Walking past some of the players' families after the game was a reminder to me that at the end of the day these guys really are still kids. And they are kids that put in more work than a lost of us can even fathom, so as hard as it is for us fans to lose, it is much harder on them. I need to work on not getting so upset during games, but am glad I have gotten better about not staying angry and letting it ruin an otherwise fun trip.
I tried to keep my expectations in check for this season so that one bad loss didn't ruin the enjoyment of the rest of the season for me. This wasn't a bad loss in the sense we lost to a bad team, but it is a bad loss because if our offense just plays average we win.
A few thoughts on the game...
While I do agree the play calling could have been better, if we simply catch the ball and throw the ball to the open receiver on a few other plays, we win going away. Our passing game was a fear of mine going into the game, but I did think we were past this point. I don't think the we will see that number of drops again, but Pringle has struggled to catch the ball consistently since he has been here. I know he had a good game statistically in game 1, but that was one of my takeaways from that game, he had two opportunities in the game to make tough catches and he didn't make either of them. I am concerned Jesse's ability to get through his progressions will continue to be an issue.
After the Stanford game last year, I was extremely upset with our play calling because I felt that we played the game to try to keep it close. I know we were extremely young but I didn't feel like our play calling really gave us a chance to go out and win the game. I don't think it was as bad at Vandy, but I wasn't thrilled with it either.
Like everyone else, I thought Silmon should have gotten some more carriers. And I do think Warmack could have helped us. That kid has to be extremely frustrated. The coaches raved about the summer he had and then Snyder complimented him on the 1st 2 games and he did well with the touches he got. I do believe Warmack is better at making guys miss in the open field than Barnes, and a couple of the option plays were just one defender away from being really big plays. And with as much man coverage as Vandy played, how about motioning Warmack out of the backfield and getting him matched up against a linebacker. I know this would be very exotic for us, but how about even lining up a receiver in the backfield and motioning him out, again with the hope of getting him matched against a linebacker in coverage.
After the game Ertz mentioned how they were taking away the boundaries. They can't focus on taking away everything so that has to mean the middle of the field is where more openings were. So how about giving Nick Lenners a shot at tight end. I don't know how fast he is, but I have seen enough to know he does have some athleticism. I know the coaches would say they don't want to get predictable with our play calling based on personnel, but I seriously doubt Lenners was on Vandy's scouting report to where if he came in for a few plays for Valentine, they would be automatically looking for a pass play to him.
I tried to keep my expectations in check for this season so that one bad loss didn't ruin the enjoyment of the rest of the season for me. This wasn't a bad loss in the sense we lost to a bad team, but it is a bad loss because if our offense just plays average we win.
A few thoughts on the game...
While I do agree the play calling could have been better, if we simply catch the ball and throw the ball to the open receiver on a few other plays, we win going away. Our passing game was a fear of mine going into the game, but I did think we were past this point. I don't think the we will see that number of drops again, but Pringle has struggled to catch the ball consistently since he has been here. I know he had a good game statistically in game 1, but that was one of my takeaways from that game, he had two opportunities in the game to make tough catches and he didn't make either of them. I am concerned Jesse's ability to get through his progressions will continue to be an issue.
After the Stanford game last year, I was extremely upset with our play calling because I felt that we played the game to try to keep it close. I know we were extremely young but I didn't feel like our play calling really gave us a chance to go out and win the game. I don't think it was as bad at Vandy, but I wasn't thrilled with it either.
Like everyone else, I thought Silmon should have gotten some more carriers. And I do think Warmack could have helped us. That kid has to be extremely frustrated. The coaches raved about the summer he had and then Snyder complimented him on the 1st 2 games and he did well with the touches he got. I do believe Warmack is better at making guys miss in the open field than Barnes, and a couple of the option plays were just one defender away from being really big plays. And with as much man coverage as Vandy played, how about motioning Warmack out of the backfield and getting him matched up against a linebacker. I know this would be very exotic for us, but how about even lining up a receiver in the backfield and motioning him out, again with the hope of getting him matched against a linebacker in coverage.
After the game Ertz mentioned how they were taking away the boundaries. They can't focus on taking away everything so that has to mean the middle of the field is where more openings were. So how about giving Nick Lenners a shot at tight end. I don't know how fast he is, but I have seen enough to know he does have some athleticism. I know the coaches would say they don't want to get predictable with our play calling based on personnel, but I seriously doubt Lenners was on Vandy's scouting report to where if he came in for a few plays for Valentine, they would be automatically looking for a pass play to him.
