Darron Thomas uses all five targets. By now all of his receivers, Maehl, Huff, Paulson, Tuinei, Davis, and James have scored a touchdown or made a big catch as the third, fourth or fifth option on a play. This sends the message to these guys , "if I'm open, Darron will find me." Thomas spreads the ball around. Every receiver gets some sugar. This keeps their heads in the game. No one takes plays off. LaMichael learned the hard way. He was loping as the fifth option in the UCLA game, and had to make a great catch because DT zipped it out to him when he didn't expect it.
All five targets running to get open creates maximum pressure on a defense, particularly a Tampa 2 scheme where each defender has a zone to cover. The Ducks get their maximum stretch because every receiver stays committed to the play.
I would love to be able to get into the mind of a $c defender right now. They must be freaking out. No matter what Kiffin does in practice to speed up the tempo, and watch tape it will not matter much when LaMike bursts through and spins right.
ReplyDeleteOur WR's/TE have been getting open, AND they're doing a great job of blocking. This needs to continue this weekend for extra yards. Tuinei/Davis/Paulson constantly get into the open field for our playmakers and I love that. I'm hoping Williams gets a reception this week, he looks like Robocop with a football.
Also, I was watching film of our O-line especially Asper during the Stanford Game. The holes they opened up were tremendous.
When Lamike is given 6-feet to work with he is so dangerous.
$c doesn't have the playmakers of an ASU-IMO. Malcolm Smith is banged up. Shareece Wright had to ask his teammates how fast the Ducks were last year. Mays went to "The Show."
Kiffin is going to use the ASU game in order to attempt to solve our scheme but they don't have a Burfict hurdling guys. Lamike will tell you that ASU swarmed to the ball and were vicious. Which tells you how good our offense is.
ASU got up for us at home and gave up 42 pts.
Good stuff Dave.
WTD
Doug,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Love how the readers of this blog really bring it when they visit, put a lot of thought into their observations.
I especially agree with you about Williams--it would be great to see him get involved in the offense. He has big-play ability. Made a nice catch-and-run in the Tennessee game. Getting the injured hand hurt his progress a little, but he could be a factor in the last five games, a way to expand the repertoire.
Chip Kelly remarked in the coach's show this week on how effective the o-line was in the UCLA game at creating a new line of scrimmage five yards up the field, and we saw some of that last year versus the Trojans. It will be interesting to see how Kiffin schemes it. Against Florida last year while at Tennessee he moved Eric Berry up to support run defense, but it's hard to think he could afford to do the same thing with T.J. McDonald Saturday against a much better passing game.
Thanks again and best wishes,
Dale