Blue Notes

[AzzurriDawg4]

I am sure this wont bring up something someone hasnt already said, but why break tradition?

The Trip: Had a blast in Houston. Hotel Zaza was awesome. Great time at the Astros game. The football game was horrific. After about the 4th offensive drive, I almost lost all interest because you could plainly see that we had made no improvements since last year.

Offense:
1. I am not sure about the adjustment OSU made, but our OL went from protecting very well in the first quarter to getting shelled the rest of the game. Well documented that Siddoway was a sieve, but havent seen many point out that Malcolm Johnson didnt make a block the whole game. I mean he got absolutely whipped at the point of attack. When you arent using a fullback, you need your TE to be able to block. He didnt Saturday. Getting beat down by a 3 man rush has nothing to do with talent and everything to do with teaching/scheme. A well coached offensive line doesnt let that happen. The guards didnt know who to help - it was a big joke.


2. I dont think there is really any dropoff at WR. However, Morrow looks to be a non-factor. Agree with whoever said he looks stiff. He even looks inept just running out to the huddle. And I mean, come on, Mullen wanted to ease the young WR into the game? Give me a break. I like how Freeze eased Treadwell into action. How do we not get the ball to RoJo more?


3. RB. Perkins is good, but I still think he is a 3rd down back. Especially vs. a quality D. If Griffin is healthy enough to play ST, I want to see him get some carries. We clearly arent going to make holes with this line, so we need a hammer to get through there. Give me Griffin and Robinson on 1st and 2nd down, and maybe even Shump, and give me LDP on 3rd down. I love how one poorly schemed, read, and thrown interception scared our coaches away from throwing any more balls to LDP the rest of the game. All one-back sets on 1st and 2nd down need to be scrapped.


4. QB. Saved the sad part for last. It is truly sad that we cant move the ball with Russell. He would excel in a quick throw offense like OkSt runs. If OkSt had Russell in there instead of Chelf in the first half, they would have lit us up. I dont think he is a transcendent talent, but he has enough talent to be an excellent college QB. Totally agree that Dak was running the wrong offense out there too. Our inability to adjust based on game flow/QB is scary. Russell has a real weakness when it comes to checking down under pressure. I really think part of the problem is that his 1st and 2nd reads are often 20 yards downfield.


5. Scheme. I really dont think we did anything to cure a glaring problem last year. There was a glimmer of hope when we started hitting LDP in the flat early in the game, but thats about it. I about fell out of my chair when I saw Mullen's only response to our ineptitude was that "we need to take more shots downfield." I am all about keeping a defense honest, but that is just ridiculous. This offense is SUPPOSED TO BE about getting the ball in your playmakers' hands in space. Not throwing low-percentage bombs down the field. RoJo, Jameon and LDP can make people miss if you get them the ball in space 15 yards and in. Our biggest plays of the day came from those types of plays. It is clear we cant block long enough to accommodate a 5 step drop. Mullen has this idea in his head that we cant sustain a 10-15 play drive, he has said it repeatedly, and he may be right, but I will take an 8 play drive over a 3 play drive any day of the week. I hope the idea that Mullen is some kind of offensive genius has been thoroughly dispelled in everyone's mind. I will give him "offensive specialist" with a small niche of an option run game, but Freeze and Malzahn can coach circles around Mullen on offense. That doesnt mean he cant be a good HC. He needs someone under the Gundy/Sumlin tree to be his OC, just so there is some diversity of thought on the staff. There is no passing offense strategist on this staff and it kills us. Maybe that will be a moot point after Russell departs.


Defense:
1. Despite getting run out of the stadium when Walsh came in, the defense was MUCH improved. Losing Hughes and Love couldnt help our efforts to stop that option on the edge either. Jiles got eaten up on those sweep options. Godfrey's article from yesterday was a great look into the potential of this defense. It also highlighted the fact that a first year OC at OKSt could adjust on the fly against a solid defense while our tenured staff could not against an average defense.


