GNFP -- Offense (Georgia Game) [Emmitto's Notes at #20]

The check downs issue has been noticeable all year. Almost like the game is moving too fast and he doesn't process the field to get to that option. I know Mullen had harsh criticism of AR even when he did the good things last year but he seemed to really go through his first 2 to 3 reads plant and throw in a rhythm last year when he had opportunities. In hindsight the Georgia meltdown last year fits his tendency of falling apart under any pressure. As someone pointed out in another thread, his mechanics go to crap when he feels hurried which is how we end up with all of the over/under throws.

 

He’s the man now, not the back up. Pressure is there and he’s been inconsistent with it.

 

Well Mrs. Lincoln, besides the rest of the evening, how was the play?

 

I think this is THE issue. After having fun against Utah, and then coming down against an SEC-caliber Kentucky defense, he is feeling the pressure of being The Man, because the defense isn't going to help him this season.

And I still question why Napier is averse to giving Kitna at least a chance to show what he has under real live fire. We may lose a game by 40 instead of 20? Yeah, that is BAD!

 

So his criticism of the scheme is that it involves routes that take some time to develop, but at the same time that scheme has lots of wide open receivers (against a top-5 defense) our QB doesn't see or misses.

 

AR completed more passes behind the line of scrimmage than beyond it??? Whoa! 32% uncatchable - only 3 pass attempts in the 0-10yd zone, connected on 1 of them - smh.

 

There are open receivers, but also virtually no short drops to counter pressure. The two-man routes are often against five and six because DB’s simply disregard the flats. The throw in the EZ is an example when the corner was basically 20 yards away from his responsibility because he just plainly didn’t believe the ball would go out there. Or when AR pumped a quick hitch and got 0/7 guys to even hesitate from drops.

Some of the open receivers are on elaborate combo moves, like Shorter and Pearsall, but by the time they’re done AR is already under duress.

But on the potential Pearsall TD, that was just a straight corner route and the D had just gotten in that fast. It was still doable and prolly shoulda happened, but there was certainly no luxury of a clean pocket.

It’s a complex combination of issues, IMO. The OL is better but still not great. WR’s are technical but not next level guys. There is no threat of a short game. AR misses reads and throws.

Def a bit of a mess. Gonna take a minute to fix this.

 

By liver is asking you to stop.

 

Just finished watching the film study on YouTube. If you’re easily upset, I’d recommend you skip it. It was rather disturbing seeing how close we were to some plays. My takeaway is that it’s mainly execution. Probably need to see what another QB can do at this point.

 

Watching this makes me really think Hooker carves them up. We didn't put any pressure on their defense like Heupel will do and they got confused. Hooker wont miss the open guys and Heupel will have 2 guys open every play...Georgia better bring their A game.

 

Hooker is a really, really good QB who just happens to be a good athlete. AR is a really, really good athlete who just happens to play QB. Hooker will make all these throws and do it consistently.

 

But they may (should) go heavy M2M against UT and make it 1v1, which I believed is advantage UGA. There was no need for that against us, they can sit in zones and count on one of our many deficiencies to ruin a drive.

But Bama also made this mistake. It’s almost impossible for coaches to buck group thought, even Saban. So we’ll see.

I agree with you that if they try cover 3 all night then it’ll be a track meet. Because UT will almost certainly play zone, also Bennett’s strength. He throws to spots, not humans, as we saw when we went more M2M in 2H.

 

Notes from the muuuuch longer podcast. A lot of this is my paraphrasing.

• The lack of a 0/1 drop pass game is baffling.
• This is offense WILL NOT work. But don’t freak out yet, perhaps there is reason to the rhyme.
  
• This O is in the same family as SF and Miami of the NFL. But film says that this one is dysfunctional. Again, don’t freak out yet. There is a legit philosophy to being “foundational” for a bit. But Miami gets Reek in spots where it isn’t 2v5.
• We clearly have no Reek. But ask yourself if we had the Bama or LSU WR corps or recent years, what would change?
• Guys WERE open. But long developing plays. And this showed the biggest talent discrepancy—OL. We got owned across the board. UGA DT 0 (zero) technique beat C about 70% of the time.
• Barber was the best of the day.
• AR is regressing in throwing on time. He’s just not seeing it now. He started out the year strong here. Now he’s a beat late consistently. He’s still hitting NFL throws here and there and also missing bunnies just as much.
• AR also evades sacks like a savant. Other QB’s almost assuredly accepting the chicken product that AR often turns into chicken salad.
• Just too soon to place blame. It’s a legit rebuild. Gotta watch plot lines, but don’t assume you have figured out the twist ending yet. BN is from a line that assesses and adapts. Also don’t go all in on AR, he is playing the hand he is dealt also. It’s not optimal.
• Big Play Burney. Think about it: he is responsible for a large part of our most glorious plays this year. He gets grief, but dude games. He got a pick when he was toast, also got jobbed with perfect play on beast UGA NFL TE. But Burney is NOT scared to play the biggest moments and often comes through. His bad moments come when he is in spots that he shouldn’t be in, in an even decent world. Burney is beast in his own way, and he has real strengths. I love this dude’s heart, and also a lot of his actual game.
• Who has the nuts to go M2M when outgunned? Bama choked on it at UT. UT choked on it against US. We do it until forced out of it. UK does it all night against anyone to achieve better-than-we-used-to-be. Most teams do. Somebody needs to get swoll.
• More love for TD. Use this film to change your lifestyle, not just lose some weight on the cabbage diet for a week (my paraphrase.)
• McClellan looks like the real deal.
  
