I've been watching a ton of film and I watched the Nebbish kid last night (damn is he accurate). A couple things came to mind that I hadn't considered.
Raiolia or how ever you say his name was unreal with his reads, feel and location when he got a clean picture. I mean..he looked better than half of the NFL dudes playing tomorrow (a bit much but he was good none the less). However, when Illinois went man under and showed pressure presnap he was actually quite bad. He'll improve and probably quickly, but I hadn't considered how much passing plays change when guys have to beat coverage and the qb can feel pressure coming. Soooo...
1. In my pregame I said 3rd down and turnovers were important. I still believe we win because we took the ball from them more than they do us, but now I'm putting MORE stock into first down. Hype is gonna want to keep his qb out of harms way. They'll try to run for 5+ to stay ahead of the chains or they'll throw on first when we're in more base fronts and coverage. I feel very strongly about that having watched more of their film. If we don't stop them for 0 to 2 yards on first downs, mark my words, they'll test us on first down.
2. We need to show pressure presnap ALOT. Even if we're end up in a big zone. If we give Nico a clean picture he will hurt us. We need to give him something to think about and tell our dbs to prepare for bump "slant/fade" checks. The #1 check a young qb checks into when they see pressure is NOT a better play. It's a slant/fade tag to whom they feel has the best matchup. Bring heat, disguise heat or show heat and back out of it, but confuse him presnap.
I'll be watching closely on BOFFFF of these fronts today.
#Boomer
