Miami Game Notes: DLine, OLine, TEs

[AKC]

It’s great to see the personnel flexibility of the Jauron staff after having two very rigid coaching regimes who relied IMO far, far too much on individual players versus the overall team concept. Seeing Miami face 3 new DLinemen on just their second offensive series shows just how much we truly will rely on fresh faces on the Defensive side of the ball. Also using 3 DE’s in pass packages makes too much sense- it’s good to see some logic to the process versus rigid discipline to something worked out some musty coach’s office. It also appeared that Villarial got spelled for a series in the 3rd by Duke Preston simply to rest CV.

 

A lot of the success McGahee is having on the ground is the willingness of our receivers to hit someone downfield. With the exception of Peerless Price everyone else seems to be onboard, and not to take anything away from the good work Josh Reed is doing but surprisingly the most aggressive blocker may just be Roscoe Parrish.

 

Jason Peters is impressive with his development. In our second series he takes his DT assignment up the field on a McGahee run that with a little help from the balance of the team gets McGahee 5 yards- but Peters isn’t done. He releases off the DT and gets upfield to eliminate a LB and the result is a McGahee gain of 11. While Peters didn’t do it alone, he was the primary reason McGahee picked up the extra yards.

 

It was fun watching Robert Royal, while mismatched as any TE is against Jason Taylor, continually showing off a nasty attitude against JT. Royal was tasked a surprising number of times with handling JT by himself. The one play where JT makes a play past him, Taylor is very lucky he didn’t draw a 15 yarder for yanking Gandy's facemask on his way by.

 

Kevin Everett is also plenty of field reps without being very involved in the passing game. Based upon his resume and some flashes in pre-season, we won’t have to wait until the end of this season to see him have a VERY big game offensively. His blocking skills are sufficient for the situations he’s being put in- he’s not being asked to handle a Jason Taylor and mostly he’s handling upfield blocks in the running game, but he is definitely contributing to our offense in the unbalanced 2 TE line set that we’re suing with regularity. A little patience and with the right defensive overload you can bet some quick TE passes will come out of that set.

 

McCargo right now is learning a tough lesson at the NFL level- his higher center of gravity makes it impossible to play the same way he did in college, where he could simply lean and use his arms to create space. NFL Linemen are too big and athletic to get away with that. He’s learning that he has to use his weight and leverage to get a pop on the other side, and his upside if he can learn this effectively will be substantial. He should easily become a bigger threat than Kyle Williams in the long term- Williams has the advantage now because he is built for and can play low, and that translates into immediate impact along the DLine. On the long term though the taller athlete offers the greater promise as a pass rushing threat, something this defense is built to reward.

 

Speaking of Kyle Williams, with about 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter he stunts all the way down the line around Tripplett and Kelsay. He’s chipped by the RB who pulls his helmet right off but he continues full speed up to big Vernon Carey, a guy outweighing him by maybe 60 pounds, and gets right into Carey’s face. Out west here we call those Quijones. He also follows it up with a good awareness leap on a passing play when he realizes he won’t get to the passer in time. There’s clearly been an emphasis on this in this Defense, and it’s paid off both games so far. Schobel is hands down the best linemen we have at reacting to the QB’s set and throw, but every single one of our linemen are looking on almost every passing down to interfere with passing lanes using their hands. This is also true of the extra guys we’re bringing- I never noticed the emphasis on this in the Tampa 2 but clearly our coaching staff has made “going up” a priority for our pass rushers.

 

One area of concern so far this year has been our short yardage/goal line run D. The one number who’d always be in my goal line package is 95 simply because of his ability to play low. He’s at the NT spot for the 3rd and 1 stuff we get on the Fish as the 3rd quarter ends.

 

 

McGahee may not look on film as quick as he’s actually playing. On the play I mentioned above with Taylor grabbing Royal’s face mask, the run stuff actually only happens because Royal is blocking for McGahee and he assumes McGahee is already off his shoulder. Problem is Anthony Thomas is now in the game and he’s lead-footed in comparison. The change of pace between the backs is a big plus for us, but I’m thinking Thomas shouldn’t be called for running plays off the tackles with any frequency. It’s one of those times when, contrary to the team concept on defense, we’ve got to consider who is in the backfield behind #7.

