I don't want to drag down the FAM thread. There were things I saw that if they're fixed could lead to some serious improvement.
Because I like good news, I'll start there.
The running backs ran like they were determined to get yards. They seemed to find holes and capitalize. There were a few of our usual head scratchers where a back ran into a pile of blockers. But, it wasn't wide spread. And we didn't have much in the way of backfield dancing for no gain.
Receivers helped Burmeister. He was a little slow or behind on some passes. The receivers did their part and made the grabs. There was one throw to Blackshear that had potential for serious yardage if it's not behind. Blackshear still made the effort to get the grab, then add some yards after.
Defensive pursuit was good. There were only a few times I felt like we weren't pursuing. One play in the first half actually seemed like everyone thought the play was dead. It resulted in decent yardage for Carolina.
Their punter was not good. Ours was better. We caught punts.
The biggest piece of good news is there aren't groups to complain about as a whole. Sure, people made mistakes. But, each group played reasonably well.
For the flip side:
Burmeister isn't seeing open receivers. Sometimes this came with pressure in the backfield. But we could be rolling in some serious yardage if he starts seeing those guys.
We've seen recent comments about pass interference calls being nonexistent. We played like we expected that. For the most part it worked out. But, when they did decide to call, it was not well timed. Our DBs were poorly positioned on receivers several times early. The extra contact we were allowed prevented catches. If we try to play it clean, they make the catch. If the ref does his job, we get penalized. Either way, UNC would have moved up the field.
I'm still trying to decide what I think on this last one. UNC ran some rushing plays where their entire line just rolled our defensive line to one side. I don't know if our line was flowing with that movement, or just getting rolled. If we were flowing with the movement, I'd expect line backers to be filling the void that was left on the other side. I didn't see that happening in a way I liked.
I'll probably come up with more as I'm able to digest what I saw last night. I think we can fix the minor issues and be that much better. I'm hopeful that having the MTSU game next will let the team refine their game.
Side note: they did a player feature for Dax on hokie vision. The next play he comes up big. Then they do one for Blackshear. We didn't give him the ball. Come on Cornelson. Aren't you paying attention to Hokeivision?
Comments
The good:
1. Finally we look like a tough, disciplined football team (minus a couple of execution errors). It was so fun to see the defense flying around again, hitting people, making tackles.
2. It appears the RB room is very solid.
3. Lane was lit once again! Thank you Fuente and Co. for giving the fans something to be excited about last night.
4. The WR blocking was very good last night. Those guys were physical against what may end up being the most physical secondary they face all season.
What needs work:
1. BB3 is not seeing the field at all. He took care of the ball for the most part, but he will need to expand his game in a major way for this team to win the Coastal.
2. While the game plan was a good one, and executed very well in the first quarter and a half, the offense was completely anemic for 2/3 of the game. Some of that was certainly because of poor execution... I did think there were some timely play calls that simply were not executed well... But also, that last series in the first half is a microcosm of the Corny era offense.
I definitely think there is room for improvement from BB3, but I think it's a little hyperbolic to say BB3 wasn't seeing the field at all.
It was more gameplan centric than anything. But we all know how we start to play once we get a lead unfortunately. I think we will see a good game next weekend
What was great: offensive execution, especially in the first half, was honestly shocking. They were at a level of efficiency that you really couldn't have predicted. That was great to see.
Another thing was the defense balled their asses off. Holy shit they were relentless last night, Howell had no chance. Also liked how the corners located the ball in order to make a play rather than just watching the receiver. That helped us break up a bunch of passes last night.
What didn't work:. We got a little too conservative late. We were afraid to go for the jugular on offense toward the end and our play calling looked timid and almost scared to take a chance because it might lead to a turnover. And the dropped pass in the end zone, that was no bueno.
Only disagreement is I think we got conservative EARLY and Fuente must've had a horseshoe up his ass to prevent it from coming back to bite him. Was super excited seeing an aggressive secondary and Holston getting pissed about people trying to tackle him.
I felt great about our offense in the first quarter. And then it just fell off. Trying to figure out why. My best guess is that the first 3 series were scripted (meaning Fuente likely had some inputs) and then after that it was all on 🌽. I still don't think he's a good play caller. It's going to take a full season of mostly competent offense to convince me otherwise
They always script the first quarter of the first game of the year. That is why it looked as good as it did. Go back and every opening game we are ecstatic about our 1st quarter offense. But I agree that ingame play calling leaves a lot to be desired most times.
I think what we saw to start the game last night was pretty consistent with a lot of our other recent starts on offense. Great play calls and execution. It's when Corn needs to start calling in real time that we go limp and seemingly lose our aggressiveness.
Yeah the offense was efficient and solid in the first half, but was really more of the same disappointment in the second half. People will argue it was the gameplan and we were protecting the lead, but a quick stalled out drive or three and out is the same as a turnover. You start losing the field position game, TOP, and your defense gets gassed. If it wasn't for the defense having a LPD Renaissance last night, we could have given the game away in the second half. Also, I know the runs were working in the first half, but we have to start throwing it more on first and second down. We find ourselves in third and long too often and it kills the drive, especially since we aren't proficient in the downfield passing game. Which brings me to my last point - I don't know what the offense practiced in the offseason or if they just protected BB with playcalling, but we are not going to be able to challenge for the Coastal unless we progress more in the downfield passing game. BB again did not see the field well last night. We are going to have to do more than screens and short dump offs to the TEs and RBs at some point.
I kept thinking last night with the way the D was playing that we had a great looking team but lacking on O - a tale as old as time for VT. If BB could get the ball to our receivers, we have all the pieces to be dangerous. Still a huge question mark if we can do that.
I think you hit the nail on the head. I believe that Fuente is quite a good offensive coach, but the biggest lingering weakness of this team is Brad Cornelson.
His in-game adjustments and situational playcalling is not good enough at this level...period....hard stop.
The Defense was a welcome surprise and JHam really allayed many of my concerns. With the right personnel I think he can put together a consistently solid D.
But what we saw last night is going to bite us in the ass and lose us games in the 2nd half this year.
-Less than 100 yds of O after halftime is not getting the job done.
-the Redzone inefficiency and leaving points on the field time and time again
The D played outstanding but they are also super thin...the offense needs to do its part and the problems under Cornelson simply aren't getting better. I want to see Fuente take the playsheet and let Corny go.
What needs work is the concessions at Lane lol...but seriously it took 30 mins to get two beers and nachos before the game. Cashless concessions may not be the best idea.
Your takes were great, senjohn.
For those that are complaining about the play calling. I certainly get it, but I think it is worth keeping in mind this point: Burmeister isn't seeing open receivers. Sometimes this came with pressure in the backfield. But we could be rolling in some serious yardage if he starts seeing those guys.
