a fan of the pre-snap alignment, but Manny Diaz is smarter than I am for sure.
Same story, different play, why are you stopping your feet Jackson! Push your inside shoulder outside of the QB, flow down the line, take the pitch man away, reverse field and allow your help to clean up the QB. This run goes for 25 yards. Joseph actually pitter-patters his feet in place like he’s doing the ladder drill, but he’s not doing anything.
I’m watching this play saying, he tackled our DL. Well, the officials called it. Good thing, because the pass went for 25 yards.
Jaquan Johnson is really impressive avoiding blocks. He needs more sand in his pants to make tackles though. He keeps bouncing off runners and allowing a few extra yards. No screen shot, just commentary.
This ball has been snapped. Notice the TB has lifted his hand and is starting the process of the play. Mike Pinckney is set to blitz the A gap in the middle of the screen.
Look at his explosion and athleticism…the kid is special.
You want explosive run plays? Your WR’s have to block. Great job, Berrios and Herndon (you can see his leg). This drive was extended due to a roughing the passer penalty. Little things add up to wins in football games.
The reason why most WR’s shy away from blocking downfield? The first reason is because they tend to shy away from the physical play, but second is because they tend to get hit from behind by the RB when they’re blocking like this.
Remember Pinckney blowing up a play by blitzing the A gap? Well, Miami changed up the look and sent that same blitz but also sent Trent Harris off the edge. The OL was focused on Pinckney and that opened it up for Harris to get the big hit.
This is an example of see-it, go get it! #9 9 sees the option to the short side and goes, rather than stopping his feet (remember when he did that on the 25 yard run, this time he goes when he sees it. Great job learning young fella). The QB is shut down and tries to get to the pitch but it’s too quick. He fumbles and this is the second TD return for the defense.
Great play by McCloud to beat and get there…but, you have to make the tackle. That’s not on the coaches, that’s on the players. Keep in mind, he did exactly what I’ve been asking in that he kept inside shoulder outside runner, then get athletic and come back down the line to tackle. He just missed the tackle. It’s the risk you run when you play that style.
This game featured excellent signs. The coaching staff made adjustments to mask some of our deficiencies, and you actually saw in-game growth from players.
Top players from this game:
1. Mike Pinckney- He used his athleticism to run down plays, kept linemen off his feet, and made several impact plays, or contributed to them with earlier plays he had made.
2. Kendrick Norton- Was a huge contributor to shutting down the dive play and getting their offense out of their comfort zone.
3. Corn Elder- He was fantastic in this game.
4. Jaquan Johnson- I have been impressed with his ability to get off blocks and make plays on the ball.
5. Kc McDermott- I can’t say enough how well he has played thus far.