 

Reyes has kind of an awkward running style but what he does well is line up and catch his target well in space, not a typical skill for big interior OLinemen.

 

 

Our defensive philosophy for the season seems to be:

We’ll give some big plays on the ground, but we’ll make you pay the hard way if you try to challenge us in the air. To beat us you have to consistently get first downs out of your running game.

[nemhoff]

Wow, nice take. I feel like I have been to a film session on Tuesday morning in Buffalo.

[MartyBall4Buffalo]

Our defensive philosophy for the season seems to be:

We’ll give some big plays on the ground, but we’ll make you pay the hard way if you try to challenge us in the air. To beat us you have to consistently get first downs out of your running game.

 

 

Good analysis and part of the reason Im a big proponent of the tampa 2. As muck flak as our run defense has gotten we've yet to give up a rushing td, and I dont care what team you are with the speed of this defense yes we'll give up rushing yards due to size, but for every 5+ yard run we give up there will also be runs of -2, -3 yards, in which teams will be forced to pass, creating advantages for our secondary.

 

 

I was just wondering one thing though about the running game and maybe you know why, but why is there a drastic drop in the running production in the 2nd half is it conditioning, not use to the scheme or other mitigating factors?

[Rubes]

The one thing I am very impressed with concerning our defense is how they are just not giving up. It seems like every time a player is tackled, we have four, five, six, maybe even more all ganging up and making the tackle.

 

On one play in the Miami game, I remember Triplett getting into the backfield on a pass play and nearly disrupting it, but Culpepper got off a short pass and the receiver ran for, who knows, maybe 7 or 8 yards. Triplett was in on the tackle at the end. I couldn't believe it.

[keepthefaith]

It’s great to see the personnel flexibility of the Jauron staff after having two very rigid coaching regimes who relied IMO far, far too much on individual players versus the overall team concept. Seeing Miami face 3 new DLinemen on just their second offensive series shows just how much we truly will rely on fresh faces on the Defensive side of the ball. Also using 3 DE’s in pass packages makes too much sense- it’s good to see some logic to the process versus rigid discipline to something worked out some musty coach’s office. It also appeared that Villarial got spelled for a series in the 3rd by Duke Preston simply to rest CV.

 

A lot of the success McGahee is having on the ground is the willingness of our receiver to hit someone downfield. With the exception of Peerless Price everyone else seems to be onboard, and not to take anything away from the good work Josh Reed is doing but surprisingly the most aggressive blocker may just be Roscoe Parrish.

 

Jason Peters is impressive with his development. In our second series he takes his DT assignment up the field on a McGahee run that with a little help from the balance of the team gets McGahee 5 yards- but Peters isn’t done. He releases off the DT and gets upfield to eliminate a LB and the result is a McGahee gain of 11. While Peters didn’t do it alone, he was the primary reason McGahee picked up the extra yards.

 

It was fun watching Robert Royal, while mismatched as any TE is against Jason Taylor, continually showing off a nasty attitude against JT. Royal was tasked a surprising number of times with handling JT by himself. The one play where JT makes a play past him, Taylor is very lucky he didn’t draw a 15 yarder for yanking Royal’s facemask on his way by.

 

Kevin Everett is also plenty of field reps without being very involved in the passing game. Based upon his resume and some flashes in pre-season, we won’t have to wait until the end of this season to see him have a VERY big game offensively. His blocking skills are sufficient for the situations he’s being put in- he’s not being asked to handle a Jason Taylor and mostly he’s handling upfield blocks in the running game, but he is definitely contributing to our offense in the unbalanced 2 TE line set that we’re suing with regularity. A little patience and with the right defensive overload you can bet some quick TE passes will come out of that set.

