hoops
Tua time!
It’s been a long 6 months offseason…let’s kick off 2014 with my most in depth scoops yet…
Just lousy lb play…misi athletically stands out in a bad way laterally at mike…losing balance getting caught in traffic love the effort and the motor but I expect to see hesitation which I did he took a little longer to see it than Ideal and got caught at the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] level by linemen as a result but what really stood out was the just plain athlete playing in that much space at mike…wait til teams take advantage of that aggressive play with misdirection and play action…zone drop basic set from the offense was confused…I have no doubts it will get better in time but this team needs a truemike 3 down backer…nice blitz up the middle sack where he ran over a very small rb and finished on the qb…complete mismatch
Danell Ellerbe moved to weak still bad…hesitation on a screen to the rb where for some reason he waited and let the lineman get out to him and as a result a bad angle to the ball carrier lost in goal line…late in the run game when clean…
Philip wheeler back to his old tricks…brutal personal foul hands to the face call the guy plays about as dumb as they come…he’s what you call a drive extender…either with his play or his stupidity…
Zone drop all 3 lbs within 10 damn feet of each other misi dives at air trying to come forward and tackle wheeler gives up the soft corner and dives with no angle for some damn reason…that just can’t happen…the back catching it is one thing the rac yardage and 2 lbs both miss the tackle ugly…there’s no way the defense calls for all 3 lbs to be within 10 feet of eachother after they drop… Starting lb group just ugly…caught in traffic lost in zone hesitation or late all over the place…will wear a target…long clock consuming drives for the opposition in 2014 with this lb unit…
Dion Jordan flat disappointing…more weight gain sure and more stout in the run game wasn’t moved off the ball but absolutely no growth with the pass rush…same player just heavier and looked to me like maybe sacrificed some of that ridiculous lateral quickness and agility to do so…I’m not really counting on jordans pass rush as far as beating tackles in the subpackage to be legitimate…where’s the damn growth other than on the scale??? Didn’t see him get off the ball better didn’t see him redirect inside played more a power players game than a ridiculous explosion athletes one… I hate to use the word sluggish cause he’s not but for the explosion athlete he was I think this weight gain is taking away some of his ridiculous talents…worst I think he’d be murder in a 34 defense at 250 lbs or so…sure looks like a 34 olb masquerading as a 43 de…if we trade him this offseason I have no doubts we will sell low…unless he’s just saving it for some reason
Cortland Finnegan hesitation coming out his pedal…plays withan awful lot of cushion…some of that’s probably called by the defense but some of it has me wondering if he won’t give up a lot of yardage in front of him…I did like the feet and once he put his foot down and came forward he showed explosive quick acceleration…which for an aging player is something you got to keep a real eye on year to year…I don’t see any signs of a washed up player…just needs to tighten up some of those cushions…I see too much space…
Jimmy Wilson shook out of his shoes on a play he’s got to make…once it gets past the lb level Wilson has got to make the play…after that aikens at safety with a poor angle and dive at the legs attempt comes up goose eggs…you can tell he’s a corner to safety convert…whole different level of speed in the pros than liberty…saved by what I would call questionable holding call on the offense…Shelby with a nice gain the shoulder inside on the play though for sure…
Will davis showing some nice ball recognition andawareness…gets a man to man tight end assignment a slug tight end knows that he can’t threaten him vertical drives on the ball and the play in front of him almost comes up with an int…vertical coverage on the boundary finds the football in flight gets pushed off when his positioning is solid…drives on a route on a qb rollout for a tipped incompletion…but that’s not the issue with davis it’s tackling and losing physically early in routes and cushion due to lack of long speed…although maybe with the way the officials are calling physical contact these days it won’t be such an issue…I see growth confidence wise but i haven’t seen answers to questions around his real weaknesses last year…and I did see him miss a tackle in the kick game where he just fell off…I will say if there’s a scheme for this kid it’s ours…I see some route recognition there which separates the jags from the players…very aggressive have to watch that with double moves…
Jamar taylor drove on a ball where the coverage played and the leverage gives away the yardage in off coverage…outside leverage 8 yards off liked the way he came forward and closed when he put his foot in the ground… he lacks will davis ball skills and awareness and in this d that’s a big damn deal but he’s got superior physical tools…I would have liked to see more from him in this one coming off all the camp buzz…
