A Few Things Bothering me about the O

[SuRaider307]

1) It was clear by the 3rd possession that Clemson was going to bring pressure up the middle at a very high rate. We never adjusted until 1 drive right before half. We never made them pay. I wonder if not having someone up above in the box seeing the field overhead wouldn't help with the play calling and flow with which the game is called on offense and allow in game adjustments to happen faster.

2) Where has our short passing game gone? Remember the Erv underneath plays from 2 years ago? The camera work from the game was telling. Yes they were bringing blitzers up the middle and you could see it affecting the downfield view of DeVito and not giving him a lot of passing lanes but for gods sake, there were WR's open underneath a lot more than we completed passes. BUT it looked like DeVito has zero experience looking for quick inside passes. What are they practicing? With a young QB the first thing he should be learning is reading the D and finding any blitzers so he can check to a short quick pass as needed. What I see and you can see it when the Camera shows tommy's eyes pre-snap.. is he is not really surveying the field and I get the feeling he is not prepared or practiced at this. Yes the game is fast for him but it sure looks like he is not used to doing it

3) who ever is calling pass protection at the LOS is not seeing the game and reading the D correctly. Numerous times our OL was actually flowing away form the blitzing side leaving lanes to the QB wide open.. Lets simplify this so that we at least get a damn body on people. They had 3 down lineman a ton but our OL couldn't pick up blitzes at all. I don't think they knew who there were picking up and that's a problem. and if we are zone blocking on pass plays.. it needs to stop immediately.

4) I am worried about our offense prep for games right now. When you have a young QB, teams are going to test to see if he and the O can handle pressure. I have not seen a competent game plan that looks to counter this yet and that really worries me. I wil give you an example. If we go 3WR sets with a TE lined up to the right... That holds a LB for coverage.. they blitz the other one like tonight and you have a RB in the flat wide open or you can drag the TE across the middle to open a slant. Both are quick passes and a few connects immediately changes the D and they go back to very readable zone or man coverage. It seems as if we are trying to force our O on teams but not taking what they are giving us to make them change what they are doing after they have proven successful. It bothers me a ton right now because I know that some of this is on Dino/Lynch because they both are contributing to play calls and game prep.

5) If I am Dino I am putting the 1st team O up against the first team D in practice and then giving Tommy a bunch of different looks and before the snap I am asking him what he sees... where his first read or primary target against the line-up is.. I am also asking the WR's what they see and what they are going to do to counter and then let the play happen. He/they needs to start to slowdown the game. Tommy has the arm talent. I believe he has the accuracy.. He needs to figure this out and Dino/Lynch and QB coach need to get this straightened out ASAP. Its not all on Tommy.

6) There were numerous times on a blitz where there was a lot of open field underneath and I saw WR's still running 7 or more yards downfield and by the time they even started breaking the cut, it was too late. not enough time. There were a lot of opportunities against the type of D Clemson was playing to have guys go 2 or 3 yrds and turn around and get positive yards within 2 seconds. Once again it appeared we have never practiced DeVito and WR's identifying blitzers. They BOTH need to identify out there not just the QB and be on the same page.

Lastly, I will say what it looks like and what reality probably is as how we are performing right now. It look as though we are totally unprepared in identifying blitzes and where teams are bringing pressure from.. from the OL to the WR's to the QB. I think the reality is this... we are young at almost every level, QB, WR's and OL and its a problem but I also believe our O game plans have not been created/centered around helping our youth as much as we should this early in the year, especially with the schedule we have this year. Coaches and players both have to get better and take a good look at what were doing and how we are doing things because right now we do not look like a competent offensive team and haven't all year... We have talent on O and there are teams with less talent than us looking better than us right now. Its ultimately on the Coaches to put our guys in the best possible situations to succeed. I am not sure that has been done through the first 3 weeks. Dino is my guy, It would take a lot more ridiculousness to get off the Dino bus but I think he and the staff need to be better

 

[sufandu]

The underneath pass thing is confusing. I don't get why that has disappeared. Erv only averaged like 9 ypc on those but they could keep blitzers honest and keep the offense on schedule. I figured Nykeim Johnson would be killer on those.

