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Quick Hitters From The Duke Game

Rellyrell

Rellyrell

Heisman Winner
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It was fun seeing our Canes finish strong in November...hasn't happened in a very, VERY long time. While it was fun witnessing that, this season still felt like the "what if" season, which is bitter sweet. Sweet in the sense that there's finally a bright light at the end of the tunnel, but bitter in the sense that this team easily could've went 10-2 or possibly 11-1 this season...but I digress. Here's my take on yesterday's action:

-Dumb penalties still need to be eliminated. I'm all for taunting, but not ripping off a player's lid after the whistle is blown

-3rd down efficiency on both the O & D needs to improve greatly

-Need to run more slants and TEs in the slot

-OL is looking much, MUCH better

-Kaaya and Njoku look like they both could be outta here and drafted w/in 1st two rounds

-Walton is the best RB, and in his brief action, I think Homer is #2 . Something about Homer's aggression and burst that makes u feel he's our
homerun guy

-Need to get home more from the front 4 and on blitzes

-Joe Jackson is everything CT9 should be

-ACC officials are the worst

-Carter should've been our SAM, not S

-Need to create more TOs moving forward


We need to win out, carry this momentum in to recruiting season and give something top flight recruits, at home, to think about. All in all, with the progress we've seen from this team, the resiliency to not give up on the season, I think we have something brewing for next year. Win out, and we'll show out next year. Go Canes.
 
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Rellyrell said:
It was fun seeing our Canes finish strong in November...hasn't happened in a very, VERY long time. While it was fun witnessing that, this season still felt like the "what if" season, which is bitter sweet. Sweet in the sense that there's finally a bright light at the end of the tunnel, but bitter in the sense that this team easily could've went 10-2 or possibly 11-1 this season...but I digress. Here's my take on yesterday's action:

-Dumb penalties still need to be eliminated. I'm all for taunting, but not ripping off a player's lid after the whistle is blown

-3rd down efficiency on both the O & D needs to improve greatly

-Need to run more slants and TEs in the slot

-OL is looking much, MUCH better

-Kaaya and Njoku look like they both could be outta here and drafted w/in 1st two rounds

-Walton is the best RB, and in his brief action, I think Homer is #2 . Something about Homer's aggression and burst that makes u feel he's our
homerun guy

-Need to get home more from the front 4 and on blitzes

-Joe Jackson is everything CT9 should be

-ACC officials are the worst

-Carter should've been our SAM, not S

-Need to create more TOs moving forward


We need to win out, carry this momentum in to recruiting season and give something top flight recruits, at home, to think about. All in all, with the progress we've seen from this team, the resiliency to not give up on the season, I think we have something brewing for next year. Win out, and we'll show out next year. Go Canes.
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I can dig it

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I've been hard on Kaaya, but when he is on, he really makes you want him back. Which is the same thing the pros see in wanting him to enter the draft. Good luck to him either way.
 
I agree on most of what you said, except Kaaya and NJoku. Both need more time refining their skills. The penalties have to stop or suspensions. True about Joe Jackson, CT arguably a JAG. Seeing Homer on special teams, I can see he'd be more explosive than any back we playing now. Defense still struggling with wide runs, WR screens and picking up the **** rb on pass plays.
 
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Kaaya is a **** good college QB when you run an offense tailored to his strengths and give him some decent protection. That RPO was a wonky abortion from the start, and once we got rid of it as the staple of our offense things started turning around.

Kaaya needs to come back and spend the entire offseason working on his movement in the pocket. That's the one thing that will get him murdered in the NFL. Come back next year and show that he can slide around in the pocket quickly without panicking, and he can be a high pick.
 
Not sure where this "haven't finished strong in a long time" narrative is coming from. We were 4 - 1 over our last 5 games last year.
 
An aside: I just wish the Canes had beaten Duke by 60. Last years whining by Cutliffe and his good
friend John Swofford, ACC commissioner really ****ed me off. Found out some time ago that the
2 of them have lunch together every so often. So is it any wonder that ACC officials make calls
that tend to please Boss Swoford.
 
It's tough.

Sure we've played better but we played inferior teams, though Pitt has shown life.

I can't honestly think we are any better than we were in October, we just played easier games.
 
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Gator Hatar said:
I agree on most of what you said, except Kaaya and NJoku. Both need more time refining their skills. The penalties have to stop or suspensions. True about Joe Jackson, CT arguably a JAG. Seeing Homer on special teams, I can see he'd be more explosive than any back we playing now. Defense still struggling with wide runs, WR screens and picking up the **** rb on pass plays.
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I agree w u regarding Kaaya and Njoku. Fact is Njoku almost, almost dropped a wide open pass. But the fact still remains that w a weak QB and TE draft this year, both would be 1st or 2nd round picks. It's a watered down draft and they could be advised to take as advantage of it. But they both should come back.

And ur spot on w the D...they need to tighten that ish up ASAP
 
JHallCanes said:
It's tough.

Sure we've played better but we played inferior teams, though Pitt has shown life.

I can't honestly think we are any better than we were in October, we just played easier games.
Click to expand...

Fact is FSU, ND should've been W's. We couldn't get out of our own way. Previous teams would've folded (see 2014-15). We showed some resiliency, finally. When our O is on, we can play with anyone outside a couple of teams right now.
 
The Franchise said:
Kaaya is a **** good college QB when you run an offense tailored to his strengths and give him some decent protection. That RPO was a wonky abortion from the start, and once we got rid of it as the staple of our offense things started turning around.

