Jiggyfly
Banned
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- Apr 8, 2013
- Messages
- 9,220
I am going to try and give an overview of things I saw while watching the game on replay.
I will most likely be focusing on O-line and D-line play while adding other things that stood out.
1. Of course the running game and play of the O-line was the number 1 topic of the offseason and in this game.
The one thing that stood out was that the O-line had trouble getting those second level and backside blocks that caused so many runs to break last year.
I noticed Leary, Martin and Frederick have trouble reaching that LB or backside lineman who eventually made the tackle, I don't know if this is a lack of cohesion or are teams just reading these plays better causing the block to be a harder reach. Something to keep an eye on moving forward.
We seemed to block well on the combo straight ahead stuff and the outside stretch but even then there was a lot of backside traffic stopping the long runs.
2. Another issue with the running game was the blocking of the receivers on those plays where Harris served as a kind of H-back Williams, Whitehead and Street all failed to get blocks and their men blew up or cut short running lanes for the backs. This could be a big issue moving forward and another reason Harris will be missed.
3. Watching the game I was as disappointed as everyone by what I saw as pedestrian running by Randle but on review I have to say he was not bad and got much better as the game went on. He started off very tentative and missed some holes by trying to hit the cut back but around his 3rd series he was decisive and ran through a number of tackles for some tough yards, he had no negative runs the entire game.
I am still wondering if he could be a plus as a lead back and I am leaning no, but he was a plus runner in this game and did much more positive than Mcfadden who is great running in space but is not yet as patient as he needs to be, he missed a nice hole by rushing and tripped over Frederick.
I think both Randle and Mcfadden both need time to get insync with this line and we will not see there best until later in the season after some games and film study.
Dunbar was much better in blitz pickup, Randle got his man but he was not delivering a strike like Dunbar was he just got in the way, they used Witten a lot as a blitz protector.
It will be interesting to see what Michaels brings but those gaping holes that were there last year did not show up Sunday night and IMO for the most part the backs got what was there.
3. I was also disappointed by the production of Lawrence but on review I noticed he was chipped by the RB on 5 different occasions and was chipped twice by the TE in other words they paid a lot of attention to him and left the other DE one on one most of the time.
He did have a couple of nice rushes in obvious passing situations and caused 2 errant throws from Eli, but he was not as dominant against a player like Newhouse as I thought he should be.
4.Gregory looked great before the injury the refs missed several obvious holds against him and others and if Eli had went to more 5 and 7 step drops he would have had several sacks, He will be missed big time.
5. Was surprised on rewatch to see Jones playing so much, he was singled up on the TE as a kind of safety/LB.
This will be something to watch as we play better TE's down the line.
Did not notice much of White on the field but did not really hone in on the secondary but I did notice they seemed to play with a lot of confidence , not a lot of chasing going on.
6. We played a lot with only 2 LB's on the field, Lee and Hitchens, they both played well but Lee especially turned it up in the 4th.
I am interested to see how this changes when McClain comes back I think him and Lee are the best against the run, Hitchens is very active but does not take on blocks very well.
7. We will have to do something in the running game to offset the blocking we got from Harris in those slot spots, nobody was able to get a good block from there Sunday and Whitehead was simply destroyed a couple of times.
We also will probably need to start runing some reverse action on those stretch plays that backside DE was crashing hard and those cut back lanes were not there.
Anyway thats all I got.
Please be gentle.
I will most likely be focusing on O-line and D-line play while adding other things that stood out.
1. Of course the running game and play of the O-line was the number 1 topic of the offseason and in this game.
The one thing that stood out was that the O-line had trouble getting those second level and backside blocks that caused so many runs to break last year.
I noticed Leary, Martin and Frederick have trouble reaching that LB or backside lineman who eventually made the tackle, I don't know if this is a lack of cohesion or are teams just reading these plays better causing the block to be a harder reach. Something to keep an eye on moving forward.
We seemed to block well on the combo straight ahead stuff and the outside stretch but even then there was a lot of backside traffic stopping the long runs.
2. Another issue with the running game was the blocking of the receivers on those plays where Harris served as a kind of H-back Williams, Whitehead and Street all failed to get blocks and their men blew up or cut short running lanes for the backs. This could be a big issue moving forward and another reason Harris will be missed.
3. Watching the game I was as disappointed as everyone by what I saw as pedestrian running by Randle but on review I have to say he was not bad and got much better as the game went on. He started off very tentative and missed some holes by trying to hit the cut back but around his 3rd series he was decisive and ran through a number of tackles for some tough yards, he had no negative runs the entire game.
I am still wondering if he could be a plus as a lead back and I am leaning no, but he was a plus runner in this game and did much more positive than Mcfadden who is great running in space but is not yet as patient as he needs to be, he missed a nice hole by rushing and tripped over Frederick.
I think both Randle and Mcfadden both need time to get insync with this line and we will not see there best until later in the season after some games and film study.
Dunbar was much better in blitz pickup, Randle got his man but he was not delivering a strike like Dunbar was he just got in the way, they used Witten a lot as a blitz protector.
It will be interesting to see what Michaels brings but those gaping holes that were there last year did not show up Sunday night and IMO for the most part the backs got what was there.
3. I was also disappointed by the production of Lawrence but on review I noticed he was chipped by the RB on 5 different occasions and was chipped twice by the TE in other words they paid a lot of attention to him and left the other DE one on one most of the time.
He did have a couple of nice rushes in obvious passing situations and caused 2 errant throws from Eli, but he was not as dominant against a player like Newhouse as I thought he should be.
4.Gregory looked great before the injury the refs missed several obvious holds against him and others and if Eli had went to more 5 and 7 step drops he would have had several sacks, He will be missed big time.
5. Was surprised on rewatch to see Jones playing so much, he was singled up on the TE as a kind of safety/LB.
This will be something to watch as we play better TE's down the line.
Did not notice much of White on the field but did not really hone in on the secondary but I did notice they seemed to play with a lot of confidence , not a lot of chasing going on.
6. We played a lot with only 2 LB's on the field, Lee and Hitchens, they both played well but Lee especially turned it up in the 4th.
I am interested to see how this changes when McClain comes back I think him and Lee are the best against the run, Hitchens is very active but does not take on blocks very well.
7. We will have to do something in the running game to offset the blocking we got from Harris in those slot spots, nobody was able to get a good block from there Sunday and Whitehead was simply destroyed a couple of times.
We also will probably need to start runing some reverse action on those stretch plays that backside DE was crashing hard and those cut back lanes were not there.
Anyway thats all I got.
Please be gentle.
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