 

McCargo right now is learning a tough lesson at the NFL level- his higher center of gravity makes it impossible to play the same way he did in college, where he could simply lean and use his arms to create space. NFL Linemen are too big and athletic to get away with that. He’s learning that he has to use his weight and leverage to get a pop on the other side, and his upside if he can learn this effectively will be substantial. He should easily become a bigger threat than Kyle Williams in the long term- Williams has the advantage now because he is built for and can play low, and that translates into immediate impact along the DLine. On the long term though the taller athlete offers the greater promise as a pass rushing threat, something this defense is built to reward.

 

Speaking of Kyle Williams, with about 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter he stunts all the way down the line around Tripplett and Kelsay. He’s chipped by the RB who pulls his helmet right off but he continues full speed up to big Vernon Carey, a guy outweighing him by maybe 60 pounds, and gets right into Carey’s face. Out west here we call those Quijones. He also follows it up with a good awareness leap on a passing play when he realizes he won’t get to the passer in time. There’s clearly been an emphasis on this in this Defense, and it’s paid off both games so far. Schobel is hands down the best linemen we have at reacting to the QB’s set and throw, but every single one of our linemen are looking on almost every passing down to interfere with passing lanes using their hands. This is also true of the extra guys we’re bringing- I never noticed the emphasis on this in the Tampa 2 but clearly our coaching staff has made “going up” a priority for our pass rushers.

 

One area of concern so far this year has been our short yardage/goal line run D. The one number who’d always be in my goal line package is 95 simply because of his ability to play low. He’s at the NT spot for the 3rd and 1 stuff we get on the Fish as the 3rd quarter ends.

McGahee may not look on film as quick as he’s actually playing. On the play I mentioned above with Taylor grabbing Royal’s face mask, the run stuff actually only happens because Royal is blocking for McGahee and he assumes McGahee is already off his shoulder. Problem is Anthony Thomas is now in the game and he’s lead-footed in comparison. The change of pace between the backs is a big plus for us, but I’m thinking Thomas shouldn’t be called for running plays off the tackles with any frequency. It’s one of those times when, contrary to the team concept on defense, we’ve got to consider who is in the backfield behind #7.

 

Reyes has kind of an awkward running style but what he does well is line up and catch his target well in space, not a typical skill for big interior OLinemen.

Our defensive philosophy for the season seems to be:

We’ll give some big plays on the ground, but we’ll make you pay the hard way if you try to challenge us in the air.  To beat us you have to consistently get first downs out of your running game.

781076[/snapback]

 

Appreciate your insight and all of the detail. I'm not ready to say Bill McGahee is having success. He's had a few decent runs, but 3.6 yards per carry is not good enough. It's early yet, but that needs to be closer to 4.5 yards per carry to be a big threat IMO.

[AKC]

I was just wondering one thing though about the running game and maybe you know why, but why is there a drastic drop in the running production in the 2nd half is it conditioning, not use to the scheme or other mitigating factors?

781089[/snapback]

 

I believe it was simply that Miami's D moved their DBs up to play us for running as our game plan finally became clear to them- and we just didn't change the game plan when they were stuffing the box.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

Appreciate your insight and all of the detail.  I'm not ready to say Bill McGahee is having success.  He's had a few decent runs, but 3.6 yards per carry is not good enough.  It's early yet, but that needs to be closer to 4.5 yards per carry to be a big threat IMO.

Until the final Bills drive, Willis had 89 yards on 22 carries (4.0 YPC average). He carried 3 times for 2 yards as the Bills tried to run down the clock, instead of having JP take a knee.

[Dennis in NC]

It also appeared that Villarial got spelled for a series in the 3rd by Duke Preston simply to rest CV.

781076[/snapback]

Thanks, AKC, for your fine analysis! Especially about the TEs, who are hard for some of us to analyze when they are not seen in the passing game.

 

And was it just one series when Preston played for CV? I saw him in there, but had not noticed when it started.

[34-78-83]

Great work AKC!

 

Since you're watching, did you see McGahee's double block in pass pro?

 

Took out 2 rushers on the play on a deep quarterback drop!

 

Best block I've seen from one of our backs since Thurman...

[MartyBall4Buffalo]

Great work AKC!

