Some observations at this point in the season...

[kryptonite]

Thanks for the congrats. Preciate it. And ****, that's the reason my phone keeps dropping?

Anyway, I'll stand my ground on point 1. When we talk speed, we're not just talking 40 times or hitting 20 mph or whatever.

It's the explosion that is lacking. Theres maybe 3 guys on the squad that have that blast off. That burst that jumps off the screen.

Our squad needs to get faster at every position on Defense.

I would argue it's less about speed than about knowing where you're supposed to be and being there. If the play is drawn up correctly and the player has a firm grasp of what his responsibility is, and so do his teammates...that's when guys start to play fast and look mean.

Not exactly the same thing, but remember Pinkney's pick against fsu last year? Or Bandy's against ND the year before? That's a guy studying the other team and knowing what's coming and where to be. That's the kind of stuff that leads to being able to play fast.

So I guess we're talking about being fast vs playing fast.

 

[edge]

This has only happened like twice this year. While not perfect, our kickoff coverage has been fine.

Precisely. Not sure what games OP has been watching. Baxa kicks it in the end zone most of the time. The only long return I can think of was against Florida when Baxa had a terrible kick, short with no hang time. That wasn’t on the return team.

 

[rok]

No. That's my observation.

Do you admit to being a ****eyed optimist?

 

[Go Canes!!]

Do you admit to being a ****eyed optimist?

I’ll do that the minute you acknowledge you’re only here to be a troll.

 

[blushrts]

Also, this guy has been watching the wrong team if he thinks we've been consistently losing contain of either the QB in the pocket or letting the opponent's rushing game beat us to the outside. This has been one of the things we have actually been doing quite well so far this young season. Our pass D has certainly taken a step back, but our run D is performing at an elite level so far.

Based on that comment alone, I completely disregarded the rest of the post.

Last year we got burned a lot by running quarterbacks, I think there has been a scheme change to spy some of these guys. It clearly was against Florida.

 

[blushrts]

1) Our 3rd down % and Red zone need fixing for us to really compete at the next level. I think this is rooted in our not being dominate in the trenches AND everyone not doing their job at the same time (missed chip block, bad route running, not picking up stunts, etc). To me this has been a major struggle for our team for multiple seasons and still plagues us today. Instead of the Bacardi Red Zone, it really has become the dreaded red zone - if we don't score before we enter it our chance drop significantly.

2) Our kick off team is like watching the special Olympics each time a team returns the ball. I just cannot understand, with the speed and talent of our players, why we continue to let 30-40 yard returns take place. Its simply mind blowing. Come on guys just stay in your lanes and play disciplined football.

3) We fixed the punt team, now we have a head case for the field goals. Why is it we target head cases for kickers...grrrr. Very frustrating. Fix the red zone issue and this somewhat goes away...Also our blocking for extra points leaves a LOT to be desired.

4) We seem to loose contain a lot this year. I not sure if its D stunts or what, but we struggle to set the edge at times...lots of times. For the most part we kill it in the middle, but teams make way to many yards on the outside.

5) Our secondary is worse than Sybil - it's very schizophrenic. One play they play lock down, next play my mother could house a pass on them. They also seem to give receivers way to much space. The root cause could be poor communications/pass off, but I am not sure. They sure seem to get turned around easily.

6) Our LB seem lost in coverage or assignments at times. I think this has to do with heavy use of stunts and poor communications. But multiple times this season they are simply out of place - leaving big holes in the middle of the field.

Thoughts?

Our secondary issues are what happens when you lose 2 safeties who are in the NFL and replace them with young guys. I think Bolden helps immensely in a few weeks.

Offensively, we had TONS of things to get fixed from last year. Some have been some are still a work in progress.

 

[Texxcane]

Tex been saying now for 15 damm years, the big difference in us and them, them being the big boys, is the los. Until we start cruitin linemen hard, and i mean hard because there aint no linemen in Fla, we will not contend. Who was that coach again that made the los top priority on both sides ? thats the last time we could truly compete. You can load up on all the burners you want to, unless there's a push up front their useless....Tex

 

[DTP]

I would agree with needed improvement on 3rd down. It hasn't totally hindered the offense because they've done good enough on first and second down to where they don't often need third down to convert. Against better teams, it has to be addressed though.

Kick coverage is as good as it's ever been. At least through 3 games.

Containment in the running game is also fantastic. They've emphasized containing scrambling QBs and it's worked. The goal is to make run-first guys beat you with their arm. Pass coverage has been sub-par with all the new starters in the secondary. Pass rush in obvious passing situations could stand to be a little better also.

You're not going to have an overpowering offensive line with one junior, two sophomores and two freshman. Just being able to line up and run it right at someone isn't realistic. They've done a decent job at addressing that issue with creativity. They tend to run block really well when they get their linemen in motion as opposed to just firing off at the guy right in front of them. Jarren's pinpoint accuracy on short passes helps in case they need to call a pass in short yardage. Right now it just is what it is and assuming they should be able to convert short yardage plays with simple dives and belly plays is unrealistic.