 

[SuRaider307]

The underneath pass thing is confusing. I don't get why that has disappeared. Erv only averaged like 9 ypc on those but they could keep blitzers honest and keep the offense on schedule. I figured Nykeim Johnson would be killer on those.

Yes and they did it a lot on 1st and 2nd down to shorten 3rd down a bunch.. trying it on only 3rd down makes the D that much tighter because they are protecting the marker... I don't know if it was a Sean Lewis thing or not.. but with Tommy being a pocket guy. It needs to come back sooner rather than later.

 

[OrangeDW]

The underneath pass thing is confusing. I don't get why that has disappeared. Erv only averaged like 9 ypc on those but they could keep blitzers honest and keep the offense on schedule. I figured Nykeim Johnson would be killer on those.

Our 2016 offense with sophomore Dungey in his first year in the system looked significantly better than this.

Experience is not an excuse, IMO. Soph. Dungey and we had crazy tempo, we put pressure on teams, we had a short passing game with Phillips. There’s zero reason we should look as horrible as we have on like 75% of our possessions so far.

We should be better than this. 6 points when you get two turnovers to give you the ball inside the 10? 24 against Liberty? Maryland...we had 2 or 3 good drives.

 

[alphaorange]

I think people need to go back and measure the time Tommy had to make a see the field and make a decision..in real time, not replays. Then consider areas where his throwing lanes were blocked, or the first guy covered. I know of no offense or quarterback that can find receivers in under 2 secs. That is the time he had to catch the snap, see the defense, find his guys, and then set and throw with guys barreling down on him. Trevor Lawrence would have been destroyed, as well. I can never remember seeing a line of scrimmage being blown up so badly with guys frequently running untouched to the QB. And extremely large and fast guys, too.

People that say we just need some misdirection or short passes are deluded. When Tommy had just a bit of time, they worked. That rarely was the case. Clemson had more guys in the SU backfield than SU did...all night. The line is the biggest priority, IMO, and they need to do something, now.

 

[cuse10]

Practice is not the game. Practice is not the game. Practice is not the game. No QB can flourish under those circumstances Devito is put in. I think Dungey is one of the greats of the program, but he would have been under fire and possibly hurt given his medical history.

 

[newmexicuse]

Good analysis, but IMHO everybody is over thinking this thing.

It seems like every above average college QB had a level of mobility far above that which Tommy has. I like Tommy's arm, but unless he is paired with a well above average o-line, he will never amount to more than mediocre.

By being mobile, I do not necessarily mean he has to run for yards. However, he has to have instincts to avoid the rush in the pocket. Nobody runs less and does that better than Tom Brady even on ancient legs.

Tommy seems to lack those instincts, and I believe that they are instincts, so i do not expect much improvement in that regard with more experience.

When he does scramble out of the pocket, he always seems to go to his right. I get that he is a right handed QB and that makes it easier to throw on the run, but it also makes his movements very predictable for D's.

All in all, we badly need to recruit a mobile QB who can compete for the job.

 

[SmilinBob]

Clemsons talent D wise was far superior to SU's and Tom Brady would not have done any better with the game plan and execution SU had last night.

 

[Ozcuse]

Clemsons talent D wise was far superior to SU's and Tom Brady would not have done any better with the game plan and execution SU had last night.

I’m pretty sure he would have done a little better...

 

[P Vasiloff]

Is Nykeim Johnson still on the team? I haven't seen him do anything so far this season. If you say he is still hurt, then he should not be playing. Use Lutz. The wide receivers on this team are not good. Even Jackson last night dropped a perfect pass for a touchdown. Lucky for him it would have been called back anyway. Harris can't catch anything in traffic and had a bad case of alligator arms on the first drive which would have been an important first down. Riley does have one thing down perfect, the art of the fair catch. This goes back to recruiting. Other than Jackson who has produced this year, if these are your best receivers and the guys on the bench can't get a whiff of the field, what are you recruiting? Where is Queeley, where is Courtney Jackson? Time to start giving some guys some playing time and see if they can shake it up. Hey Coach Lynch, how about incorporating the tight end into the offense. Benson had two catches last night and has a lot of speed. You are going to blow his red shirt year by playing him. Why do that to the young man if you aren't going to use his speed. I have been a big rah rah supporter of this staff. Last night it reminded me of Greg Robinson's offense. Not Good!!!!!!!

