BrianS

Something went wrong with the line, that's why he was stuck blocking two. Our RG blocked down creating a double team with Paradis while two DB's shot the gap between RG / RT. RG should have played it straight up. Meanwhile the LG blocked no one. It was a nice blitz pickup, yes.

BC has played as a LT since he came into the BYU lineup. Moving him to the RT, as a rookie in the NFL makes absolutely no sense. If you're going to try BC, you try him on the left, at tackle. Moving him to guard won't gain us anything. BC isn't a power guy, and that's our problem on the interior. In the extremely limited sample size we have of him, he didn't look quite ready. Maybe he grows into it if you throw him in the fire. I dunno. I would like to see Deonte on the bench more often. I don't see how we get the answers we need with him inactive every week. Maybe he looks really bad in practice, maybe there is something with his weight. We can't make those calls from our seats here. Still, I'd hoped we'd see at least a series or two from him by this point. Yes, our OLine is a problem. Everyone, everywhere knows it. Yes, it's a problem for continuing Sam's development. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it's possible to fix it this year without sacrificing the future.

I think it's fair to criticize TMJ for not making the EFFORT. That's what bothers me. If he hustles, gets down there and tries to make a block that's enough. I don't like the lazy feet that appeared to be part of the equation here. I will say that I believe TMJ might have felt DJ was going out of bounds. Apparently he hasn't met DJ.

Our OLine has been "ok"? On which planet? Our OLine has been all kinds of awful in the run and pass game. It's little short of a miracle that Sam is playing as well as he is. Those third quarter stats are frankly eye popping. Especially because in the other three quarters Sam Darnolds stats look like a bona fide franchise QB. 73.5% completion, 1000 yards, 5 TD, 0 INT. Yes please. If we can get him playing four quarters at that clip, we have a SB in our future. Real talk.

That first INT, a couple things. They ran that play a series or two earlier, but with DJ running the router instead of Robby. DJ was open on the play, but Sam had a ton of pressure and overthrew it a bit. I'll bet that when they talked about it they told Sam "This was open and we're going to go to it again". I say that because Sam largely just locked on to the receiver. He glanced once at the flat, but there was definitely no progression read there. It's a shame too, because if he had followed the progression instead, DJ was WIDE (*@ OPEN deep.

I can answer that. In addition to Dallas: Arizona, LA Chargers, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Buffalo, LA Rams, Detroit, Baltimore, Denver, Tampa and Miami all average 3.0 YBC (yards before contact) or more when rushing. This is a direct reflection of an offensive line just killing it at the point of attack. Here's the chart: Any team that gets it's back three yards before he is touched is a team that can blow you off the ball and likely can do what Dallas did.

There is a lot more to interior OLine play that just staying between your man and the QB. This is why Paradis is being graded highly. His technique is fine, he keeps himself in relatively good position. The problem our entire interior has is that they get pushed backwards. Interior push is arguably the most important part of pressuring the QB. Defensively, when you prevent a QB from climbing the pocket, or even stepping into his throw, you've done good work. Sure, you'd like sacks and hits, but just obscuring his vision and lanes and making him move are all things that create challenges to the timing and execution of the passing game.

With the exception of the interior OL.

Picking Slater isn't going to change the fact that the majority of our pass protection issues stem from the interior push. Our tackles need to be able to usher their man upfield PAST the QB, but due to the lack of anchor in the middle, Sam is not able to give that to them by climbing. We demonstrate our lack of interior strength over and over and over in both the run and pass game.

YGM isn't the answer. You're putting the onus for stopping Zeke on a guy with 12 career tackles in 14 games. Frankly, I'm not sure he belongs on our roster yet. Of course he still has a chance to come good, but he hasn't shown anything more than promise at this point. I agree, Dallas has a great run game, as evidenced by their YBC being around 4. But we've seen it over and over, we've heard the phrase "It's a copycat league". Watch. Teams are going to run power at us. Often. It will be far less effective in games where we have a good lead. Far more effective in games where we are chasing it.

Not even remotely the same thing. It doesn't mitigate the fact that Meyer is a scumbag, but this isn't close to the level of what JR did.

Inclining? Like, sliding down a hill inclining? Sorta how this conversation is going? I think you mean imply, or perhaps insinuate. In either case, you're wrong. Couldn't be more wrong really. Moore is never mentioned, this is fact. Further, there is never even a mention of Diggs "following the Carolina #1" or . . . anything resembling it. In point of fact, Sam was 8/12 for 113 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT throwing to DJ yesterday. I think you'd struggle to find anyone who would back the idea that a receiver who had that stat line got "shut down". Let alone a media member. In point of fact, if Diggs was supposed to be shadowing Moore yesterday, he did a very poor job of it. I'd love to see something even remotely resembling an implication such as the one you spectacularly put in the title of the thread here. Because that guy would look like a fool quite quickly. DJ got his yesterday. Only someone in total denial could claim otherwise.

