passing game

[DyeCampAlum 335]

If you've seen my other posts, you know I believe Trotter is our guy.

But I was looking at yesterday's stats this morning.  We completed four passes of over 10 yards.  Maybe five, if OMac had two such catches.  Only three of those involved downfield throws.

I give Carolina credit, and I admit our OL is young.  Also looked like our receivers couldn't get loose.  But why don't we throw downfield on first down?  We're making Trotter a stationary target on later downs, and he's just not getting the time to set up and throw.

[DyeCampAlum 335]

Holy snot, I just checked.  On first down, we ran the ball 31 out of 33 opportunities yesterday.

Not one first down pass in the first half.

We went 20 series before we threw on first down.  Then we threw on the next first down.  And that was it.

[COXWELL 0]

Holy snot, I just checked.  On first down, we ran the ball 31 out of 33 opportunities yesterday.

Not one first down pass in the first half.

We went 20 series before we threw on first down.  Then we threw on the next first down.  And that was it.

I think that was intentional in the play-calling, but I still feel (as it was said by all us fans and the coaches last year about CAM) that having a 2-dimensional QB back there that can also run with finesse is the key to success.  Just my opinion...  I still greatly admire Trotter and have been surprised at his efficiency as a passer this season, but would like to see Frazier given the chance to throw some balls and build his confidence.

[walker77 0]

= game plan... &/or high wind conditions... &/or response to what USCe was doing...

[Turtle_Tiger 13]

I bet we see more attempts on first down next week against Arky. 

[45Tiger 0]

seemed like a multi faceted failure in the passing game to me. there isnt really one aspect you can point to as the problem. the receivers were dogging it much of the day. many times you'd see them finish their route and just stop & stand there, not continue working. the route running looked less than inspired. the OL was inconsistent. after about 5 minutes it looked like Trotter was more worried about finding a soft spot to fall down than finding an open receiver. add all this to the fact that the play calling was predictable and it adds up to the mess we saw. our porr receiver play is killing our perimeter running game as well which is troubling. the effort is night & day from last season. Troop needs to give those guys some tough love & find out who really wants to play. 

[45Tiger 0]

and if I could ask CGM just one question it would be why dont we have a rollout play to a drag route or quick slant to the same side to Lutz.

[alexava 6,974]

recievers are not playing to the level of last season at all and it might be worse next week. trovon and blake both injured and who knows when they get back. wisner should play more too. i forget which play and what part of the game it was but stallworth missed a block(didnt attempt) that would have been a huge gain.

[infamousandy 0]

We intentionally "pounded the rock" to slow down the pass rush. I guess what frustrated me was we'd get to mid-field and the drive would stall. A lot of this was designed to play "We"fense as CTT calls it.

[Quietmaninthecorner 1,954]

If you've seen my other posts, you know I believe Trotter is our guy.

But I was looking at yesterday's stats this morning.  We completed four passes of over 10 yards.  Maybe five, if OMac had two such catches.  Only three of those involved downfield throws.

I give Carolina credit, and I admit our OL is young.  Also looked like our receivers couldn't get loose.  But why don't we throw downfield on first down?  We're making Trotter a stationary target on later downs, and he's just not getting the time to set up and throw.

The stats do not tell the whole story.  Tortter is a a decent QB that  had a bad night.  He looked like his mind was on something other than the game.   Bad decisions, bad throws, no emotion.  He looked confused.   May be he is worried about KF nipping at his heels for the start.   He looked like I imagined Garcia looking after losing a loved one.   Like the light "went off" for him rather than "coming on".

[DyeCampAlum 335]

I'd like to see more animation from Trotter on the sideline too, but my point is that the play calling consistently put him at a disadvantage passing.

Like I said, there may be a reason for the play calling.  We won the game.  No matter the reason, it didn't serve Trotter well at all.

[AU64 10,122]

Trotter's biggest problem was our lack of success on first down running plays....too many second and long or third and long situations....put him in obvious passing situations and USC is a good defensive team with some agressive DEs who overwhelmed our OL and backs trying to block.  Solution is for us to do more on first down.

[dpwspringer 0]

...USC is a good defensive team with some agressive DEs who overwhelmed our OL and backs trying to block...

I thought that dictated what we tried to do on offense.  We tried to neutralize the advantage they had with their DEs and DBs (especially their DEs) by pounding the ball between the tackles with quick hitting plays.  Dyer's biggest plays had been on toss sweeps off the right side of the line with pulling lineman but I didn't notice much of that. 

[lagrangetiger 0]

The reason we didn't throw the ball deep was because is was very windy saturday and the wind was affecting the ball on  deep passes. Go back and look at the pass that cj threw on the reverse. He threw the ball to bray's outside shoulder but the wind pushed the ball back inside which caused a int.

The coaching staff noticed how the ball was affected by the wind and thought that grinding it out on the ground would be the best way to win the game.

Also go back and look at the nieko int, grarcia threw it up towards the outside of the reciever and the wind blew the ball back in towards neiko.

[DyeCampAlum 335]

The reason we didn't throw the ball deep was because is was very windy saturday and the wind was affecting the ball on  deep passes. Go back and look at the pass that cj threw on the reverse. He threw the ball to bray's outside shoulder but the wind pushed the ball back inside which caused a int.

The coaching staff noticed how the ball was affected by the wind and thought that grinding it out on the ground would be the best way to win the game.

Also go back and look at the nieko int, grarcia threw it up towards the outside of the reciever and the wind blew the ball back in towards neiko.

well observed

[solideagle 0]

The reason we didn't throw deep is because he can't throw deep.  We don't ever throw deep why this game would it be the wind?  The reason Blake is hurt is because bt threw an inaccurate ball over the middle and leaving Blake to take a mean hit.

[lagrangetiger 0]

I'll give you another example of how the wind changed the coaches game plan. The fake field goal play, we were on the right hash and looking at a 30 yard field. The wind was blowing hard right to left at that time, when the ball is on the right hash the kicker has to hook the ball in (for you  right handed golfers,  a draw). The problem with that is if you hit a draw into a right to left  wind you can not control it. if we had been on the left hash there is no question you kick the field goal.