We left some yards on the field due to poor execution. Unlike our D, which was relentless and for the most part dominating UNC, our O was controlling the UNC D. Mistakes and poor execution slowed us down. And, UNC's secondary is one of the better ones will see this season so hopefully we keep progressing.
Good: defense. Physicality. Mental toughness.
Needs work: need to spend maden points to increase BB field vision. He made some pretty throws but could have made the game much easier at times I'm pretty sure Tre is still streaking down the sidelines.
I find it interesting how many people are complaining about the play calling because the offense didn't score many points in the 2nd half, but off the top of my head I can remember:
- Braxton missing a wide-as-can-be open Tre Turner on 3rd down (like no one within 30 yards wide open)
- The touchdown catch that wasn't by a few inches
- A missed gimme field goal
- at least one 3rd down with a total air mailed throw that would have been a conversion
- A drive totally derailed by holding on what would have been another first down
Not saying the play calling was great, but they left a lot of points on the board on plays where the yards were there.
Ifs true, we were a few big plays away from this being a 31-10, 34-10 type of game. We certainly left some points on the field. But when you take away those plays that didn't work out or were called back, we did a really miserable job of moving the ball in the second half. It's like I said - quick stalled drives are just like turnovers. We need to get BB more comfortable reading the field and start attacking a bit more on first and second downs to keep us from stalled drives.
Well yeah, when you don't execute the offense isn't going to work. But that's execution, not necessarily play calling. The calls worked, the yards were there, we just didn't execute.
I guess I'm just failing to see ultra-conservative play calling, just an ultra-conservative box score.
Well whether you call it conservative playcalling or execution, if the offense cannot execute a large chunk of the playbook because the QB isn't seeing the field, that is very concerning and needs to be worked on.
That, I agree with.
I agree, but to me if guys are running free and we don't convert the play call isn't bad. The execution is.
You sir make a point that many should reread. There were fantastic calls during the game. Execution started to fail as Bb got more tired. Had some drops too. Overall, the scheme. Which I attribute to corny, was sound.
End of first half I can see getting upset about - too conservative for my blood.
Part of the strategy was establishing the running game, holding onto the ball, and burning the clock, which (with the defense) ultimately won the game.
And as pointed out, there would have been more points if the execution had been there.
6 pm start worked great, did not have to stay up to late for the W.
Morning run did not work great, I could smell the beer leaking out of my pores...
Oh you meant the game? Running good. Throwing bad. Too much getting cute in the last 2.5 quarters, corny gonna corny
6 PM start was great, but getting out of Blacksburg last night was a nightmare. We usually take Prices Fork out, but since we were doing a Tailgate Guys tailgate we ended up going South Main which was a giant clusterfuck. Ended up getting back to CVille at around 130 AM.
How was using Tailgate Guys? I thought about using them as they have been blowing up my phone/email but too expensive for our group of 6 people.
My 2 cents.
Offensive game planning and execution to start the game was great. Secondary was definitely a strength. Running backs and wr were blocking and running well.
Needs work. When the defense rushed 4 or less Howell could have knitted a scarf behind their line. BB needs to work progressions, he was locking on pre snap and ignoring open recievers. Play calling in the second half, it looked like from the stands that we turtled the offense to protect a 2 td lead.
One more positive:
How about our freaking punter!? Dude had him a game last night!
One more thing to work on:
I'd like to see King working the outside zone instead of working inside. I'm not sure if he has the patience for it, but he certainly isn't adept at finding his space inside.
We can address King's ability to find space once he develops the ability to hold onto the damn ball.
But the punter fucks. Guy is an animal.
Oscar Shadley (#97) is quietly the first guy to the fair catcher every damn time.
That's not abnormal due to the rules that you really can't block the snapper. WVU used to have a couple guys that did that Tim Lindsey and his older brother who's name escapes me both did that for the mountaineers for 4 years each. These were not oline looking guys, they could snap and run.
What worked: The overall gameplan to limit UNC possessions and keep their offense off the field for long periods (we had the ball for ~22 mins of the first half). This is a dangerous gameplan if you do it every week, but when it plays out right it can be an effective model for an upset bid, which this was. It worked great in the 1st half (could have been a 3 score lead if not for a fumble which isn't on the game plan). However, it fell off in the 2nd half as I'll discuss later.
The defense was excellent. It was such a joy to see a lot of these guys put it all together and look so strong both individually as a unit. Rell Pollard, Chatman, Waller, are just a few of the guys who stood out in key moments of this game. I'm hoping this is a sign of JHam having a normal offseason to install and really get these guys acclimated to the system and that our defensive will be vastly improved this year and not a mirage like the 2018 FSU opener. I am leaning towards the former based on the things I saw last night.
The DL got a lot of pressure and I liked how we showed a lot of odd fronts and having Barno play more like 3-4 stand up EDGE guy. Time will tell how much of this translates to the rest of the schedule in terms of what was the real dynamic between how strong our DL is vs. how bad that UNC line was in pass pro.
The secondary really impressed me. We are deeper than I expected at safety, as we looked comfortable rotating multiple guys back there like Peoples and Daley. Chatman, Strong, and Waller all made great individual plays at corner. Really impressed with that group.
What needs work: I don't want to be too much of a downer but our offense, the play calling, and the QB play was nothing above replacement level, or out of the norm for what we've been getting for years with this offense.
Offense starts off looking good on script -> look best in the first half -> Comes out flat second half -> stays conservative -> fails to make key offensive plays and force the defense to make multiple stops to survive.
It hurts that this game felt very similar to Miami last year, the result was just different this time because the defense was better.
I talked about how BB hasn't shown me anything to believe all this offseason smoke about being "the best passer this team has had since Jerod," and "we are going to do more in the passing game than we have at any time under Fuente." We didn't see any of that. I saw the exact thing I mentioned about if we get UVA game BB then we will be basically exactly what we've been the last two years on offense. 12/19 169, 1 TD, 1 pick. Exactly what I expected. Missed open receivers, had a few key misses that cost points/first downs. I think he did a fine job of controlling and managing the gameplan, but I didn't see anything to get me excited about this offense moving forward.
So much smoke about other receivers being factors this season and we get 5 catches between Tre and Tay who almost never came off the field. 5 total players caught a pass, only 2 (3 if you count Mitchell) were receivers. We just don't spread the ball around or throw like a real passing offense. It's all misdirection, set-up plays, and one-read and run stuff. The one time we had a third a long and dropped back though I will say that it looked like BB3 looked around, went to his check down and it resulted in an important first down.
