In football, we judge our teams by wins and losses. It makes sense, otherwise we’d have something like figure skating or the X Games where you get scored by judges, or like the old college football polls deciding a national champion. Careers can be defined by the amount of wins your team can amass, so anytime you get one, you should feel good about it. We got one of those valuable wins on Sunday and added it to the divisional and conference win total by knocking off a rival, during Rivalry Week.
With Rivalry Week, comes a new uniform concept. In theory and maybe even on the runway, I liked the look. I hope that those blue helmets make more appearances. However, when coupled with the roof being open on game day, I spent most of the time wondering just who did what? I relied on the announcers much more than I prefer and found it hard to determine who was getting playing time. I might like them with the roof closed, or if they were on the road, but I have to go thumbs down after one game. Check back if we somehow find ourselves 5 – 0 in them, or we win a big playoff game. If that were the case, I might just get one for myself.
I don’t have a prevailing sentiment on the game, other than a win is a win. The much maligned defense showed much better, but I have to wonder if the same folks who said our offenses feasted on weak teams last year, will say that the D had a good day against a bad offense. I did think we tackled better, but I am concerned that we got zero pass rush when it was needed most. Shouldn’t you accidentally force a turnover each game? We have one in three games. I think we would win a lot of games if we held opponents to 17 points each week, but I’m going to need a bigger sample size before I ease up on Lou.
As far as the offense goes, I think ball security from DJ is worrisome. We need to figure out a way keep the edge rushers from collapsing the pocket. I think Jones is better when he can get outside, so try to force the rush to the inside, or be able to ride them far enough outside that there is a lane in that vacated spot. He just doesn’t feel that pressure from his blind side consistently enough.
Other offensive suggestions:
We have to take our deep shots. Trust your WR to make a play. We need to loosen up those shorter routes and the way that teams swarm to JT, there has to be some one-on-one matchups.
Could we mix in some No Huddle possessions? Figure out what their D likes, personnel wise, on 1st down and script some plays that work against it, while keeping our same players on the field. It doesn’t have to be the first series, but something that you can go to. Also, why does Jones need a wrist band? This is a guy that was accepted into Princeton. We lose a little time on the play clock and take away time for our QB to make adjustments, by adding that extra step.
I thought we found a way to get Warren more involved, but we shouldn’t forget that Cox and Ogletree are capable receivers as well, who do not get the same attention as 84.
My last thought is that I still don’t think Steichen understands the difference between FG “range” and a chip shot. While still outside of “range” we huddled, with less than two minutes left. It eventually made the Texans use a TO, but if you playcall that series well, they never see the ball again. If you are that concerned that your QB will not make a good call at the line, you either are not confident in your guy, or you are too confident and controlling with your own abilities. Are you afraid DJ will turn the ball over? If so, you have a different kind of problem.
This didn’t come out as I expected as an optimist after a divisional win, but we definitely have some things to clean up.