2. DL. Vastly improved, though it was a little hard to tell based on the offense they ran. The amount of TFL we got against them was a big number against that type of offense. Chris Jones at DT looks to be a necessity, although I still think he can be more of a weapon at strong-side end. Dude absolutely gave their guard the business a few times. Had a QB hurry straight up the middle, which we didnt see a whole lot of last year. I think we are solid on the DE rotation. Again, tough game for Autry and Smith/Brown to make an impact, but they were good - outside of getting rolled up a couple of times in the option game - but we were just outschemed and outblocked on those plays.

3. LB. I dont know what got into McKinney, but he looks a LOT faster than he did last year. Wells and Skinner played well too, but again were made to look ineffective because we werejust unable to adjust to their adjustments. Zack Jackson, in that hybrid saftey/LB role, flashed some headhunting potential. Richie Brown made a nice play in the run game in limited action, but got beat on a slant as well - he is going to be good. Lots of depth in this back 7.


4. CB. Should be fine here. Calhoun looks like a player. Need Love back, because I am not sure Jiles is ready, particularly in the run game. Hopefully Cox is all-in from this point forward. Looking to me like Cox/Calhoun as primary, with Love and hopefully Redmond rounding us out. Lots of opportunity for this group to get better. We would have been so good last year under Collins.


5. Safety. Wow did Whitley get lit up on one running play. Arrington flashed some real playmaking ability, which I have been looking for since we signed him. Just has a nose for the ball. Despite Arrington showing some promise, we were pretty average at safety - which can probably be attributed to Hughes going down.


Special Teams. Still cant kick it in the endzone, still shaky on FG attempts. Punting was outstanding. Probably the best thing we did all day. Thanks Baker.


Overall thoughts: It was depressing to watch good football all weekend and have to sit through that crap in Houston. I just dont see any obvious cause for hope on offense. I have said since midway through year 2 that Mullen has never moved the ball effectively against a quality D. This wasnt even a quality D. Maybe if we get back to what we were doing with Relf, using Dak, with a slightly better arm and accuracy, we could be dangerous again. I hate that for Tyler though, because we have done him a real disservice.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Excellent, as always.

 

[boatsandhoes]

Well the really good news is Mullen says he won't change much of anything per the CL article on the front page. So we have got that going for us!

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

Yep.

Just as deflating as the "yee haw we just gonna chunk the ball downfield more" statement. So to be clear, we need to "finish", "take more shots downfield" and "do absolutely nothing different" in order to get results on offense. That is the solution. At least were not all trying to convince ourselves that we were just staying vanilla this year.

 

[SignalToNoise]

Great analysis.

And to echo what you already said, we really have done Tyler a disservice. He would have looked like a stud in so many other systems. The "Freeze coaching circles around Mullen on offense" comment are the exact same words I used with my buddies, too. It's rather upsetting.

The only hope I see for our offense is to reassign Les (or just give him a box) and bring in a bonafide OC. If that happens it won't be until the off season, so we are stuck with an offense that needs to improve just to be mediocre.

Hoo boy.

 

[57stratdawg]

Excellent read.

We just misuse our personnel on offense on so many levels. We don't have 'third down backs' because we want each guy to get a drive. We rarely switch RBs on 2nd down or 3rd down.

Take the drive where Perk had some big runs. We feed him the ball 5 out of 7 plays and he was dead on about the 3rd straight play. Even with that, if Russell reads the coverage instead of the predetermined swing pass, it's a huge gain.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

I don't think its necessarily that Les is bad at what he does.

I think the problem is Mullen and Les have the exact same offensive background. They are both running game coordinators. Les would probably make an excellent compliment to a HC with a passing pedigree. I really believe that the ideal combination of HC/OC in todays game is to have one from the spread option tree and one from the air raid tree. The ability to merge these styles is what got us beat in Houston. OKSt started throwing the ball and then adjusted to the option to kill us. All we know is option. When we try to run a pure passer out there, it doesnt look much different from a pro style offense, and we dont have the horses for that.

