I am going to try an continue my novice film review. Specifically watching the o-line and the d-line. Here is what I saw from the rewatch:
Game can be seen here ().
Overall, offensive line played alright. They blitzed a lot, so it made it hard on them. There were times where they dominated and there were times when they struggled. It didn't start great.
First drive – The problem with offensive lines is when one guy fails, it makes them all look bad. On the first play, Knevel gets beat across his face. Which is the worst way to get beat. One of the biggest rules in o-line play is ‘never let a man cross your face.’ This is a general rule, so if your responsibility is to block down, but a LB blitzes and comes across you, he is now your responsibility. On the 2nd and long where TA gets sacked, Wyo brought 4 guys on the right side and there were only 3 men to block them (RT, LT, and Newby out of the backfield). Tommy needs to read that and get rid of the ball way sooner. I am happy that he took that sack instead of throwing a YOLO bomb there. I will call it progress.
Second Drive – O-line looked alright. Gates got beat on a reach block (really hard play to make - but he made it later in the game a couple times). They blocked the screen to Ozigbo really well (this happened the rest of the day). Knevel was poor on a pass block. He may hurt us in the future. A RB or a TE may have to be assigned to help chip the DE on that side more often. His feet look heavy or a lack of effort. I am not sure which. Also, damn it is nice to have Reilly back. That kid can play.
Third Drive – Knevel did a nice job on the second level on the TE around to Carter. It isn’t easy to get out and maintain a block on the second level. Morgan also had a great crack-back on that play. The WRs looked to have blocked much better this game. Armstrong threw a dart to Morgan on the 3rd and 5. Nice throw.
That being said, he followed it up with the pick. Truly, I am not sure about the play design. All the o-linemen block down, the RB fakes a handoff and blocks down, a WR (Moore) runs a fake sweep and blocks down and then it is a roll out to the opposite side where the DE is left unblocked (it looks like by design) and then they send a LB. So two players are pressuring TA. Carter comes across and sits and Westerkamp runs an out. So, as far as I can tell, it looks like a roll out with a two man route. (Reilly is coming in late in the back of the end zone from the backside – so technically three receivers are out) The play didn’t fake the defense out at all. They pressured Armstrong and there was blanket coverage. Tommy needs to throw that ball away. We all know it. It was a terrible decision. Enough said on that play.
It was the tale of two Tommy’s on the next drive. The start of this drive he rolls left, squares his shoulders and throws a great ball to Moore on the sidelines. The next play he fumbles the exchange on a zone read. Which is bummer because it was just him and the safety. I like Tommy’s chances when it is him verse a safety in the run game. The next play, they run a stunt-blitz and Farmer misses the blitzing LB. Tommy eludes the rush and throws it away. Love the decision. Then a few plays later, 3rd and 4 on the 12 yard line, Armstrong has a clean pocket and he throws to a covered man. The DB makes a good break and almost picks it. Thank goodness he doesn’t. He would have had a good chance to take it to the house. Remember, the score is still on 7-0 halfway through the 2nd Q. That could have really changed the game. FG. 10-0.
On our last drive of the half, the announcer is an idiot, Carter needs to make that catch.
Our first offensive play of the half. Farmer gets burned and Ozigbo gets stuffed in the backfield. Then two inaccurate throws and a rouge fake punt and it is a bad start to the half. Especially when we follow it up with getting stiff armed and then a late hit on defense.
The offense acted like this the rest of the game. Inconsistent. The o-line, especially Knevel, needs to step it up next week. Every single one of them had plays where they got flat out beat.
*There are times where both are tackles don’t do well. Some of that is Tommy not helping them by stepping up in the pocket and some of that is them getting abused (mostly Knevel). Go to the 1:26:25 mark and watch both tackles. Especially Knevel. Ugly.
*Man did this broadcast team suck.
*We sometimes ask a lot of our TEs in the run game.
*It was really nice to see the second team o-line get some snaps. That hasn’t happened in a very long time. I saw #62 - Conrad, #54 Painter, #58 Whitaker, #79 Decker, #65 Gaylord, #76 Johnson Jr. - Surprised I did not see Barnett.
On Defense-
*Ross Dzuris may be the most underrated guy on the team. He may not be flashy, but he is in the right spot a lot and makes some really nice plays. I have been really impressed with him.
*Maurice played really well. There was a lot more rotation of the DTs this game. I saw Rath in several times.
*Freedom needs to show up more. He had a great blow by and hit on the QB on Wyoming's second drive.
*We missed too many sack opportunities. There are times where we have the QB dead to rights and he gets out of it.
*A noticeable difference between this defense and in (recent) years past is that they swarm to the football. Lots of gang tackling. That is fun to see again.
*Luckily their kicker sucked. It could have been a 1 point game going into the 4th Q, instead of a 7 point game.
*I can't believe they burned 2 timeouts to start the 2nd half.
*Overall, the score didn't show how close this game really was. They fell apart in the 4th Q and we capitalized on their mistakes. That is the difference between this year and last year so far. They held composure when it started to look like they might lose control. That is really nice to see.
