mtgrizfan4life
October 4th, 2008, 11:27 PM
I went into the Weber State game thinking this would be a tell tale game for the GRIZ. Now that it is over. We will be lucky to better 5-3 in conference play this year. GRIZ prove me wrong and I will never be so happy being wrong. No this is not going to turn into a coach bashing thread, this team is young and has ALOT to learn and work on!
I had a VERY bad feeling about this game, and honestly thought we would lose. I said so, but being someone took my pick in score I said WTF I will pick the GRIZ! This week my rose colored glasses came off. As much as I hate to admit this team has alot of problems, the least of which is what all us thought was our biggest weakness a few weeks ago. The brightside is we have a solid kicker now!
Seriously, we have way too many things to work on, come together, and fall into place. I do not know if I am being negative or flat honest. I guess as the season plays on we will all know, but here are my thoughts, and yes they are hard to post here, but here it goes.
The only strength on this team right now is our WR depth, and passing game, when CB gets time to throw that is. I honestly feel Reynolds has all the tools to be a very good rb, but not in this system and not with our OL not being able to jell. Individually, our OL is outstanding, but as a unit they very seldom perform in unity. TBF will never get back to the level we seen prior to his injury. Schmidt is good for smashmouth ball, but only if the OL performs to their potential.
In past years could tell 1 or 2 things that we needed work on, but this year we need work and improvement on everything.
Special teams- We need to work on blocking without penalties. Honestly to GOD I believe Mariani has lost over 200 return yards this year thanks to penalites. Kickoff coverage is suprisingly inconsistent. On the brightside the kicking game appears to have overcome early season problems, McKnight has the talent to continue the kicking tradition. Shulte and Mariani are both very good returners, but that does no good when we get so many penalties.
Defense- Where do I start? Colt Anderson is the only positive consistently. Unfortunately for him, he cannot be everywhere, and his teammates are not helping him. Our youth is really showing to the point where we cannot hide or scheme around the weakness. Our pass defense SUCKS and I think we are too young to do what I want us to do. We have no physical corners due to our youth. We are too afraid of getting beat deep. Damnit, what do we have to lose? Trumaine is a good sized corner, can we have him play tighter and can we at least try checking WRs' off the line? We have enough depth at Safety, and Anderson is fast enough to play corner, would it hurt to use him, Stoll, and Schillinger on the field at the same time, and have Anderson knock the living daylights out of WRs off the line? Is there any hope Ciarre Campbell gets more PT?
WE have our moments on run defense, and we contain the outside better than normal. However we are too small at LB and do not have the right DL combination to keep blockers off our LBS. Can Stadnyk play some interior line if needed? He defends the run well from DE. Can we rotate some bigger LBS now and then, where we can be bigger now and then. As for pass rush, can we put the other Campbell in as a rover type LB and use him blitz schemes? He is the one player that is athletic enough and fast enough to be a difference maker on defense. Just get him on the field!
Defensively , for some reason this year we have good pieces but we have not figured out how to use the pieces together. Sounds like our OL.
Offensively, I actually feel the playcalling overall has improved. However, our offense begins and ends with OL play. They just do not work together. I am encouraged we are utilizing the TEs more and we are going deep more. However, hand in hand with that, year in year out we very seldom run quick hits, slants, flares, wheel routes, and screens. Our passing game hls the potential, depth, and talent to be lethal if we ever learn to use some creative route running. Also I like the potential matchup problems teams face with Schulte being used like the Eagles use Westbrook. Why on Gods earth did we not stick with moving Schulte all over? When we use him as a decoy or get him the ball in many positions our offense does well every game. Mariani, Schulte, Ferriter, Palmer and any one TE is difficult to defend for any defense.
I pray by end of the season this team proves me wrong, but as of right now, I feel we have way too many things to work on that needs improvement on all 3 teams. I honestly do not see how it all comes together this year. Based on what I have seen this year, I feel we will be fortunate to be 5-3 in conference play this year, which will get us a playoff spot. I honestly feel 4-4 might be the outcome this year, and our playoff run ends. By the way I am not pissed at the coache or anyone on this team. I just do not see it happening this year. I also will be the 1st to thank this team for proving me wrong if we go better than 5-3 in conference play this year.