Hard to see us taking a step forward when we keep following this script of getting ultra-conservative in the second half and forcing the defense to operate on the thinnest of margins. The first half we played very complementary football between offense and defense, aligned within the gameplan. In the second half it started to feel like the defense was out there on an island without much help.
To be fair, the game didn't exactly dictate that we air the ball out. We were picking up good yardage on run plays and the horizontal designed passes were effective as well. There wasn't really a need to take deep shots down the field. That being said, our play calling once we hit the 30 yard line is so predictable and almost cost us but got bailed out with a 48 yard FG. Once we hit the 30 our coaches lock in on getting a few more yards for a safe FG at worst, but most the time we end up with 50 yard attempts.
Every time we get a first down at the 30, I feel like we are destined for a long FG attempt. However, when we get a first down at the 25 or 35 we stay aggressive because we have either already locked up a good look at the FG or we're too far out and need more yards to get into FG range.
Last night was the start of the third year of what looks like an offense that hasn't spread the ball around through the air since 2018 when we basically had to.
We've been a ~20 passing attempt type team for the last two seasons. In 2019 we ranked 120th (out of 130) in % of pass plays. In 2020 we ranked 119th (out of 127). Just a notch below the triple teams.
With the exception of Clemson, we won every game last year when attempting less that 25 passes. We lost every game that when attempting more than 25 passes. Some of that is related to chasing a lead and having to throw but it's clear that we aren't an air raid team that wants to be in shoot outs. Our identity is going to be running the ball and hitting pass plays off the play action. I'm just happy to have an identity at all.
Clearly VT should throw on the first 24 plays then never throw again.
A few things to be frustrated over, but overall I am really impressed.
The difference between this year and last: mistakes last night meant we didn't win by as much as we could have. Mistakes last year meant we didn't win.
I'm not a Corny fan, but the 2nd half Corny bashing...isn't on Corny. This was player execution. BB3 missed open receivers. There were missed blocks. We had 2 touchdowns on the same series: one out of bounds, the other Tre missed. I think he called a great game. We left yards and points on the field, and the defense stepped up to keep us in the game.
And this is a coaching issue IMO. We are too far down the road with this offensive staff for us to still not have a QB who can elevate his game above the very basic elements of the playbook.
Who should we play instead? Braxton Burmeister is the starting quarterback - and it's at least partly because... we ain't got nobody else.
Also, I feel like we're not giving credit where it's due. UNC has a very strong defense. I'd call their DBs a borderline-elite group in particular. And their D-Line gave our guys fits up front in pass pro - BB's athleticism mitigated a lot of that.
BB had a couple of absolute howlers yesterday. The pick, the two missed swing passes that both would have gone for huge yardage, not seeing Tre completely alone - all big errors. BUT. He also threw 2 absolutely beautiful dimes to Tre and Tay (a toe away from being a TD), a strike to Tre that got dropped, and a beautiful scrambling score that Mitchell intercepted LOLZ. He made a LOT of plays with his speed - prob avoided 4 sacks at least.
I don't know, man - in a game like that, against that defense? I'll take that amount of good with that amount of bad. Do I want more out of the QB position? OF COURSE. We all do. But, "you dance with who brought ya". Like it or not, BB is our guy.
We've got 2 weeks against inferior competition to get the accuracy fixed. I think it will get better.
The play calling, on the other hand...
You just made my point.
How?
The fact that BB is our only viable option at QB isn't an in-game, real-time coaching issue. It's certainly a recruiting/portal issue. But it's where we are. You make it sound like an immediately solvable problem. We could fire FuCorn tomorrow - Braxton Burmeister will be the starting QB for whoever takes over. It's a fact. Fans can be dissatisfied with that, but we should come to grips with it for the immediate future.
I understand people are frustrated with some of his limitations - which absolutely exist - but I'm clear-eyed enough to attribute some of that to UNC's talent on defense, some of it to jitters and honest mistakes, etc. Playing QB doesn't happen in a vacuum. I want more from him, and I think we will get more as the season goes on. 🤷♂️
Let's Go Hokies
If I take over as coach, I'm starting Dwayne Lawson. Plain and simple.
Can you imagine a backfield with Lawson and that running back that I'm blanking on
So you Drew a blank, is what you're saying? Harr is your hint...
Drew Harris. My man
The fact that the only QB on the roster who is capable of starting is in year three of the program and still can only manage to execute the basics of the playbook.
I think everyone would agree that QB retention and development has been a major issue with this staff. So when you said that BB3 is the only viable option, you make my point about the coaching staff.
I applaud his effort last night. He took care of the football and managed the game very well.
Well he ran the scout team when be was ineligible, there was hardly any spring or summer last season (not to mention his own bout with COVID). The largest lineman on the team broke his foot when players were finally becoming available. And after all of that, we're still arguing over his mastery of the offense... after he did everything necessary to beat UNC?
The dime to Tay was late according to Burnop on the radio feed. Which was hard for me to see if it really was watching the replay but I trust a HOF broadcaster's opinion, especially when BB3 was late on multiple throws yesterday.
I'd love to bash Corn but I think the reality is BB3 is not a top QB. French's awesome write-up a few days ago showed that he has limitations reading the field and we saw them on display yesterday.
Okay.🤷♂️ You are entitled to focus on that. But it affects zero change, y'know? No amount of lamenting our lack of QB depth is going to help us here, now, during the 2021 season.
I choose to acknowledge that, shortcomings or not, BB is the quarterback of our football team. We don't have to be satisfied with it, but all the complaining about depth and recruiting (when there is NO solution in the offing for this season) is just negative. Low on signal, high on noise.
The QB room is an issue for sure - I'm not saying it's not. But until we can get Tajh coached up, get Orji on campus, etc? I'm gonna throw my support behind the guy we've got. We all agree that BB has limitations, but I think we can win with him as he gets more comfortable. Besides, the only way I can enjoy watching us play is to be supportive of the guy(s) we DO have - as opposed to being pissed off all season about stuff that's impossible to fix for 2021. LGH.
Critiquing the situation and supporting our players are not mutually exclusive.
Critiques are only helpful if there are actionable fixes. Otherwise it's unhelpful whining. And whining about our players isn't supportive.
But there are actionable fixes...
And who whined about a player? I've actually complemented BB3 on multiple threads.
If ya'll can't handle a discussion it's probably best to sit out for a while.
Edit: You'd better sit out when French does his film review. I suspect some of the same critique will be made.
Not up to you to decide who can partake in conversation. That's mods and the community. Fwiw maybe let's all take 5
If you are saying the coaches need to be better teachers, that's fine. But if you are saying we need more talented QBs, nothing we can do about that for this season. Complaining that BB3 isn't someone else all year will get old really fast.
