Not gonna lie. I honestly don't know how to feel after this one. We played against a team that would probably beat UofH by 20 and aside from self inflicted wounds were 20pts better than them. There were times our offense flowed and looked to be turning a corner and times when we flat stunk. The same could be said for defense, but with a higher floor. We were dominant 1st and some of the 4th quarter and reeling in parts of the 3rd quarter. Some good, bad and ugly are mixed in there, but here are my thgts by position and temperament after 3wks of watching us
QB: Jackson is a work in progress. Someone posting something very true on this board yesterday. He's got the tools, but lacks experience and true stability at other positions. After 4 games I'll say that he isn't the difference maker yet that will flat win you games with his arm, mind or legs...BUT you can see it in there. He does some things well and has a good blend of size, arm talent and athleticism. I still don't like the non chalant character that Bake had (I loved Bakes) because jfa isn't responsible for any of our wins yet. He's improved from HTown to Tulane, but man he almost killed us again too. With Hawk right behind him, I wonder how it feels to sit and think/know there are things you could be doing to help the team win? Next week will be critical. Jfa better be prepared for what's coming on defense AND ready to match what's coming on offense. GRADE: 75 and that won't cutit with the upcoming schedule.
RBs: IDK why people want to fight me on my rb take. I actually think it's pretty easy to see who the most talented RB is. Yes, 2 had some good runs, and he looks pretty damn good toting it, but someone...anyone find one run where he makes a guy miss. I'm not talking a cut to hit the hole but a play where he uses angles, shiftiness and physicality to bypass a defender. Once he's touched, he usually goes down. They schemed him up some better opportunities...and I don't hate the kid, I promise, he's gotta give more than what the play was designed to give. Chuk...idk kid looks unsure. Idk if it's plateau, regress or more competition but he still looks off. We do know he's a second half of the season kinda guy. Tatum, needs to continue to be featured. I noticed he clearly stepped up and stuck his nose into blitzes a few times (they blitzed/twisted up the a and b gaps a bunch) and that bodes well for future reps, but we need to see more..and creatively. Get him in space and running in the second level..I'd like to see how he handles folk in the secondary and with some natural angles. GRADE: 77 Just too much meat left on the bone. Rbs helped a ton in their fits blocking but no one really has gotten LOOSE.
TEs/WRs: The group grew and we saw some pups who "look the part" I saw 7 catch a ball and act like he knew what to do with it. 81 as well. This definitely bodes well for us. While 15 played I saw him in the slot and thgt it was only a matter of time before they took a shot before we never saw him again (or maybe I'm blind). I saw 17 get a step behind coverage...he was at X of note. So seeing pups get shots and the ball thrown their way makes me happy. We need our qb to connect a on a few more of those and they'll really get going. 6 is a dude. 10 is solid although he gets cute sometimes trying to act like a wr instead of te running lateral vs getting up field. But they're solid. 13 is ...ahh...well...tall 🤷🏽♂️ and wearing a cool number. A few drops..a bad one on 3rd down from 6 comes to mind, but a improvement over last week by a mile. GRADE: 79 NOT quite good enough to be "SEC good" and saying that makes me wanna 🤢🤮
OLINE: Some good, some bad and some ugly and probably not what u think. I'll start with the ugly. The ugly is...not one quarter this year "have we been good enough" to beat a good defense. Temple was terrible. Houston they were the tallest midget (graded a 72) and yesterday, they were...some good, some bad...but NEVER physical. It's a teamwide issue in some instances but it's a bigger problem on the oline. They've fixed the "get a hat on a hat" issue from week 1. However even (and probably especially in) pass pro, they punch and then stop moving their feet and start to bend at the waste. They lose leverage and the pocket collapses. That's not a physical issue. It's mental or being unsure. Guys look to be saying "I did my job" and then kinda just start flopping around vs get bend, get physical and start moving people. Erks my soul bcuz it looks like with 1 to 2 more seconds Jackson could attack more second level stuff. But he doesn't look comfy and it's bcuz the pocket shrinks quickly...in my humble it's NOT strength..it's technique and physicality. GRADE: 75. They did some good in the run game and singular guys had good moments. On the zone bend back left tackle and guard cave the entire right side of the defense and Barnes is out the gate...I just wish he'd make a guy miss and turn it into a big play.