Ironically, I think Tyler would be an excellent fit in an air raid, and LDP would be a better fit in a true read-option offense. Which brings up another thing: where is the motion? where is the deception? With LDP's catching ability, he should be used in a jet sweep fake/handoff/play action several times a game. Again, we look very pro style when we trot Tyler out there. Spread the fun my arse.

 

[rugbdawg]

Do we need to bring Croom back to run the offense?

At this point, it can't be worse.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

Man you are right about that. The fact that we commit to using one RB for an entire drive on an alternating basis is just ridiculous. You have a stable of RBs, keep them fresh! I would be running RBs in and out of there based on SITUATION and fatigue. It is not difficult.

At least it looks like Collins has said 17 this crap and he isnt doing the wholesale line changes on defense. He mixes in some of our young guys with experienced guys and keeps most of our best players on the field, while giving them breathers at the same time. Instead of putting C Jones in with the whole 2nd team, he mixed him in with PJ, Autry, etc. Last year, we would have run Virges, CJ, Brown and AJ Jefferson out there for a whole series.

 

[SignalToNoise]

To clarify my previous comment about Les, it's not that I think he is bad-- I just meant that Mullen needs to give control to someone else, and to me that means bringing in someone else. The offense has totally lost it's identity over the past few years.

Concerning air raid, yes, I think Tyler would be a standout in offense Mumme ran with Tim Couch at Kentucky.

 

[57stratdawg]

Right, remember when Relf would check in for TLee and we'd run the read option 7 or 8 straight plays until the drive stalled out at about the opp's 40 because our guys were too gassed to run it effectively...?

I'm hoping Dak's legs will open some things up for us, but I'll go out on a limb and say there will still be many issues with our offense - personnel use, play calling, OL play, etc.. Changing QBs isn't going to help those.

 

[Irondawg]

I think we all secretly feared what our passing attack would like when we didn't hire a passing game guru and we have our answer. I'm not against the Billy G. hire, but instead of rehiring Sallach when Brewster left we could have hired somebody with exerience in a pass first offense to just bring in some concepts.

However from what I can tell in a lot of the pass first, the goal is for the QB to basically identify the mismatch/single coverage at the line of scrimmage and then get the ball out quick unless you're doing the double move and taking a shot downfield. As much as I love Tyler, from the first time I saw him he had trouble reading defenses. That throw to LDP in the 1Q that turned into the int was a perfect example as that from the camera angle looked like a pretty easy read. LDP drew double coverage while Hill was completely uncovered. That should have been a huge play for us. Basically I think Tyler can spin the thing and deliver strikes but I just don't know if he has the ability to quickly read the defense and go through the progressions. We'll never know where the flaw really lies unless he somehow becomes a NFL starter.

 

[Dawgzilla]

But we ARE staying vanilla this year....its the only flavor we got!

 

[randystewart]

LDP drew double coverage while Hill was completely uncovered.

I lost it right there... Perkins was triple covered and Hill was WIDE open 10 yards behind him. I know TR was under pressure, but he had to be able to see that Perk was triple covered and that meant that Hill's route was likely open or single covered at best.
We also do Tyler a disservice by making him do all of the play action crap on definite passing downs. He is slow through his progressions, and needs all the time possible if we are going to throw a pass with more than one option.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

This kills me

We also do Tyler a disservice by making him do all of the play action crap on definite passing downs. He is slow through his progressions, and needs all the time possible if we are going to throw a pass with more than one option.

You are right on the money here, he needs his eyes up the whole time. Running PA on obvious passing downs is just mind boggling. Its like we cant run the play without running the fake.
You want to do that? Just run the jet sweep fake, that way the motioning player is passing in front of QB (QB can keep his eyes upfield) and WR/RB can continue on to a pass route or to help Siddoway's arse.

 

[121Josey]

17'n' good stuff. Some of the best stuff yet with some excellent nuances

After about the 4th offensive drive, I almost lost all interest because you could plainly see that we had made no improvements since last year.

