I HATE losing to UF, tough fckin loss, especially considering they're really not that good of a team.
With that said we didn't do enough to win, we had every opportunity to win & the Offense simply couldn't pull it out.
Some thoughts: Offense
- QB play was solid but too safe, not enough shots taken down the field which is understandable given it being Jarren's very first start, but I felt like we didn't challenge their secondary enough. OBVIOUSLY a lot of that had to do with OL play & being under duress all game long, but I still feel there were adjustments that could've been made to help the OL & slow down the pass rush. We needed to chip block more on the edge & move the pocket for Jarren letting him get outside & get the ball out of his hands quicker. We didn't run enough quick slants, hitches & dig routes. There were plays to be had vs UF's secondary, we left a lot of plays on the field out there.
- OL play particularly at the Tackles spot was overwhelmed. Zion & Campbell really struggled, I felt John got beat a lot but also had some good plays where he held his own. When he was able to get his feet under him & push the defender down the field he did well, but he had I believe 3-4 false starts penalties clearly due to the fact they were jumping the snap count & he was trying to get a beat on the rush. Zion looked like a True Freshman LT. If he's going to remain there we need to really help him out on his side with TE chip & quicker routes that get the ball out of his hands faster. I liked what I saw from Donaldson & Scaife, Gaynor had a bad snap late but played well most of the game.
- RB play was great from Deejay, he was by far our best offensive player on the field, he ran tough, with explosion & was leader for the offense. I wish we would've gave him the ball more, UF couldn't tackle him all night, he was a real problem out of the Wildcat & for whatever reason our best offensive plays all came from the Wildcat formation lol. Cam had a good run on the 60 yarder that of course got called back, the refs fcked us on that IMO but other than that he didn't play well. He's an outside runner, he's not a shifty jump cutter, he's a north & south straight line runner that if he gets a crease can make a big run, but he's not an inside runner by any means. We need Lingard to get healthy & get out there, his speed & homerun hitting ability is needed & when is Robert Burns ever going to get a snap in a game? We can't keep just having 2 backs every season, if he's fckin healthy put him out there & let him run please.
- TE play was very good from Brevin, he was the 2nd best player on the offense & accept that one dropped pass, he played very well. Mallory seemed to let the moment get to him, couldn't catch a thing, I don't think it's going to be a problem, but he's gotta step up as the season progresses, we need some big time production out of that kid this year & I'm still high on his ability. Just catch the ball kid. Michael Irvin JR, again if he's healthy play him. Also, what happened to the 2 TE sets? We barely ran them...
- WR group. My initial thought is due to how bad the OL was pass protecting it's too difficult to make a fair assessment, however JT4 had a very frustrating drop in the end zone vs Henderson, it was a good route, he just simply couldn't catch it. He had other routes where he had beat the DB & was open but again, the QB was under duress all night & the ball just wasn't coming out quick enough. I liked what I saw from KJ, felt we should've got him the ball more on quick routes & wished we would've taken a shot down the field with him in a one on one, he was beating Marco Wilson all night. Also, Enos... Please give the Jet Sweeps to JT4 or Pope ONLY. No disrespect to KJ but he's not a shifty make you miss type WR, he's a straight line speed guy.
Overall Offensive play calling; We need to get the WR's more integrated in this Offense, 214yds passing is not good, YES I KNOW THE OL DIDN'T GIVE THE QB TIME, but there are still things that can be done to diversify the offense & get the ball to our playmakers. What the fck is the sense in having JT4, KJ, Harley, Hightower, Pope, Wiggins, Payton & Njoku and not utilize them? We need to play out of the gun at least 60% of the snaps on O, too much under center ball. SPREAD THE FIELD OUT, USE FORMATIONS TO PULL DEFENDERS OUT OF THE BOX PLEASE? Also, can I get a Wheel route with Deejay or Cam one time? Every pass to the back doesn't have to be a telegraphed screen play. I'm expecting improvements by UNC & the rest of the season.
CLEAN UP THE PENALTIES! A lot of those penalties were complete horsesh*t from the refs, like the 2 Defensive PI's on Blades & Rome Finley & the bullsh*t holding call on the 60yd run, but even so still we played way too undisciplined, way too many Delay of game penalties & false start penalties, that comes from an unorganzied offense that is rattled by the moment. We MUST get that sh*t cleaned up though.
