Good afternoon everyone, hope y'all are doing well as Miami week comes to a close. Lot of interesting stuff to get to with the review of last week's win over Boston College. And off we go...
-- A common theme from Jeff Scott during the offseason, and heading into the season, has been the benefit of depth at receiver. The regular rotations make for fresher playmakers late in the game, and Scott has noted that Sammy Watkins' leaping grab late in the Orange Bowl against Ohio State was on Watkins' 50th snap. Would he have been able to make that play had it been his, say, 70th snap? Maybe. But maybe not.
When Watkins made that sensational play, a 30-yard touchdown snatch that put momentum back in Clemson's favor, there was 2:47 on the clock in the third quarter. When Deshaun Watson hit Artavis Scott for a 50-yard touchdown strike five days ago against Boston College, it was Scott's 39th snap and there was 4:20 left in the third quarter. The corner opposite Scott, had played the entire game to that point. It was his 63rd snap. You can see the difference as Scott turns on the jets and gains separation:
"You're just a little bit more fresh than the guy across from you," Jeff Scott said. "We always talk to our guys: It's a 10-round fight. They've got the same boxer in there, but we're able to kind of roll our boxers as we go. You really see that show up in the second half. It also allows our guys to stay fresh for the long run that we need to make here at the end of the year."
More insight into how that play unfolded: Scott was the fourth option on that play, but the Eagles showed press coverage and Watson made the decision at the line to go to him.
Here's how Jeff Scott described it:
"We told our guys all week long: If you get press coverage, it doesn't matter if your'e the first read or the last read; you'd better run to win. Tay ran to win, and Deshaun felt very comfortable that Tay was going to go win on that matchup. So he forgot all of his regular rules and said 'I'm going to take the matchup,' which he is allowed to do."
-- The aforementioned sequence is an example of Watson's growth and advancement with another year in this offense. Another illustration of it came on the long catch-and-run to Deon Cain late in the game.
It's third-and-17, and they'd come out of a timeout anticipating Cover 1. The Eagles come out in a Cover 2 zone, and Watson immediately recognizes it. Instead of running a man-beater route, Cain adjusts and finds the soft spot in the zone.
Here, you can see the pre-snap communication between Watson, the sideline, and Cain:
Cain is normally on the boundary, so his placement in the slot gave the offensive staff some concern as Watson suggested changing the play. Could Cain make this adjustment on the fly, at a position that was somewhat foreign to him?
But hey, when DW says "I got this," you sort of roll with it.
"I think that's the first time Deon has ever run a 7-cut," Scott said. "I was like, 'OK, we're going to find out if this guy is ready or not.'"
Here's the play. Notice Cain's burst off the line:
More from Jeff Scott: "Deshaun looked over to me on the sideline and gave me the signal for the check.That check we don't typically do out of empty. It's more of a 2-by-2 check. So I really didn't respond. And then he did the check to me one more time, and I said, 'OK let's do it.' He got Deon's attention. He did it and we just watched it happen.
"We haven't done that in practice before. It just shows Deshaun's second year in the offense, understanding."
-- As we noted earlier this week, not a good game for the offensive tackles. Mitch Hyatt and Joe Gore struggled with some of the stunts and twists, and some of the pressure came on four-man rushes.
Here was an example of that:
Miami is not nearly as big and physical as Boston College up front, but Dabo Swinney wasn't blowing smoke earlier this week when he said that sophomore ends Chad Thomas and Al-Quadin Muhammad are coming into their own. Both of these guys have been really good in recent weeks, showing a really nice combination of speed and power. Hyatt and Gore will have their work cut out for them in pass protection Saturday afternoon.
-- Loved, loved, loved this fourth-and-1 play call that resulted in a 21-yard pass to Zac Brooks halfway through the second quarter. The Tigers had just come out of a timeout, and you thought maybe they'd try to pound it with the run. But there's a fine line between sticking with the run and being stubborn with the run, and give the the staff props for recognizing that.
Just a well-conceived play all around: Artavis Scott coming in motion clears out a defender while also showing that Boston College is in man coverage. Watson has a run-pass option, and the read defender is in quite a quandary. You can also see two other pass options (Jordan Leggett and Hunter Renfrow) coming across at separate levels. Pretty much perfectly drawn up and executed.
-- These coaches know a heck of a lot more than I do, and they see a heck of a lot more than I do. That said, I haven't seen much this year that provides evidence of Stanton Seckinger being a reliable option as a lead blocker.
Here's him drawing a holding call on a receiver screen:
And, a few plays later, getting pushed back on a power run by Brooks:
-- So this time last week, we were examining Clemson's inability to stay home on Georgia Tech's A-backs in the passing game. The defense looked well schooled on that sort of stuff a week later against Boston College, showing really nice discipline on some of the hard-flowing action that's designed to pull your back seven out of position.
