well, for what it's worth, i think he's been doing a better job of standing strong in the pocket this season. i also agree with fish that i have noticed that JJ is more effective on the rollout than he is at dropping straight back. noticed it about 3-4 games into his "career." i don't mind the rollout if it's productive going for a few bombs a game. what i would like to see is more deception from our offense -- especially if we're going to be so conservative. don't be so damn predictable.
Not that I have any say so in the offensive playcalling, but I've been thinking about this since last year...and I realize that if he only throws while rolling out, it becomes obvious pretty quick. So there has to be some wrinkles added to the roll out play. First off, he can always keep it. Once teams figure out he can throw on the roll out, they'll have to respect that, and some running lanes will open up for him. Secondly, there's any number of "trick" plays that can be run from the roll out. He could have an RB break off a block and shovel it to him. He could have Shep in the flats come reverse and hand him the ball on the end around. - It's not something we can do every play, but it can be done more often to create confidence, and production from JJ. It's so obvious he's more comfortable outside the pocket. This was clear from the Peach Bowl against GT...and that was two friggin' years ago. He didn't have a huge game statistics wise, but he was VERY effective. And he had a beautiful long TD called back because of a penalty.
i agree with everything here. you can run a lot from that rollout, and that's what i think is holding this offense back. i'm just being presumptuous with this, but maybe this is where the confusion sets in for JJ? maybe he rolls out as a last resort when a play blows up? i'm not sure, i'm also not an offensive coordinator, i just think that at this point the coaching staff should have MORE than enough evaluation of our offense to tailor something -- anything -- to jefferson's strengths. i'm ever the optimist that we will see something by the florida game. however, we cannot expect to beat the florida's and alabama's (and WVU's) on our schedule if we roll into gainesville with something like our game plan for UF last season. and i know that i'm preaching to the choir with that assessment.
To my mind, they are already trying to tailor to Jefferson's "strengths"... dumpoffs and scrambles. Any team with decent corners is going to move the safeties into the box and shut down the running game and short passing game if Jefferson cannot get the ball down the field, especially the deep middle.
You mean like the three times he did connect up the deep middle against UNC, and they haven't tried again since?
Yeah, but you insinuated he can't do it...and that's not the case. They just don't call it. When they did, he had no problems with it...
You don't think he can do this? Safeties moving into the box is a good thing, not a bad thing (provided your OL can protect consistently, jury is still out on us.) Ask UNC's defensive coordinator if Jefferson can hit the deep post route. Ask former Bama OLB Cory Reamer if Jefferson can hit the TE on a seam route. By rolling out to one side of the field, you can flood zone coverage and open up all three levels of passing, forcing the 2 DBs to choose between 3 receivers. This will discourage teams from sitting in zone on our wideouts. Once they try to man up on Shep, TT and RR (add in D-Pete whenever he's ready), we've already won. It's simple: more rollouts=more completions more completions=more confidence more confidence=more chances down field "A rising tide lifts all ships"
Excellent point. I looked at the game stats and I don't see a completed pass to a tight end. If the safety's are crowding the box, you would think a seam pass to the TE would work.. I like the roll out at times, I think JJ does more scrambling to get outside to complete a pass on the run than are designed roll outs.
