I'm rewatching parts of the game on youtube, mainly just the offensive snaps, to see what DJ was like when he actually played well.
One of the main observations I have is man that offensive link stinks in run blocking. ND was completely blowing up our run plays, often because they were slow developing and our linemen were too slow. On one play we ran a counter or power and ND's DE was 4-5 yards in the backfield by the time ETN got the ball. Too many plays where the guards or center whiff their blocks or get beat to a spot by a defender. The few times we did a quick hitting inside zone and held our blocks ETN got some good yards. Didn't happen nearly enough though. Also think there were some stacked boxes and ND would sell out against the run fast. I don't want to see like I am blaming the OL too much considering the offense put up 33 on the road against a top 4 team without Trevor and the OL did a pretty good job of pass blocking. That said, the inability to run out the clock at the end of the game obviously hurt. The OL then completetly disintegrated on back to back plays in the second OT, leading to two sacks for -14 yards. In particular a center #62 whiffed twice and #79 whiffed once. I do think though that 62 wasn't put in the best position to succeed due to poor roster management.
I had also completely forgotten about the turnovers late in the first half. That fumbled pitch right into the defender's arms was brutal since it ended up as a TD. Rewatching that play it looks like we were trying to run some RB pass play. Turning it over again on the next drive was a big blow as well.
The staff did a good job of scheming some easy stuff for DJ. We attack the perimeter in the short passing game quite a bit and we got a bunch of YAC from Powell, Rodgers, and ETN. We attack downfield some, but not too much. We also didn't really run DJ much until the 3rd quarter. DJ did a pretty good job of keeping plays alive with his legs, especially later in the game.
With the benefit of hindsight and knowing how things would turn out the next two years, you can see some of the issues that would crop up later. DJ would occassionally stare down receivers, leading to tipped passes. DJ struggled with touch on passes sometimes, often firing rockets in when they weren't needed. He drifted backwards out of clean-ish pockets instead of sliding around pressure; there was one particular play in the 3rd quarter when he drifted back 10 yards on 3rd and 5. The OL play was noticably down from the previous two seasons and really struggled to open running lanes. Outside of Powell and Rodgers, none of the other WRs really did anything. A lot of our yardage came on broken tackle plays rather than scheming people open.
One of the main observations I have is man that offensive link stinks in run blocking. ND was completely blowing up our run plays, often because they were slow developing and our linemen were too slow. On one play we ran a counter or power and ND's DE was 4-5 yards in the backfield by the time ETN got the ball. Too many plays where the guards or center whiff their blocks or get beat to a spot by a defender. The few times we did a quick hitting inside zone and held our blocks ETN got some good yards. Didn't happen nearly enough though. Also think there were some stacked boxes and ND would sell out against the run fast. I don't want to see like I am blaming the OL too much considering the offense put up 33 on the road against a top 4 team without Trevor and the OL did a pretty good job of pass blocking. That said, the inability to run out the clock at the end of the game obviously hurt. The OL then completetly disintegrated on back to back plays in the second OT, leading to two sacks for -14 yards. In particular a center #62 whiffed twice and #79 whiffed once. I do think though that 62 wasn't put in the best position to succeed due to poor roster management.
I had also completely forgotten about the turnovers late in the first half. That fumbled pitch right into the defender's arms was brutal since it ended up as a TD. Rewatching that play it looks like we were trying to run some RB pass play. Turning it over again on the next drive was a big blow as well.
The staff did a good job of scheming some easy stuff for DJ. We attack the perimeter in the short passing game quite a bit and we got a bunch of YAC from Powell, Rodgers, and ETN. We attack downfield some, but not too much. We also didn't really run DJ much until the 3rd quarter. DJ did a pretty good job of keeping plays alive with his legs, especially later in the game.
With the benefit of hindsight and knowing how things would turn out the next two years, you can see some of the issues that would crop up later. DJ would occassionally stare down receivers, leading to tipped passes. DJ struggled with touch on passes sometimes, often firing rockets in when they weren't needed. He drifted backwards out of clean-ish pockets instead of sliding around pressure; there was one particular play in the 3rd quarter when he drifted back 10 yards on 3rd and 5. The OL play was noticably down from the previous two seasons and really struggled to open running lanes. Outside of Powell and Rodgers, none of the other WRs really did anything. A lot of our yardage came on broken tackle plays rather than scheming people open.