Game can be seen here ().
Overall, offensive line played alright. They blitzed a lot, so it made it hard on them. There were times where they dominated and there were times when they struggled. It didn't start great.
First drive – The problem with offensive lines is when one guy fails, it makes them all look bad. On the first play, Knevel gets beat across his face. Which is the worst way to get beat. One of the biggest rules in o-line play is ‘never let a man cross your face.’ This is a general rule, so if your responsibility is to block down, but a LB blitzes and comes across you, he is now your responsibility. On the 2nd and long where TA gets sacked, Wyo brought 4 guys on the right side and there were only 3 men to block them (RT, LT, and Newby out of the backfield). Tommy needs to read that and get rid of the ball way sooner. I am happy that he took that sack instead of throwing a YOLO bomb there. I will call it progress.
Second Drive – O-line looked alright. Gates got beat on a reach block (really hard play to make - but he made it later in the game a couple times). They blocked the screen to Ozigbo really well (this happened the rest of the day). Knevel was poor on a pass block. He may hurt us in the future. A RB or a TE may have to be assigned to help chip the DE on that side more often. His feet look heavy or a lack of effort. I am not sure which. Also, damn it is nice to have Reilly back. That kid can play.
Third Drive – Knevel did a nice job on the second level on the TE around to Carter. It isn’t easy to get out and maintain a block on the second level. Morgan also had a great crack-back on that play. The WRs looked to have blocked much better this game. Armstrong threw a dart to Morgan on the 3rd and 5. Nice throw.
That being said, he followed it up with the pick. Truly, I am not sure about the play design. All the o-linemen block down, the RB fakes a handoff and blocks down, a WR (Moore) runs a fake sweep and blocks down and then it is a roll out to the opposite side where the DE is left unblocked (it looks like by design) and then they send a LB. So two players are pressuring TA. Carter comes across and sits and Westerkamp runs an out. So, as far as I can tell, it looks like a roll out with a two man route. (Reilly is coming in late in the back of the end zone from the backside – so technically three receivers are out) The play didn’t fake the defense out at all. They pressured Armstrong and there was blanket coverage. Tommy needs to throw that ball away. We all know it. It was a terrible decision. Enough said on that play.
It was the tale of two Tommy’s on the next drive. The start of this drive he rolls left, squares his shoulders and throws a great ball to Moore on the sidelines. The next play he fumbles the exchange on a zone read. Which is bummer because it was just him and the safety. I like Tommy’s chances when it is him verse a safety in the run game. The next play, they run a stunt-blitz and Farmer misses the blitzing LB. Tommy eludes the rush and throws it away. Love the decision. Then a few plays later, 3rd and 4 on the 12 yard line, Armstrong has a clean pocket and he throws to a covered man. The DB makes a good break and almost picks it. Thank goodness he doesn’t. He would have had a good chance to take it to the house. Remember, the score is still on 7-0 halfway through the 2nd Q. That could have really changed the game. FG. 10-0.
On our last drive of the half, the announcer is an idiot, Carter needs to make that catch.
Our first offensive play of the half. Farmer gets burned and Ozigbo gets stuffed in the backfield. Then two inaccurate throws and a rouge fake punt and it is a bad start to the half. Especially when we follow it up with getting stiff armed and then a late hit on defense.
The offense acted like this the rest of the game. Inconsistent. The o-line, especially Knevel, needs to step it up next week. Every single one of them had plays where they got flat out beat.
*There are times where both are tackles don’t do well. Some of that is Tommy not helping them by stepping up in the pocket and some of that is them getting abused (mostly Knevel). Go to the 1:26:25 mark and watch both tackles. Especially Knevel. Ugly.
*Man did this broadcast team suck.
*We sometimes ask a lot of our TEs in the run game.
*It was really nice to see the second team o-line get some snaps. That hasn’t happened in a very long time. I saw #62 - Conrad, #54 Painter, #58 Whitaker, #79 Decker, #65 Gaylord, #76 Johnson Jr. - Surprised I did not see Barnett.
On Defense-
*Ross Dzuris may be the most underrated guy on the team. He may not be flashy, but he is in the right spot a lot and makes some really nice plays. I have been really impressed with him.
*Maurice played really well. There was a lot more rotation of the DTs this game. I saw Rath in several times.
*Freedom needs to show up more. He had a great blow by and hit on the QB on Wyoming's second drive.
*We missed too many sack opportunities. There are times where we have the QB dead to rights and he gets out of it.
*A noticeable difference between this defense and in (recent) years past is that they swarm to the football. Lots of gang tackling. That is fun to see again.
*Luckily their kicker sucked. It could have been a 1 point game going into the 4th Q, instead of a 7 point game.
*I can't believe they burned 2 timeouts to start the 2nd half.
*Overall, the score didn't show how close this game really was. They fell apart in the 4th Q and we capitalized on their mistakes. That is the difference between this year and last year so far. They held composure when it started to look like they might lose control. That is really nice to see.
