Are the TEs more involved in the offense or was it simply situational?
I was going over the spring game "stats" and noted that the TEs ended up with a good amount of catches. Since I was not there, I would ask those who did attend if it seemed we were:
1) incorporating the TE more into the offense?
2) simply giving the middle of the field up on defense to shut down the outside?
3) unable to cover TEs?
Maybe it is a combination of factors, just interested in somebody's thoughts here.
It seemed that the TEs were running 10 yard ins while the rest of the receivers were stretching the field and the QBs came back to them after everyone was covered. I don't know which of your 3 categories that falls under in your mind, but I thought the defense did pretty well on stopping catch and runs throughout the day.
I'm not sure if they were more involved or if they've gained Coach Rod's confidence by showing they can hang onto the ball when it's thrown to them. I would love to see Koger(or Webb or Moore) catching the ball over the middle and plowing over DB's like bowling pins, wreaking havoc and pain all the way to the endzone...but they need to look the ball into their hands before they can create chaos.
The quarterbacks love the TE seam routes down the field.. I've seen them pop up in quite a few practice videos.
The Tight Ends will be as involved as they want.. if they can't make catches and perform (See: 2009) then Rodriguez will phase them out in favor of more two-slot sets.
RR and some of the players have said that while they are starting to work on the downfield stuff, what they have been spending most of their time on is the short stuff. This will, by its nature, favor the TEs more. However, we have a good group of TEs this year, so they probably be involved.
is a critical part of the base offense. TEs got free last year and got overthrown or dropped balls on such routes last year.
I hope they become more involved. It would mean they are all starting to live up to the potential they all have. If the tight ends could ever put it all together, we have crazy athletes at that position.
April 19th, 2010 at 11:06 PM ^
but i feel it was a combination of getting the more involved intermediate passing when the OLB's were playing more towards the rush, and also because our TE's are very good. Koger is a physical freak, Webb is a hell of a blocker that can now catch, and Moore showed some nice wheels on at least one play that i can remember towards the end of the game where he had room to run. Overall i would say leaning towards the fact that the TE's are good, and were better at getting open than the mainly freshman group of WR's out there