VTTW Board Index

Offense:
QB:  Bray threw the ball well.  Managed the game well.  Never came close to a delay.  Threw the ball away when he had to.
RB:  poor.  Kept bouncing the ball outside.  Lane ran the best, nice run on the counter and in one of the few times he ran BETWEEN the tackles Neal had serious want to on his TD.
WR: played well.  It was clear that the staff saw something on film relative to Amerson as we went after him repeatedly, with great success.  In the 2nd half, after their adjustment took the double team of Hunter we ran good routes against the pure zone.  Reasonably good blocking.
OL: poor.  Lots of breakdowns, especially the right side.  4 motion penalties, 2 against Tiny who took 2 series off as a result.  Handled blitz pretty well.
Defense:
DL: played ok.  Got moved too easily at times in the run game
LB:  started poor but played much better in the 2nd half, some good adjustments took the middle mediu, pass away
DB: Played well, 4 picks were outstanding.  NCS ran one play that burned us all night, at least 3 times- more on that when I look at the VCR.  Gordan and the safeties had a god night.
Kicking game was ok, nothing to write home about.
Coaching?  This is an AGGRESIVE defense.  The very first play we ran a safety blitz.  The aggressiveness hurt us at times but I liked it.  God adjustments at half time and to the NCS changes at the half.  Other than one drive, aided by one long pass we played much better on D in the 2nd half
A nice start to the season.

I think the D will get better as they get more familiar with the scheme. I noticed several times, especially early in the game, where the D wasn't ready at the snap of the ball. Players were looking at each other in confusion, some were moving in the wrong direction. But still it looks like an agressive scheme, and it should get better as the year progresses. Hope Lathers isn't hurt too bad.

There were several times in the first half where there was confusion both with the play call/lineup and with the sub package - caused 2 time outs.  2nd half we were much better though on one play they quick snapped and on the snap 2 of the DL wewe looking at the sideline/Lathers but the delay in responding allowed gaps in their line leading to little or no gain.

We finally have a secondary that looks for the ball and their coverage skills seem to be an order of magnitude better.  Teague covered well all night.  Gordon Waggner had a deep completion against him  but he had good coverage but seemed to lose the hand checking battle and Gordon came back with the best interception of the night.  There were three or so long completions where we had total breakdowns in coverage either due to busts or schematically due to their play designs.  We did show signs of adjustment.  For example, in the first half the middle of the field between the LBs and safeties was open most every play but in the 2nd half we covered that area much better.

There were a few times where our aggressiveness took us out of plays.  Hoopoe of their running TDs was an example.

In summary a good night but a ton of room for improvement