I rewatched the game last night.
My take always in watching on tv vs live.
-Pindell had a good first qtr, 9 for 10.
-Hopkins made all his yardage by making someone miss in the hole. Great job.
-Pindell never recovered from his fumble, after that he struggled. In particular, he under threw one receiver - I forget who on a third down that was wide open and twice in the game when he aired it out it was into double coverage. I think the double coverage throws probably got Randy pissed.
-Sheriffs did under throw one ball but that looked to be on purpose to me as he was escaping pressure and the receiver was covered.
-Santana Sterling had a good game filing in for Junior Joseph. His qb blitz was better than JJ's typical effort it seemed to me.
-Coyle certainly had a few blown plays out there.
-Bell did not have a good game, his receivers always had a step on him.
-the 3-3-5 is not going to work if our DBs can't make better plays on balls in the air and demonstrate more closing speed. We also need a DB that is good against the run and is willing to crowd the box. Teams with a running game will be attacking us straight up the center.
-Having Fatusaki out there would have made a difference. We have a big drop off on Dline and nothing too exciting in the pipeline.
-Swann did show a burst. Jason Thompson might not be the best guy for the other kick returner, maybe we should risk Skanes.
-It's a little alarming that all over the field on offense and defense we didn't see our players getting more separation.
-In the end, I think the game did give everyone - players and coaches - a lot to learn from that you don't get from in house scrimmage.
On running plays do our receivers tip the defense by blocking too early? On some of the running plays I noticed our recievers did not run their routes, instead stalled for a moment and then tried to block.
Great observations
@Exit 4, I thought pretty much the same after watching it on tv.
-I like Santana Sterling a lot and I think he'll be a factor moving forward. He seems like a throwback.
-Coyle looked like he was gassed at times and took a few plays off, effort wise.
-I thought we were a little vanilla in the 3-3-5. We didn't blitz very much. That was probably by design with USF up next, give them nothing on film. I expect Coach Crocker to dial it up a bit more next weekend.
-I think Thompson is back there for two reasons. 1. They want Swann returning as many kicks as possible. 2. Thompson will block. FWIW, Thompson was a very good kick returner in HS. Shelton always had very well coached special teams.
-HC did look to be either step for step with our WRs or a step ahead of our DBs.
-Our WRs did a pretty good job blocking downfield, but they do need to help keep guys in the secondary honest. Our QBs need to hit a few deep balls and they'll have to respect the vertical threat. We weren't able to do that. The HC safety (#7), before he got hurt, was flying to the football on running plays.
