(09-01-2018 08:57 PM)nightowl24 Wrote:  My analysis for whatever its worth by position and by unit:
Qb: neither are world beaters, I think we all know that. Both have the same problem, they both don't have field vision. They lock onto a wr and that's where they're throwing. Many times the middle of the field was open but they either didn't see it or just wouldn't throw it. Stank has a weak arm, maybe that's why he doesn't risk throwing the seam route. Tyner threw a great deep ball, but then his lack of mid range accuracy cost us. Some form of an upgrade is needed here. We'll never be any good if we can't push the ball downfield.
Rb: very impressed. They run hard. They see the hole they make the cut. They know when to shake and when to lower the hat. They did all they could do.
Wr: we have a lack of athletes here. Speed is marginal with most of them. They lack quickness to create separation. They aren't very good off the jam either. Their release off the line is bad, no stem, no setup one way to go another. Very predictable where they are going. They get open too late. Many times they were open but 3.5 sec has passed and the QB got happy feet/pressure arrived.
Ol: they did well. They aren't nasty enough for me but they aren't bad imo. They also don't get a push. Everything was stalemates from what I saw. The rbs ran past tacklers more so than the ol opening holes. They actually held up in pass pro as well. I expected oliver to have a field day, imo he didn't. He looked pedestrian to be such a good player. Good job limiting his effect on the game.
Offense: bloom brought Stanford with him. Old school run with a very basic passing scheme. I thoroughly dislike the toss to the rb play. They are neither going down hill nor getting wide. They wait 6yds back get the ball and everyone runs at them, poorly designed play. Either the players are running it wrong or the play just sucks. Got very frustrated in the 2nd half with the mass subs. They bring in a heavy package with no wr and then we run. EVERYONE knows they are running and we get zero yds. Then we bring in 3 wrs and EVERYONE knows we're passing. Seeing how we are really basic with our routes this is a bad game plan imo. When we had the wr we at least had the threat of a pass(even if it was minimal). With a better defense and better athletes this offense is capable and could cause some problems. Play calling wasn't horrible but there were times I would've like to see a more aggressive approach. I saw a "let's look good losing"/ "let's see if they mess up and give it to us" approach instead of "let's take it from them" approach. Again not bad but imo could be a little more aggressive. Taking into account the lack of athletes at certain positions and limitations of certain players the play calling makes sense.
Lb: they're good. Not great but good. They did fill nicely. The ran to the ball well. Pass drops weren't very good but I put that on the dbs to cover better. All in all wr can win with this group. I'd like to see how they are blitzing.
Dl: I liked them. They got off the ball, ran to the ball, disrupted things. I like them. They need to do a better job of staying in their rush lanes to contain the qb but that's an easy fix. The problems I saw here were things that can be easily coached. They do need to get more pressure but with only three and very few blitzes or stunts they did a decent job.
S: they fill on run well. The diagnose run plays well and they know their fit. Pass wise they need help. They aren't fast and they don't keep leverage properly. In space they weren't good. That's bad for a safety. Hips weren't smooth, change of direction on pass plays was bad as well. We need help.
Cb: I hate dogging kids but bickham isn't very good. Hips are very bad. Doesn't read keys well. Slow of foot. No closing speed, no make up speed. Thornton can play. He did well when they put him out there, but he got hurt. Left the game then was in a ball cap rest of the game. Concussion maybe? The cb on the other side wasn't bad, as far as I could see. We need A LOT of help here. Every bit of our recruiting should go into finding the best CBS we can convince to come here. I know ellis can play but he's hurt as well. I could go on and on with this position but I'll just say it's by and far our worst position as it is now. Tyrae and the other cb could possibly hold it down. I'd like to see these two start.
Defense: I don't like a 3-4, AT ALL. If you have studs like the steelers then run a 3-4. We don't have that. The beautiful thing about the 34 is that you can bring heat from anywhere at anytime. We sat in base way too much for my liking. Now with that said or dbs aren't good so I get it. I feel that if we bring well timed heat we can help our dbs to not have to cover as much. Again we need more aggressiveness play calling wise imo. Line stunts, line shifts, bring some lbs SOMETHING. they held up well most of the game but our dbs let us down.
St: punter was good. Ko were in the endzone most of the time. Fg left a lot to be desired. Yeah they were long but this is where you make your money. Couple of fgs changes the psyche of the team. I like trammel we need to find a way to use him more on offense. He has a good burst and good vision.
Overall: it was a good game. We shouldn't have won this one. We didn't play well enough to win. Our db play was poor in critical situations and we couldn't complete passes or move the ball when we needed to. We had three drives(maybe 4) stall in their territory. That's 21pts we left on the field. We have to find a way to score. Uh didn't stop our offense consistently. They rose to the challenge when the field got condensed. That's either play calling, goes back to that aggressive play calling I was talking about, or it's due to our lack of playmakers. I'm happy with the fight I saw. I like what the coaches are selling. I'm buying it. He needs some more jimmies and joes. I currently feel good that the football is in a good place coaching wise. What i'm waiting to see if they can get the players to be contenders. This is where we are. It's a first for rice. Really good coaching lack of players in key positions. Their success will reside directly on their ability to recruit these key spots.
Check recruiting I identified a CB here in houston we should check into.

Thanks for the analysis.

I don't like the toss play either. As 40 says, it doesn't get you anywhere quickly and doesn't get you running downhill. I suppose if you have a dominating offensive line it gives the RB an opportunity to pick the best hole, but I don't think we have a line that can block that. Maybe this staff has a bit of square peg into round hole mentality, too, although not as bad as the last one. I think WR's could really use ruowls' vector techniques. They've got to get off the line better and separate faster. My favorite offensive scheme is still what Paul Johnson did at Georgia Southern and Hawaii--flexbone option running with run-and-shoot passing. I still think we could make that work.

What is it that you don't like about the 3-4? I get that we don't really have the personnel to execute it, but we really don't have the personnel to execute any scheme. We just don't have enough speed defensively. I hope we can recruit that speed. I would use whatever scheme lets me get as much speed as I can on the field. You can do some things with technique, and I hope to see progress there. But at least they seem to play with physicality. Bryant liked to say, "Defense is movement and hitting people. If you will hit people but can't move, we can work on that. If you can move but won't hit people, there's nothing we can do." Do you see any signs of improvement in the secondary? What really struck me about the Bailiff defenses was how slowly they read and reacted. That was the most striking difference to me between the way TCU played the 4-2-5 and the way we did; their safeties would run 20 yards before ours took a step. I recall situations where our safeties were still standing flat footed reading their backfield keys and the vertical route had run by them and the ball was in the air. You seemed to see some of that Saturday. I was watching on TV and it's hard to tell what the secondary is doing on TV. Old habits die hard, but I hope we can coach or scheme or do something to get them to read and react quicker.

What steps would you take to get this team better?