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Is Nykeim Johnson still on the team? I haven't seen him do anything so far this season. If you say he is still hurt, then he should not be playing. Use Lutz. The wide receivers on this team are not good. Even Jackson last night dropped a perfect pass for a touchdown. Lucky for him it would have been called back anyway. Harris can't catch anything in traffic and had a bad case of alligator arms on the first drive which would have been an important first down. Riley does have one thing down perfect, the art of the fair catch. This goes back to recruiting. Other than Jackson who has produced this year, if these are your best receivers and the guys on the bench can't get a whiff of the field, what are you recruiting? Where is Queeley, where is Courtney Jackson? Time to start giving some guys some playing time and see if they can shake it up. Hey Coach Lynch, how about incorporating the tight end into the offense. Benson had two catches last night and has a lot of speed. You are going to blow his red shirt year by playing him. Why do that to the young man if you aren't going to use his speed. I have been a big rah rah supporter of this staff. Last night it reminded me of Greg Robinson's offense. Not Good!!

I don't think Nykeim Johnson is anywhere close physically to being what he was last season.

 

[P Vasiloff]

I don't think Nykeim Johnson is anywhere close physically to being what he was last season.

I agree with that. Then he should not be playing. That's my point. We heard about Queeley, we heard about C. Jackson. Where are they? Johnson has been the invisible man. How much worse can the other guys be?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I agree with that. Then he should not be playing. That's my point. We heard about Queeley, we heard about C. Jackson. Where are they? Johnson has been the invisible man. How much worse can the other guys be?

I do agree that if Johnson isn't fully there (he's not) it would be interesting to see other players get some run.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I think people need to go back and measure the time Tommy had to make a see the field and make a decision..in real time, not replays. Then consider areas where his throwing lanes were blocked, or the first guy covered. I know of no offense or quarterback that can find receivers in under 2 secs. That is the time he had to catch the snap, see the defense, find his guys, and then set and throw with guys barreling down on him. Trevor Lawrence would have been destroyed, as well. I can never remember seeing a line of scrimmage being blown up so badly with guys frequently running untouched to the QB. And extremely large and fast guys, too.

People that say we just need some misdirection or short passes are deluded. When Tommy had just a bit of time, they worked. That rarely was the case. Clemson had more guys in the SU backfield than SU did...all night. The line is the biggest priority, IMO, and they need to do something, now.

I think that consistently going with an empty backfield and often 5 WRs made zero sense when they were bringing the house on the blitz play after play. You have to hold an extra guy or two back, even if one of them just gives a rusher a bump and then slips into the flat.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Good analysis, but IMHO everybody is over thinking this thing.

It seems like every above average college QB had a level of mobility far above that which Tommy has. I like Tommy's arm, but unless he is paired with a well above average o-line, he will never amount to more than mediocre.

By being mobile, I do not necessarily mean he has to run for yards. However, he has to have instincts to avoid the rush in the pocket. Nobody runs less and does that better than Tom Brady even on ancient legs.

Tommy seems to lack those instincts, and I believe that they are instincts, so i do not expect much improvement in that regard with more experience.

When he does scramble out of the pocket, he always seems to go to his right. I get that he is a right handed QB and that makes it easier to throw on the run, but it also makes his movements very predictable for D's.

All in all, we badly need to recruit a mobile QB who can compete for the job.

One of my beefs with Tommy is that he doesn't seem to have great balance, in addition to the question of elusiveness in the pocket. He seemed to go down 2 or 3 times when a guy just grazed him with an arm as he was trying to get away from the rush.

