Offensive Discussion

quote:

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it was probably a 50/50 split between dropped passes and bad throws

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10-12 dropped passes. 9-10 of them just flat dropped. Instead of going 37-62, Kenny would have gone 47-62. That's right at a 75% completion rate.

Kenny didn't help by throwing behind receivers, or firing bullets at close receivers unnecessarily. Instead of catching the balls in stride with speed, they were dropped, contended, or the receivers were tackled because they had to wait on the ball.

Can't remember seeing a QB that zings short to medium range bullets but then often throws throws long wobbly floating passes. Strange combination. He has the arm strength to throw a fantastic deep ball, don't get it at all.

The offense is hard to take because we have had such good receivers over the past few years. If Swope, Evans, etc.. were anywhere around a ball, it was going to be caught. Outside of Kennedy and probably Speedy, there is good chance that the ball could get dropped. Really not an exaggeration.

Offense:

-Dropped passes. Jesus Christ. Bad passes are definitely a problem, and so is the 'touch' from the QB, but with modern glass-cutter WR gloves, this level of drops is inexcusable.

-We did not run-block well. I don't know if it's the blocking scheme or what, but we were 1 dimensional because of this.

-Hill gets rattled on the road. Touch and accuracy suffer.

-We started throwing almost nothing but bubble screens because Spavital had no confidence in the down field passing game. Even those were being underthrown or inaccurate.

-Cam Clear might as well not even be on the team.

-Pass protection was fine for most of the game, Hill had plenty of time.

Defense:

-The D-Line is solid.

-Our LBs are awful against the run. This should improve with time, but we are definitely missing Claiborne and Hilliard.

-The secondary got worked, but that isn't exactly their fault. The DLine was playing containment most of the game and that gave Dak tons of time to find open guys. We challenged him to beat us with his arm and he frankly did.

On many of the long conversions, our DBs were horribly out of position, especially Harris. Our best CB is Harvey and he was nowhere to be found.

I don't understand the over-hard short passes and the dead duck long ones. Normally a weak passer is lofting short passes and dead ducking long ones and a guy with a cannon arm may have to work on touch in short range but Kenny has become the worst of both worlds.

He's been regressing since USCe. And it's not just because the competition has been better in the past two games - I was at the SMU game in Dallas and told my friend "Kenny is not as sharp." But we chalked it up to him just not giving a shite about SMU.

The dropsies are not a new bug, either. That shite was rampant in the Arkansas game, it just got worse against MSU. Definitely not all on Kenny. Not hardly. They're flat dropping balls that are 100% catchable.

Kenny's understanding of the offense still seems fine. He's missing some check-downs, but for the most part he seems mentally okay. It's just that between his shitty long balls, missile-force short balls, and the WRs who can't catch, it doesn't matter if the decisions are right.

Here's a truly disturbing stat:

After 6 games, our leading rusher (Trey Williams) has less than 300 yards. (287 yards on 42 carries and 4 touchdowns) Our second leading rusher has 244 yards on 43 carries and 4 touchdowns.
We have a total of 1,131 yards on 187 carries and 14 touchdowns.

To put it in perspective:

In 2013 after 6 games, we had 247 carries for 1,348 yards and 20 touchdowns. Leading rusher was Manziel with 438 yards on 67 carries for 5 touchdowns. Malena had 364 yards on 73 carries for 8 touchdowns.

In 2012 after 6 games, we had 241 carries for 1,415 yards and 19 touchdowns. Leading rusher was Manziel with 676 yards on 91 carries for 10 touchdowns. Malena had 380 yards on 60 carries for 3 touchdowns.

Between our three main running backs, we have 114 carries for 703 yards and 10 touchdowns. The problem with RB by committee, however, is that none of them get a rhythm.

What's worse is that our three main backs have a combined 11 catches for 88 yards.

If we want any shot at keeping Bradford and landing Merritt, we need to start using our 2 FIVE STAR running backs.

I don't think we at utilizing our receiver talent appropriately. I think the last two games has made that clear.

You know, I'm no expurt, but perhaps that is one of my observations

I do believe, however, that Sumlin will identify and correct as many of these issues as practical during the season.