I pretty much just watched all the game highlights from the season (hey gimme a break, I don't go back to school to Monday and I'm bored), and some things def. Stuck out to me...
First let me just say that watching the highlights I can see why Paul Pasqualoni was fired. We complained about the defense all year, but a lot of the plays we gave up we had players out of position. You can talk about the talent level, or lack there of, all you want but truth be told the players looked lost most of the time.
Big thing I noticed with the CBs, in particular Vontae Davis, is they played a lot of passes as if they were expecting safety help. Gibril Wilson will get a lot of flack for being out of position (and he was), but Yeremiah Bell was out of place quite a bit too. Vontae also gave up some big plays because he broke off the route too early and went for the INT. That's something you learn with time. As for Sean Smith, a lot of his big plays were just him not getting his head around. He could do a better job tackling, but he stayed with his man for the most part.
But back to the D, in a lot of the highlights you can see the players arguing about who should be where. Missed tackles by LBs were a concern too, but positioning was the big concern.
The DL looked pretty good most of the season, and not just Randy Starks but everybody. The big problem I saw was that when a Phillip Merling, Paul Solia, Kendall Langford, or whoever else collapsed the pocket, plugged the hole, or got penetration the LBs were not there to step in. That is unacceptable
As much as everybody rags on Channing Crowder, Akin Ayodele was much worse this year. Watch the highlights of the 2nd Patriots game for a prime example. Akin could not wrap up this year.
You have to wonder why Fasano struggled so much this year. He caught almost as many passes this year, but he was more than 100 yards less than 08 and 5 TDs less as well. I think the catches are misleading though as we barely kept him involved. In the games where we used Fasano in the middle of the field, our offense was clicking.
Compare Teddy Ginn highlights from this season and last. In 08 Teddy fought hard for yards and passes. This year, he'd fall the first chance he got. I don't know if it's a confidence thing or what, but the drop off in level of play is unbelievable.
Speaking of Teddy, watching his returns against the Jets was funny just because on his 2nd TD you can see Paul Solia running down the sideline with both arms up in the air hopping around like a little kid. That made my night.
The offense has too many vertical routes and not enough horizontal. Let me explain. Hartline and Ginn were our best WRs, and they both excelled in college going over the middle. This season we really didn't have them go over the middle... or really use the middle of the field at all come to think of it. The only times we went over the middle that I remember are when we got Fasano involved.
Lex Hilliard is probably a better player than we give him credit for. Still needs some work in pass protection (though to be fair he should not be blocking LaMarr Woodley 1-on-1), but he runs tough and is surprisingly fast when he gets the ball from a pass.
Just some stuff I noticed
First let me just say that watching the highlights I can see why Paul Pasqualoni was fired. We complained about the defense all year, but a lot of the plays we gave up we had players out of position. You can talk about the talent level, or lack there of, all you want but truth be told the players looked lost most of the time.
Big thing I noticed with the CBs, in particular Vontae Davis, is they played a lot of passes as if they were expecting safety help. Gibril Wilson will get a lot of flack for being out of position (and he was), but Yeremiah Bell was out of place quite a bit too. Vontae also gave up some big plays because he broke off the route too early and went for the INT. That's something you learn with time. As for Sean Smith, a lot of his big plays were just him not getting his head around. He could do a better job tackling, but he stayed with his man for the most part.
But back to the D, in a lot of the highlights you can see the players arguing about who should be where. Missed tackles by LBs were a concern too, but positioning was the big concern.
The DL looked pretty good most of the season, and not just Randy Starks but everybody. The big problem I saw was that when a Phillip Merling, Paul Solia, Kendall Langford, or whoever else collapsed the pocket, plugged the hole, or got penetration the LBs were not there to step in. That is unacceptable
As much as everybody rags on Channing Crowder, Akin Ayodele was much worse this year. Watch the highlights of the 2nd Patriots game for a prime example. Akin could not wrap up this year.
You have to wonder why Fasano struggled so much this year. He caught almost as many passes this year, but he was more than 100 yards less than 08 and 5 TDs less as well. I think the catches are misleading though as we barely kept him involved. In the games where we used Fasano in the middle of the field, our offense was clicking.
Compare Teddy Ginn highlights from this season and last. In 08 Teddy fought hard for yards and passes. This year, he'd fall the first chance he got. I don't know if it's a confidence thing or what, but the drop off in level of play is unbelievable.
Speaking of Teddy, watching his returns against the Jets was funny just because on his 2nd TD you can see Paul Solia running down the sideline with both arms up in the air hopping around like a little kid. That made my night.
The offense has too many vertical routes and not enough horizontal. Let me explain. Hartline and Ginn were our best WRs, and they both excelled in college going over the middle. This season we really didn't have them go over the middle... or really use the middle of the field at all come to think of it. The only times we went over the middle that I remember are when we got Fasano involved.
Lex Hilliard is probably a better player than we give him credit for. Still needs some work in pass protection (though to be fair he should not be blocking LaMarr Woodley 1-on-1), but he runs tough and is surprisingly fast when he gets the ball from a pass.
Just some stuff I noticed