SCHEME: Had to consolidate wrs/tes to add this 😅. The scheme is improving (no I'm not playing faves for Seth..Hype is light years ahead of him as of now). But we ran some stuff to get 2 going and a bunch of boots to get Jackson moving. We also run action..which means route combos on the second level of the defense but Jackson either misses or won't pull the trigger. I don't have all 22 view but guys, there's no way we aren't running crosses into the second level. Now do I think we're scheming CD behind backers like Linc did where he was always WIDE open (I never understood how CD and Linc did that like eleventy (is that a number) times but that was top tier.)
But you see on 3rd and long when forced to ( worst time to run crossers vs coverage) that guys are there. Jfa just isn't pulling the trigger. I don't think he wants to try to fit things into tight windows or put the ball in jeopardy. I also saw some Leach triangle principals used early and again late AND we saw some fedora/Wilson stuff in there in run schemes and ofc the boot action. I personally think Seth is digging in his bag to see where the qb and oline will mesh the best. Because they had some things working early that they didn't go back to: Spot - back to flat, te 4yards and curl up, z up the field on go or corner. Read backer to cb and either take spot to te (we hit once) or if cb runs with go hit rb in the flat (we hit that once). It's quick game so ball comes out quick...we never went back to it (Leach principal) and there's 3 or 4 EASY variations to it
GRADE: 76
DLINE: Love loathe relationship. Love the tackles, loathe the ends. 65, 52 and 95 were EATING Saturday. Some didn't see it but 21 (tulane rb) has been a GOOD player the first two weeks of the season. He was featured for them across Burks on the TV for offense threats. He was basically a non factor. We kicked their ASSES gcg consistently (gcg = guard center guard) especially in the run game. They also ate up pocket and even in q1 you could see 32 getting close on at least 2 occasions to getting sacks bcuz the qb couldn't step up. Ends - we have our new lead dawg. 32 showed all season he had more burst and yesterday he finally got home. It was fun and good to see a guy flat WHOOP his man and impose his will. No scheme, no accidents, no luck...just whooping your guy 😇. Thats the Lords work. He won us the 4th quarter. PERIOD and you need that from time to time. I watched 90, 40 and 30 as well. 90 was the worst of them 30 and 40 were both a push. 30 a lil better in pass rush 40 a lil better in containing the edge. We need PJ to come alive or you'll see a lot more presnap movement like u saw yesterday with people all over the place presnap to confuse offenses, GRADE 91/84 Ends would be a 68 but with 32 but he was a HUGE difference maker. End may be playing the worst as a group this year. No injuries, lots of vets, very low production save 32
BACKERS: 28 was excellent again but did anyone see 24? Two games in a row he showed natural skills. I like him second before ANYONE else at the second level right now. He's got size, speed and he's very physical with a nose for the ball. Another observation was 28 played proly 75% of his snaps at Will. He's twice as good as any other backer at will and is only "good" at Mike. The wrinkle of moving him to will with 11 at Mike flanked by 24 is my fave group at this point. Everyone knows I'm a 10 fan and thgt 20 was the next dude...nope. as of now it's easily 24 as the next dude and 11 holding down Mike for 28. Period. We still get lost on second level pass coverage and I'd like to see some run threws for sacks but a damned good group. GRADE: 83 Still room for improvement but not a group I'm terribly afraid for going into conference.
