I guess it is pretty impressive to have an "off night" and throw for over 400 yards and 3 TD. When DW got it going, we really lit it up. But, the early struggles is what I want to focus on (not because I am negative, but that is where we learn and get better - through mistakes).
I am seeing a lot of the same problematic issues that have plagued us for the past few years (since Morris took over the offense). A lot of the throws are predetermined and the coverage is all read pre-snap. This is an issue when a defense shows you one coverage pre-snap only to morph into a completely different coverage once the ball is in play. BC was swapping out and back between man-free (or cover 1) and variations of Cover 2 (zone).
Watson's first pick we tried to hit a seam route versus Cover 1. It can be done, but the safer vertical throws are on the outside away from the FS. IF we throw the vertical versus man-free, the FS has to be looked out of the middle of the field (think Whitehurst to DHam vs FSU in '03). Charlie pumped one way then hit the wr down the seam on the opposite hash. It can be done, but DW locked on and stared down Scott.
Watson's 2nd pick is a bigger issue and one that I want to examine more closely. BC showed man pre-snap but fell into a Cover 2 look at the snap. Watson never recognized the rotation of the safeties and went to his "man beater" route, which was the TE on a "shake" route. There was pressure (and Brooks got blown up in protection), but DW was throwing the ball to the wrong spot anyways. The corner to that side squatted and the safeties dropped back to the hashes. McCloud was running a go route and was wide open down the sideline (behind the squatted corner and well outside of the FS who had jumped the TE on his vertical release).
That can be fixed, somewhat. The concern is that we have not moved away from the predetermined reads/throws which have limited this offense versus good defenses. We have an elite QB. It is my suggestion that we move away from the OC reading the coverages and let the QB start deciphering these things on the field. Elliot and Streeter both have extensive knowledge in this area. In short, DW needs to start reading the pass game through the safeties and not just hoping his OC guessed right. Boyd is still trying to recover from 4 years of not reading defenses. IMO, DW is good enough to make this happen.
And when we get this down, he will make the right read 90% of the time and get the ball where it needs to go. And this offense will be impossible to stop. We have a ceiling right now. Granted it is a very high ceiling but we have a ceiling.
I am seeing a lot of the same problematic issues that have plagued us for the past few years (since Morris took over the offense). A lot of the throws are predetermined and the coverage is all read pre-snap. This is an issue when a defense shows you one coverage pre-snap only to morph into a completely different coverage once the ball is in play. BC was swapping out and back between man-free (or cover 1) and variations of Cover 2 (zone).
Watson's first pick we tried to hit a seam route versus Cover 1. It can be done, but the safer vertical throws are on the outside away from the FS. IF we throw the vertical versus man-free, the FS has to be looked out of the middle of the field (think Whitehurst to DHam vs FSU in '03). Charlie pumped one way then hit the wr down the seam on the opposite hash. It can be done, but DW locked on and stared down Scott.
Watson's 2nd pick is a bigger issue and one that I want to examine more closely. BC showed man pre-snap but fell into a Cover 2 look at the snap. Watson never recognized the rotation of the safeties and went to his "man beater" route, which was the TE on a "shake" route. There was pressure (and Brooks got blown up in protection), but DW was throwing the ball to the wrong spot anyways. The corner to that side squatted and the safeties dropped back to the hashes. McCloud was running a go route and was wide open down the sideline (behind the squatted corner and well outside of the FS who had jumped the TE on his vertical release).
That can be fixed, somewhat. The concern is that we have not moved away from the predetermined reads/throws which have limited this offense versus good defenses. We have an elite QB. It is my suggestion that we move away from the OC reading the coverages and let the QB start deciphering these things on the field. Elliot and Streeter both have extensive knowledge in this area. In short, DW needs to start reading the pass game through the safeties and not just hoping his OC guessed right. Boyd is still trying to recover from 4 years of not reading defenses. IMO, DW is good enough to make this happen.
And when we get this down, he will make the right read 90% of the time and get the ball where it needs to go. And this offense will be impossible to stop. We have a ceiling right now. Granted it is a very high ceiling but we have a ceiling.