Chris mccain allowed to attack the los which from what I saw of his cal tape from 2 years ago is exactly the game he wants to play…showed off some explosive backside clean to the ball close ability…rushed one time got stoned under the chin by the little back Rodgers I think he’s probably the most explosive pass rush and attack things in the backfield lb on the roster… and man is he long…arms look like vines…covered a slug tight end with absolute ease…real nice click and close…still can’t tell if he’s got lb instincts but there’s no doubt in my mind that kid can play in some packages…showed some overload rush abilities just like I expected
Jelani Jenkins sound in coverage man and zone drop although he didn’t really have much to cover talent wise…thought he was post snap reactionary with just about everything in the run game…just like what I saw last year…he’s an assignment sound lb but I still don’t see long term starter material cause he doesn’t show a natural feel for the position…but I don’t see that with our entire lb core even…nothing stands out as a 2 steps ahead of the offense player…lots of athletes playing lb…
Jordie tripp it’s just way too early to say anything really…although I do like his athleticism at mike and don’t get how Jason trusnick would get the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] team nod over him…I kinda wonder thoughif trusnick is being phased out of this team…
At dt Anthony Johnson looked to me like he looks on college tape…inconsistent…gets off the ball well at times but I wonder about his conditioning cause the consistency isn’t there…
Aj francis carries that 330 lbs pretty well the dts are hard grades for me so I will use caution on any takes there right now…although I don’t really see any of these guys making wow plays or popping off the screen of the depth…
An awful lot of zone…I’d feel better playing those coverages if I thought the lbs were assignment sound as a unit…but it’s just a preseason game and we aren’t gonna show much…and I already know to hide misi if he plays every down we are gonna have to use a lot of zone on the back end…
De Terrence fede has an nfl body i will say that and he’s got me interested…I just wonder about the upside…
Don jones doesn’t show much at safety he better ball out on specials…lucky for him kovacs doesn’t either and Miami does not want to play aikens in 2014…no matter where he lines up
Michael Thomas versatility is nice and he’s a willing tackler and wants to play facing the action as much as possible but I don’t see a threat for his spot on the 53…the versatility wins out I’d say…at least with what’s in house…is he starting safety material though or long term nickel corner type player or even jimmy Wilson level in the nickel??? Nah…make your living on specials son
I’m gonna stress not reading too much into the oline play cause the falcons don’t have much pass rush wise if everyone on the roster had played and they didn’t play much edge rush talent or pass rush talent period…but
Jawaun james was excellent in pass protection…kept his man within the framework of his body showed good feet good lateral short area quickness and frankly he made it look easy…very impressed and happy with the effort of the right tackle in this one…he’s not gonna get tested much before the regular season in the preseason but the initial reports are very good for this game at least…in the run game there’s work to be done but the effort was there I thought he moved his feet well he just needs some technique work and time to get stronger…I like the player awareness too…
Dallas Thomas I mean yeah he’s a better body and player than last year and I thought he did some decent work but in short yardage he got beat quickly inside and as a result caused a failed 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] down conversion… saw him get a little high off the ball a few times and as a result lose leverage battles…it wasn’t a bad effort for what I saw last year I guess…at least he looks like a pro now…move athlete wise he’s a scheme fit
Samson satele no doubt getting tons of work to get him in shape for the regular season…again the falcons don’t have much and he let solia sometimes go where he wanted to as long as it wasn’t gonna impact the play but all in all for a guy that just showed up in camp off the street no less like a week ago I was happy with the effort…his game definitely fits the scheme he’s a positional blocker more than a phone booth mauler and he plays pretty smart…will he get smoked by real strength and have some short yardage issues absolutely but I’d like to think Miami will provide him some help from the guards…although I don’t really know where it will come from…maybe colledge I guess…pretty good short area athlete also…
Darryn colledge is just a throw back…he’s not much of a move athlete really but he’s positionally sound and he’s tough and he’s gonna hit you in the mouth…and maybe that’s what this front needs…one bar room mauler type…I see more and more lesser move athletes at left guard and the better foot athletes at right guard in todays nfl…
Brandon albert was as advertised…not much to say there…sawthe short area lateral agility and quickness and sound technique and moved well…
Lots of hard lateral movement from the oline like I expected no doubt this group from an athleticism stand point fits the scheme much better this year…pouncey is an ideal fit as well and so when he comes back I doubt we will skip a beat really…
Shelley smith was a hard grade in this one and as such Ithink I will leave it for another preseason game…nothing really stood out…solid athlete but I think he oversets
