Official Snowflake Thread: Offense

Submitted by LSAClassOf2000 on

I am going to start creating these now - this is the official snowflake thread for thoughts about the offense and offensive playcalling.

MGoBoard
Football

WMUgoblue

October 5th, 2013 at 6:42 PM ^

Pass blocking was improved, run blocking seemed to be better as well at times. Gardner had a nice game, he always seemed under control and obviously Funchess only catching instead of blocking is an absolute plus.

Jake Butt on the other hand looks the part as a blocker and although he didn't have any catches today you can see a bright future for him. All in all an improvement, but they need to keep building towards more consistency.

Joined: 12/06/2009

MGoPoints: 12422

BayWolves

October 5th, 2013 at 6:46 PM ^

Chris Bryant and Glasgow at Center made a huge difference.  We didn't have DTs in the backfield as soon as the ball was snapped.  Gardner had good protection. We've found our group of linemen and they will get better through the season for sure.  Encouraged!

Joined: 06/21/2011

MGoPoints: 11056

stephenrjking

October 5th, 2013 at 6:47 PM ^

Green looked good early, but later on the holes dried up. Still a lot of errors from the OL, but I think things were better this week and there were a lot of positive plays.
I like how they're moving Lewan around. I also, of course, like Funchess out wide--as a second receiver he is a key player. It would be nice if he could block, but it's wise of the coaches to move him to where the need is.

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20143524

harmon40

October 6th, 2013 at 12:55 AM ^

Funchess at WR worked out just great today.  And if you think about it, he should be a killer blocker vs corners and safeties in the open field, as opposed to LB and DL in the trenches.

BTW, does anyone know how fast Funchess is?  Not questioning what his best position is, I'm just curious...

Joined: 05/02/2009

MGoPoints: 5743

burtcomma

October 5th, 2013 at 6:49 PM ^

Great place to start, now need to get better for next weeks road game at PSU!  Certainly feeling better today than after Akron or UConn.  Forward ho!

Joined: 11/01/2009

MGoPoints: 5852

MGoBlue96

October 5th, 2013 at 7:13 PM ^

for the most part, at  least in terms of showing improvement in areas that were bad/horrible the last two weeks. O-line change looks like it was probally the right move. Bryant looked solid, with the exception of one passing play that resulted in a sack.

I wasn't thrilled with Al's playcalling  though,  thought it was too predictable. I understand trying to establish the run with the new line, but ideally playcalling should be balanced. Minny was selling out on the run on first and second down, and while it worked at times due to the talent difference, there were also times where runs didn't go anywhere because there were simply too many defenders to account for. There were also a couple possessions where they seemingly went to all passes as well.

In order to beat the better teams on the schedule the playcalling will need to strike a better balance moving forward. Too many possessions in this game where it was skewed towards the run or pass.

Joined: 12/26/2010

MGoPoints: 26087

Mr Miggle

October 5th, 2013 at 7:39 PM ^

5 TDs out of 8 total drives. 5 for 5 in the red zone. One non-TD drive started from our own 1 and led to great field position. I'll give Borges credit for calling a good game instead of nitpicking run-pass balance on each drive (a peculiar criticism) and expecting every play to be successful.

Joined: 10/07/2010

MGoPoints: 47590

MGoBlue96

October 5th, 2013 at 8:06 PM ^

Ideally you would like to have a good run-pass balance. They got by with it today against inferior talent, but that doesn't mean they don't need better balance and more unpredictability  moving forward into the difficult part of the schedule. Not like Al's being somewhat predictable,at times, hasn't been discussed before.

Joined: 12/26/2010

MGoPoints: 26087

Mr Miggle

October 5th, 2013 at 8:24 PM ^

I've never heard of that being a goal of any team, ever. Perhaps you're grasping at straws looking for something to criticize. On the first drive we ran every play and moved the chains and scored a TD. Late in the game we mostly ran to milk the clock with a big lead. He did throw in a few passes even then. A 2 to 1 run pass ratio considering Gardner's struggles the last two games and the score is a good overall balance. At least it is to me.

Joined: 10/07/2010

MGoPoints: 47590

ca_prophet

October 5th, 2013 at 9:41 PM ^

That's fine with me. If every play is the same but we still move the ball that's great, in fact. The one strength of Minnesota's D is at the DTs. That matched up with M's interior line TFL-giveaway which we just shuffled in a new guy for his first action. The result of that was an offense that mostly marched down the field, gave up one sack, and allowed us to run virtually at will. That seems pretty good to me. That may not work against MSU, but that was always going to be a stiff test for our line. For now, I'm not sure what else I could have asked.

Joined: 09/07/2010

MGoPoints: 7027

Caesar

October 5th, 2013 at 6:53 PM ^

There were some angry moments in the first half, but I was encouraged by the OL. Worst part of the game was the announcing. 

My best to Jerry Kill and his family. 

Joined: 03/25/2009

MGoPoints: 7708

CompleteLunacy

October 5th, 2013 at 6:53 PM ^

< insert announcer inaccurate joke here >

But seriously, he was MUCH improved. He was setting his feet, actually stepped up in the pocket a couple times, took a sack instead o throwing it up. And all those "inaccurate" throws were completed, because they were put in paces the WRs could get to. It's good to know that every slightly off throw won't become DOOM. That will help his confidence. Take the small victories.

And oh, by the way, ZERO interceptions. That's a large victory.

Joined: 11/13/2010

MGoPoints: 12910

Reader71

October 5th, 2013 at 9:36 PM ^

I don't think you know what outside means. Funchess slipped because the ball was inside and he had to slow down his route and actually stop to get the ball. An accurate ball would have been to his outside, where he could have caught it in stride and probably scored.

Joined: 08/30/2009

MGoPoints: 22968

denardogasm

October 5th, 2013 at 6:58 PM ^

I take two things from this game on offense.  First, the OL is definitely improved with the changes and hopefully will continue to get better as they gel in game situations.  Second, I think Gardner may get back to baseline in terms of confidence based on no turnovers and some long completions, namely the last one to Funchess.  

Joined: 09/11/2011

MGoPoints: 10688

Perkis-Size Me

October 5th, 2013 at 7:02 PM ^

Today was not perfect by any means, but it was a good step in the right direction. Devin played turnover-free football and looked MUCH better today. The line looked like it was starting to get some push, and Funchess....wow, what can I say? He's a huge mismatch and a nightmare to try and cover. He looked damn good today.

Did I mention Devin had no turnovers today?

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 105503