Offensively: Just late to the damn party. The pass protection in particular was utter **** as plainly evidenced by Sam's repeated need to spin out of a sack and create time for himself to throw. It also didn't help that the WR's struggled mightily to create separation. Playcalling itself was solid, but it doesn't really matter when you can't run the ball on called runs to the RB and your LT is getting whipped over and over again by RE's. Defensively: Pass rush was virtually absent and the left side of the interior (right if looking from OU's perspective) got its *** beaten up in the run game. Yeah the secondary had its share of breakdowns, but it should never have come to that. For example yeah, Kris Boyd misplayed that first TD pass but Mayfield should never have had that kind of time to lay out a perfect ball. Special Teams: Never thought I'd say this but this unit is getting better every week. They certainly are not a liability as of right now. I expect that to remain. Here are the mid-terms
I was baffled by the decision the moment I realized the offense hadn't come off the field. The only thing I can point to there was Herman rationalizing "well we may not get another shot at points again so we need to get the most we can."
I understand that dilemma and sympathize with it but at some point you have to realize the only way that problem will be remedied is by trusting that the guy will come through and deliver. If he can’t, you have to use someone else or make it clear that any FG beyond 30 yards won’t be attempted.
Yep. I'd prefer a pooch punt and try to pin the ou QB who had been hurt by our defense deep within our crowd vs. giving it to him near midfield. Our defense was playing well at that point and ou was confused by what we were doing. Hell, we don't have many 9 yard plays we can count on, particularly on 4th and 8.
Washington lost last night by six points. I watched the game. The coach trusted an unreliable kicker. Two missed field goals of 21 and 27 yards was his reward. They are probably out of playoff contention now. Getting into that situation is where we are. At least we have a solution next year.
Were they field goals attempted on 4th and 8 or 4th and 1 or 2 or something very short? I can live with going for 4th and 1-3, but 4th and 8 when the O has shown no propensity to pick up 9 yards very easily is very questionable.
What coach said was that it was against the wind and kicking hasn't been great. He said if they were going the other direction, he would have probably gone for the field goal. This I get. Crooked kickers are very crooked against the wind. My opinion is that this should be already known. 2nd and 8 means 3 plays to get 8 yards. If we're going to for it on 4th down from there, we should be at 4th and 3 by that point. I'm not a huge fan of downfield plays that leave you too much too late in the downs.
We should have punted and tried to pin the previously shaken up Mayfield and let our crowd noise try to help with the confusion we were causing them in the 3rd quarter. Instead, we give it to them at almost midfield.
@Slugga, can you a explain a couple things? 1. why the offense doesn't take advantage of Johnson or LJH's size inside the red zone? I can't recall one time since we've done a fade, jumpball or a back shoulder pass and let those guys use their size to make a play. I thought the play to Heard in the end zone was fine and all but just ran for the wrong guy. Does it have to do with your comments about them not getting separation? 2. Long term, is Tim Beck the guy? If next year our OL is at least not a negative and the WR corp has developed, is Beck a guy you think has the offensive mind to exploit a defense and create mismatches?
Herman added kicking against the wind at that distance along with inconsistency were the factors, in full context. I wasn't there, so don't know how legit his wind concerns were.
IIRC we tried a fade to Colin once but he had two guys blanketing him plus Sam had to rush the throw.
806, I have bitched since early in the Maryland game about this. We have 6'6" and 6'5" WRs against DBs 5'9" - 6', yet the only fade I have seen was to 6'3". I question whether or not Sam knows how to throw a fade, since the only one I have seen had zero touch and less arc
wasn't this series after ou had scored a td, fg, and td on their first three possessions? not sure what you saw that our defense was playing well and ou was confused
Going for it was the only call to make. Nothing to that point indicated that Orlando had any idea how stop OU. It wouldn't matter if they started at the 5 or 50. Keeping the ball was the only choice. Now our play selection and personnel management is another matter
OU's 2 previous possessions prior to the 4th and 8 in question that we went for both ended up with OU punts. Mayfield had been hurt bad enough that it was questionable he would return. On the 3rd down prior to the second consecutive OU punt, Sermon was manhandled by Roach and summarily slammed to the ground. OU was on its heels then. I stand by punting and pinning them down in our end of the field and letting the crowd help.
Oh, you're referring to the 4th & 8 in the 4th @ the ou 27. Not exactly mid field but I preferred going for the FG at that point.
Ha, I thought that was the one in question, yes. While not likely we make it, it would have made the score 23-20 OU. If it is that windy, pin Mayfield deep and make them work for it.
I said this in the game thread. When ALL your RB’s gain 27 yards rushing (please repeat this to yourself....TWENTY SEVEN YARDS!!!!), you will lose 99 out of 100 games. I’m still on board with TH, but for Christ sakes, are our OL/RB’s THAT BAD?!?!?
The OL really is that bad. Straight power run concepts, pass protection meant to last more than 1.5 seconds, timing blocks, etc are just not consistently possible with this group.
I know y'all wanna run the ball and I do too, but our OL cannot make a hole to save themselves. There just is nowhere to run. I am also perplexed how any group of OLs can be this bad, but they are. I would like to remind you here, again, that play-calling ALWAYS looks like *** when you cannot block. Y'all need to back off on the Tim-Beck-Sucks routine for a while.
So, if we’re THAT void of OL talent, then I think we’re looking at 2-3 more years of irrelevancy. OL take years to develop and mature.