"I also really don't like the offense making the play call at the LOS. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I think it just gives Jefferson too much to think about." It's the coaches checking off and making a call based on what they see the D giving us. It takes the deicsion away from JJ but he was going on his on at times last night, so I heard, and the coaches were pissed at him for checking down when what they called would have worked. As for the what JJ did and the coaches being upset, take it with a grain of salt, one of my friends told me that after church.
JJ reminds me a lot of Marcus Randall who was very inaccurate on deep balls. When we play UGA, Bama, or FLA, I guarantee you guys that we'll see alot of JL, and he will win games for us. We can't win against those teams with the way JJ playing. Period.
Really not happy with Crowton this season and I am one of his biggest fans. 1) No more obvious run formations with Scott in the backfield. 2) Where is Dickson over the middle? That has got to be open all day long. 3) Don't take Williams out when he has a hot hand only to go back to an underperforming Scott/O-line 4) Air it out for goodness sakes. You got speed to burn. I think we only went long once or twice. Give Jefferson a better shot with safeties playing deep. Also would open up our running game a little more. 5) Do we have the delayed handoff in our playbook anymore? 6) Shepard has to be on the field 30-50 percent of the time. Defense was definitely better overall (but that's not saying much after last week's disaster). Still, all in all, this defense playing at this level will get embarrassed by the likes of Florida, Ole Miss and Alabama (and maybe even Georgia). We must improve safety play first and foremost. It's not at an acceptable level. The corners have been money so far and that's great. We need much better innovation to get to the QB as our simple bull rushes are getting us nowhere. The special teams were much better (especially with punting). That worried me a lot and now it looks like Helton has settled in.
He has to be thinking that bringing along JJ slowly is the way to go. I also think weather had a lot to do with how limited and predictable the offense was yesterday. Same as JJ, he needs to be brought along S L O W L Y. He has way too much talent and ability to risk doing it any other way. He's not a bruising running back and has probably never been hit in a game like he was yesterday. I dont want to see him get rocked so bad that he gets gun shy or even worse, gets hurt. He needs more lower body girth if we are going to use him like that. That one tackle yesterday was damn scary. I'll be the first to say I didnt want Chavis and what you are seeing is Chavis ball. That middle linebacker drop on long yardage downs is a weird scheme but its his scheme. Lets also put Vandy into perspective. I saw a number of posts last week about Vandy having a big running game after their opener. Well, the team they beat last week lost to Gardner-Webb yesterday! Vandy's offense will not be near as good this year as it has been the last few years. Washington was a better measuring stick. With that said, I do think we made some baby steps and a win's a win in my book. The schedule sets up nice with two cupcakes coming up to help the team gel. Unless you are stacked with senior starters, every years edition is a different team. We still need to have work horses and leaders emerge in order for this team to come together. We've got talent galore but you still need the intangibles.
Yeah, I worry about that when we play the toughest teams (especially on the road). We challenge the play clock quite a bit and I could possibly see a number of penalties and miscues if they're not really comfortable with that. Sometimes I think it makes the team anxious when they feel that clock ticking toward zero and it's a race against time. Uhhh...in case you weren't around last year or were in a year-long coma, we saw a lot of JL last year against those opponents and interceptions for TDs the other way didn't work out in our favor for some reason. I thought maybe they would, but who can ever predict these kinds of things (not to keep knocking on JL because he's a Tiger and obviously a very mentally tough guy who we may need to do well this season if an injury occurs). We've barely even tried any deep balls. I seem to remember him hitting some bombs in the Peach Bowl against GT very well when he won that MVP trophy. It's something he needs to work on, no doubt. But the guy can run, can pass, hasn't made many big mistakes at all and is winning games for us. Period.
I think we're not using the fullback enough. The new guy hasn't seen much action and Scott is out of position at fullback. We've been a power running team for years now out of the I and with the backs we have now, this is no time to give up on it. Its time to perfect it. Knock them back on their butts whether they know its a run or not. Combine that with a passing quarterback and some nifty receivers and you have a balanced offense. Jefferson threw behind him last week and couldn't find him this week. Dickson has been working, though. Don't take any player out with a hot hand. I'm beginning to wonder if Jefferson has the arm for it. Not that much and not this soon, I think. Jefferson has to be the man this season. They will bring Shepard, Randle, and all the young players along at the rate that they can handle it and don't endanger the team with frosh mistakes.
Dickson did have a few catches and what i loved was the fact that they used him in the inside screen play. As far as Crowton, look, we got glimpes last night of what this offense is capable of when we play wide open. The first 3 quarters the play calls had the Crowton stamp, the formations, everything. In the 4th you could tell Miles put a lid on it, because all of the formations changed back to what you saw in the UW game. Isn't it a posibility that the coaching staff is telling a young quarterback to take what he can underneath if it is there first and foremost? It makes sense to me because the long throwing motion takes so much time. I am telling you guys and gals, be thankful we have a kid back there that is not making dumb decisions. You saw flashes of what this offense is capable of. Last night i think the coaching staff had JJ in 5 wide so much because we know we can run, we need JJ in situations and in formations that will help him learn more of the playbook, and get more reps throwing in game situations. I like what i am seeing, i really do, we are on the way up.
