I haven't finished all my stuff yet, but it's insane to me how much "good on good" and "meh on meh" there is in this game. It's fascinating. Almost every single thing we do well, they do well on the other side. On both sides of the ball. And almost every single thing we're not great at, they're not great at. On both sides of the ball.
I just keep coming back to the fact that, IMO Carson Beck is a better quarterback than Marcel Reed. And I think that will be the difference in the game. Reed is absolutely capable of beating us, no doubt. We're not playing Brock Glenn on Saturday. This dude can play. But he's really not a great passer. He holds the ball a long time, and because of that, we should be able to get pressure on him. When he's pressured, like most QBs, his numbers nosedive considerably. We know Beck can melt, but he's Top 10 in the country in average time to throw. The ball comes out quick, and when it does, since that usually means it's short (VERY low average depth of target), it's accurate. I think we can keep him clean and he can keep us on schedule, and we can score on this team.
I have said this eleventybillion times on this site over the years, but I just want to see the team play a clean game. Not perfect. I don't expect perfection. We can make some mistakes, almost every team does, in every game. But just play well. No more than 1 turnover. No more than 1 pre-snap penalty. No completely unforced mistakes, like illegal formation or lining up offsides. Very few drops, if any, on uncontested catches. If they block better than us, and tackle better than us, and coach better than us, and rip 50/50 balls from us, and win, I'll be OK. I'll be ****ed, but I'll be OK. But if they beat us because we have 12 penalties, constantly put ourselves in long yardage situation due to dumb mistakes, turn the ball over 2+ times, make a dumb special teams play, etc....I can't live with that. I think we're better than this team. They have a LOT of talent, and it's amazing how it'll match up with ours (their 2 tackles are sensational, our edge players are sensational...there are so many match-ups like this), but I think we're better if we both play well, because I think Carson Beck is better, and that's kind of an important position.
Run the ball efficiently (they are BAD against the run on inside zone and duo), keep the chains moving, let Mali be Mali, and contain Reed to the pocket/make him win with his arm, AND PLAY CLEAN FOOTBALL...and I think this **** is ours.