 

Since you're watching, did you see McGahee's double block in pass pro?

 

Took out 2 rushers on the play on a deep quarterback drop!

 

Best block I've seen from one of our backs since Thurman... 

781331[/snapback]

 

 

that was indeed a great block, and then the very next play he whiffed on an outside blitz which resulted in a sack and subsequent punt, but hopefully those times in the future where he does pick up defenders like that it results in long pass plays.

[Pyrite Gal]

Thanks for sharing your detailed perspective on things. I have a couple questions which you might be able to shed some light on since you are watching the tape carefully.

 

1. Simon noted in an earlier post that K. Thomas got used and abused on a couple of thrid downs and he also discounted a couple of KT tackles on 3rd downs as being check downs where Culpepper dumped it off and he happened to get there first.

 

Discounting the tackles seems fairly meaningless to me as the real key is that there was no first down and the team gets beaucoup credit for the coverage that forced the check down and the tackle. The key thing for me on KT's faux pas is also that the Miami was held to a TD late and I only care about the failure of an individual player on a play only to the extent that there is a better alternative on the roster (or available around the league. I even worry about this very little as long as the team results are good.

 

What were your observations on KT and how do you think he compares to Greer?

 

2. Its too early to tell after but two games but I think that Jauron may well be showing and establishing tendencies for the Bills O in these games and then later he will unleash different looks and play calls at critical times against opponents. There are certain items which seemed to be practiced in camo which I have bot seen used a lot like:

 

A. TEs as a checkdown receiver.

B. More use of the RBs as checkdown receivers.

C. More use of the end around.

 

What tricls do you think are stoll in the baag for this O and do you think the reason for not using them is simply game situation, being on the road, setting up tendencies or whatever?

 

3. In the first game Haggan looked like he got used and abused on the Troy Brown TD. Ellison saw signfificant time the the rest of the game. Do you think this was a move due to a Haggan failure or just simply part of the rotation?

 

Any thoughts or I dunnos are appreciated and again thanks fo the comments.

[34-78-83]

that was indeed a great block, and then the very next play he whiffed on an outside blitz which resulted in a sack and subsequent punt, but  hopefully those times in the future where he does pick up defenders like that it results in long pass plays.

781336[/snapback]

 

You're right. I forgot about the next play Still I loved the effort on taking on two rushers, probably enough that I overlooked the next one.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

3. In the first game Haggan looked like he got used and abused on the Troy Brown TD.  Ellison saw signfificant time the the rest of the game.  Do you think this was a move due to a Haggan failure or just simply part of the rotation?

Considering Ellison played most of the game and started against the Dols, I think that it was due to Haggan sucking as a LB'er. And he was a such a good college player. Oh well.

[Simon]

not to take anything away from the good work Josh Reed is doing but surprisingly the most aggressive blocker may just be Roscoe Parrish.

I don't know where Posey ended up but I'd love to see if Roscoe could get into him from the slot if we played Posey's current team.

And was it just me or were you concerned with what I thought was a very lackadaisical effort from Lee Evans last Sunday. I saw way too many downs where he just appeared to be going through the motions. Including the big PI call which looked to me as if Losman's perfect throw would have been a score if Lee finishes his route instead of allowing a beaten DB to close on him.

 

Peters isn’t done. He releases off the DT and gets upfield to eliminate a LB and the result is a McGahee gain of 11.

That was a great block; he completely engulfed that 'backer after he and Villarial buried the DT. Very reminiscent of what he was doing in the preseason when you could frequently see him getting into two guys on a given play.

 

It was fun watching Robert Royal, while mismatched as any TE is against Jason Taylor, continually showing off a nasty attitude against JT......where JT makes a play past him, Taylor is very lucky he didn’t draw a 15 yarder for yanking Gandy's facemask on his way by.

Royal had me chuckling. He tried to start at least two fights with Taylor in the first 5 minutes of the game. There was also a play from Taylor (which was actually a savvy vet move) where he grabbed the back of the pulling Reyes jersey and propelled himself into the backfield to blow up a Willis off-tackle carry. It should have been a penalty as well but he was quick and subtle with the jerk.

