Thoughts on Miami v. Jacksonville

I figured since everyone is giving their opinion on the first pre-season game, I should get to it as well. Chad Pennington played pretty well. I felt that he was pressured quite a bit and it rattled him as he had to escape the pressure and then make the throw, as we saw when he made the one hopper to Davone Bess. I don't really have a lot to add other then that with Pennington. He was a bit inaccurate at times but overall, not bad. In the second quarter, Henne got his turn and he played through the third as well. I felt that he was still locking onto his wide receivers too much. I know that's always been an issue with him and all but he's drawing coverage and tipping off the defensive backs every time he does that. We saw that with the poorly thrown interception and when he threw that floater, there was triple coverage. He can't do things like that in my opinion. I can see why Sparano stated that this is Pennington's team this year. Henne had an inconsistent performance because whilst he had some bad reads and throws, he showed his toughness by staying in the pocket all the way to the last second. He got drilled a few times because of it. I liked what I saw from Pat White. It was a bit awkward watching him roll out on the right because its a difficult throw for a left hander but he looked accurate tonight and I liked that Henning made calls that made him comfortable. Roll outs are things he did quite a bit of at WVU.

The offensive line struggled a bit tonight, in my opinion. I watched Shawn Murphy get the start and have trouble. He was losing leverage often and getting pushed back into the pocket a bit. I also felt that he simply doesn't have the strength yet to play that spot. Maybe in the near future but if I was to base it off this game, I don't think he's ready. On the other hand, Donald Thomas looked pretty good tonight. He was a bit rusty at first, as you could tell with him leaving his chest area exposed for the defender to get into and he was too tall coming out of his stance but he got better as the night went along. He showed his strength and if I remember correctly, he pulled a couple times and did a good job. There was a play in which he pulled out to the right side, toward the flats, but the play went wrong when Vernon Carey whiffed on his block. Speaking of whiffing on a block, surprisingly, Jake Long did so when he stumbled on the dirt and after Groves gave him a quick move inside. Moreover, I have mixed feelings on Jake Grove after the first game. I liked the strength that he showed but what stood out to me was his lack of agility and balance on that fumbled snap by Pennington. He got to the second level and was lumbering. He looked heavy footed and struggled to maintain his balance. He also did it a few plays later. I thought that was interesting. Overall, we were pretty good in pass protection I felt, despite struggling with the blitzes early in the game but I thought we struggled in run block. No push up the middle. Our halfbacks were getting contact when they reached the line of scrimmage and even sometimes prior to reaching it. That can't happen. I'll say this and only this about Brandon Frye playing at LT: I don't know what the hell he's doing or thinking.

On to the running backs, Ricky Williams looked good tonight. I really liked his game. He showed a mean stiff arm on a run to the right sideline and then he showed some quickness and lower body power in the game. He also showed some wiggle as he managed to elude a tackler on the suppose-to-be sweep play, which was blown by Carey when he whiffed on his block. By the way, a great run for the first down in the red zone. Fought for the first down and got it despite tacklers. Loved it! However, he's got to make that catch in the end zone. Hit him right in the hands man. Ronnie I thought played pretty well. As mentioned earlier, there wasn't much running room up the middle and despite that, Ronnie managed to pick up extra yardage by stretching his body and bouncing off tacklers. He ran hard. I don't recall him in the pass game at all though, which I heard he was being used. Maybe I missed it? Anyways, moving on, Lex Hilliard ran well. He showed ability to make tacklers miss as well as run them over. He hauled *** like he was getting chased by cops with drugs in his pocket. It was hilarious, especially on that pitch from Henne in the third. I was impressed overall with him though. I just wonder where his spot is on this team. We're not going to keep four backs and I can't see us letting Polite go at FB. If we stash him on the PS, we may lose him like we did with Parmele.