It is a relevant complaint for a recruiting discussion and has no relevance for a schematic/game day discussion. Since you posted it in a game review thread, I feel that it tends towards irrelevant.
Then simply move on. Thats all.
I made a comment that others have also made. I've also complimented BB3 multiple times (which you haven't acknowledged).
FWIW it will be an ongoing conversation through the end of the season. On most game/post-game threads and on the film reviews. It's probably something everyone should get used to.
Same thing could be said about being upset about the critiquing
Yeah, maybe. But I think the difference is in the underlying feeling. We just beat a top-10 team at home for the first time in several years in front of a jacked crowd. Our players went HARD in this game and really earned the respect they deserve for their performance.
And here, we are spending a lot of time talking about how they actually aren't that good and are still gonna lose a bunch and that the coaches are terrible and it's all a bunch of self-defeating nonsense.
Buy in! The team has obviously believes in themselves and each other. I'm all in after they laid it all out there.
Anyway, I'm really ready to be unreasonably excited about Hokie football and this team, with its faults and all, are giving me reason to be excited. I guess if you don't want to, that's fine.
This - more of this
I upvoted you because of your positive vibes, but you certainly are reading waaay too much into things....
This is not the sentiment on any of these threads.
To add to your point, why is everyone acting that BB was playing against air and the coaches were calling plays against no one? All off-season, all I've heard about is how talented and deep UNC's D is, especially in the secondary. And the response after a win is to criticize that we weren't airing it out more? I'm not sure I understand.
The strength of the team right now is O-line and RB. The game plan was to play to that strength, keep Howell off the field, and avoid letting that talented secondary create mistakes for us. BB missed open guys and can definitely improve, but I think the coaches did a good job game planning and getting everyone ready to play.
The UNC defense is probably very good. VT did enough to win and left points on the field. This was a solid performance against a very talented team in my eyes. Room for improvement for sure, but lots of positives too.
Good: The coordinators!
I think that was the first time we've seen what JHam fully intends to do on D scheme-wise and it clearly works...6 sacks, 9 TFLs, 10 points against Sam Howell and his returning OL. Anxious to read what French has to say about the scheme/execution.
Overall Game Plan on O...it obviously worked; and probably should have worked a little better than it did.
Discipline...only 2 penalties in game one...and no procedure calls
Needs Work: At times, the moment was still a little too big...
the fumble (you just can't)
a couple of messed up snaps
chip shot field goal miss
BB (he missed a couple easy ones at key times that should have been big plays)
And despite what I said about the overall game plan, you have to try to score at the end of the first half...whether that was Fu or Corn.
I forgot about that! Very odd sequence. Get the ball back and Unc has 3 timeouts before half. Run three quick plays that went nowhere and punt back before half....so odd
Absolutely agree with this and I'm surprised this has not been discussed more. Instead of playing to win, Fuente's preference at the end of the first half is playing not to lose. This is a recurring theme and not a good one. I could understand this if you are up by 30+ points going into halftime but we were only up two scores against one of the best QB's in the country.
I'll add, shout out to both defenses for showing up. I'm in the "I think this is a rivalry" boat, but you gotta hand it to em. Their defense adjusted in the second half. Our defense adjusted in the second half. Points were left on the field.
It is absolutely a rivalry for the players. They were constantly in each other's faces after plays, and you could feel the intensity after big plays. Lots of overlap in our recruiting territory. Many of these guys know each other not only from previous matchups, but going back to high school and some even peewee football.
It reminds me of the competitive rivalry we developed with GT, particularly under PJ.
BLUF: good we won, bad we should have won by more.
It is amazing what a year of spring ball will do to installing a defense. The DL looked like they all knew where to go. They destroyed a 5 person returning oline from a top 25 team.
The defense, being installed, allowed for adjustments as Barno was doing something different in the 2nd half.
Our DBs are healthy, felt good to see Waller get that pick, Dorian and Conner balled out.
JHam got a chance to show what he could do on defense, and he had them ready to ball out.
If UNC had Newsome i don't think we would have won, that last drive goes different. We need more from the offense.
O line looked physical. Blackshear finally had some plays we were all expecting him to have last year.
I still can't tell if more than one route is considered(from a player design stand point) on any given play.
We could have scored another 3 TDs, we need to take THAT step. Right now we looked like VT, offense does just enough.
I am not sure what our bread and butter plays are. If you need to pick up 2 yards, what is a play we know this team can execute. Right now running up the middle is probably the play.
Offensive production is going to be limited when our gameplan is to drain the clock and dominate time of possession. Once we took a 14 point lead into the second half, I honestly think we took a page out of the Beamer playbook and trusted our defense to lock up the win and not do anything on offense to lose the game. I get people not liking that, but it was effective especially if we hit that short field goal in the 4th.
I don't think our offense is going to be the slow paced one we saw last night in most games this year.
Agreed.
I hope you're right, but it looked like the same thing we've had the last two seasons. I need to see it actually happen over the next few weeks.
I do want to say that it's insanely ballsy to look across the sideline and see one of the best QBs in the country behind a returning Oline and be like 14 points is good.
A 14 pt lead at the half is way too early and small a margin to go into drain the clock mode. People can say the second half production or lack thereof was by design, but I think that's glossing over us not really having much of a vertical passing game right now and protecting BB. We have to work on that.
I don't think the plan was not to get any points.
And the game plan we were executing could EASILY have generated some.
The problem I have with this line of criticism is that it assumes too much. The game plan appeared to be burning maximum clock, while running a low-risk offense that was working well enough that you assume it would likely generate some points.
It does generate some concerns, as you wonder if there were any other gears, but now we have a couple of games to test some of those other levers.
Bingo ^
Also no, 14 points against 2020 UNC was not a very large lead. But, I think it was pretty obvious from the start of the game that this was not the same offense they had last year.
Look I'm not saying the offense was perfect in the second half, but I think it was more design than shortcomings.
We were in drain the clock mode from the opening kickoff? We weren't snapping the ball with more than 5 seconds on the play clock the whole game
The tempo and letting the play clock run is fine, but I think our passing playbook is limited because BB isn't seeing the field well. Case in point missing Turner wide open on the third down, several times you could see him lock on to one receiver from the snap and scramble when it wasn't there. He's good at the quick hitters and outside the hashes stuff, but I don't know if he can read the middle of the field well still. That limits what we can call on offense, and I think that is the frustration. The overall tempo is fine and worked.
Agreed. French's writeup a few days ago summarized the same things and how last season had two BB3's-- the one pre-injury who was pretty meh and the one post-injury who was more successful because the staff recognized his weaknesses and minimized the number of throws he made over the middle.