Billy turner no run til 1 minute left in the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP]quarter…I guess they weren’t joking about must play with better leverage…saw a nice move out to the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] level with ease in the run game play it’snot about the athlete anymore it’s playing with leverage and technique in a phone booth at guard…blew an assignment on a late sack where he engaged a player on a combo block and came off too late to the blitz lb…kinda thing you get with tackles converting to playing on the inside…takes a while to figure out assignments etc…easily correctable with reps and communication
I’m not gonna sweat the performance of the second team offense..lobato has a live arm but he’s not an nfl qb and as such I don’t expect them to do much…if matt moore and devlin were getting snaps I might read more into it…
Dion sims some nice work in the inside run game at the second level…as far as I’m concerned the second tight end job in this offense is sims…did a nice job getting to the lbs at the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] level in the inside zone game…
Not much to say about the qb ryan tannehill…enjoyed nice protection took what was given him and hit a ball down the seam off an easyread for a big play…the td a production of the hard movement to the opposite side and the late motion by Gibson to the weakside for a walk in opportunity…qb did what he’s suppose to do…and I expect…if given time move the ball right down the damn field…that’s what legit qbs do
That leads me to the scheme and play calling…bill lazor welcome to Miami…wish you hadn’t shown that hard action to one side throw backto the other easy walk in td but there’s so much off of that hard action we can do and with the motion of the wrs like it’s no big deal…loved the ball deception in the backfield with the qb making the defense hesitate for a second or so just the kind of time this offense needs…didn’t see any late motion with the tight ends etc played it close to the vest like we should at this point but gotto see some deception some movement of the qb and some misdirection…no read option no designed roll outs or move the pocket plays no wide stretch etc playbooks wide open…I can’t wait to see the motion to get guys off coverage the deception in the backfield the hard action to one side and come back to the opposite side for easy leak out opportunities etc…get those defenders heads a spinning…
Could see Miami compensate for some short yardage inefficiencies by lining up more in shotgun single back offset formations this year…saw some of that tonight…more positional and angle blocking in the run game than man over the nose attempts that come up short…
save the fast tempo for the regular season bill...smart man
Just lousy lb play…misi athletically stands out in a bad way laterally at mike…losing balance getting caught in traffic love the effort and the motor but I expect to see hesitation which I did he took a little longer to see it than Ideal and got caught at the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] level by linemen as a result but what really stood out was the just plain athlete playing in that much space at mike…wait til teams take advantage of that aggressive play with misdirection and play action…zone drop basic set from the offense was confused…I have no doubts it will get better in time but this team needs a truemike 3 down backer…nice blitz up the middle sack where he ran over a very small rb and finished on the qb…complete mismatch
Danell Ellerbe moved to weak still bad…hesitation on a screen to the rb where for some reason he waited and let the lineman get out to him and as a result a bad angle to the ball carrier lost in goal line…late in the run game when clean…
Philip wheeler back to his old tricks…brutal personal foul hands to the face call the guy plays about as dumb as they come…he’s what you call a drive extender…either with his play or his stupidity…
Zone drop all 3 lbs within 10 damn feet of each other misi dives at air trying to come forward and tackle wheeler gives up the soft corner and dives with no angle for some damn reason…that just can’t happen…the back catching it is one thing the rac yardage and 2 lbs both miss the tackle ugly…there’s no way the defense calls for all 3 lbs to be within 10 feet of eachother after they drop… Starting lb group just ugly…caught in traffic lost in zone hesitation or late all over the place…will wear a target…long clock consuming drives for the opposition in 2014 with this lb unit…
Dion Jordan flat disappointing…more weight gain sure and more stout in the run game wasn’t moved off the ball but absolutely no growth with the pass rush…same player just heavier and looked to me like maybe sacrificed some of that ridiculous lateral quickness and agility to do so…I’m not really counting on jordans pass rush as far as beating tackles in the subpackage to be legitimate…where’s the damn growth other than on the scale??? Didn’t see him get off the ball better didn’t see him redirect inside played more a power players game than a ridiculous explosion athletes one… I hate to use the word sluggish cause he’s not but for the explosion athlete he was I think this weight gain is taking away some of his ridiculous talents…worst I think he’d be murder in a 34 defense at 250 lbs or so…sure looks like a 34 olb masquerading as a 43 de…if we trade him this offseason I have no doubts we will sell low…unless he’s just saving it for some reason