This play came right after Watson's second interception. It's late in the first half, and a sudden-change situation. Brent Venables had his guys prepared for it, as you can see here:
-- Boston College had some success running the ball between the tackles, and that was a surprise because you just almost never see that against this defense. Ben Boulware said it was because the Eagles did funky things that Clemson didn't practice. But sometimes when the other guy is a lot bigger than you, it's just going to be hard to get off blocks. This would probably be one of those occasions:
-- And sometimes your safety just misses a run fit, as T.J. Green does here:
-- A common theme from Jeff Scott during the offseason, and heading into the season, has been the benefit of depth at receiver. The regular rotations make for fresher playmakers late in the game, and Scott has noted that Sammy Watkins' leaping grab late in the Orange Bowl against Ohio State was on Watkins' 50th snap. Would he have been able to make that play had it been his, say, 70th snap? Maybe. But maybe not.
When Watkins made that sensational play, a 30-yard touchdown snatch that put momentum back in Clemson's favor, there was 2:47 on the clock in the third quarter. When Deshaun Watson hit Artavis Scott for a 50-yard touchdown strike five days ago against Boston College, it was Scott's 39th snap and there was 4:20 left in the third quarter. The corner opposite Scott, had played the entire game to that point. It was his 63rd snap. You can see the difference as Scott turns on the jets and gains separation:
"You're just a little bit more fresh than the guy across from you," Jeff Scott said. "We always talk to our guys: It's a 10-round fight. They've got the same boxer in there, but we're able to kind of roll our boxers as we go. You really see that show up in the second half. It also allows our guys to stay fresh for the long run that we need to make here at the end of the year."
More insight into how that play unfolded: Scott was the fourth option on that play, but the Eagles showed press coverage and Watson made the decision at the line to go to him.
Here's how Jeff Scott described it:
"We told our guys all week long: If you get press coverage, it doesn't matter if your'e the first read or the last read; you'd better run to win. Tay ran to win, and Deshaun felt very comfortable that Tay was going to go win on that matchup. So he forgot all of his regular rules and said 'I'm going to take the matchup,' which he is allowed to do."
-- The aforementioned sequence is an example of Watson's growth and advancement with another year in this offense. Another illustration of it came on the long catch-and-run to Deon Cain late in the game.
It's third-and-17, and they'd come out of a timeout anticipating Cover 1. The Eagles come out in a Cover 2 zone, and Watson immediately recognizes it. Instead of running a man-beater route, Cain adjusts and finds the soft spot in the zone.
Here, you can see the pre-snap communication between Watson, the sideline, and Cain:
Cain is normally on the boundary, so his placement in the slot gave the offensive staff some concern as Watson suggested changing the play. Could Cain make this adjustment on the fly, at a position that was somewhat foreign to him?
But hey, when DW says "I got this," you sort of roll with it.
"I think that's the first time Deon has ever run a 7-cut," Scott said. "I was like, 'OK, we're going to find out if this guy is ready or not.'"
Here's the play. Notice Cain's burst off the line:
More from Jeff Scott: "Deshaun looked over to me on the sideline and gave me the signal for the check.That check we don't typically do out of empty. It's more of a 2-by-2 check. So I really didn't respond. And then he did the check to me one more time, and I said, 'OK let's do it.' He got Deon's attention. He did it and we just watched it happen.
"We haven't done that in practice before. It just shows Deshaun's second year in the offense, understanding."
-- As we noted earlier this week, not a good game for the offensive tackles. Mitch Hyatt and Joe Gore struggled with some of the stunts and twists, and some of the pressure came on four-man rushes.
Here was an example of that:
Miami is not nearly as big and physical as Boston College up front, but Dabo Swinney wasn't blowing smoke earlier this week when he said that sophomore ends Chad Thomas and Al-Quadin Muhammad are coming into their own. Both of these guys have been really good in recent weeks, showing a really nice combination of speed and power. Hyatt and Gore will have their work cut out for them in pass protection Saturday afternoon.
-- Loved, loved, loved this fourth-and-1 play call that resulted in a 21-yard pass to Zac Brooks halfway through the second quarter. The Tigers had just come out of a timeout, and you thought maybe they'd try to pound it with the run. But there's a fine line between sticking with the run and being stubborn with the run, and give the the staff props for recognizing that.
Just a well-conceived play all around: Artavis Scott coming in motion clears out a defender while also showing that Boston College is in man coverage. Watson has a run-pass option, and the read defender is in quite a quandary. You can also see two other pass options (Jordan Leggett and Hunter Renfrow) coming across at separate levels. Pretty much perfectly drawn up and executed.
-- These coaches know a heck of a lot more than I do, and they see a heck of a lot more than I do. That said, I haven't seen much this year that provides evidence of Stanton Seckinger being a reliable option as a lead blocker.
Here's him drawing a holding call on a receiver screen:
And, a few plays later, getting pushed back on a power run by Brooks:
-- So this time last week, we were examining Clemson's inability to stay home on Georgia Tech's A-backs in the passing game. The defense looked well schooled on that sort of stuff a week later against Boston College, showing really nice discipline on some of the hard-flowing action that's designed to pull your back seven out of position.
This play came right after Watson's second interception. It's late in the first half, and a sudden-change situation. Brent Venables had his guys prepared for it, as you can see here:
-- Boston College had some success running the ball between the tackles, and that was a surprise because you just almost never see that against this defense. Ben Boulware said it was because the Eagles did funky things that Clemson didn't practice. But sometimes when the other guy is a lot bigger than you, it's just going to be hard to get off blocks. This would probably be one of those occasions:
-- And sometimes your safety just misses a run fit, as T.J. Green does here:
