A couple guys have called me out on my original knee jerk assertion of Beck today. And I was in the wrong. I let penailties and dropped snaps cloud my judgement and create a kneejerk reaction to what was actually a pretty decent game. It was a good mix. A LOT of 1st down PA off our strength runs. The best runs were actually designed gives with read action and NOT actual read plays. The 5 wr sets on 3rd and shorts (3 separate times in first 3 quarters) were one of the things that were really frustrating, though I understand the logic in isolating Ameer in the slot. it did work a couple times. But there were a couple of wasted possessions in the 1st half which you can see an obvious deviation from anything remotely close to what we constantly and consistently have success with. And like I said, the other possessions of which I at first thought were wasted by play calling were actually caused by penalties and dropped snaps.
1st possession.
20 yard PA pass to Westy down the seem.
7 yard run Ameer
No gain on a read keep
5 yard bootleg pass on 3rd and 3 from an empty set for first down
9 yard WR screen to Bell
No Gain to Ameer on a design give power
3 yard run-power with jet action for first down on 3rd and 1
5 yard run on Ameer stretch left
Dropped pass by Moore on PA on 2nd and 5-personal foul hands to face on Rutgers
16 yard TD run Tommy on read keep.
excellent mix of all things we do well. PA on early downs and 2nd and short. Excellent mixed of designed runs with the read action and actual read plays. Thought that set up the TD run on a keep beautifully. This was magnificent Beck.
2nd possession (after Gerry pick)
PA pass incomplete, Dropped by Moore
drop back pass complete to Bell for first down (but this is what bugs me. The PA passes on first down are great. I love em. But when they dont work, Beck goes into a paniclike mode on 2nd and 10 and more times than not gets us into 3rd and 10. It worked this time though. this was a HUGE problem against Sparty, 2013)
4 yard gain Ameer stretch left
Read keep Tommy 3 yard gain.
5 wr drop back pass on 3rd and 3.
Missed fg.
All in all possessions like this are what gripes me. No I dont think we should score on every possession, but when we dont because playcalling obviously deviates from what does or has been working and our best player gets the ball once in a 5 play stretch, and we're doing drop back passes with 5 wide on 3rd and 3, well, yeah. I'd call this one a wasted possession.
3rd possession
7 yd run Ameer-power slam
3 yd run Ameer Stretch left
5 yd run Ameer 3rd and 1 power trp right for the 1st down
53 yard td run Ameer on the read give. Jake Cotton and Kenny Bell had AWESOME blocks each 20 yards downfield.
Obviously what we like to see. Do what works until it's stopped. But more importantly, the creative mix of the kinds of run plays. Power, stretch. trap, read option. This was genius Beck. Hell, even a PA pass sprinkled in there on that 2nd and 3 play woulda been fine regardless of outcome.
4th possession
15 yard PA pass to Westy
48 yard TD run Ameer stretch left
Starts drive with PA pass for 3rd time in 4 drives. I love this. And the trend is we're lightyears better off PA than we are in drop back situations.
5th possession
5 yd run Ameer power trap
5 yard run Ameer stretch left
2 yard run Ameer power trap w/read action for 1st down
Fumbled snap for 10 yard loss.
Drop back pass *from under center* incomplete deep to Bell. Overthrown, Interference?
2yard loss Ameer on draw play.
This was one the of the drives that in kneejerk mode I thought was wasted, but in reality, because of the bad snap, set us back, and was essentially lost already. The shot deep to Bell was a good call, as was the draw play inside our own ten.
6th possession after Blocked FG and JMitch's shenanigans
Dropped snap, Tommy picks up and gains 3 yards around right end. Call was either stretch left to Ameer or possibly PA of such.
4 yard gain stretch right
16 yard pass Ameer on 3rd and 3 from 5 wide set. Ameer in slot. Again, 5 wides on 3rd and short. It worked, but it's still sillyness in my eyes. But yet, good job of exploiting one on one matchup of Ameer on slot.
The following sequence takes place with about 1:20 left, and 2 timeouts, note
2 yard run Ameer stretch left
drop back pass incomplete on 2nd and 8
on 3rd and 8, 5 wides, Hovey didnt read the blitz right, did not cut fast enough into vacated area on a hot read
Still, 5 wides to me is so far from our strength is mind boggling. it's too much I think for our qb to read. I thought this possession was wasted because of the lack of creativity in the run game. Stretch plays and a drop back pass. With two timeouts and over a minute left in their territory. Just kind of confusing to me.
1st possession 3rd quarter
49 yard run Ameer on a design give with read action
1 yard loss by Cross on A STRETCH SWEEP LEFT FROM THE GUN. LOL. Head scratcher nonetheless.
False start to 2nd and 16
10 yard PA pass to Bell
5 WR on 3rd and 5, 10 yard pass to Ameer from slot for first down
PA 8 yard TD pass TO THE TE DOWN THE MIDDLE SEAM.
The playcall with Cross was dumb. Straight up dumb. A penalty threatened to screw it up, but Beck did good here, calling somthing to Tommys strength to get us to 3rd and reasonable. And yet another PA on first down, and for the love of god, using the TE down the middle seam.
On the next possession, Ameer had a 76 yard kickoff return.
2 yard run stretch left Newby
Drop back pass, pressure scramble incomplete. Holding of off and def offset.
2nd and 8 again. false start.
2nd and 13 5 yard run direct snap Ameer in wildcat.
3rd adn 8, 14 yard drop back pass to bell.
1st and goal, 4 yard quick out pass Bell drop back
5 yard TD pass to Westy on A PICK PLAY from an empty backfield.
the drop back passes inside the 10 on 1st and 2nd goal were goofy, even though we scored. But I thought the patience showed on 2nd and 13 after penalty was good to give it to our best player and get 3rd and manageble. This is something we dont do NEARLY enough after faild PA passes on 1st downs
Recording ended at this point.
All in all, like I said, it was actually much more decent overall than i originally thought. But my main point still stands. When you look at the plays run on possessions we score and consitently move the ball compared to ones we dont, there's an obvious pattern and that is going away from strengths. Also on one of those possesstion there became a total lack of creativity and complexity in the run game. It's just got real simple. And all in all, yes, I think I did overreact a bit. LOL.