Cortland Finnegan hesitation coming out his pedal…plays withan awful lot of cushion…some of that’s probably called by the defense but some of it has me wondering if he won’t give up a lot of yardage in front of him…I did like the feet and once he put his foot down and came forward he showed explosive quick acceleration…which for an aging player is something you got to keep a real eye on year to year…I don’t see any signs of a washed up player…just needs to tighten up some of those cushions…I see too much space…
Jimmy Wilson shook out of his shoes on a play he’s got to make…once it gets past the lb level Wilson has got to make the play…after that aikens at safety with a poor angle and dive at the legs attempt comes up goose eggs…you can tell he’s a corner to safety convert…whole different level of speed in the pros than liberty…saved by what I would call questionable holding call on the offense…Shelby with a nice gain the shoulder inside on the play though for sure…
Will davis showing some nice ball recognition andawareness…gets a man to man tight end assignment a slug tight end knows that he can’t threaten him vertical drives on the ball and the play in front of him almost comes up with an int…vertical coverage on the boundary finds the football in flight gets pushed off when his positioning is solid…drives on a route on a qb rollout for a tipped incompletion…but that’s not the issue with davis it’s tackling and losing physically early in routes and cushion due to lack of long speed…although maybe with the way the officials are calling physical contact these days it won’t be such an issue…I see growth confidence wise but i haven’t seen answers to questions around his real weaknesses last year…and I did see him miss a tackle in the kick game where he just fell off…I will say if there’s a scheme for this kid it’s ours…I see some route recognition there which separates the jags from the players…very aggressive have to watch that with double moves…
Jamar taylor drove on a ball where the coverage played and the leverage gives away the yardage in off coverage…outside leverage 8 yards off liked the way he came forward and closed when he put his foot in the ground… he lacks will davis ball skills and awareness and in this d that’s a big damn deal but he’s got superior physical tools…I would have liked to see more from him in this one coming off all the camp buzz…
Chris mccain allowed to attack the los which from what I saw of his cal tape from 2 years ago is exactly the game he wants to play…showed off some explosive backside clean to the ball close ability…rushed one time got stoned under the chin by the little back Rodgers I think he’s probably the most explosive pass rush and attack things in the backfield lb on the roster… and man is he long…arms look like vines…covered a slug tight end with absolute ease…real nice click and close…still can’t tell if he’s got lb instincts but there’s no doubt in my mind that kid can play in some packages…showed some overload rush abilities just like I expected
Jelani Jenkins sound in coverage man and zone drop although he didn’t really have much to cover talent wise…thought he was post snap reactionary with just about everything in the run game…just like what I saw last year…he’s an assignment sound lb but I still don’t see long term starter material cause he doesn’t show a natural feel for the position…but I don’t see that with our entire lb core even…nothing stands out as a 2 steps ahead of the offense player…lots of athletes playing lb…
Jordie tripp it’s just way too early to say anything really…although I do like his athleticism at mike and don’t get how Jason trusnick would get the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] team nod over him…I kinda wonder thoughif trusnick is being phased out of this team…
At dt Anthony Johnson looked to me like he looks on college tape…inconsistent…gets off the ball well at times but I wonder about his conditioning cause the consistency isn’t there…
Aj francis carries that 330 lbs pretty well the dts are hard grades for me so I will use caution on any takes there right now…although I don’t really see any of these guys making wow plays or popping off the screen of the depth…
An awful lot of zone…I’d feel better playing those coverages if I thought the lbs were assignment sound as a unit…but it’s just a preseason game and we aren’t gonna show much…and I already know to hide misi if he plays every down we are gonna have to use a lot of zone on the back end…
De Terrence fede has an nfl body i will say that and he’s got me interested…I just wonder about the upside…
Don jones doesn’t show much at safety he better ball out on specials…lucky for him kovacs doesn’t either and Miami does not want to play aikens in 2014…no matter where he lines up
Michael Thomas versatility is nice and he’s a willing tackler and wants to play facing the action as much as possible but I don’t see a threat for his spot on the 53…the versatility wins out I’d say…at least with what’s in house…is he starting safety material though or long term nickel corner type player or even jimmy Wilson level in the nickel??? Nah…make your living on specials son
I’m gonna stress not reading too much into the oline play cause the falcons don’t have much pass rush wise if everyone on the roster had played and they didn’t play much edge rush talent or pass rush talent period…but