 

Speaking of Kyle Williams, with about 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter he stunts all the way down the line around Tripplett and Kelsay. He’s chipped by the RB who pulls his helmet right off but he continues full speed up to big Vernon Carey, a guy outweighing him by maybe 60 pounds, and gets right into Carey’s face. Out west here we call those Quijones.

Did you catch teh play right before that? miamuh went after him with a C/RG combo and Kyle threw the Center on the ground, beat the Guard with his hands and then dropped RBrown for no gain inside the phish 10. A stellar play.

 

There’s clearly been an emphasis on this in this Defense, and it’s paid off both games so far. Schobel is hands down the best linemen we have at reacting to the QB’s set and throw, but every single one of our linemen are looking on almost every passing down to interfere with passing lanes using their hands.

I noticed this in the preseason as well. And the only place I'd disagree with you is that it seems to me that the aforementioned KWilliams has an inate awareness and superb timing for when to give up his rush and get his hands up which may exceed even Schobel's.

 

 

 

Thanks for a great read.

Cya

[AKC]

1. Simon noted in an earlier post that K. Thomas got used and abused on a couple of thrid downs and he also discounted a couple of KT tackles on 3rd downs as being check downs where Culpepper dumped it off and he happened to get there first.

 

Discounting the tackles seems fairly meaningless to me as the real key is that there was no first down and the team gets beaucoup credit for the coverage that forced the check down and the tackle.  The key thing for me on KT's faux pas is also that the Miami was held to a TD late and I only care about the failure of an individual player on a play only to the extent that there is a better alternative on the roster (or available around the league.  I even worry about this very little as long as the team results are good.

 

What were your observations on KT and how do you think he compares to Greer?

 

781353[/snapback]

 

I'm really focusing on the LOS. My observations re: KT would be limited to the fact that he was a good value draft pick who does not appear to be fully recovering from his knee injury. Very few guys in that position have long careers.

 

 

 

2. Its too early to tell after but two games but I think that Jauron may well be showing and establishing tendencies for the Bills O in these games and then later he will unleash different looks and play calls at critical times against opponents.  There are certain items which seemed to be practiced in camo which I have bot seen used a lot like:

 

A. TEs as a checkdown receiver.

B. More use of the RBs as checkdown receivers.

C. More use of the end around.

 

What tricls do you think are stoll in the baag for this O and do you think the reason for not using them is simply game situation, being on the road, setting up tendencies or whatever?

 

781353[/snapback]

 

It'd be my guess that the offense will only add a new wrinkle ot two a game. I absolutely believe that the use of TEs, and specifically Everett, will come up sooner rather than later against a team who overplays our 2TE set. We were actually having better success against Miami when we were running out of 2 back and 4 WR sets, so I'd think in a week, maybe even this coming week, with a poor run defense like the Jets it might be a passing complement they would like to exploit. They want Losman throwing easy to complete short passes, but not necessarily low risk. Fairchild obviously is a proponent of the slant, and there's no reason the target can't be Kevin Everett.

[nodnarb]

It’s great to see the personnel flexibility of the Jauron staff after having two very rigid coaching regimes who relied IMO far, far too much on individual players versus the overall team concept. Seeing Miami face 3 new DLinemen on just their second offensive series shows just how much we truly will rely on fresh faces on the Defensive side of the ball. Also using 3 DE’s in pass packages makes too much sense- it’s good to see some logic to the process versus rigid discipline to something worked out some musty coach’s office. It also appeared that Villarial got spelled for a series in the 3rd by Duke Preston simply to rest CV.

 

A lot of the success McGahee is having on the ground is the willingness of our receivers to hit someone downfield. With the exception of Peerless Price everyone else seems to be onboard, and not to take anything away from the good work Josh Reed is doing but surprisingly the most aggressive blocker may just be Roscoe Parrish.

