I hate to say this, but after viewing some of the highlight videos (and of course the live games), I've formed the opinion that USC is basically playing checkers on offense, whereas the best teams are playing chess. I'm concerned that I'll lose my sunshine pumper card over this thread, but this is what I see....
Between the offensive coaching staff, the offensive line, and Sam Darnold, the USC Team appears to not pay attention to math; by that, I mean that they don't often try to overwhelm the defense with numbers at the point of attack. They seem to rely too heavily upon individual personnel to win their individual match ups. (Watching the USC-WSU highlights made this abundantly clear.)
A lot of our receiver routes looked very basic and don't incorporate a lot of deception, thereby making it easier to for the defenders to track what we are doing. Additionally, I don't believe that I see superior route-running with fakes to throw off the DBs. I see very little separation by the receivers.
The offensive line (whether it's the fault of the coaches, the players, or Sam Darnold) often appears oblivious to the defensive personnel deployment / alignment. The blocking scheme often looks mismatched given the defensive alignment and what we are trying to get done on the play. The offensive linemen don't look to be assignment-sound. I'm also of the opinion that they need to grab more breast plate and breast jersey because they don't hold their blocks that well.
Overall, I noticed that WSU made us work a lot harder mentally than we made them work in that department. This is probably the biggest reason why opposing receivers seem to get open and why ours don't seem to get open.
As it relates to Sam Darnold, I'm of the opinion that he's an uber-athletic player both physically and mentally, but he's not sufficiently cerebral yet to truly succeed in the NFL. I think that he should be reading the defense a lot better pre-snap and diagnosing the situation and making adjustments a lot more / better than he does. No worries--he's still young, but he needs more experience and tutelage.
On the defensive side of the ball, I see that our linemen too often allow the blockers to get in close and grab a good hold of their breast plates / jerseys. I think that they stop and reset themselves a bit too often during the plays, which kills any momentum that they might have established. (In MMA terms, I think that their "transition game" is bad.) On the whole, I think that our defense doesn't maintain good arm's length (arm extension). I don't think that they are good at hand-fighting either. I think that our speed guys (linebackers and DBs, with the sole exception of Chris Hawkins) don't use enough shake-and-bake and change of direction to keep the offensive linemen off balance.
These are the issues that I see. In a couple of minutes, I'll post some specific notes from the highlight clip that I watched.
Between the offensive coaching staff, the offensive line, and Sam Darnold, the USC Team appears to not pay attention to math; by that, I mean that they don't often try to overwhelm the defense with numbers at the point of attack. They seem to rely too heavily upon individual personnel to win their individual match ups. (Watching the USC-WSU highlights made this abundantly clear.)
A lot of our receiver routes looked very basic and don't incorporate a lot of deception, thereby making it easier to for the defenders to track what we are doing. Additionally, I don't believe that I see superior route-running with fakes to throw off the DBs. I see very little separation by the receivers.
The offensive line (whether it's the fault of the coaches, the players, or Sam Darnold) often appears oblivious to the defensive personnel deployment / alignment. The blocking scheme often looks mismatched given the defensive alignment and what we are trying to get done on the play. The offensive linemen don't look to be assignment-sound. I'm also of the opinion that they need to grab more breast plate and breast jersey because they don't hold their blocks that well.
Overall, I noticed that WSU made us work a lot harder mentally than we made them work in that department. This is probably the biggest reason why opposing receivers seem to get open and why ours don't seem to get open.
As it relates to Sam Darnold, I'm of the opinion that he's an uber-athletic player both physically and mentally, but he's not sufficiently cerebral yet to truly succeed in the NFL. I think that he should be reading the defense a lot better pre-snap and diagnosing the situation and making adjustments a lot more / better than he does. No worries--he's still young, but he needs more experience and tutelage.
On the defensive side of the ball, I see that our linemen too often allow the blockers to get in close and grab a good hold of their breast plates / jerseys. I think that they stop and reset themselves a bit too often during the plays, which kills any momentum that they might have established. (In MMA terms, I think that their "transition game" is bad.) On the whole, I think that our defense doesn't maintain good arm's length (arm extension). I don't think that they are good at hand-fighting either. I think that our speed guys (linebackers and DBs, with the sole exception of Chris Hawkins) don't use enough shake-and-bake and change of direction to keep the offensive linemen off balance.
These are the issues that I see. In a couple of minutes, I'll post some specific notes from the highlight clip that I watched.
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