Line Play - Miami

[Mavric]

Re-watched the first half (so far) of the Miami game and here's my biggest impression:

The complaints about the struggle of our offensive line are so completely overblown it's staggering.

I'll admit, I didn't think they had been particularly good. But when you go back and actually watch what is happening as opposed to simply judging by the result, you'll see that the vast majority of the time, they are actually playing very well. Our pass protection is VERY good. TA had a nice pocket and plenty of time to throw on almost every play. Miami was getting very little pass rush - we got much more pressure than they did (more on that later). They are not road graders so they aren't blowing open huge holes in the running game. But they aren't getting be a lot either. Most of the time when a running play got blown up it was because a receiver or back was missing a block. And most of the plays that don't get many yards are straight zone runs. We aren't really getting blown up but there simply isn't much room to run a straight zone play into a seven man box. When we get a little more creative with our running plays - jet sweeps, counters and a zone read or two - we had pretty good success.

That being said, I think Kondolo is the weak link. He is very slow off the ball - Gates is well out in front when they fire out on running plays. I'd really like to see Foster get a shot as run blocking is his forte.

I wish I had a couple hours to document all this but I'll try to get some screen shots of plays up to show this.

 

[Mavric]

On the defensive side, they are also getting treated somewhat harshly. We are getting some decent pressure - not a lot but more than many people seem to think. And our run defense isn't too bad either. Kaaya was getting the ball out so quickly most of the time (which I think was the case in the first two games as well) that there simply isn't time to get to the QB on many plays.

 

[Mavric]

Here's the Huskers first series.

Unfortunately after my big lead-in, the first play isn't very good. Kondolo looks completely lost so he didn't so something right. It looks like he was supposed to loop outside Gates and lead on a counter-type play but he goes inside and can't get to the backer. But Newby still gets four yards. If four yards is a "bad" play, sign me up.

Second down. It's a quick pass but you can't have better blocking than this:

Another quick pass but plenty of room to throw.

Unfortunately there was a drop by Hovey on second down and a pass that Westy might have caught under really tight coverage - might have been tipped away as well. And we punt.

 

[Kernal]

Thanks Mavric, I enjoy reading your insights.

ETA: here's a condensed version of the game somebody posted to Youtube.

 

[Mavric]

Miami's first possession.

Quick curl route. Not much time to get any pressure.

Another fairly quick throw but Collins has shoved his guy six yards back and Freedom is just coming free (no pun intended). Davie was beat but recovers to knock the pass away.

Not particularly great line play as there is a nice hole. But where are our LBs? Young is directly ahead of the RB and we have five guys on the offense's right side with nobody home on the left. This was some sort of blitz or stunt but it left us terribly vulnerable.

This is the play that Davie gets completely turned around and the receiver is wide open on the deep cross. But Collins totally beat his man only to run clear by Kaaya. But we have three guys bearing down on Kaaya as he releases it.

Quick throw on the slant for the TD. No chance to get any pressure.

 

[suh_fan93]

After watching the Miami game particularly when watching some of Newby's runs I thought there were times when the line blocked well and gave Newby some really big creases to run through. I don't know how good Miami's DL is regarded as but regardless TN had some nice holes to run through at times.

 

[TheSker]

Here's the Huskers first series.

Unfortunately after my big lead-in, the first play isn't very good. Kondolo looks completely lost so he didn't so something right. It looks like he was supposed to loop outside Gates and lead on a counter-type play but he goes inside and can't get to the backer. But Newby still gets four yards. If four yards is a "bad" play, sign me up.

Second down. It's a quick pass but you can't have better blocking than this:

Another quick pass but plenty of room to throw.

Unfortunately there was a drop by Hovey on second down and a pass that Westy might have caught under really tight coverage - might have been tipped away as well. And we punt.

Good stuff Mavric......and I agree with your comment in the frame on the first run.

 

[Mavric]

Huskers second possession

If this isn't a running lane, I don't know what is.

It's a quick throw to Westy but none of the line is even a step back from the LOS (30). The left side got a good push.

Not much of a hole but Miami was stacking the line on 3rd & 1. Cross got four yards. Mission accomplished. Remind me again why we didn't do this on 3rd & 1 later in the game....

Jet sweep to Reilly. All the line has executed their blocks. The one free defender was outside where the line could get to him and didn't make the play.

Great pocket for TA to throw from. Throw was inside Carter and when he turned around to catch it, it give the safety time to close and knock the pass away.