Kaaya needs to come back and spend the entire offseason working on his movement in the pocket. That's the one thing that will get him murdered in the NFL. Come back next year and show that he can slide around in the pocket quickly without panicking, and he can be a high pick.
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Agree 1000%, but will ppl get in his ear to leave now. Imho, he needs to come back. He needs refinement, but I'm not sure he will w so many NFL teams needing QBs and this being a rather "meh" draft for that position
 
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Rellyrell said:
JHallCanes said:
It's tough.

Sure we've played better but we played inferior teams, though Pitt has shown life.

I can't honestly think we are any better than we were in October, we just played easier games.
Click to expand...

Fact is FSU, ND should've been W's. We couldn't get out of our own way. Previous teams would've folded (see 2014-15). We showed some resiliency, finally. When our O is on, we can play with anyone outside a couple of teams right now.
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Not saying you're wrong, it's just.....we've been playing this same game for too long. I stay wary of false hopes.
 
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JimmyJohnsonsHair said:
Not sure where this "haven't finished strong in a long time" narrative is coming from. We were 4 - 1 over our last 5 games last year.
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This is equivalent to Al Golden's 13th ranked total defense from 14, when we all saw a crap product. This 4-0 is way different than last year's 3-1. Points given up, TFLs, Points scored...way different. We scruggled against UVA and Pitt last year in our closing game and got molly whopped by UNC. Can't believe you actually posted this. I expect more of you.
 
Rellyrell said:
The Franchise said:
Kaaya is a **** good college QB when you run an offense tailored to his strengths and give him some decent protection. That RPO was a wonky abortion from the start, and once we got rid of it as the staple of our offense things started turning around.

Kaaya needs to come back and spend the entire offseason working on his movement in the pocket. That's the one thing that will get him murdered in the NFL. Come back next year and show that he can slide around in the pocket quickly without panicking, and he can be a high pick.
Click to expand...

Agree 1000%, but will ppl get in his ear to leave now. Imho, he needs to come back. He needs refinement, but I'm not sure he will w so many NFL teams needing QBs and this being a rather "meh" draft for that position
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I doubt an NFL team will pick him high if they don't think he can play just because it's a weak QB class. That wouldn't make much sense. He really needs to work on the things I mentioned and improve himself tremendously.
 
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Rellyell good post. I'm hopeful going forward, but we still need a signature win. NCST and Duke were bad. UVA was terrible - literally. Duke's best players are out for the season, and they have one win in the conference. NCST has the worst coach of the three, but they do have talent. Pittsburgh was a good win. We hung 51 on them, and they showed the next week in Clemson that they are a talented team.

We did to those teams what we were supposed to do, but we were far from flawless even in those wins so I'm cautiously optimistic and mainly because of our young players.

I said in the game thread yesterday, we are a dumb team. And we are, we make inexcusably stupid decisions on the field. Berrios pulling the defenders facemask in the FSU game is but one example. Like you said, pulling a player's facemask until his helmet comes off while he's laying on the ground in full view of the officials is dumb. Who does that? You can't win games against peer competition when you give up yards 15 at a time or nullify a big play because players repeatedly make shockingly dumb decisions. We're not good enough to overcome that against better teams. We've got to clean that up because it's too costly.

Again, the young players give me some hope, but we've got to get a signature win that helps to give the team the confidence that they can beat anybody.
 
Not gonna lie, if I was running the Dolphins I'd take Njoku in the 2nd Rd all day
 
Bennubird said:
Rellyell good post. I'm hopeful going forward, but we still need a signature win. NCST and Duke were bad. UVA was terrible - literally. Duke's best players are out for the season, and they have one win in the conference. NCST has the worst coach of the three, but they do have talent. Pittsburgh was a good win. We hung 51 on them, and they showed the next week in Clemson that they are a talented team.

We did to those teams what we were supposed to do, but we were far from flawless even in those wins so I'm cautiously optimistic and mainly because of our young players.

I said in the game thread yesterday, we are a dumb team. And we are, we make inexcusably stupid decisions on the field. Berrios pulling the defenders facemask in the FSU game is but one example. Like you said, pulling a player's facemask until his helmet comes off while he's laying on the ground in full view of the officials is dumb. Who does that? You can't win games against peer competition when you give up yards 15 at a time or nullify a big play because players repeatedly make shockingly dumb decisions. We're not good enough to overcome that against better teams. We've got to clean that up because it's too costly.

Again, the young players give me some hope, but we've got to get a signature win that helps to give the team the confidence that they can beat anybody.
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Absolutely! We need that signature win in the worst way.
 
JHallCanes said:
Rellyrell said:
JHallCanes said:
It's tough.

Sure we've played better but we played inferior teams, though Pitt has shown life.

I can't honestly think we are any better than we were in October, we just played easier games.
Click to expand...

Fact is FSU, ND should've been W's. We couldn't get out of our own way. Previous teams would've folded (see 2014-15). We showed some resiliency, finally. When our O is on, we can play with anyone outside a couple of teams right now.
Click to expand...
Not saying you're wrong, it's just.....we've been playing this same game for too long. I stay wary of false hopes.
Click to expand...

Amen brotha; I agree. The only silver lining I see is that this is the best record from a 1st year head coach (outside of Erickson) since JJ. But I agree, we've had way too much false hope.
 
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