I had no issues with the tempo. Keep the ball out of Howell's hands a much as possible and let the defense keep things under control. The only play I didn't care for was one in the 4th where we snapped the ball with like half a second left on the play clock and then BB3 got the yips and sailed it over Blackshear's head on a short toss to the left sideline. That should have been an easy completion but I think BB3 got too worked up from just barely beating the snap count and he sailed the throw.
Everyone is pointing out that one play but he was rolling right and Tre was left. Cutting the viable routes down to half the field is normal in college football, especially on roll outs.
This entire thread is just guys seeking plays that illustrate their prejudices. There isn't much critical thinking here.
I also recall 2 very easy touch passes that BB3 missed in the 2nd half. One was a screen that we may have scored and other would have been a 1st. I'm not bashing but he has to make the layups.
What worked well? Might not be the most popular opinion but from my perspective Fu. The subtle changes he has made since the end of last season I believe have shown how much this entire thing matters to him. I never really questioned that he took his job seriously, or that the struggles of the program truly mattered to him...but the way he handled situations in the past with his aloof nature made it seem like he was less invested than many (myself included) wanted to see him.
He had his players ready, and I think a big part of that were the difference between this year and last year as it applies to SARS CoV-2 within the program. Having everyone available for all conditioning and practices seemed to make a difference for one game.
It was awesome to see him in the press conference...truly impacted to see what Lane Stadium can be like. I really like seeing him as someone who gets it and understands what it means. I'm sure he always was, but he wasn't as vocal about it as he is now. I think the players pick up on it too.
Probably making too much out of it...but I'm happy for the guy. He has been under a ton of scrutiny and it was nice for at least one night for him to enjoy how unique Hokie football is.
Well done Fu. Now go 1-0 next week.
Needs improvement: the clown announcer who said we lost our "good left tackle to transfer" as if Christian Darrisaw isn't elite and didn't get drafted in the first round.
Favorite picture from the game I've seen so far:
I like Andre Ware, but I agree that the main guy was a dope
I like that Whit replied to the tweet a little after you posted this.
It's like he reads this forum or something...
Lots of fun stuff to unpack. Can't wait for French's analyses. I was there and it was awesome. A few thoughts:
Secondary was great. Waller moving from boundary to slot on passing downs with Chatman coming in was cool to see. They were not going to let NC beat us with Abad slot matchup again. We had nickel and dime packages in so many times it was mind blowing.
The D line variations were also crazy. Saw different looks than I have seen before And will need French to do some explaining.
Burmeister had some rough plays, but it also seemed like they were calling the game to minimize exposure and protect their QB. There were several instances where he should have kept the ball and run, and he missed badly on a few plays. I actually give BB a pass on that play where everyone was going nuts about Tre running wide open. BB was rolling away from that side of the field and I imagine it was tough for him to see Tre.
Our WRs still need to do more work to get themselves some separation, but you have to think NCs DBs are among the best we will face.
Peter Moore punted his ass off.
And finally, and most important to me as a fan, the energy in Lane was the best I have seen in many years. I have seen the crowd get pumped for big night games before more times than I can count (27 year season ticket holder), but this was the first time in a long time that the team gave them a performance they could feed off of throughout the whole game. And they did. Hats off to the students. I was in my seats 45 minutes before kick and they were packed and rocking. Amazing to think that for probably half of them that this was their first experience in Lane. Here's to many more like it.
Let's go.
Chatman
Hopefully the experience convinces them to bring the energy every game. Bring back the Terrordome!
Defense looked good. Missed tackles plagued us the last couple years and I feel like we wrapped up pretty well this game. Run game was good. I cant distinguish between them very well but some of them were very patient. The Oline is probably the best unit on the team.
BB was not impressive to me. He can run it for sure, but I dont think I trust him in a catch up kind of game. We only scored 17 points. I know we messed up a couple opportunities but I really hope that isnt a sign of things to come.
How many VT QBs do you trust in this scenario? Vick, Tyrod, and..... ? Evans did it a few times. While I'd love a Heisman candidate for QB, I just want us to have someone who can win us game. BB3 was good enough to do that last night.
None of those players are going to be suiting up net game so it's irrelevant. What I do think, with the players in front of us, that we will have some very frustrating offensive games. But I expect that to happen a few times during a season anyways so it's not too big of a deal.
Thoughts
1. After Kings fumble my first thought was, "we will never see him again". I wasn't wrong.
2. Our DL was surprising. Garbutt played like a man. Barno looked smooth in a standup role, paying homage to his time at safety, (can you imagine him coming from the back end to hit a RB??) and linebacker, and Pollard, Kendricks and Williams balled. I had a couple of panic attacks when Fuga and Garbutt hit the turf. Eli Adams and Super Maxx are willing, but a def step down.
3. The series at the end of the first half. Found myself thinking about Sarks "all gas, no brakes" offense at Texas and wished we didn't hit the jake brake every time we started rolling.
4. I didn't notice the O-line much, which is quite a complement. Don't think I heard Tenutas name all night which is about the best complement you can give a LT.
5. Couldnt agree more with Chris. So much lip service about the WR room and the same three guys get all the looks. I never even noticed Dwain Lofton. (Certain i misspelled that).
6. Lastly-a request. Can we please, PLEASE have a giftory of Macks salty loser face at the end of the game? So sweet!
I said the same thing about King, but he was back in in a few offensive plays in Q4. Blacks hear was indeed the swiss army knife, but I wish we had banged Houston a little more as the game went on.
By my eye Lofton played one offensive snap. Payoute played two that I noted. Not a lot of run. Hopefully we see depth the next two weeks.
King actually was still in for KR. But I thought the same thing at first.
Really happy with the Defense. Hoping JHam is the real deal. As I said in another thread, really hope this isn't 2018 FSU all over again.
Anyways, thought this was interesting from PFF:
My thought is that this can't end up being like 2018 FSU. That FSU team turned out to be awful and had a losing season I think. I don't see UNC tanking like that this season.
On all the comments about the passing offense, I do think it's worth noting that the strength of UNC's defense heading into the game was 1) the secondary, and 2) the uniqueness of the fronts the linebackers create.
Having a game plan that was run-heavy (43 rushes to 19 passing attempts), and controlling tempo should have probably been expected. Not seeing the depth of the wide receivers I think had more to do with playing bigger bodies. I saw Gallo and Deiuliis in a lot, Tre is a smaller receiver but he's been in the program and has a college body and gained good weight this year. Kaleb Smith can block well. With all that said, it makes sense that Tayvion/Payoute had a combined one catch. I would imagine we'll see a similar game plan against a stout West Virginia defense in a couple of weeks. But if we don't have more than three receivers make catches against Middle Tennessee, then I'll start to worry about the WR passing game more.