 

Jason Peters is impressive with his development. In our second series he takes his DT assignment up the field on a McGahee run that with a little help from the balance of the team gets McGahee 5 yards- but Peters isn’t done. He releases off the DT and gets upfield to eliminate a LB and the result is a McGahee gain of 11. While Peters didn’t do it alone, he was the primary reason McGahee picked up the extra yards.

 

It was fun watching Robert Royal, while mismatched as any TE is against Jason Taylor, continually showing off a nasty attitude against JT. Royal was tasked a surprising number of times with handling JT by himself. The one play where JT makes a play past him, Taylor is very lucky he didn’t draw a 15 yarder for yanking Gandy's facemask on his way by.

 

Kevin Everett is also plenty of field reps without being very involved in the passing game. Based upon his resume and some flashes in pre-season, we won’t have to wait until the end of this season to see him have a VERY big game offensively. His blocking skills are sufficient for the situations he’s being put in- he’s not being asked to handle a Jason Taylor and mostly he’s handling upfield blocks in the running game, but he is definitely contributing to our offense in the unbalanced 2 TE line set that we’re suing with regularity. A little patience and with the right defensive overload you can bet some quick TE passes will come out of that set.

 

McCargo right now is learning a tough lesson at the NFL level- his higher center of gravity makes it impossible to play the same way he did in college, where he could simply lean and use his arms to create space. NFL Linemen are too big and athletic to get away with that. He’s learning that he has to use his weight and leverage to get a pop on the other side, and his upside if he can learn this effectively will be substantial. He should easily become a bigger threat than Kyle Williams in the long term- Williams has the advantage now because he is built for and can play low, and that translates into immediate impact along the DLine. On the long term though the taller athlete offers the greater promise as a pass rushing threat, something this defense is built to reward.

 

Speaking of Kyle Williams, with about 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter he stunts all the way down the line around Tripplett and Kelsay. He’s chipped by the RB who pulls his helmet right off but he continues full speed up to big Vernon Carey, a guy outweighing him by maybe 60 pounds, and gets right into Carey’s face. Out west here we call those Quijones. He also follows it up with a good awareness leap on a passing play when he realizes he won’t get to the passer in time. There’s clearly been an emphasis on this in this Defense, and it’s paid off both games so far. Schobel is hands down the best linemen we have at reacting to the QB’s set and throw, but every single one of our linemen are looking on almost every passing down to interfere with passing lanes using their hands. This is also true of the extra guys we’re bringing- I never noticed the emphasis on this in the Tampa 2 but clearly our coaching staff has made “going up” a priority for our pass rushers.

 

One area of concern so far this year has been our short yardage/goal line run D. The one number who’d always be in my goal line package is 95 simply because of his ability to play low. He’s at the NT spot for the 3rd and 1 stuff we get on the Fish as the 3rd quarter ends.

McGahee may not look on film as quick as he’s actually playing. On the play I mentioned above with Taylor grabbing Royal’s face mask, the run stuff actually only happens because Royal is blocking for McGahee and he assumes McGahee is already off his shoulder. Problem is Anthony Thomas is now in the game and he’s lead-footed in comparison. The change of pace between the backs is a big plus for us, but I’m thinking Thomas shouldn’t be called for running plays off the tackles with any frequency. It’s one of those times when, contrary to the team concept on defense, we’ve got to consider who is in the backfield behind #7.

 

Reyes has kind of an awkward running style but what he does well is line up and catch his target well in space, not a typical skill for big interior OLinemen.

Our defensive philosophy for the season seems to be:

We’ll give some big plays on the ground, but we’ll make you pay the hard way if you try to challenge us in the air.  To beat us you have to consistently get first downs out of your running game.

781076[/snapback]

 

 

What the hell are you talking about? What kind of vacuous garbage is this?!

 

 

 

Just kidding. Great post. I haven't watched the game tapes (time) so I was hoping for analysis like this.

[JDG]

I don't know where Posey ended up but I'd love to see if Roscoe could get into him from the slot if we played Posey's current team. 

782093[/snapback]

 

 

Not surprisingly, Posey ended up with Gregg Williams in Washington...

