some post-scrimmage follow-up (from CoachO & others)

FRO

I’ve been at all the scrimmages at the dome, this is the best the offense looked. In 2012 I wondered if we could win games. This year this is the most excited I have been for a season to start.

Really loved what I saw from Bradford and Bailey. We have a great stable of backs. We have seen solid things from our receivers. The season hinges on the line. When the starters are in there things are great.

Bradford looks great. In years past we struggled to separate from the DBs in the pass game. Completions were hard to come by. Most of the stuff completed was underneath, mainly because that’s what it had to be. I remember in 2012 it was terribly bad. 13 was better, but it wasn’t great. 14 looks very good. The thing that sucks is Bailey’s suspension. He may be the best receiver on the team. Out of he, Austin, Britt, and Quick (going off everybody’s reports here because I haven’t seen Quick) we have a much better group of WRs. Last year Pettis and Givens were our top 2 WRs and while they are good role players, they proved they aren’t starting quality.

I would say Bradford has improved, but I’m not sure if it’s that or the receiver play was much better. In years past he had to throw perfect passes to get completions. With improved receiver play he is hitting guys who have broke free from coverage. He is still hitting them between the numbers though and the velocity has been great. You really can’t tell the guy is coming off injury. I think he is going to have a big year.

I also think this will be our best running team maybe in the 20 years the team has been here. Yes Marshall and Steven were superior RBs to the guys we have now. That being said we will run 3 deep with guys who can really run the ball. Stacy is short, but he is thick. Going to be hard to tackle him. He is one cut and go. Really like his game. Cunningham looks better than he did last year, and I like what he did last year. I’m really high on Cunningham. Mason looked very good in the live stuff yesterday. I love his game coming out of Auburn and I think he can be very good. With Saffold and Robinson manning the OG spots this run game should be potent.

The offense looks in good shape and I’m optimistic. The line has to stay healthy as does the QB. All we need is about 24 ppg out of the offense with the defense that we have.

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COACHO

Since before OTAs we have heard Bradford talking about them taking shots downfield this year. Its not like they are just dropping back and letting it fly. But they are running a ton of those 18-20 yard intermediate routes that have been absent in this offense.

They are taking the deep shots off of play action, working both sides of the field, and seeing both Britt and Quick running the deep post using their size to screen off the safety. and just about the time you think they are going to take another shot, they run Quick and Britt both down the sidelines, and here comes Austin underneath (but behind the LBs) on that crossing route. The design is there. It’s just now seeing it continue.

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McGee had a better day, including getting reps as the Nickel with the 1st unit. He”s gonna have to put a few of these back to back before I will feel more comfortable with him. AS to the rest of the CBs, Gaines still is the most polished, and made a couple of plays today, both in 7 on 7’s and 11 on 11. Reid had his FIRST PBU on an out route, and funny thing about that was, Armstrong kept turning and yelling at him that the out was coming. So he jumped the route run by Blake.

McDonald….has been steady but just hasn’t had many FLASH plays. He tends to get lost in the shuffle, especially in the 11 on 11 stuff. He is primarily “in the box” and draws the 2nd TE in coverage frequently. While he has a hard time staying with Cook on a regular basis, he usually does a decent job when lined up against the others. (Kendricks or Harkey). He seems to be comfortable in the scheme, and I would anticipate a productive year out of him.

While Gaines is certain to be a valuable asset to this team and add much needed depth to the secondary, IMO, there is no way he displaces Jenkins. I understand…questions about Jenkins after his season last year, but I don’t think enough can be made of just how bad things were in the Tim Walton scheme. Granted, some of it had to do with the youth and inexperience, which forced them into very basic coverages, but Walton was in over his head.

At least for me, there is no reason to think that Jenkins won’t have a rebound year, and show the rare talent he has. Way too much gets made of these early training camp “struggles in coverage” stuff, because of the nature of the drills.

[Also i]t is becoming very evident that Williams is going to do whatever he needs to do to force QBs to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible. I know many seem to think this defense may blow the doors off the sack record. But I am not so sure about that. Teams are going to realize just how much pressure will be generated, and they will be prepared for quick release passes, which benefits the secondary. If they don’t have to sustain coverage for long developing routes, they will get their fair share of opportunities to jump routes creating turnovers. Something JENKINS excels at.

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It varies on a day to day thing regarding [Kendricks’s].. targets. He gets PLENTY of reps, but when he is lined up with Britt, Quick and Cook, he is naturally going to be the 4th option on most reads.

He did get up the seam today and caught a nice pass for what would have been a huge gain. And other than the ONE drop on a tough ball yesterday in the Red Zone drill, he has caught EVERYTHING thrown his way. Don’t sleep on him at all this year. He will have his role and see plenty of action.