Honestly more surprised we didn't see the receivers more in the run game (3 carries for 37 yards between Tre and Tay). This was the area I thought Lofton might get some touches - but again, I'll wait to see what we do against Middle Tennessee.
Very encouraged that after a summer where Hamilton admitted the defense didn't force a turnover in scrimmages that we forced 3 and forced a fumble out of bounds. A little worried about King's fumbling problem still being a thing in year 2.5, and I need to see Burmeister's interception again (don't think there was anyone else to blame on that but I was admittedly a little hazy in the second half).
But honestly... I think this was about as good an outcome and game plan as we could hope. No team has flawless execution for four quarters, everyone leaves points on the board at some point. It was great seeing the entire team respond instead of breaking down. It was tragically funny watching our stadium clam up when Tre dropped that touchdown pass. Everyone had that same expression of "oh fuck, we're gonna blow it again..." and then the relief of Mitchell touchdown. We've all been hurt by this team, and god, it felt cathartic to win a big one again.
Kaleb Smith can block well.
He has consistently blocked his ass off since he has been at tech...remember Keshawn Kings long run against
ECU i think..may have been Furman..Smith was hustling down there to get a block and almost got a block in the back..Here's the run..it's the 2nd run
I think there are a lot of good points made all around. BB could have hit a few throws, execution was lacking, but guess what? The defense absolutely SHOWED OUT against a top 10 team and "Heisman Candidate" in prime time in a nationally televised game and WE WON.
We've been mediocre for the past (what?) 4 to 6 years, let's revel in the win this weekend, and take care of business next week!
What needs the most work is getting more talented, uh...talent. Nothing to be done about that right now. But as someone who loves to rip on them and who will probably die mad about the "ludicrous crap" comment...gotta give the brain trust credit. They played to our offensive strengths and put guys in position to succeed all night long. We're gonna feel the Burm a few times this year, but it is what it is, and that's gotta be addressed off the field with recruiting etc. Last night everyone did all they could to win, and won. That is awesome, and as a fan it's a feeling I've missed greatly.
I think everyone needs to pump the breaks on BB not doing well . Yea he missed a few passes . It was a season opener with a lot of hype and amped up home crowd . Also before the game , French talked about UNC secondary being one of the best if not the best we would face all season . Let BB settle in for a couple of games . In the end he didn't lose us the game and had some good scrambles to get first downs .
I'm not going to fault the players at all. Defense was phenomenal. Offense was mid for 3/4 of the game. We'll see how they look vs WVU in a couple weeks
I thought BB played above expectations. He missed the one wheel route and the screen pass but everything else looked very good.
Some positives I saw:
- 2 deep shots were on the money
- Kept his eyes down field when he left the pocket in the red zone
- Decisive when taking off on the run
- Avoided big hits
- No false starts, no delay of games - he managed the huddle well
EDIT: Since this is also a "What needs work". I'll add that I think our play calling when we reach the 30 yard line is very predictable and stalled a lot of drives last year.
If you guys thought paper airplanes were bad on the west side, wait till you see the amount of empty beer cans flying. Folks need to work on not being stupid.
I cant believe how much offensive hate is still out there. First, the game plan was to control time and it worked beautifully. Take away King's redzone fumble and we might have done the impossible: ripped out the jugular while imposing will and controlling clock. Yes things got slower in half two, but the plan was the same. The passing game looked limited, but that is a legit NFL secondary we were throwing against. Gameplan was outstanding. The defense was even better, total buy in and great effort. I love it.
I fully agree. It's like people expect us to score 42 points with 350 passing yards and also hold the other team to 14 points every game.
We go in with a game plan. Sometimes it falls apart and you have to adjust. That didn't happen yesterday. You have to take what the game gives you and we did exactly that.
I'm not sure how to articulate this better, but we could also have gone up even more with the missed field goal and the fumble inside the ten - and that forces Sam Howell to even more hero ball. I think it's plausible that we could have been up 21-0 at the half and UNC plays backyard football a la Mahomes in the Super Bowl.
We just don't know what would have happened, and the hypotheticals are endless. What I will say is: in the face of pressure I think Burmeister outperformed Howell, even with his mistakes.
fine comments, but writing that unc has an nfl secondary is just totally laughable. unc's secondary might be the best part of their defense, but that isn't saying much anyway. unc really doesn't have much of a D, and of course unc was WAY over hyped this offseason anyway. Even Mac said after the game that unc was overrated.
Regardless of how you might think they performed, their secondary is full of 4/5 star players who will all likely be drafted at some point.
I think the only starter who is not a former blue-chip recruit is Storm Duck who obviously turned out to be an all-acc level talent player.
It is laughable that you do not recognize the talent they have in the secondary. For the record, our secondary blanket covered all night as well.
unc sucks! That is all.
It's too early to anoint either unit. 2018 taught us that. Let's see how these units look over the next few weeks. I was really really impressed by the defense. The offense looked about the same as it has for the last few years. I'm ecstatic with the win but my expectations aren't going to change after just one game against an incredibly over-rated UNC team.
I agree. There will be far too many conclusions drawn from week one across all of college football. Regardless, since we as fans get to spend the week looking back whereas the players have to look forward, I choose to enjoy a very well planned spanking of UNC.
I hope you can at least acknowledge the irony of calling UNC "incredibly overrated" and downplaying this win after a full offseason of just win comments and talking about them competing for a playoff spot.
There's that, but I can't help but point out that being just one game in, they're "incredibly overrated" purely because they lost to us. What if they win the rest of their games, or at least 10 games? What if we do really well this year? Saying they're overrated is really just saying that they aren't as good as everyone thought because they lost to us, and we're no good. Let's see a few more games from both teams before we go slapping an overrated label on them. Everyone seems to think we won't amount to much, but that's not a given. Sure, we've underperformed from where we think we should have been, but we did win 10 games in Fuente's first season, and that was with Corny. And we were a TD shy of Clemson in the ACC championship game to the eventual national champs that year also. It's clear Fuente is capable of winning, just borderline infuriating that he hasn't been.
Right now I feel cautiously optimistic this year. Considering how the defense played in the first game, we game planned well, and if we can fix a few execution issues with the O, we may be pretty darn good this year. But again, I'm not going to get my hopes up too high just yet, but I'm also not ready to call UNC overrated either.
Mack called them over-rated himself after the loss🤷♂️
I think you are taking my comments about them "competing for the playoff" out of context.
Their ceiling is playing against Clemson in the acccg which is, indeed, competing for a playoff spot. But I think it's also completely fair to call a top 10 team overrated when they lose to an unranked opponent.