• Perkins love, so much upside even with his mistakes. Need more Perk. He is also not afraid of poo.
• These last four games matter. Time to show some progress. Y1 is a gimme, but not just total nothingness. Show the world that things are trending in the right direction.
• UGA abandoned trying to make Stetson legit and went all run late when it got sketchy. And they’ve established that it’s going to work at about 7 YPC. Go for the 4th. UGA wants you to punt (game theory), so don’t cooperate. Go Donkey Kong.
• How to think about it? We were not competitive last year. And we weren’t for a full half this year. But it was a game. You be the judge.
• UK remains the most frustrating loss. Silly loss.
• Deion: keep him AWAY from your opponent. Auburn should give him a serious look. His team is actually good. He’s Deion. Hate if you want, but he’s trouble.
• B Cox dismissal: you have to hope that the BN ethos is that our family has rules, and you’re in or not, regardless of your stature. I’ll cut the best player we have and you’ll like it. A line has been drawn and toe it or leave. It extends to recruiting too. There is A Way, and you need to embrace it. OR, there is a not so pleasant explanation. We’ll see.
• Jimbo: is he a Jameis product? Hate Jameis if you will also, but he was FSU gold. Jimbo minus Jameis has been less than stellar.
• TAM: bad numbers all around. Hard to find a strength. Bad O vs bad D. TAM hoping newbie is a revelation. Cover 6 would likely be a good call against a newbie. Too bad we try hard to blow it (def my snark.)
• Strong edge to UF run, if not, trouble.
• Zip out. Effective TE blocker. How does this change things?
• James needs 200 yards (!!) rushing to be “competitive.” Ha, ya, give me 200 yards on the ground, I feel pretty good.
  
• Both pick TAM close.
• “Purge” hasn’t bottomed out. Yikes.

It’s a silly long weekly Podcast, but you get a LOT of insight into the quick-hitter vids (already long.) And you get a read on James’ thinking, agree or not. I think of it like when Roger Ebert was still with us to do movie reviews. I didn’t agree with every review, but I got a feel for HOW I might not. It’s pretty thick so you gotta pay attention, but if you can work it in I recommend it. Allen is more like the rest of us, invested in the cause but not as technically attuned. But I like him too, he bleeds the right multi-colored blood.

 

Here's the takeaway for me: hope and pray AR goes to the NFL! And thank you, Mel Kiper Jr, for believing in him so highly!

 

I'm not sure if we have a Trask on the bench however it would be nice to find out. My guess is that BN has hitched his wagon to AR and that is not going to change no matter what. If AR pouts for not playing well, to bench him for a series or two may cause serious depression or BN fears AR will transfer. It would not surprise me that one or two qb's transfer out if AR returns.

 

No doubt the OL had issues, uga dl is very good. I have noted AR's inconsistencies enough. But the head scratcher is no adjustments as in throwing to rbs, hot routes, and why in the world do you call a play action pass when your third and long, losing by 20 with time running out? Some of the time management has been rather odd as well. Going for it at mid field with almost 10 minutes left when we are down by 8 seemed very risky. So, yes, our poor season is a combo of talent, coaching and poor execution.

 

I do love the hour-long videos, but the summary is the same:
“Other than poor scheme, talent, personnel, and execution, we are doing well on offense.”

 

Just finished the entire video. When we were down 35-20, that dump off to Pearsall might have kept us in the game. It would have gone for a huge gain I think. We still hit Shorter, so not like it hurt us, but damn Pearsall may have gone for like 30 or so, depending on how well Shorter blocked.

In the end, we put a fork in ourselves with that 3rd down running play that was blown up by Georgia all day. Good breakdown.

 

The valor the team showed in the 3rd quarter was a worthy performance BUT the fork we used to impale ourself was the 25 point halftime lead we spotted the mitts.

 

Ha, I wish I could disagree.

I myself have my gripes but I guess I’m learning to accept the reality that this is a true rebuild. Alpha to omega. And that’s frustrating because I want to be able to say THIS is what is missing. But it’s a hornets nest right now.

I see why there is a new coach. And I don’t know if he’s The One or not.

But I do know we need to eliminate some suspects before we zero in on the culprit. Sucks, but circle the runway for a bit.