Not much of a hole but this is a straight zone run into the middle of an eight man box. But you can see several linemen have pushed their guys a few yards back. Just too many guys to block on a straight-ahead run.

Lewis could have held his block longer but TA still has room to throw. Not a great job.

 

[Mavric]

Miami's second possession

Pretty bad run defense here. The line is spread out so far that there are huge holes. Bando is unblocked but misses the tackle.

A very quick throw by Kaaya - so fast that Young was completely unblocked but couldn't get there in time on the blitz. Davie is a half-step off but makes the tackle after the pass completion.

Again pretty poor run defense. A huge hole and the OLine is free to work up to the second level.

Another very quick throw from Kaaya, finding the slant for the TD. I didn't really notice Maurice much during the game but watching it again he was making some things happen.

 

[Mavric]

Nebraska's third possession

I wouldn't call this great blocking but there is definitely a running lane to the outside for TA. But the LB runs him down for a three yard gain.

Another perfect pocket allowing for everyone's favorite play "Cotton on the catch."

This is an interesting play with Utter pulling and Newby leading TA. The line all makes their blocks - the free defender that blows up the play was lined up in the Guard-Tackle gap and Carter was supposed to block down on him. That's a long down block, especially for a TE. That guy doesn't make the play but it slows TA up enough that Lewis' guy is able to get free for the tackle. Punt.

 

[Mavric]

Miami's third possession

Quick throw on the slant.

WR screen. Maurice smells it out but can't recover in time. Not sure where our LBs went.

Pretty bad run defense again - huge hole to run through.

Kaaya has time to throw here but gets happy feet and rolls out even though there really isn't any pressure. Young finally makes him throw it away. Must have actually had good coverage on this one.

TERRIBLE run defense. I really hope we had some sort of slant called here because there is no one on the right side.

Another quick throw from Kaaya.

This time Kaaya had time again but scrambles anyway. Should have been an easy TD to the RB releasing down the sideline but Kaaya zings it over his head.

Another quick throw. Most of the time, Kaaya is getting rid of the ball very quickly. Hard to get pressure.

Another quick throw with good protection. Receiver is really open.

Got lucky here. Big holes in our run defense but the RB run right into the back of the guys in front of him.

Goal line defense makes a good stand.

After a penalty, Kaaya with the quick throw on the fade but it's incomplete.

Have to give our defense credit here. There were some pretty bad plays but they found a way to force a field goal. And Miami had to earn it - it was a 13 play drive.

 

[Mavric]

That's all I have time for tonight.

I'm going to amend my previous statement about our defensive line play. I was mainly paying attention to our pass rush the first time but as I re-watched it to get these screen shots, our run defense was actually pretty poor. Most of the time Miami had huge holes to run through. The pass rush simply didn't have much time to get there as Kaaya was getting the ball out quickly - a credit to him and and not speaking well of our pass coverage.

But through the entire first quarter I really struggle to find a play that wasn't pretty good from our offensive line. And the second quarter is basically the same way. Dropped passes - though I would content that two of them were knocked away by Miami - and a missed block by our TE cost us drives.

 

[lo country]

Some great stuff and pics. Thanks! I know that the photos only catch a "moment in time" per say, but one things I have noticed since SUH left and even in the limited photos as well as actual games is this. If you can't get to the QB, get your hands up. Creat some type of obstacle for him to have to be concerned with.

 

[BIG ERN]

Great work Mav. I appreciate things like this.

A few things I noticed but haven't had time to rewatch the game yet.

1. TA doesn't do a great job of stepping up into the pocket. This is why we usually see him throw off his back foot. Made some great plays spinning out, but several times didn't need to.

2. I don't understand our defensive philosophy yet. We either are way too far off the line, or when we get closer we don't jam and I feel the defense is running with defenders too much instead of keeping things in front of them. The latter is a recipe for big plays for the offense which we have seen happen several times this season.

3. For not having a great pash rusher (Freedom will end up being a stud at DE), I feel we don't do near enough stunts on the d line.

4. When we do blitz, we are always too late. One, we try to disguise our blitz too much. I saw several times Young was late to the QB because of this. Also, if you are going to blitz, you have to GO.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I specifically watched this play over and over the other day. Collins does beat his guy but when he gets free, he is slightly off balance and the RB is able to hit him just hard enough that he gets taken out of the play.