It's clear that they can't coach past a script - designed to be eclectic. No ability whatsoever to make in game adjustments.

Well documented that Siddoway was a sieve

I didn't buy the injury spin last year. If that was the case we should see something different in the next two games. If not, then I want Robinson/Senior from there on out.

3. All one-back sets on 1st and 2nd down need to be scrapped.

This all day!!! I still think Russell's lack of mobility needs a Robinson/Milton who can operate well between the tackles. A lateral flow in the read option would work well with LDP/Griffin.

4 ... Our inability to adjust based on game flow/QB is scary. Russell has a real weakness when it comes to checking down under pressure. I really think part of the problem is that his 1st and 2nd reads are often 20 yards downfield.

Right on all this.

5.... I hope the idea that Mullen is some kind of offensive genius has been thoroughly dispelled in everyone's mind. I will give him "offensive specialist" with a small niche of an option run game, but Freeze and Malzahn can coach circles around Mullen on offense. That doesnt mean he cant be a good HC. He needs someone under the Gundy/Sumlin tree to be his OC, just so there is some diversity of thought on the staff. There is no passing offense strategist on this staff and it kills us. Maybe that will be a moot point after Russell departs.

When Mullen said that he and Könning were different, I lost all hope in his offensive acumen. It's looking like the Mullen-Könning partnership is going the way of Franchione-Könning. I'm beginning to think that Mullen's success at Florida came more from the Mullen-Gonzales partnership than Mullen. I think that the dice have been cast - and they've rolled snake eyes on 2013 (somebody posted recently how I knew that we wouldn't be writing off the season with TR. Maybe that's more accurate than I first thought since the necessary changes were not made on offense).

Not surprising that Mullen has distanced himself from the offense and "tried" to make himself as the CEO type (as both fall apart before our very eyes).

 

[JackShephard]

I lost it right there... Perkins was triple covered and Hill was WIDE open 10 yards behind him. I know TR was under pressure, but he had to be able to see that Perk was triple covered and that meant that Hill's route was likely open or single covered at best.
We also do Tyler a disservice by making him do all of the play action crap on definite passing downs. He is slow through his progressions, and needs all the time possible if we are going to throw a pass with more than one option.

if i'm not mistaken, we went play action on 4th an long once. Like 4th and 10 or more. Like any idiot in the world would buy the fake in that situation. Just a complete waste of time and motion, nothing else.

 

[dawgs.sixpack]

We also do Tyler a disservice by making him do all of the play action crap on definite passing downs. He is slow through his progressions, and needs all the time possible if we are going to throw a pass with more than one option.

i don't think we have any definite passing downs. mullen loves a good running play on 3rd and 8 against a quality opponent more than any coach in CFB. he's too concerned with time of possession and not turning the ball over (like we have momentum to give away...).

 

[operch]

A question AD

Have you watched a replay and do you think TR was hurt early in the game and that had a lot to do with our play after late first quarter?

 

[DawgsOnTheWing]

I went back and watched that play several times in slo-mo. As soon as Tyler looked toward LDP 2 OSU defenders break toward LDP. They were in full stride for the defend before ball left TR's hand. A pump fake or reroute to Hill behind them on the little flag route looked like it would have been an easy six.

 

[SignalToNoise]

I saw the same. Hill is not open the way everyone says he is. He is initially covered but tyler telegraphed his throw to Perk. As the ball starts to leave Tyler's hand all the defenders break on perk.

Meanwhile Jameon was open in the middle of the field well past the first down marker.

Two things: 1) It was an ill conceived play. Just plain wretchid. Even had Perk caught it he would have been well short of the first down. 2) It was poorly executed. Tyler not only made a bad read, but was so slow in releasing the ball that even a popcorn vendor could have broken on the ball in time to break up the play.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

Havent watched the replay.

Its on the DVR - I just cant bring myself to watch it. I imagine thats a possibility, but I am not going to draw any hope from that.