 

JDG

[eball]

And was it just me or were you concerned with what I thought was a very lackadaisical effort from Lee Evans last Sunday. I saw way too many downs where he just appeared to be going through the motions. Including the big PI call which looked to me as if Losman's perfect throw would have been a score if Lee finishes his route instead of allowing a beaten DB to close on him.

782093[/snapback]

I agree, and posted as much earlier this week. Evans had an off day. He should have caught the long one in the first half (had both hands on it), he didn't accelerate through the throw you reference, and he missed a hot blitz read in the 3rd quarter that resulted in a FG rather than prolonging the drive.

 

Not an auspicious start to his tenure as the Bills' #1 wideout.

[John from Riverside]

It’s great to see the personnel flexibility of the Jauron staff after having two very rigid coaching regimes who relied IMO far, far too much on individual players versus the overall team concept. Seeing Miami face 3 new DLinemen on just their second offensive series shows just how much we truly will rely on fresh faces on the Defensive side of the ball. Also using 3 DE’s in pass packages makes too much sense- it’s good to see some logic to the process versus rigid discipline to something worked out some musty coach’s office. It also appeared that Villarial got spelled for a series in the 3rd by Duke Preston simply to rest CV.

 

Agreed....I gotta say I would like to see our draft pick Butler also get a shot to back up at this position...I really liked him in training camp.

 

A lot of the success McGahee is having on the ground is the willingness of our receivers to hit someone downfield. With the exception of Peerless Price everyone else seems to be onboard, and not to take anything away from the good work Josh Reed is doing but surprisingly the most aggressive blocker may just be Roscoe Parrish.

 

The thing that excites me about Parrish is he has come so close to breaking a TD play I know he is going to do it sooner or later...he is a absolute waterbug out there

 

Jason Peters is impressive with his development. In our second series he takes his DT assignment up the field on a McGahee run that with a little help from the balance of the team gets McGahee 5 yards- but Peters isn’t done. He releases off the DT and gets upfield to eliminate a LB and the result is a McGahee gain of 11. While Peters didn’t do it alone, he was the primary reason McGahee picked up the extra yards.

 

I have been seeing that also....Peters has been beyond solid

 

It was fun watching Robert Royal, while mismatched as any TE is against Jason Taylor, continually showing off a nasty attitude against JT. Royal was tasked a surprising number of times with handling JT by himself. The one play where JT makes a play past him, Taylor is very lucky he didn’t draw a 15 yarder for yanking Gandy's facemask on his way by.

 

I thought there were several plays that could have been flaggedin the Miami game...especially when they started getting frustrated

 

Kevin Everett is also plenty of field reps without being very involved in the passing game. Based upon his resume and some flashes in pre-season, we won’t have to wait until the end of this season to see him have a VERY big game offensively. His blocking skills are sufficient for the situations he’s being put in- he’s not being asked to handle a Jason Taylor and mostly he’s handling upfield blocks in the running game, but he is definitely contributing to our offense in the unbalanced 2 TE line set that we’re suing with regularity. A little patience and with the right defensive overload you can bet some quick TE passes will come out of that set.

 

What I would like to see is Losman going to his TE's a little more when nothing is open....let them fight for the ball against a smaller DB...thats what TE's can do in the passing game.

 

McCargo right now is learning a tough lesson at the NFL level- his higher center of gravity makes it impossible to play the same way he did in college, where he could simply lean and use his arms to create space. NFL Linemen are too big and athletic to get away with that. He’s learning that he has to use his weight and leverage to get a pop on the other side, and his upside if he can learn this effectively will be substantial. He should easily become a bigger threat than Kyle Williams in the long term- Williams has the advantage now because he is built for and can play low, and that translates into immediate impact along the DLine. On the long term though the taller athlete offers the greater promise as a pass rushing threat, something this defense is built to reward.