DBs: I really like our cbs. If 5 is our 3rd or 4th cb your in good shape. I don't think he should rotate in as much, but 6th year guys when healthy will help you. 4 is rock solid and 26 is a matchup problem for offenses. 3 is our most physical 3rd level guy and plays the best on the 2nd level
..leaves a lot to be desired on the 3rd level though. 22 needs to play more. He seems sound but some say he's a little hurt although he didn't look hurt on that punt return. 2?.....2 wtf is going on with 2? He seems lost. Let's get his opportunistic int out the way. He actually reads it very well if you rewatch the tape. He anticipates where it'll be tipped and runs there to catch it (extremely natural instincts) but boy do we need him for more than just one of those every other game. We need him to lead. He's our biggest "starter" liability in the secondary. He's gotta play better but more importantly LEAD better and by example like 28 is. The pick is cute and cool for stats but man could he help if he was getting the PBU that turned into their first good drive in the game or robbing some of those 2nd level crosses that have killed us the past few weeks or just be really strong and clean in his tacking. Any of those qualities will do and preseason AA is expected to do so. However, the unit is talented enough to hold up. I think they'll continue to improve. GRADE: 80
SCHEME: We are far ahead of the offense this year and I actually believe the #1 reason is continuity. Stuts has been in this defense 3yrs. Same with 40, 32, 10, 11, 2, 5, 56, 3 and others then 15, 95, 24, etc have been here 2yrs. They know what to do. And it shows. We showed a few exotic fronts presnap Saturday and I think it was to give Tenn something to think about on film. Ends at backer level with backers on the edges. Stand up Ends and backers presnap either blitzing or flying out of their. 30 fronts with 3 down. 40 fronts with 3 down and a backer and true 40s with 4 down. Lots to think about and a setup for some true exotics come next week...I like it. I'll be watching for rotations to shrink and guys to be expected to play more on islands to put more pressure on the qb. The key is stopping the run with 6 in the box. If we can do that and keep our shell, we'll be okay. If we have to tighten the cheetah or play single high...they are going to challenge us like HELL on the second level crossers and up the sidelines and seams. Could make for a long day.
SPECIALS: Short n sweet. Solid. From punts, to punt return. And kickoffs and field goals. We kicked and returned well. Bowen had a nice return up the north sideline and our kickers and punter were clean. GRADE: 90
Last Thgt...We better get more physical and in a hurry. We hit like an also ran of the big xii not a big dawg in the sec. That goes for most position groups. Guys gotta lose the fear of penalties being called and let loose. Not ig'nant stuff, but physical and almost bully behavior. That energy is allowed in the sec and we've gotta exhibit it or we will get punked in some games. Saturday will let us know if we're a serious contender or pretender. A few guys getting healthy would help, but so would simply playing HARDER. Here's to seeing if we have it in us.
Post your most urgent Thgt below...or ask a question/critique mines
#Boomer
QB: Jackson is a work in progress. Someone posting something very true on this board yesterday. He's got the tools, but lacks experience and true stability at other positions. After 4 games I'll say that he isn't the difference maker yet that will flat win you games with his arm, mind or legs...BUT you can see it in there. He does some things well and has a good blend of size, arm talent and athleticism. I still don't like the non chalant character that Bake had (I loved Bakes) because jfa isn't responsible for any of our wins yet. He's improved from HTown to Tulane, but man he almost killed us again too. With Hawk right behind him, I wonder how it feels to sit and think/know there are things you could be doing to help the team win? Next week will be critical. Jfa better be prepared for what's coming on defense AND ready to match what's coming on offense. GRADE: 75 and that won't cutit with the upcoming schedule.
RBs: IDK why people want to fight me on my rb take. I actually think it's pretty easy to see who the most talented RB is. Yes, 2 had some good runs, and he looks pretty damn good toting it, but someone...anyone find one run where he makes a guy miss. I'm not talking a cut to hit the hole but a play where he uses angles, shiftiness and physicality to bypass a defender. Once he's touched, he usually goes down. They schemed him up some better opportunities...and I don't hate the kid, I promise, he's gotta give more than what the play was designed to give. Chuk...idk kid looks unsure. Idk if it's plateau, regress or more competition but he still looks off. We do know he's a second half of the season kinda guy. Tatum, needs to continue to be featured. I noticed he clearly stepped up and stuck his nose into blitzes a few times (they blitzed/twisted up the a and b gaps a bunch) and that bodes well for future reps, but we need to see more..and creatively. Get him in space and running in the second level..I'd like to see how he handles folk in the secondary and with some natural angles. GRADE: 77 Just too much meat left on the bone. Rbs helped a ton in their fits blocking but no one really has gotten LOOSE.