Tommy has a nice arm and dropped a couple exceptional passes into the pocket of the WR, but he also missed on a lot of touch passes and seemed to under-throw fade routes 2 or 3 times when we got into Clemson territory.

 

[upperdeck]

imagine we just did something positive on plays inside the 10 and score those 3 TDs are a leading mid 3rd..

The first half when it wasnt a melt down by the oline we had a TD dropped and at least 3 other plays for TD where the ball was thrown some other direction. We had guys open all over the first half.

the 2nd half the oline was awful. they either got run over, missed the block or just blew the assignment,

 

[shandeezy7]

It seems to me as if there are absolutely zero pre-snap reads taking place from our QB or our O-line. It was obvious to everyone in the Dome when Clemson would be sending rushers right up the gut, and yet we never had a quick slant across the middle or curl in there. Tommy would immediately panic and either tuck it in or heave it 10 yards out of bounds. Doesn't excuse the extremely poor play of the O-line but goodness, make some kind of adjustment and try to force Clemson to back off a bit.

 

[Trueblue25]

Its year 4 with our own recruits and a third year QB in the system. Not to mention a senior RB.


The lines awful. The play callings worse.


Say what you will but im starting to sober up to the consistent “the offense is behind the defense, we’ll click between games 5 and 6” jabber.


Top 25 programs prepare with the expectation to be ready sooner than mid season. We wont have that long. Western Michigan’s a scrappy team.

 

[AZOrange]

It seems to me as if there are absolutely zero pre-snap reads taking place from our QB or our O-line. It was obvious to everyone in the Dome when Clemson would be sending rushers right up the gut, and yet we never had a quick slant across the middle or curl in there. Tommy would immediately panic and either tuck it in or heave it 10 yards out of bounds. Doesn't excuse the extremely poor play of the O-line but goodness, make some kind of adjustment and try to force Clemson to back off a bit.

Yes there are plays you run to beat pressure. Clemson did it to us! The day Chance walked out was a bad day.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I don’t get the offense. Where are the WR screens we used to run to the outside WRs? Bubble screens? Swing passes? Our slots had no one over them most of the game. Why were the running long routes when you have a mismatch short? Yes Tommy did miss quite a few open guys short but too often after the play I saw 4 WRs running 10-12 yard routes which is useless when the D is getting pressure.

This is year 4 of the system and we have 50 points through three games.

 

[Nick44]

The underneath pass thing is confusing. I don't get why that has disappeared. Erv only averaged like 9 ypc on those but they could keep blitzers honest and keep the offense on schedule. I figured Nykeim Johnson would be killer on those.

This x1000. Can’t understand why this isn’t a main priority for this offense.

 

[FloridaFan]

Yes there are plays you run to beat pressure. Clemson did it to us! The day Chance walked out was a bad day.

Didnt chance do it to himself? no point crying over spilled milk regarding him. i dont hold any expectations of him being better then devito based off of hearsay

 

[Ozone!]

IMO, the twin problems with OL and play-calling are destroying whatever offense we have.
Is this fixable, in the short run? Do we need position coaching changes, in the long run?
We show very little creativity in play calling. We are going to see some form of this D strategy for the rest of the season.

 

[syrBossHogg]

I don’t get the offense. Where are the WR screens we used to run to the outside WRs? Bubble screens? Swing passes? Our slots had no one over them most of the game. Why were the running long routes when you have a mismatch short? Yes Tommy did miss quite a few open guys short but too often after the play I saw 4 WRs running 10-12 yard routes which is useless when the D is getting pressure.

This is year 4 of the system and we have 50 points through three games.

I also don't understand where the bubble screens have gone, last night we should've screened Clemson to death with how much pressure they brought

 

[Cuse'91]

The mentioning of Erv really stings; I would kill for Erv, Steve, or Amba on this team right now. Thought Sean would be doing an Erv impersonation this year, but I would not mind seeing Moe move to the slot permanently, and roll with Abdul and Jarveon at rb... Also, think need to play Jordan and Jackson more than the 4 games this year...