Nixon has been beyond impressive.
What really impressed me was that 3rd and 1 qb sneak/run they tried that got stopped.
No one knew it but in his head we were going for on it 4th down if we didn’t make it.
We got stopped short, he ran the same exact formation and play on 4th down. GT saw it and recognized it.
Only problem was, they had thrown a wrinkle in it and it was an option play. GT never bothered to cover Lequint and McCord pitched off to him and he was off to the races.
A brilliant sequence of plays and a great move of deception of setting up plays for the future.
Extremely excited about where this offense can go
if you had the all 22 view you would see how ridiculously early some of these throws are.
Go to the 2nd Pena end zone route and watch the replay. Meeks is running a route inside of him, He sees the throw go up and starts to celebrate before he even turns around. Like the knew what was gonna happen with the defense.
Yeah, I don't pretend to be going over the all 22 nor do i pretend to be smart enough to know everything that goes into implementing and offense and/or play design, etc. But even just watching as a fan it's hard not to notice those things when you see that type of design and execution. the 4th-and-1 sneak that was mentioned is another one and I thought the post-corner TD to Pena was a thing of beauty as well. Definitely seems like Nixon is a really good hire.
To touch on McCord, I think what's jumped out to me is what a good pocket passer he is. Not going to do a whole lot with his legs, but I'm not just talking about arm strength and numbers -- it's how he's getting those numbers and how we're consistently moving the ball and consistently scoring (after the first drive against Ohio, of course).
The first thing that stands out about McCord to me is that it throws such a catchable ball. He gets the ball wherever he wants to but it's usually in-stride and right where the receiver wants it with ideal touch. He makes quick decisions so he's rarely late on throws -- we saw a bit more of this vs. Ohio but with another week of practice, everything seemed so smooth vs. Ga Tech.
He also does a ton with his eyes as well. I've noticed this a couple of times on screens -- doesn't panic, looks off a couple defenders, then quickly comes back to the running back. He also has had several throws where he's gone through his progressions and clearly gone to his third or fourth option. Haven't seen that in a long time that i can remember.
Also been impressed his ability to attack all areas of the field -- the short stuff with screens and drag routes, the quick outs and hitches, deeper outs, post-corners. He's got every throw. The touch on the deep ball down the seam to Hatcher was a thing of beauty. Over the hand of one GT defender, dropped in in front of the safety, hit hatcher in stride and he didn't even end up taking a big hit, that I remember. One thing on his deep shots as well is that he's giving his WRs a chance to make a play by keeping the ball in play. Both Haynes and Meeks took advantage of this in week 1 for a long catch along the sideline. The interception to Hatcher was actually a pretty decent throw/decision, IMO, Hatcher just didn't make a great play on the ball.
Lastly, and this we'll have to wait and see on a bit, but he does move well within the pocket to buy himself an extra second now and then. He's been sacked a few times but he seems to feel pressure well and slide left or right, or give a little ground -- just enough to give himself a chance to make a play.
He's been really impressive.
