Mavric's Musings - Northern Illinois

Mavric said:
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This is the play I was talking about earlier.  But, here are pictures of as the play was developing.  Your picture shows the end result.  However, there could not have been any communication between Farmer and Farniok.  

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BigRedBuster said:
This is the play I was talking about earlier.  But, here are pictures of as the play was developing.  Your picture shows the end result.  However, there could not have been any communication between Farmer and Farniok.  
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Yeah, there was obviously a big screw up in the blocking assignments.  It's actually both Conrad and Farmer that bock left.  Conrad blocks the DT and Farmer goes after the MIKE but that obviously doesn't leave anyone to block the other DT.  And Foster doesn't really have anyone to block on the other side.

So I have no idea who was at fault.  It just looks like a complete cluster.

 
These are situations where I firmly believe there is talent on the line to accomplish protecting the QB on this play.  The physical talent is there.  Heck, I would even say they all have good enough technique to accomplish it.  BUT.....this is where something is totally screwed up in the coaching because it is obvious the players didn't have a clue what they were supposed to do.

 
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BigRedBuster said:
These are situations where I firmly believe there is talent on the line to accomplish protecting the QB on this play.  The physical talent is there.  Heck, I would even say they all have good enough technique to accomplish it.  BUT.....this is where something is totally screwed up in the coaching because it is obvious the players didn't have a clue what they were supposed to do.
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Yep.  That's the thing that I'm most disappointed with on the line.  As I've shown above, I don't think they've played nearly as bad as most people are trying to claim.  Definitely mistakes, but a lot of the time they do a more than serviceable job.

But a lot of the time the biggest screwups are with something that should be easy but we are making hard.  I don't know in this case if the call was screwed up or the players got off.  But it sure looks to me like they were trying to go about it the hard way.  Teaching some elementary kids the last couple weeks we are just starting with "block the most immediate threat" baseline.  Had we simply blocked the most immediate threat in this play would - in all likelihood - worked out perfectly.  But we're making it much harder than that and it gets screwed up.

I can't say for certain that it's the coaches fault on this particular play.  But we're obviously doing a lot of fancy blocking schemes with our line and not getting particularly good results.  It sure looks to me like half the line was on one protection scheme while the other half is on a different one.  And if it's so confusing that the players can't keep it straight, that's on the coaches.

 
Mavric said:
First pick-six.  Things were going well up to this point.  But it's (mostly) down-hill from here.  Coaches tried to throw Morgan under the bus for this one but I don't know how he could have blocked him.  Our alignment was different from a lot of the bublle screens we've faced where the receivers are almost stacked.  DPE was well inside of Morgan and the DB broke on the snap.  Morgan hasn't even gotten his first step down and he's already beat because the DB can jump to the inside and go around Morgan instead of having to go through him.

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This play had to be something we gave away in film or something.  The DB completely ignores Morgan, has his hips open to DPE at the snap, and makes an incredible break on the ball.

Lee is tardy getting the ball to Pierson-El. He needs to have that ball out of his hands as quickly as the Arkansas State QB threw their bubble screens, but even with Lee's tardiness it takes a single-minded focus by the DB on Pierson-El to make that pick.

Of all the improbable plays in that game, this is probably the most improbable.  It's a 10-14 point swing, and literally the difference in the game.

If Lee sees the DB breaking for DPE, he could pump-fake and throw a walk-in TD to Morgan, who is left alone & uncovered ten yards from the end zone. 

 
knapplc said:
This play had to be something we gave away in film or something.  The DB completely ignores Morgan, has his hips open to DPE at the snap, and makes an incredible break on the ball.

Lee is tardy getting the ball to Pierson-El. He needs to have that ball out of his hands as quickly as the Arkansas State QB threw their bubble screens, but even with Lee's tardiness it takes a single-minded focus by the DB on Pierson-El to make that pick.

Of all the improbable plays in that game, this is probably the most improbable.  It's a 10-14 point swing, and literally the difference in the game.

If Lee sees the DB breaking for DPE, he could pump-fake and throw a walk-in TD to Morgan, who is left alone & uncovered ten yards from the end zone. 
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The DB said after the game that it was something they had seen on film so when he saw the formation he thought that might be the play.

Not sure if he broke immediately or as soon as he saw Lee pivot quickly he knew that's what it was but he was expecting it before the snap.

 
The DB was staring at Morgan at the snap, but Morgan hadn't moved an inch before he broke to his right and ran straight at the ball.  He gave zero heed to Morgan or to any responsibility to the outside pass.

All that said, it was an incredible play by the NIU player.  Give him credit for covering barely less yards with his feet than Lee threw that ball in exactly the same time. Not only was it a great read, it was an an incredibly athletic play.  That was a big-boy play by a big-time player.  Credit where it's due.

EDIT - I just watched it again. He took four steps at top speed before Lee threw the ball.  Just an incredible play on his part, but a terrible read by Lee. 

 
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Mavric said:
But a lot of the time the biggest screwups are with something that should be easy but we are making hard.  I don't know in this case if the call was screwed up or the players got off.  But it sure looks to me like they were trying to go about it the hard way.  Teaching some elementary kids the last couple weeks we are just starting with "block the most immediate threat" baseline.  Had we simply blocked the most immediate threat in this play would - in all likelihood - worked out perfectly.  But we're making it much harder than that and it gets screwed up.

I can't say for certain that it's the coaches fault on this particular play.  But we're obviously doing a lot of fancy blocking schemes with our line and not getting particularly good results.  It sure looks to me like half the line was on one protection scheme while the other half is on a different one.  And if it's so confusing that the players can't keep it straight, that's on the coaches.
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“It’s hard,” Cavanaugh said of the scheme. “But that’s what we’re doing.”

 
If he would change "OK" to "better" I would agree.  So would any QB getting hit any amount.

But Lee has also missed plenty of throws when he's not getting hit, so to try to play it off as all someone else's fault is disingenuous. 

If your QB is only good when everyone else around him is good, he's not a very good QB.

 
I agree with both Danny and Mav.

Better protection would go a long ways to improving the passion game.  BUT......he is making a ton of mistakes when he is not being pressured.

 
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