 

That is exactly what I am seeing as well...I think McCargo is going to be a player but he needs to work on his tech and get stronger

 

Speaking of Kyle Williams, with about 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter he stunts all the way down the line around Tripplett and Kelsay. He’s chipped by the RB who pulls his helmet right off but he continues full speed up to big Vernon Carey, a guy outweighing him by maybe 60 pounds, and gets right into Carey’s face. Out west here we call those Quijones. He also follows it up with a good awareness leap on a passing play when he realizes he won’t get to the passer in time. There’s clearly been an emphasis on this in this Defense, and it’s paid off both games so far. Schobel is hands down the best linemen we have at reacting to the QB’s set and throw, but every single one of our linemen are looking on almost every passing down to interfere with passing lanes using their hands. This is also true of the extra guys we’re bringing- I never noticed the emphasis on this in the Tampa 2 but clearly our coaching staff has made “going up” a priority for our pass rushers.

 

I called it before the season started that people were going to love Kyle Williams...you know...that is what is starting to make our draft look better and better.  It isn't just the fact that we got great safety talent...it isn't that we go a possible replacement for Clements...it is these guys like Kyle and like Butler who were not rated favoribly in the draft but look like they will be good NFL lunchpail players....you NEED those guys in order to put together a championship team.

 

One area of concern so far this year has been our short yardage/goal line run D. The one number who’d always be in my goal line package is 95 simply because of his ability to play low. He’s at the NT spot for the 3rd and 1 stuff we get on the Fish as the 3rd quarter ends.

 

What I would like to see is a DT brought in strictly for those situations who takes up space...I like our smaller/quicker DT's for most of the game but in these situations they are really really handicapped....someone like J. Jefferson who is a widebody type to go along with Kyle W.

 

McGahee may not look on film as quick as he’s actually playing. On the play I mentioned above with Taylor grabbing Royal’s face mask, the run stuff actually only happens because Royal is blocking for McGahee and he assumes McGahee is already off his shoulder. Problem is Anthony Thomas is now in the game and he’s lead-footed in comparison. The change of pace between the backs is a big plus for us, but I’m thinking Thomas shouldn’t be called for running plays off the tackles with any frequency. It’s one of those times when, contrary to the team concept on defense, we’ve got to consider who is in the backfield behind #7.

 

Willis looks good to me when he doens't think to much and just hits the hold hard....it seems to me when he does that his instincts take over...when he thinks about it he just plain stops

 

Reyes has kind of an awkward running style but what he does well is line up and catch his target well in space, not a typical skill for big interior OLinemen.

Our defensive philosophy for the season seems to be:

We’ll give some big plays on the ground, but we’ll make you pay the hard way if you try to challenge us in the air.  To beat us you have to consistently get first downs out of your running game.

 

  Once again...Reyes is a guy I called as being a big upgrade...and has been the best LG we have had in a while.  He doesn't move his guy much in the run blocking dept but I have seen him make too many mistakes in pass protection.

781076[/snapback]

 

 

[Pyrite Gal]

Not surprisingly, Posey ended up with Gregg Williams in Washington...

 

JDG

782206[/snapback]

 

 

I think Posey was an important part of productive Ds we had in 2003 and 2004, but he clearly from this observer's perspective was a dollar short and a little late in 2005. GW taking him follows the old GW habit of taking an LB who was productive for him in an earlier version of his career, but signing him later with negative results for the D.

 

It was Eddie Robinson for us and the scales fell off everyone\s eyes thanks that shifty speed demon Pennington. I have not watched the 'Skins games enough to know if there is some horrid example of his play, but like the '05 Bills the overall result is that of an ineffective D.

 

The specific failings of Posey began to show in 2005 with the Bills as on several plays he got there too late to sack the QB who completed a pass, though no one could site similar examples from his play in 03 and 04 In 05 wehad the specifics of him being burned for a TD early in the season against NO, him getting a nice sack on a play (I think against Miami, but him engaging in some unsportmanslike conduct which nullified the play and him usaully only getting credited with 2 or 3 tackles a game as his play suffered in 05.

 

I think he played well for us in 03 and 04 (if he sucked as bad as some maintain it certainly did not stop the team team from ranking 5th and 2nd in the league statisitcally in D) but I think it was pretty clear to most objective watchers he was done last uear.