On the brightside, OL and defense cannot get worse, can it? They can only improve.
I had a VERY bad feeling about this game, and honestly thought we would lose. I said so, but being someone took my pick in score I said WTF I will pick the GRIZ! This week my rose colored glasses came off. As much as I hate to admit this team has alot of problems, the least of which is what all us thought was our biggest weakness a few weeks ago. The brightside is we have a solid kicker now!
Seriously, we have way too many things to work on, come together, and fall into place. I do not know if I am being negative or flat honest. I guess as the season plays on we will all know, but here are my thoughts, and yes they are hard to post here, but here it goes.
The only strength on this team right now is our WR depth, and passing game, when CB gets time to throw that is. I honestly feel Reynolds has all the tools to be a very good rb, but not in this system and not with our OL not being able to jell. Individually, our OL is outstanding, but as a unit they very seldom perform in unity. TBF will never get back to the level we seen prior to his injury. Schmidt is good for smashmouth ball, but only if the OL performs to their potential.
In past years could tell 1 or 2 things that we needed work on, but this year we need work and improvement on everything.
Special teams- We need to work on blocking without penalties. Honestly to GOD I believe Mariani has lost over 200 return yards this year thanks to penalites. Kickoff coverage is suprisingly inconsistent. On the brightside the kicking game appears to have overcome early season problems, McKnight has the talent to continue the kicking tradition. Shulte and Mariani are both very good returners, but that does no good when we get so many penalties.
Defense- Where do I start? Colt Anderson is the only positive consistently. Unfortunately for him, he cannot be everywhere, and his teammates are not helping him. Our youth is really showing to the point where we cannot hide or scheme around the weakness. Our pass defense SUCKS and I think we are too young to do what I want us to do. We have no physical corners due to our youth. We are too afraid of getting beat deep. Damnit, what do we have to lose? Trumaine is a good sized corner, can we have him play tighter and can we at least try checking WRs' off the line? We have enough depth at Safety, and Anderson is fast enough to play corner, would it hurt to use him, Stoll, and Schillinger on the field at the same time, and have Anderson knock the living daylights out of WRs off the line? Is there any hope Ciarre Campbell gets more PT?
WE have our moments on run defense, and we contain the outside better than normal. However we are too small at LB and do not have the right DL combination to keep blockers off our LBS. Can Stadnyk play some interior line if needed? He defends the run well from DE. Can we rotate some bigger LBS now and then, where we can be bigger now and then. As for pass rush, can we put the other Campbell in as a rover type LB and use him blitz schemes? He is the one player that is athletic enough and fast enough to be a difference maker on defense. Just get him on the field!
Defensively , for some reason this year we have good pieces but we have not figured out how to use the pieces together. Sounds like our OL.
Offensively, I actually feel the playcalling overall has improved. However, our offense begins and ends with OL play. They just do not work together. I am encouraged we are utilizing the TEs more and we are going deep more. However, hand in hand with that, year in year out we very seldom run quick hits, slants, flares, wheel routes, and screens. Our passing game hls the potential, depth, and talent to be lethal if we ever learn to use some creative route running. Also I like the potential matchup problems teams face with Schulte being used like the Eagles use Westbrook. Why on Gods earth did we not stick with moving Schulte all over? When we use him as a decoy or get him the ball in many positions our offense does well every game. Mariani, Schulte, Ferriter, Palmer and any one TE is difficult to defend for any defense.
I pray by end of the season this team proves me wrong, but as of right now, I feel we have way too many things to work on that needs improvement on all 3 teams. I honestly do not see how it all comes together this year. Based on what I have seen this year, I feel we will be fortunate to be 5-3 in conference play this year, which will get us a playoff spot. I honestly feel 4-4 might be the outcome this year, and our playoff run ends. By the way I am not pissed at the coache or anyone on this team. I just do not see it happening this year. I also will be the 1st to thank this team for proving me wrong if we go better than 5-3 in conference play this year.
On the brightside, OL and defense cannot get worse, can it? They can only improve.