The wide receivers I thought played well for the most part. Davone Bess was suppose to set up for a quick slant on the first series but got jammed pretty damn good by Rashean Mathis. Then he tried to come back on a post route I think it was but it was a one hopper from Pennington. Despite that, Bess looks in good shape and is cut up. I thought Ted Ginn played well. He's improved. His concentration seems to be very good this year as he hauled in some nice passes including one across the middle and one where Pennington was getting taken down and lobbed it up to the left flat, which Ginn came back and hauled in. He also had a nice run on an end around I was impressed with his work tonight. Further, Brian Hartline I think may have had one catch tonight on a drag route it seemed but I liked what he did. He showed pretty good quickness to beat DB's before developing into his route down field, which I saw at Ohio State and I liked. Btw, kudos to Hartline on the block to spring Chris Williams on the opening return of the second half. Patrick Turner also took part tonight and I liked what he did for the most part. He had a nice first catch across the middle where he bobbled it in one hand and it ended up in the other hand I think. I thought he ran routes well to boot. However, I wasn't happy with his dropped pass. It was right in his hands and he flat out dropped it. It makes you think about the consistency issues that were brought up when he declared for the draft.

I didn't see much from the tight ends tonight, to be honest. David Martin caught one ball as did Ernest Wilford but that was it.

On the defensive side of the ball, I want to address the packages and formations first before I go into my thoughts on the players. I could be wrong here, so please correct me if I am, but in the game, I saw more than the typical 3 down linemen and 4 linebacker set. I recall seeing a 4-2-5 front with Ayodele and Crowder as the usual linebackers and then I saw a 4-1-6 dime package in the red zone. I don't recall the personnel of the Jaguars in the red zone but I think they had a four wide receiver set and I think the reason we went to that package was because we needed to counter the speed on the field. Also, I saw some 2-4-5 fronts, which was very interesting, and then I saw more of 2 gap fronts than 1 gap if I remember correctly. Further, I don't know if anyone else caught it but right before the end of the first half, where we called a timeout, I believe we had a five man line. That was interesting. I was I had recorded this so I can go back and see what they were doing. I recall Disgustipate explaining to me that we would be running more 2 gap this year than last year and I think he may have hit it on the head. The only time I can remember running 1 gap in this game was on a couple plays in which Phillip Merling was lined up over the inside shoulder of the Right Tackle.

Furthermore, I liked what I saw from the defensive line. Its hard to make out an eight and a six but I believe Tony McDaniel was playing interior defensive linemen near the end of the first half. He did well, provided pressure and occupied double teams. May be a steal if he stays healthy, which was his downfall in Jacksonville. Cameron Wake I thought showed a lack of hand placement on some plays as he just tried to get by with a speed rush, which was effective on one play. It honestly reminded me a bit of Dexter Davis of Arizona State. Wake lost his footing after he dipped his shoulder low and around the blocker but he closed in very well. Very reminiscent of Dexter Davis in last year's bowl game IMO. He also had a play in which he disrupted the passing window by leaping in the air, which caused an overthrow by Bouman. Unfortunately, that play was wiped out by Vontae Davis' mental error.

On to the linebackers, there was one play that stood out to me of Eric Walden and I think it happen to be the same exact play in which Cameron Wake applied pressure on Todd Bouman. Walden, if I remember this correctly, gave an outside move to Eugene Monroe and then kicked it back inside to disrupt the passer and apply pressure. I loved it. When it comes to Jason Taylor and Porter, I thought they played well tonight. They did some alternating of the responsibilities on the field and I liked what I saw from Taylor on both sides of the blockers. On the strong side specifically, I felt that Jason showed good strength and the ability to hold up the blockers to stop the run. I wasn't able to catch whether he was lined up head on or if he was lined up in a seven technique but if he was, I liked what I saw. Last, I saw some Quentin Moses and Charlie Anderson flip-flopping their responsibilities and the only thing that stood out to me was Moses ability to turna nd run with the Jaguars tight end. Onto the inside linebackers, I thought Channing Crowder played pretty well. He did a good job of reading plays and displayed solid range. I can't remember off the top of my head how he fared on blitzes so I hope you guys can fill me in on that, haha. Akin Ayodele was his average self in my opinion. He went too high when tackling on a smaller running back, MJD, and he nearly paid for it as MJD barely lost his balance and fell to the ground.

