Art Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Something I find interesting is just how good we've been at tearing off yards in huge chunks. Last year we were a middle of the road team in 20-yard plus gains. Now we're going to be first, though we have a game up on No. 2, Dallas. The difference is we're not getting any of the HUGE 60 and 70 yard breakers yet. But, what we are doing is consistently keeping a defense on the verge of giving up the big play with so many plays over 20 and 30 yards. Eventually one of two things will happen. Teams will get tired of giving that up and press us, which will either stop us, or open up lanes for MUCH bigger plays, or teams will be so afraid of us they'll drop off and we'll have to keep taking the intermediate chunks like we are now. It is a positive development watching how much pressure our offense can put on a defense with plays of this nature. It's what makes the offense very legitimate. Obviously there'll be adjustments made to limit us and we'll have to compensate for that over the weeks, but, when the year started I'd have been happy with an offense that improved to around No. 10 in the league. I'm starting to think that may have been too inconsiderate of our offense . Even in this game we ran for 125 yards and we weren't really able to estabilish anything consistently because of the score of the game. You can see how the "system" opens up running plays by stretching the defense everywhere with the threat of the pass. One thing I noticed today was that our offense was largely sputtering until Ramsey found Patrick Johnson on a big play down the middle. Then it was McCants, and Morton, and Betts, that each had BIG plays after the Johnson big play. I think the Giants were stopping Coles and Gardner pretty well and forced us to go elsewhere. And we did. And when we did everything else opened back up off of that. We really need Jacobs to return and emerge as a consistent No. 3 for us because having a consistent weapon to fall back on when teams focus on Gardner and Coles so much will make this an elite offense. McCants could emerge into that player too. He just isn't consistent yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muskrat Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Let's hope this paves the way for some 60+ yard TDs.... We BADLY need Ramsey to come out sharp next weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooma Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 There were a couple of plays yesterday where the RB's or WR's almost broke some big ones. Coles was involved in some, Betts and Candidate. I was like just one more miss tackle and they are off to the races. Even Chad Morton had some nice returns and he almost broke a couple. I thought he was taking that one punt return in the first half back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildbill Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Candidate was close quite a few times yesterday. Right now it's just to hard to get into the flow of the game for the big plays. Everytime they set something up, they get penalized for 15 yards which kills the momentum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GURU Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Actually, Art, I'm not so sure that McCants hasn't become more consistant than Rod Gardner. He needs to control his emotions just a little better, but he doesn't suffer those infurating drops like Gardner. Jacobs is going to have a hard time taking playing time away from McCants, who seems to be developing into a legit weapon. I'm looking forward to those 4 receiver sets, though, as long as they don't get Ramsey killed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sisko Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Agreed. It seems DMAC is turning the corner somewhat. He seems to improve a little bit every week. He still lacks some maturity though as evidenced by the stoopid penalty and the drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigchuck Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Ramsey looked sharp yesterday on most of his throws. The 10 dropped passes were unexcusable though. I swear Rod Gardner must grease his palms with vasoline before the game.:jerkoff: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD_washingtonredskins Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Great observation Art. That is the one big difference between this year and last year. I think we have the potential to have a HUGE offensive game this coming week vs. New England. I'm thinking, if things go well and we take the revolver away from the foot, we could rack up close to 500 yards and close to 40 points. I understand that NE has a good D but a) it's beat up and it's an attacking D that Ramsey MIGHT exploit. Plus, all of our games have come down to the last seconds...that has to end eventually (hopefully for the better). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted September 22, 2003 Author Share Posted September 22, 2003 Guru, McCants had a drop today as Gardner did. For some reason I'm thinking he had two, but in any case, he doesn't get nearly the number of passes thrown to him. I'd like him to evolve into a guy you can throw to four or five times a game which will just open everything up. I don't think he's there yet on a consistent basis. After one catch in the first two games and four in this one, I think that is fairly clear. I'm not sure if Jacobs will take time from him or not and it doesn't matter to me one way or the other. I just want someone to step up and become a factor on a regular basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooma Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Originally posted by Art Guru, McCants had a drop today as Gardner did. For some reason I'm thinking he had two, but in any case, he doesn't get nearly the number of passes thrown to him. I'd like him to evolve into a guy you can throw to four or five times a game which will just open everything up. Think about what you just said. If you throw the ball to the guy 5 times and he drops 2 don't you see why the QB can lose faith in a WR? This is the NFL as a WR you have to catch the ball if it is in your hands. At least Coles lets everyone knows he messed up and he sould make those catches. After the game Coles put all the blame on the first half on him!!!! He said he didn't spark the team the way they need him too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted September 22, 2003 Author Share Posted September 22, 2003 Jbooma, I think I'm saying I don't think McCants is consistently ready to be that No. 3 guy so, yeah, I think one drop in five passes might make a QB worried. One thing I'll say on Coles is I heard interviews with McCants and Gardner and Coles and ONLY Coles mentioned his own drops. McCants didn't and neither did Gardner. That bothered me greatly. Gardner did mention drops, but not his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakofthesouth Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 473 yards offensively yesterday. 125 rush, and 348 pass. That's pretty impressive. Here's the bottom line. These penalties, drops, etc. will wear off as the season progresses. It's still very, very early in the season. And as many others have said, it's a good thing that we lost, because it's hard to learn from your mistakes when you win. Take the Giants for example. They came out after the dallas game guns-a-blazin'. What important is that the core of our team; the heart, the drive, the 'want' to win is there. We'll just work out these discipline issues, work on a little more defensive scheming, and we are headed for the playoffs. We have the #1 QB and the #1 reciever in the NFL. That says something! Losing is part of the game. It's inevitable. It's how you handle it that makes you a winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bamaskin Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Royal not making those catches was a negative's for me. Even though the tight end is not supposed to be a big part of the equation in Spurrier's offense it looked like Patrick was strting to use him a little. He no Schockey but he could help in the blocking schemes and the seam routes. This is the first game where there were some signs of the offensive line gelling. Some good pass protection in the second half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.