It wasn't Pollard or Elliot who killed us, it was the Dallas OLine. Here, let me illustrate. It's pretty darn easy to run the football when you are FOUR YARDS downfield before you get touched. I do agree, I think Pollard is the better back, as evidenced by his greater YAC/Att, but the bottom line is that even if you fall down immediately on contact, you still got four yards. Pretty sure you take that every week of the year if you can get it.

Yep, said something similar in another thread. Our defense is built to play with a lead, very much the way the Manning Colts built their defense. Not as big, but very very fast and able to get after the QB. That was definitely how you beat Freeney, you ran at him, all game long. This was the first time our defense was asked to stop a team from running when the other team had the lead and could afford to just run and grind clock. I'm unsurprised that we got gashed. Derek Brown is a man, but when he's the only anchor you've got, it's not enough. It's kinda like the secret is out now. You can run at this defense, but you cannot run away from them.

I think the fact that these grades are available SO QUICKLY after gameday should be an inkling of how much thought goes into them. There is no way someone watches every play, focused on one and only one player to accurately grade them, for every team in the league, by the next day. That's a MINIMUM of 11 winds of one play, and honestly, it should probably take at least two to three times that to understand what a given players assignment on any given play may have been. What's more, you may need to understand what the other players were supposed to do. Was the back supposed to chip there? Maybe the tight end? Little stuff like that could make a mountain of difference to how a tackle might set up to play a snap. I'd be a lot more interested in seeing Panthers staff grades for our players, but obviously that will never happen.

Nope, not at all, saw both. Which is why I pointed it out. DJ Moore is not mentioned in either one of them.

Urban Meyer is an idiot. Jags owner equally so. Match made in heaven. Hope they are there for years. Gives us a great chance to keep fleecing them.

The media aren't pushing a DJ vs Diggs narrative at all. They are saying Diggs played well. This is true. It's equally true that Moore played well. 8 catches, 113 yards and 2 TD's? Not sure what else he could have been asked to do. The two facts are not mutually exclusive. Ponder this Panthers fans. DJ Moore is currently on track to catch 120 balls for 1600 yards and 12 TD's. At that point, there will be no hiding from the fact that DJ is a #1, and a top notch #1 at that. Those stats are Stefon Diggs / Tyreek Hill / Justin Jefferson numbers. Yes please.

Clearly the staff don't believe they are ready. I said in another thread, I would like to see BC getting more than just five ST snaps. Give him a series or two. We saw him, and I understand why he isn't in there. Still, there is only so much he can grow sitting on the bench. I'm not saying he should start, but he should get a bit more opportunity. With Deonte, I would feel better if he were getting on the bench. But I do understand why he isn't. At best, he may get those ST snaps. His lack of positional flexibility is a problem when he isn't starting. And starting him doesn't seem like it's in the cards.

That's what I'm saying. We aren't a finished product, but we are an improved product.

I know he's not really ready yet, but I'd sure like to see Brady C get more than just five ST snaps. Even if we just give him a drive here and there, it would be encouraging.

Exactly. I get that we started well, and we look to be trending in the right direction. But somehow a portion of our fanbase got it in their heads that we were a finished product. This was just a little reminder that we're still not quite there. I'd like to remind everyone that we still have FOURTY SEVEN MILLION in dead cap this year. We were *never* going to compete that way. Think of it this way . . . what if we had invested 47 million in our OLine for this year. How much better would be be? It sucks that we can't just skip this year and go straight to next year, but we can't. As long as our team keeps playing hard and being competitive, that's ok. Needle pointing up.

I've been thinking about this a bit, and I keep wondering if that's the problem. Seems like our offense goes in at halftime and says "We're moving the ball well, points will come, keep doing what we're doing". Even if we're right, we're wrong. Even the defense seems to lag a bit. Someone on that staff needs to be thinking a step ahead. "Ok, we did well, what adjustments will the opponents make to slow us down? How will we react to that?" It's like we take a quarter or so to adjust when we should have been ready for it coming out.

Either we are good enough to beat tough teams or we aren't. If we aren't, we don't deserve to be in the playoffs because ALL the teams in the playoffs are tough. Getting to the playoffs against a weak early schedule is awful. If you get into the playoffs, but went 2-4 in your last six, chances are you're bounced out in the first round. Bottom line is that this team isn't a finished product yet. We are still relatively thin and have some glaring needs. I believe we can get there, but that this isn't our year.

This is a much bigger deal than we are giving it credit for. When your interior is collapsing like ours, tackles can't ride their guy past the QB. Stonewall the middle, and for sure Moton would look a lot better, and I suspect Erving would as well.