TEs/WRs: The group grew and we saw some pups who "look the part" I saw 7 catch a ball and act like he knew what to do with it. 81 as well. This definitely bodes well for us. While 15 played I saw him in the slot and thgt it was only a matter of time before they took a shot before we never saw him again (or maybe I'm blind). I saw 17 get a step behind coverage...he was at X of note. So seeing pups get shots and the ball thrown their way makes me happy. We need our qb to connect a on a few more of those and they'll really get going. 6 is a dude. 10 is solid although he gets cute sometimes trying to act like a wr instead of te running lateral vs getting up field. But they're solid. 13 is ...ahh...well...tall 🤷🏽♂️ and wearing a cool number. A few drops..a bad one on 3rd down from 6 comes to mind, but a improvement over last week by a mile. GRADE: 79 NOT quite good enough to be "SEC good" and saying that makes me wanna 🤢🤮
OLINE: Some good, some bad and some ugly and probably not what u think. I'll start with the ugly. The ugly is...not one quarter this year "have we been good enough" to beat a good defense. Temple was terrible. Houston they were the tallest midget (graded a 72) and yesterday, they were...some good, some bad...but NEVER physical. It's a teamwide issue in some instances but it's a bigger problem on the oline. They've fixed the "get a hat on a hat" issue from week 1. However even (and probably especially in) pass pro, they punch and then stop moving their feet and start to bend at the waste. They lose leverage and the pocket collapses. That's not a physical issue. It's mental or being unsure. Guys look to be saying "I did my job" and then kinda just start flopping around vs get bend, get physical and start moving people. Erks my soul bcuz it looks like with 1 to 2 more seconds Jackson could attack more second level stuff. But he doesn't look comfy and it's bcuz the pocket shrinks quickly...in my humble it's NOT strength..it's technique and physicality. GRADE: 75. They did some good in the run game and singular guys had good moments. On the zone bend back left tackle and guard cave the entire right side of the defense and Barnes is out the gate...I just wish he'd make a guy miss and turn it into a big play.
SCHEME: Had to consolidate wrs/tes to add this 😅. The scheme is improving (no I'm not playing faves for Seth..Hype is light years ahead of him as of now). But we ran some stuff to get 2 going and a bunch of boots to get Jackson moving. We also run action..which means route combos on the second level of the defense but Jackson either misses or won't pull the trigger. I don't have all 22 view but guys, there's no way we aren't running crosses into the second level. Now do I think we're scheming CD behind backers like Linc did where he was always WIDE open (I never understood how CD and Linc did that like eleventy (is that a number) times but that was top tier.)
But you see on 3rd and long when forced to ( worst time to run crossers vs coverage) that guys are there. Jfa just isn't pulling the trigger. I don't think he wants to try to fit things into tight windows or put the ball in jeopardy. I also saw some Leach triangle principals used early and again late AND we saw some fedora/Wilson stuff in there in run schemes and ofc the boot action. I personally think Seth is digging in his bag to see where the qb and oline will mesh the best. Because they had some things working early that they didn't go back to: Spot - back to flat, te 4yards and curl up, z up the field on go or corner. Read backer to cb and either take spot to te (we hit once) or if cb runs with go hit rb in the flat (we hit that once). It's quick game so ball comes out quick...we never went back to it (Leach principal) and there's 3 or 4 EASY variations to it
GRADE: 76
DLINE: Love loathe relationship. Love the tackles, loathe the ends. 65, 52 and 95 were EATING Saturday. Some didn't see it but 21 (tulane rb) has been a GOOD player the first two weeks of the season. He was featured for them across Burks on the TV for offense threats. He was basically a non factor. We kicked their ASSES gcg consistently (gcg = guard center guard) especially in the run game. They also ate up pocket and even in q1 you could see 32 getting close on at least 2 occasions to getting sacks bcuz the qb couldn't step up. Ends - we have our new lead dawg. 32 showed all season he had more burst and yesterday he finally got home. It was fun and good to see a guy flat WHOOP his man and impose his will. No scheme, no accidents, no luck...just whooping your guy 😇. Thats the Lords work. He won us the 4th quarter. PERIOD and you need that from time to time. I watched 90, 40 and 30 as well. 90 was the worst of them 30 and 40 were both a push. 30 a lil better in pass rush 40 a lil better in containing the edge. We need PJ to come alive or you'll see a lot more presnap movement like u saw yesterday with people all over the place presnap to confuse offenses, GRADE 91/84 Ends would be a 68 but with 32 but he was a HUGE difference maker. End may be playing the worst as a group this year. No injuries, lots of vets, very low production save 32
BACKERS: 28 was excellent again but did anyone see 24? Two games in a row he showed natural skills. I like him second before ANYONE else at the second level right now. He's got size, speed and he's very physical with a nose for the ball. Another observation was 28 played proly 75% of his snaps at Will. He's twice as good as any other backer at will and is only "good" at Mike. The wrinkle of moving him to will with 11 at Mike flanked by 24 is my fave group at this point. Everyone knows I'm a 10 fan and thgt 20 was the next dude...nope. as of now it's easily 24 as the next dude and 11 holding down Mike for 28. Period. We still get lost on second level pass coverage and I'd like to see some run threws for sacks but a damned good group. GRADE: 83 Still room for improvement but not a group I'm terribly afraid for going into conference.
