...I made a throwaway comment about how this team looked early on and I want to revisit it now because it's not insignificant.
I love that we won today. I'm still floating. What a great win, and what a great set of individual performances by some of our guys.
But win or lose today...what I was hoping to see was competency. After two years of watching us not ready to play, staring at the sidelines while the play clock was running down, playing away from our strengths, getting pushed around, and generally being undisciplined and unprepared, it was really nice to see a competent football team. We were confident, we were not intimidated, we didn't make too many silly mistakes, we responded to adversity, we never panicked, and we looked well coached in all three phases of the game. Some specific call outs:
- This might be the best our special teams has ever looked to me. There was some concern here about Ruiz playing ahead of Christmann, and well, we saw why Ruiz. Dude is gonna be a pro kicker. And every kickoff was a touchback, which was a welcome sight after the **** we saw on kickoffs last year. It's really refreshing to me that this coaching staff plays the best player regardless of age and status of the player. You gotta earn every rep. That's the way it should be.
- Defense is better than expected. Secondary is an issue, but we knew it would be. The front seven is fine though. We played a lot of players and they all played fairly well. Part of that is ability, but a lot of that is coaching. We are well coached on the defensive side of the ball. Our defensive line played their asses off today and I think Jordan Davis is going to be a star for us.
- Our tackling was phenomenal today. I haven't been to a single practice but I can tell you that we hit a lot in practice because it shows up on the field in live reps. Shawn Freakin' Preston looked like Steve Atwater out there today the way he was cracking skulls in run support.
- Costello made a couple of poor decisions, but goodness, how awesome is it to have a QB that can throw the ball wherever he wants? And I know it was popular to **** on our WRs under jomo, but as some of us has always said, our WR issues weren't talent-related...they were scheme-related. We have talent at WR and it really showed today, even if we had a few drops.
- Kylin Hill is going to be great in this offense. And that's all I really have to say about that.
We still can improve a lot. And we really have to hope and pray for health - because we are thin in some spots. But I think this could be a really exciting season.
I love that we won today. I'm still floating. What a great win, and what a great set of individual performances by some of our guys.
But win or lose today...what I was hoping to see was competency. After two years of watching us not ready to play, staring at the sidelines while the play clock was running down, playing away from our strengths, getting pushed around, and generally being undisciplined and unprepared, it was really nice to see a competent football team. We were confident, we were not intimidated, we didn't make too many silly mistakes, we responded to adversity, we never panicked, and we looked well coached in all three phases of the game. Some specific call outs:
- This might be the best our special teams has ever looked to me. There was some concern here about Ruiz playing ahead of Christmann, and well, we saw why Ruiz. Dude is gonna be a pro kicker. And every kickoff was a touchback, which was a welcome sight after the **** we saw on kickoffs last year. It's really refreshing to me that this coaching staff plays the best player regardless of age and status of the player. You gotta earn every rep. That's the way it should be.
- Defense is better than expected. Secondary is an issue, but we knew it would be. The front seven is fine though. We played a lot of players and they all played fairly well. Part of that is ability, but a lot of that is coaching. We are well coached on the defensive side of the ball. Our defensive line played their asses off today and I think Jordan Davis is going to be a star for us.
- Our tackling was phenomenal today. I haven't been to a single practice but I can tell you that we hit a lot in practice because it shows up on the field in live reps. Shawn Freakin' Preston looked like Steve Atwater out there today the way he was cracking skulls in run support.
- Costello made a couple of poor decisions, but goodness, how awesome is it to have a QB that can throw the ball wherever he wants? And I know it was popular to **** on our WRs under jomo, but as some of us has always said, our WR issues weren't talent-related...they were scheme-related. We have talent at WR and it really showed today, even if we had a few drops.
- Kylin Hill is going to be great in this offense. And that's all I really have to say about that.
We still can improve a lot. And we really have to hope and pray for health - because we are thin in some spots. But I think this could be a really exciting season.
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