I am thrilled VT won that game. I'll admit that I didn't think that would happen. But it's one game. The team still needs to go out there and win. There is a lot of football left to play. My expectations haven't suddenly changed because we beat UNC. I felt good about our win vs FSU in 2018. I'm not making that mistake again.
Dude, I really wonder why you even watch the games. You are so intent on finding something negative to say you can't enjoy a solid win even for a second. The mental energy you burn trying to find a fault in something must make your brain hurt. In the last two years I don't think I've checked a single thread on TKP without finding you there to poo poo on something.
We have a team full of kids that played their nuts off in front of an amazing crowd of people that wanted to see them be successful. For a coaching staff that very clearly had our team prepared to play. Maybe try to enjoy it and let that be enough for once.
I may be wrong, but I would bet you said something along the lines of if we upset UNC your expectations for the season would be much increased. Doesn't matter if it wasn't you or I am mis remembering. The point is we deserve to enjoy this week. It may be the start of an excellent season or a blip before a disappointing one. But enjoy the ride.
Brown said they were overrated to how they played, which, while a slight bit of semantics is a meaningful difference. I think he believes they were a top 15 team but didn't play to their potential.
Anyhow it's one game which many fans expected our D to get picked apart, hoped our offense could match UNC's D and figured we'd lose. Our D stepped up, our O matched (exceeded?) their D and we won.
In other words - Lighten up, Francis!
Just win right?
This is just my two cents, but:
1) This felt like a time warp game--like I was watching Beamer/Foster Hokie football, from the clock management to the bend don't break defense. That first series was fun, and I'm guessing that along with protecting the lead, the staff didn't want to show the whole playbook yet. It was just the 1st game.
2) Totally agree with all of the above posters about seeing Lane back to form. The cardboard cut-outs can't replicate the home field advantage we have with a packed house.
3) Can you fair catch a kickoff? I think it was after we scored in the 1st Q, we kick-off, and it's caught inside the 5, and the refs were waving fair catch like a punt. If this is a recent rule change, color me dumb.
4) While on the topic, why would you EVER, not take a snap directly under center when in the victory formation?? FWIW, I also agree with Andre Ware lamenting the same thing on 3rd/4th and inches...step up, snap, fall forward. First down. Seems like too much can go wrong with a longer snap.
5) Yes, it has been a minute since I've posted last. Like many, some of the last couple of seasons have been tough to watch, but I refused to speak ugly about the staff or the young men playing. Last night, I was proud of our players and their drive but more so I was proud of their discipline. Two penalties the whole game? Likewise, I was proud of the coaches for preparation and teaching. Our guys looked faster, stronger, and ready for the challenge of this game. Like many, I'm cautiously optimistic, and I will trust that our staff will continue to coach our guys up.
6) I will look forward to french's write-up, but I know there are things to improve upon. That said, isn't that what happens after EVERY game, win or lose??
7)Let's GO!!!!!
My guess is that they think it's safer to fumble a shot gun snap with 2 extra guys back there waiting to fall on it vs fumbling it under the centers butt and then getting it accidentally kicked around in the scrum.
The NCAA changed the kickoff fair catch rule in 2018. A fair catch on a kickoff, when between the endzone and the 25-yard line, is treated the same as a touchback and will be spotted at the 25-yard line.
Thanks!
A leg for you!
3) yes that rule was added 2-3 years ago. you get it at the 25. done for safety reasons
EDIT: that will teach me not to refresh more.
I cant stand this too. Why go back 3-4 yards for short down conversion or taking a knee. More risk IMO
When the QB never takes snaps under center, then there's more risk of a fumbled snap there than shotgun. I agree for short yardage situations there's an advantage being closer to the line of scrimmage, but I'd rather the center and QB be as comfortable as possible when we're kneeing.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree because I've seen more fumbles/mishandles from a shotgun snap than under center
A shotgun mishandle with two protectors may be more likely to be recovered by the O though? I will admit though that the final snap came at BB with adrenaline behind it and it made me nervous.
I see where you are coming from but I guess I see it from the football's potential travel (or mis-travel) from a center's hand to the qb's hand.
I get the shotgun give you more room to recover, but I just want to QB to get it asap and take a knee.
Probably true in general, but if we never run anything under center than our QBs likely aren't comfortable there. I think it makes sense to snap it whichever way is more common for our centers and QBs.
Defense was stellar Kendricks surprised me and made some big plays. Barno looks excellent alongside garbutt.
Offensive play calling was conservative to me but the execution was off and rusty. Hopefully that was more of week 1 first game jitters and a MTSU opponent can help iron out the kinks and get the passing game to be better. They had plays work just poor execution cost us big time. Hopefully we can clean it up on offense and find better ways to spread the ball around and try to be more unpredictable I'd like to see a few more passes early on downs
I see BB3's passing ability mentioned a bunch on this thread, but let's not forget that dime he threw to Tre on a fade and the one that was nearly a TD to Robinson. I think he may have the arm strength after all. Also on that play where he didn't see Tre wide open, I think it's worth noting that Tre kept running the route deeper. The receiver doesn't do that if he thinks his QB can't make the throw.
What worked?
The gosh darn win. Felt tears welling multiple times last night, from the crowd to the players to fuente. Couldn't be prouder.
What didn't work?
Braxton wearing a white t underneath the shoulder pads?! Not surprised it affected the passing game a bit. Will be better on Saturday
Hot take: We won! Now let's see improvement from week 1 to week 2!
CornFu has got to stop going into effing turtle mode when VT gets the ball with with under two minutes to go in the second quarter. Words cannot convey the rage I felt when I saw that.
Surprised how many people are hating on the coaching. This was probably Fuente & staff's best coaching performance to date. I didn't like running it out to end the first half but I can at least somewhat understand it in that situation (up 14-0 in a game where you're trying to control clock). Also didn't like even giving Keshawn King the opportunity to fumble in the first half when you had not one, but two other running backs dominating - don't think you need to be bringing in a third at that point. But overall those were two minor complaints to me in the grand scheme of that game.
I thought it was pretty clear that the offensive struggles in the second half were mostly on Burmeister failing to execute. He simply needs to be better, but he obviously was great early in the game so hopefully he can figure out how to look more like he did in the first quarter and less like he did in the rest of the game as the season goes on.
Well stated. Leg for you!
You can reasonably assume that King won't be touching the ball in the red zone anytime soon unless the game is a blowout.
So hopefully he gets some more touches next week?
What worked well: based on Sandman, the crowd.
What needs work: based on this morning, my liver.
Y'all need to stop hating on BB3. It could be worse, we could have a QB that throws 3 backbreaking INT's.
