Interesting Perspective (?)
Week 3 total yardage:
JMU 384
Villanova 376
Delaware 370
Richmond 317
Bill and King James' daughter 276
Stony Brook 243
Albany 224
Elon 206
UNH 186
Maine 112
Towson 0
Accumulating yardage is not the be all/end all, and we certainly let some punts roll in the second half that padded these numbers with longer than needed fields, but we arent failing to move the ball relative to peers. Maybe to historical standards, but not relative to CAA peers. Execution, avoiding penalties in key areas of the field, turnovers, converting third downs, all problematic, but these are all fixable things.
Our defense has been incredibly stout in second halves this season. Zero points given up, and frankly, very little in the way of yardage. This is a big ask of the D which has been very good, but it would be great if they start a little quicker, and show more intensity from the start. The O needs this desperately. This is not a team that can play from behind as easily as some others we have had...though we did so successfully yesterday,
On the O side, I think the team would benefit from Gage taking the reins permanently. I get the feeling from things Ive heard that Cole is a tremendous young man and one we would all be incredibly proud to have as a son. But he has been recruited over a couple of times for a reason, unfortunately. And I will say for my own athletic career, which wasnt much, when you play a sport and for a couple of years dont have legit game play, sometimes you reach a point of "maturity" where you love being around the game, but dont have the edge necessary to excel anymore. The comments about Cole looking better as a freshman than he does now may be impacted by this. He seems timid, afraid to get hit,
and hes not making good decisions with the rock. Im suggesting its because he has lost his edge.
In final summary, I'm not ready to throw in the towel. I think this is a team that will have to win more close games...we havent had to do that in what seems to be an eternity. I'm discouraged by the lack of playmakers, the return game, and perhaps QB. I think both lines are easily good enough to make a deep run. D backs are improving and the linebackers...incomplete grade. Defense in general is easily good enough to win a chip. Running backs have been and will continue to be excellent.
(This post was last modified: 03-07-2021 08:43 AM by PhillyDuke.)
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