DBs: I really like our cbs. If 5 is our 3rd or 4th cb your in good shape. I don't think he should rotate in as much, but 6th year guys when healthy will help you. 4 is rock solid and 26 is a matchup problem for offenses. 3 is our most physical 3rd level guy and plays the best on the 2nd level
..leaves a lot to be desired on the 3rd level though. 22 needs to play more. He seems sound but some say he's a little hurt although he didn't look hurt on that punt return. 2?.....2 wtf is going on with 2? He seems lost. Let's get his opportunistic int out the way. He actually reads it very well if you rewatch the tape. He anticipates where it'll be tipped and runs there to catch it (extremely natural instincts) but boy do we need him for more than just one of those every other game. We need him to lead. He's our biggest "starter" liability in the secondary. He's gotta play better but more importantly LEAD better and by example like 28 is. The pick is cute and cool for stats but man could he help if he was getting the PBU that turned into their first good drive in the game or robbing some of those 2nd level crosses that have killed us the past few weeks or just be really strong and clean in his tacking. Any of those qualities will do and preseason AA is expected to do so. However, the unit is talented enough to hold up. I think they'll continue to improve. GRADE: 80
SCHEME: We are far ahead of the offense this year and I actually believe the #1 reason is continuity. Stuts has been in this defense 3yrs. Same with 40, 32, 10, 11, 2, 5, 56, 3 and others then 15, 95, 24, etc have been here 2yrs. They know what to do. And it shows. We showed a few exotic fronts presnap Saturday and I think it was to give Tenn something to think about on film. Ends at backer level with backers on the edges. Stand up Ends and backers presnap either blitzing or flying out of their. 30 fronts with 3 down. 40 fronts with 3 down and a backer and true 40s with 4 down. Lots to think about and a setup for some true exotics come next week...I like it. I'll be watching for rotations to shrink and guys to be expected to play more on islands to put more pressure on the qb. The key is stopping the run with 6 in the box. If we can do that and keep our shell, we'll be okay. If we have to tighten the cheetah or play single high...they are going to challenge us like HELL on the second level crossers and up the sidelines and seams. Could make for a long day.
SPECIALS: Short n sweet. Solid. From punts, to punt return. And kickoffs and field goals. We kicked and returned well. Bowen had a nice return up the north sideline and our kickers and punter were clean. GRADE: 90
Last Thgt...We better get more physical and in a hurry. We hit like an also ran of the big xii not a big dawg in the sec. That goes for most position groups. Guys gotta lose the fear of penalties being called and let loose. Not ig'nant stuff, but physical and almost bully behavior. That energy is allowed in the sec and we've gotta exhibit it or we will get punked in some games. Saturday will let us know if we're a serious contender or pretender. A few guys getting healthy would help, but so would simply playing HARDER. Here's to seeing if we have it in us.
Post your most urgent Thgt below...or ask a question/critique mines
#Boomer
