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Dang I never noticed that that's definitely some good observation right there
One thing that I (and probably a few others) have noticed is that Demitri steps back when he catches a kickoff and then progresses forward. One of the things that made David Wilson SO GOOD last year for the Giants is that he began catching kickoffs with his momentum already carrying forward. He didn't do that very well as an undergrad and besides a few spectacular plays (NC STATE and GT come to mind), he wasn't nearly as productive like last year for the G-Men where I think he set some sort of NFL Return Yards Record. He also has superhuman powers but that's inconsequential to this discussion.
I think heard Frank mention that Knowles steps back a few weeks ago when a beat writer asked him about the lack of yards/production from the kickoff guys but it doesn't seem like they've corrected it yet. Wierd, to me at least, because it seems like a rather simple fix - see the ball, step back, and attack it as it's caught. Probably much easier said than done though.
We're ranked as high as 16 by the computers with most of them putting us around 20, and as low as 34. Should put us around 21 or 22 whenever the BCS comes out. IF we win our next 3 games we'll probably go into that Miami game top 15.
Yea I noticed that he seems to be looking for cut backs or those cutbacks all across the field instead of going straight.
UVA, imma solve all your problems in one move:
I'm more worried about our kickoff returns. Demitri isn't good at it. He jogs at the beginning and runs sideways instead of straight ahead.
Nah, he'd pee in the scrum
Good point VTGuitarMan
Thanks for the breakdown. I am very happy with all three of our new coaches. Loeffler's playcalling has been good to great from game to game as he and the offense are figuring out what their strengths and weakness are.
Given that it came late in the game, I'd say it's probably just rotation. Kendall can be a serious playmaker.
Kendall Fuller returned the last few punts. I wonder if that was just a breather for Jarrett or if the coaches think he's a better fit there.
There are a lot of things at play here, so it's not entirely on Jarrett. We've been a lot more aggressive going after punts this year (love it), but that leaves fewer blockers downfield. We've also had pretty poor blocking even when we try to set up for a return, so there's never really any running room. Jarrett does bear some blame for not fair-catching a few balls that definitely should have been. To me, though, the whole kicking game (kickoff returns, punt returns, and coverage when we are kicking the ball) has been mediocre. Not abysmal like it was against Bama, but not quite back to the standards of the late 90s/early 2000s. Putting the starters in on special teams was a wise move, and the punt block against Marshall was a thing of beauty, but we need more consistency from everyone. Like someone else said on another thread, Kyle has been a step away from blocking a few more punts in the last couple of games. Only a matter of time before he gets another one.
I noticed that Kendall Fuller was returning the punts later in the game. I wonder if that's just a rotation thing or if Beamer & Co. were tired of the high risk / low reward style of Jarrett.
I agree that there's reason to be cautiously optimistic about the O-line this year. They way they played Bama showed me that Grimes can get maximum effort and technique out of this group. I wonder how many of those guys are hurt worse than they are letting on, which may be the reason for bad snaps and missed blocks.
Haha well said
Nothing was better than when I turned on the SNF game and the announcers were talking about how Schaub was "in good company re: Favre and Manning" with 3 games in a row with a pick 6, tying them for the record.
And then promptly threw a 4th in 4 games. :D
#LOLUVA
#WillieByrnYESHEWILL
Reread the original quote from Andy's article. He wasn't claiming the entire game was a disaster. The reference to 'Alabama being a disaster' was in specific reference to the passing game, as he goes on to state passing stats on the season with that game and WCU removed.
The passing game against Alabama absolutely was a disaster. That along with the special team let downs cost us the game. A decent passing attack (that negates the pick 6 and probably puts at least a few more points on the board) coupled with not allowing those returns go for touchdowns, and we very well could have won the game.
Their football is only club level too, but I'd imagine they'd field a decent rugby team with those 5 star guys they keep pulling from the 757. Smoke Mizzell the hooker?
Great breakdown! So damn excited to see how this team develops this season and in future seasons as we start recruiting for our new system.
It's the half point...they get you EVERY time with that little bit of candy. 14, eh, maybe. 14.5! Bingo, they will cover THAT!
Reposting from another thread:
I took a look at wins, offensive YPG, and offensive YAPG. I started with 1993-2012, looking at some sort of linear regression signal over the whole timeframe. Of course, since they imply the trend has recently become downward, there has to have been a peak somewhere, so I picked the 1999 season as the team's "peak" and looked at their performance for 2000-2012 as well.
Short answer: there's nothing that would even be considered remotely statistically significant. Granted, these are small sample sizes (20 and 13 seasons, respectively), but the only negative trend that jumps out at me is offensive YPG since 1993. The R-squared value for the trend 1993-2012 is only 0.05, so no, there is no "downward trend."
When I saw baby blue in Gayle's face, I knew that boy was stupid!