Jawaun james was excellent in pass protection…kept his man within the framework of his body showed good feet good lateral short area quickness and frankly he made it look easy…very impressed and happy with the effort of the right tackle in this one…he’s not gonna get tested much before the regular season in the preseason but the initial reports are very good for this game at least…in the run game there’s work to be done but the effort was there I thought he moved his feet well he just needs some technique work and time to get stronger…I like the player awareness too…
Dallas Thomas I mean yeah he’s a better body and player than last year and I thought he did some decent work but in short yardage he got beat quickly inside and as a result caused a failed 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] down conversion… saw him get a little high off the ball a few times and as a result lose leverage battles…it wasn’t a bad effort for what I saw last year I guess…at least he looks like a pro now…move athlete wise he’s a scheme fit
Samson satele no doubt getting tons of work to get him in shape for the regular season…again the falcons don’t have much and he let solia sometimes go where he wanted to as long as it wasn’t gonna impact the play but all in all for a guy that just showed up in camp off the street no less like a week ago I was happy with the effort…his game definitely fits the scheme he’s a positional blocker more than a phone booth mauler and he plays pretty smart…will he get smoked by real strength and have some short yardage issues absolutely but I’d like to think Miami will provide him some help from the guards…although I don’t really know where it will come from…maybe colledge I guess…pretty good short area athlete also…
Darryn colledge is just a throw back…he’s not much of a move athlete really but he’s positionally sound and he’s tough and he’s gonna hit you in the mouth…and maybe that’s what this front needs…one bar room mauler type…I see more and more lesser move athletes at left guard and the better foot athletes at right guard in todays nfl…
Brandon albert was as advertised…not much to say there…sawthe short area lateral agility and quickness and sound technique and moved well…
Lots of hard lateral movement from the oline like I expected no doubt this group from an athleticism stand point fits the scheme much better this year…pouncey is an ideal fit as well and so when he comes back I doubt we will skip a beat really…
Shelley smith was a hard grade in this one and as such Ithink I will leave it for another preseason game…nothing really stood out…solid athlete but I think he oversets
Billy turner no run til 1 minute left in the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP]quarter…I guess they weren’t joking about must play with better leverage…saw a nice move out to the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] level with ease in the run game play it’snot about the athlete anymore it’s playing with leverage and technique in a phone booth at guard…blew an assignment on a late sack where he engaged a player on a combo block and came off too late to the blitz lb…kinda thing you get with tackles converting to playing on the inside…takes a while to figure out assignments etc…easily correctable with reps and communication
I’m not gonna sweat the performance of the second team offense..lobato has a live arm but he’s not an nfl qb and as such I don’t expect them to do much…if matt moore and devlin were getting snaps I might read more into it…
Dion sims some nice work in the inside run game at the second level…as far as I’m concerned the second tight end job in this offense is sims…did a nice job getting to the lbs at the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] level in the inside zone game…
Not much to say about the qb ryan tannehill…enjoyed nice protection took what was given him and hit a ball down the seam off an easyread for a big play…the td a production of the hard movement to the opposite side and the late motion by Gibson to the weakside for a walk in opportunity…qb did what he’s suppose to do…and I expect…if given time move the ball right down the damn field…that’s what legit qbs do
That leads me to the scheme and play calling…bill lazor welcome to Miami…wish you hadn’t shown that hard action to one side throw backto the other easy walk in td but there’s so much off of that hard action we can do and with the motion of the wrs like it’s no big deal…loved the ball deception in the backfield with the qb making the defense hesitate for a second or so just the kind of time this offense needs…didn’t see any late motion with the tight ends etc played it close to the vest like we should at this point but gotto see some deception some movement of the qb and some misdirection…no read option no designed roll outs or move the pocket plays no wide stretch etc playbooks wide open…I can’t wait to see the motion to get guys off coverage the deception in the backfield the hard action to one side and come back to the opposite side for easy leak out opportunities etc…get those defenders heads a spinning…
Could see Miami compensate for some short yardage inefficiencies by lining up more in shotgun single back offset formations this year…saw some of that tonight…more positional and angle blocking in the run game than man over the nose attempts that come up short…
save the fast tempo for the regular season bill...smart man
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