At the cornerback spot, Sean Smth stood out. Whomever he seemed to be matched up with, he showed good positioning, quickness and he stayed in the hip pocket of the opposition. He was my favorite cornerback coming out and that was because he could play bump and run or he could play zone and play them both well. He's the total package and it showed tonight. I just hope he continues to play this well. He did a fine job covering Torry Holt on the first couple series. Moreover, Vontae Davis and Eric Green were not so hot tonight. Green got picked on by Troy Williamson and some guy named Hughes whilst Davis got dumb penalties and struggled some in coverage. He played with outside leverage tonight but he still didn't play well. On a tipped pass near the end of the first half, he had his man locked down and then gave up on the play, which is why Williamson I think it was, made that catch over the middle. Then he got that dumb penalty of interference and followed it up by getting blocked into the end zone on a play that luckily got called back. Nathan Jones had a ball sail over his head and then had a nice blitz, which he split the sack with Jason Taylor. He did a nice job making himself small on taht play and hitting the gaps to make the play.

The safety spots were a bit hard to watch to be honest. Trying to focus on seeing what kind of formation it is, who is in and then how each player played on that play was tough. I noticed Chris Clemons sticking his head in on run support and I loved it. He loves contact and I love watching him make plays in run support. His build, dreads and style of play reminds me a lot of Al Harris.

Last, I like that Dan Carpenter had two good kickoffs. Along with his 48 yard field goal, he had a kickoff land in the middle of the end zone and then one at the one yard line. Barth I think had a field goal or two but I can't exactly remember so forgive me. My brain is fried, lol. One last thing I want to say is kudos to Chris Williams on bouncing back after the blunder of catching the ball inside the ten and then proceeding to run East instead of North.

I feel like I'm forgetting someone?

 

Possibly. I can't remember right now, my brain is fried lol.

Yeah he ran that route better than the WR. Its kind of funny considering his history.

 

Agreed. I liked what we did. I found it a bit interesting that Will Allen had some troubles with Torry Holt though. Holt ran a great out route on Allen and left him behind for the sideline catch. I think Green sucks. He just flat out sucks. Davis' mental mistakes were somewhat expected considering what I saw at Illinois. I can't really tell you much on the safeties, as I said earlier, I don't remember much. Overall we played well though, I was impressed. Someone just needs to tell Ayodele that he cant tackle 5'7" guys by the head and shoulders.

 

Re: bold - Cant say I blame ya! And no problem, looking forward to your thoughts, like always.

 

On the play where Ricky had to spin in the backfield? I recall Carey whiffing on the block but I may be wrong.

 

No worries.

And yeah, Grove had some moments where I wasn't happy with him. He has no balance at the second level it seems.

 

I think his ability to separate is alright. It's not at a consistent level, which ironically was his major flaw coming out, but he can do it in my opinion. He runs routes pretty well and I've always felt that he has pretty good quickness and agility. I just think he needs to focus on the ball. Every drop was in the rain. That was awful to watch. It was like a watermelon being thrown into a wall, the wall being his hands.

Nice! The game was a good one on the defensive side of the ball. A few different looks, which I thought was pretty interesting as I noted in original post. I love Sean Smith man. Loved him coming out and he looked so damn good last night. I can't say the same about Vontae Davis but some of the stuff he did wasn't unexpected. He's good for a blunder every game it seems - going back to his Illinois career - .

 

Honestly, I completely missed him. I managed to miss every snap he took but I watched the game twice. I don't know how I managed to do that but I did, lol. I may have been looking at the defensive line or something. What did you think of Allen?

 

I thought I saw him once on the field and then he came out after that play but I might have had him confused.

Its kind of funny how he always plays pretty well - in my opinion - on the field but never gets that shot and is always on the bubble. Thanks for the thoughts btw.