Defense:
They performed well, Run Defense did a fantastic job shutting them down only allowing 52yds rushing & kept Perine completely contained. They also didn't let Frank's gets loose much except for one play that should've been a sack if Rousseau wraps him up.
Pass Defense IMO was very good, aside from 2 big plays by Kadarius Toney (told yall shut him down, you shut the whole thing down) & that deep ball to Hammond. On that play, Frierson gave him a free release & had bad depth with his feet he got beat off the line & doesn't have the recovery speed to catch up to a kid like that, he needed to use his arm length to jam him at the line & played him outside pushing him towards Safety help, other than that he played well that was a great PBU on 3rd down by him & he got into the backfield early in the game getting a good TFL, that's where he'll excel as an in-Box Striker in short area coverage. But other than those 2 plays I felt the secondary played very well, Al Blades was very good in coverage IMO, I knew he was going to ball this season & he's only going to get better, that PI on him was bogus AF that was literally perfect coverage.
- Safety play was good not great, once they gel they'll be much better. As the president of the Amari Carter fan club I was of course happy with how well he played, he didn't play perfect but he showed something in that game, he has more range than everybody thinks he does & once he & Gurvan strengthen their communication on the backend I think we'll see big time play from both, that was a great INT on his part & don't act shocked when my boy ends up with 3 or 4 more this season, I'm telling yall he's gonna be good for us. Gurvan took a few bad angles particularly on that long run by Toney, AC5 did too, they both missed tackles (which was a problem early on) but AC started making some good Tackles late. Gurvan otherwise played well, he can tackle & when he knows what to do he's a missle out there, they both just need some time. Hopefully we can get Bolden in soon because we'll need his athleticism out there.
Last year the most pass yards we gave up in any game the whole season was 222yds total that's it, if we tackle Toney on the screen & play better coverage on the Hammond pass, we would've been well under the 254yds we gave up vs UF which is **** good as is considering we lost 2 starting Safeties, a staring CB & was down in depth with Ivey & Bolden being out, not to mention losing 2 DB's before the season to transfer. Our Pass Defense is ELITE, I'm not afraid to say it, if only allowing 254yds with 2INT's is the "worst" they play this year then I'll take that all **** day!
- The interior DL did great IMO, I really liked what I saw from Ford & Bethel, they were stout up front, not much interior pressure was created but they were great in the run game. Patchan, Garvin, Hill & Rousseau did a good job forcing Franks out side of the pocket & maintaing contain on the edge, Rousseau IMO was the most disruptive & should've had 2 sacks if he wraps up. We need to generate way more pass rush off the edge though, it's necessary for the success of the Defense that we have heavy pressure from the DE's.
- The LB group didn't play their best game, Shaq was good I need to rewatch again to reevaluate fully how they looked. I thought they looked good vs the run, but in Blitzing situations they just weren't get there enough, not that it's entirely their fault but I'm used to seeing them get after the QB & get in the backfield a lot more. Like I said need to reevaluate again.
- Special Teams was good in tackling, they didn't let any big returns happen, I liked our Punting & Bubba Baxa was good except for the missed FG. The fake FG run was good too, another bullsh*t holding call from the refs. Every time we made a big play the refs made sure they fcked us smfh.
JT4... JUST LET THE BALL GO MAN. We gifted them a TD because of that.
Overall, despite 14 penalties for 118yds & all the offensive mishaps we still had multiple chances to win, we unfortunately didn't but we fought & were not intimidated one bit by UF, we fought til the end & that's an improvement from last year. We should've won that **** game, we beat ourselves smh. We need to get the penalties cleaned up, we need to work on tackling & we absolutely need to get that OT spots solved. Idk what, but we need to do something to help Zion & John, growing pains I understand but giving up 10 sacks is a recipe for disaster. If we plan on winning 10 games this year WE MUST SOLVE THE OL PROBLEM.
The jury is still out but I saw some good things from this team, I still think we're in for a good season just need to to get some things fixed quick. But it ain't nowhere near over yet, we can a make a big comeback statement by beating a bad UNC team on the road, just keep building.