The good, I predicted this win.
The bad, I still don't have my voice back and I saw 2 party fouls in the east stands. Hate it when someone drops their beer. Had to pony up and save the day.
The final stat line looks like a box score from the Sean Glennon era - and hate on it all you want, but those were still 10 win seasons. It doesn't matter that everyone from Mack Brown down knows UNC was overrated at #10, but they are definitely on paper a top 20-25 team this year.
It was a good win, and at a certain point, I feel like we're seeking out the negatives. Let's let French do a legit write up, and hear what the coaches say during media availability this week and go from there.
I think UNC will end up in the top 15 and possibly top 10 by the end of the season. They should win the next 5 pretty easily and then they will have 2 toss ups. I see 8 wins as the absolute floor for them and 10 wins if things go well.
We need to stay sharp and healthy all season if we are going to make an ACC run.
I thought the game plan was spot on, we took some shots, but played ball control offense. Given how the defense played, I would play it again just the same way.
You never want to get in a shootout with an elite QB. Rest your defense so they can do their job, and put some hits on the qb.
I am not a fan of blackshear in the run game, he leaves a lot to be desired. He is very good in open spaces, and should be utilized the way heavily. Mitchell must touch the ball more, whatever way we can find to get him the ball.
Defense , damn I was impressed. I really dont know how they play better. But the game plan on offense makes the defense better, rested defenses hit harder and can stay with receivers
Jet Sweeps worked very well. I see 3 for 37 yards. They were executed brilliantly, and at the right times.
King and Blackshear need to be outside run backs only. Holston was a great inside back. Burmeister was effective on the ground. The backs and receivers were responsible for 4 of the 6 converted 3rd downs in the 1st Half on the ground (the other two were the long pass to Turner and the TD to Mitchell). The only unconverted 3rd down was the sack at the end of the half.
The failed 3rd Down attempts were the sack on 3rd and 9 at the end of the half, an attempted pass at 3rd and 2, an attempted pass at 3rd and 12, a 2 yard pass on 3rd and 12, an attempted pass on 3rd and 9, an attempted pass on 3rd and 6, and a kneel down to end the game.
When we ran, we were 4-4 on 3rd down conversions when we ran, 2 for 9 when we attempted a pass, 0-1 on kneel downs, which shouldn't count anyway. The confusing thing is, all of those running 3rd downs were in the first half. We didn't attempt a run in the 2nd half on a 3rd down.
The difference in the first half vs second half running on third down was distance. On running third-down conversions we picked up 3rd and 5 twice and 3rd and 1 twice on runs. Passing we picked up 3rd and 13 to Blackshear and 3rd and goal from the 11 to Mitchell for a touchdown. The one we failed to pick up was 3rd and 9 before the end of the half - the only sack allowed.
Overall average distance on 3rd in the first half: 3 yards on runs, 11 yards on passes, 8.14 combined.
The second half was all passes on distances of 2, 12, 12 9, 6 - for an average of 8.2 yards... So you could make an argument that we should have run on the first, but that's the only obvious one in my opinion. Also, I think that last one, BB had Blackshear open but floated it too far in the face of pressure - so again, some execution flaws.
Making someone an outside or inside run only threat is not a good idea. It allows the defense to key on their threat. If you look back at the last couple years of Shane's running backs, it was pretty obvious which backs were going to do which things. Sometimes you have to go against the obvious to keep a defense guessing.
King and Blackshear can not be outside backs ONLY because that would cue the defense of that was the case
What went well:
1) New punter, same results. Great game!
2) For the first game of the year, there were very few penalties.
3) Game plan was on point. Ball control offense, tough D.
What needs work:
1) BB missed a few throws in the 2nd half that would have extended drives. The pass to a wide open Blackshear comes to mind.
2) Understanding what we were trying with our game plan, it did seem we were a little too conservative in the 2nd half. It definitely seemed the UNC had more guys in the box to stop the run after halftime. Even at 14-0 I was starting to get a little nervous. I was having flashbacks to an October game in 2007. F Matt Ryan.
A Fuente coached VT has never had fewer penalties called, and only 5 times had fewer penalty yards
2012 vs UVA was last time we had fewer penalties.
P.S. those last few years of Beamer had a lot of penalties.
Cool picture of something that almost worked.
Damn! I didn't realize how close that was. A blocked punt, especially for a TD, would've been the icing on the cake!
This one I knew we almost had, and I think the punt right before or right after this one we almost had as well, but not punted it through our guy's arms close. Talk about luck of the Irish.
Defense was stout... offense looks promising, a lot of playmakers. Wish King was given some carries after his fumble.
Didn't see a mention above regarding the bad snaps and Hoffman's miscues.
King got carries in the 2nd half
He had 3 carries in 1st quarter and none the rest of the game
I am gonna go the other way with King. This fanbase has been very critical about how harsh the staff has been on his fumbles. Then, basically two years later, he gets another shot and fumbles in the redzone on a play that didn't really have any specific play on the ball. He does not control the ball well enough. I hope he isn't in perpetual dog house, but I did not think he needed any extra carries in this particular game.
And you may be right. All for benching a player after a fumble.
Is Tahj Gary in the mix to get any carries this year?
And not every fumble is equal. Sometimes a helmet gets on a ball and it is at least understandable.
I feel like we've heard that Lee is slightly ahead of Gary in terms of depth for that bruiser role, but I could be wrong. King honestly didn't look great on either of his first half runs in my untrained eye. Seemed like he just ran without a purpose and the other one he lost the ball.
Punitive measures for fumbles if the RB is careless are ok. Not ok if it was a well placed helmet or exceptional contact. Fumbles are going to happen occasionally to all RB's. If a RB has talent, let him use it for all our benefit. Getting shutdown for all errors seems petty and not a good look for potential recruits. But what do I know.
This has been discussed a lot, but I am vehemently against a one size fits all, extremely punitive punishment for fumbles. I agree, you can teach a lesson if someone fumbles in such a fashion that it is clearly the result of careless ball handling or clearly-at-fault-type decision making. However, fumbles happen, sometimes it's just a perfect punch, helmet to the ball, etc. High and tight reduces fumbles significantly, but not entirely. It's ridiculous to punish fumbles so punitively in situations where it's just a perfect storm of bad fortune/great play by the defender. It can both hurt our team and that player's confidence.
This wasn't one of those occasions. King has established a trend. Cutting out a few runs for the number 3 back that has routinely lost the ball on standard tackles isn't too punitive in my opinion.
Yeah I'm not talking about King's situation here, rather a general distaste with such a policy.
Putting on 15 lbs of muscle could probably prevent some fumbles too, but we may never know for sure.