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Travell Dixon's performance on Saturday
Gladstone
Member Posts: 16,419
I thought he didn't look terrible. A slight bright spot in a sea of chaos and unparalleled failure.
Comments
I know Sidney Jones plays most of the second half after Peters was benched, but he didn't look so great on most of those plays. He didn't allow himself to get beat deep, but there were several passes completed in front of him where he was 2-3 yards away from the receiver. I understand they were playing zone, but he wasn't even position to make some of those tackles (like on the fumble play, he took himself out of the play by being out of position). Still, he tackles, which makes him better than Kelly and should be playing over Kelly.
I don't remember much of Hale or Gardenhire in the game, though I do remember Gardenhire getting beat on one of the TDs over the top when Beaver was late getting over (think it was the one that put them up to 38).
TIA.
TD 2 - straight man, Timu & Shaq got denied on blitz, Kelly with decent coverage, perfect thrown ball, but an experienced CB should have broken it up
TD 3 - straight man, Budda missed his bump on WR, game over. Late in the game, Budda got closer to his man and bumped him off his route.
TD 4 - Cover 2, the Beav was really late. With all these young safeties, I would love to see them use some Cover 3 looks because it looks like they are getting sucked in by seam and crossing routes.
TD 5 - Zone, Peters had to bump the outside WR, and it looked liked Shaq didn't get in the flat quick enough.
TD 6 - Man by Jones with no safety help. Perfect coverage, perfect throw, perfect catch. Only coaching point would how he played the ball in the air.
TD 7 - Man by King in the RZ, step behind the WR, perfect throw and King did not make the play on the ball.
Dixon looked great outside of the dropped pick. He could be one of those guys who does not bring it in practice, but steps up when the lights are on.
Jones and Kelly looked like they both have a high upside, but are going to struggle at times.
Walker appears to be our best overall safety right now with Budda playing the slot WR most of the time. King and Beavs have the physical tools, but look like they are having trouble reading the play which is a quick death for a S. Cover 3 coach, Cover 3!!!!
One of the big problems was our pash rush not getting to the QB on key plays, and when they did it got nullified by stupid penalties.
Bad news = 52 pts to EWU
Good news = EWU needing a lot of things falling in their favor to keep drives alive and the mistakes created a lot of teachable moments for the coaching staff.
take a Midol and go back to bed.
The Formula: PUTMHFTE.
I thought Dixon looked pretty good. Jones struggled some, but he's physical for a slight freshman. I want to see him play a little more. Kelly has been really bad. His coverage and tackling have both been bad. At safety, I'm not sure who has been the best.
Vernell is a combo of that black QB in Seattle that won't amount to much and Johnny Foosball ... The kid has ice in his veins.
The kids are young ... you can see glimpses, but it will take a bit of time ...
The safeties really need to grow up in a hurry though ...
One thing I will add is that there are a lot of people talking shit about the pass rush not getting to the QB ... but they are in general getting tremendous amounts of pressure on the QB. I'm very satisfied in that regard while also knowing that there's room for some improvement there as it is.
That's the point I was making about there being room for improvement - the updated scheme/personnel changes could drive a little extra improvement.
I agree that there's some opportunities for extra consistency in the pass rush.
That being said, if you get 7 sacks each week, it's hard to get too critical of the pass rush.
I think our secondary will be far below average this year. THis scrimmage on Saturday should tell us something as to how bad as Illinois doesn't run the ball either and should be similar to Wazzu and Cal.
But our coaching staff figured it out and made adjustments in the second half. If it weren't for Peter's stupid penalty and that fortuitous tip drill on 4th down, we could have potentially limited EWU to one second half TD and made the score 59-38. One of the more amusing adjustments was lining up Shelton in the 7-technique on some 3rd downs and stunting inside. I think he got a sack or two on that package.