I am not a coach or a former player, so take what I have to say as one man's very uneducated opinion of what I saw today.
The Good-
Our offense was a pleasant surprise. Cozart made the two mistakes early, but then looked solid the rest of the game. He used his legs to make some plays, and stood in there and took some hits (which based on the past couple of years, I wasn't sure he would do). He needs to get better at going through his progressions before he takes off, but that's to be expected with a QB who is relatively inexperienced. The O-line started to open up some holes as the game went on, and I thought gave Cozart plenty of time to look down the field. Kinner looked really good. He showed a nice burst and broke some tackles. The WRs and TEs looked solid and deep...I was very happy with what I saw there.
Special teams were night and day better compared to the past several years. Our kicker was consistently creating touchbacks on kickoffs (though he did have the one go out of bounds), and of course we had the runback for a touchdown, as well as a nice punt return by Parmalee.
The last item that I will count in the good column is what I saw watching Beaty after the game. I like him. He didn't spout a bunch of crap like CW used to do. He didn't blow sunshine, and yet he was very supportive of his players. I also credit him and the kids for not giving up. They were getting pounded and could have easily packed it in. Instead, they kept fighting, and actually gave themselves a chance to win it at the end.
The Bad-
Our defensive line struggled mightily. Through much of the first half, their RBs were getting five yards before they got touched. We were unable to generate a consistent pass rush, which was something that I thought we would be able to do. Their big WRs ate our CBs lunches, and our safeties were unable to provide help over the top due to our inability to slow down the run. Other than the one hit by Dineen, I didn't think that our LBs did much to speak of.
I am not good enough with X's and O's to knock Bowen or any of our defensive coaches for playcalling. My sense is that we simply don't have much talent on that side of the ball. However, I would love to hear some thoughts (educated thoughts...get tired of reading all of the rants) from some folks that know play calling and defensive schemes.
All in all, I'm disappointed with the loss, but felt that two out of three phases of our game were greatly improved over the last several years. And in fairness to the defense, we lost a MLB and two CBs to the NFL.
The Good-
Our offense was a pleasant surprise. Cozart made the two mistakes early, but then looked solid the rest of the game. He used his legs to make some plays, and stood in there and took some hits (which based on the past couple of years, I wasn't sure he would do). He needs to get better at going through his progressions before he takes off, but that's to be expected with a QB who is relatively inexperienced. The O-line started to open up some holes as the game went on, and I thought gave Cozart plenty of time to look down the field. Kinner looked really good. He showed a nice burst and broke some tackles. The WRs and TEs looked solid and deep...I was very happy with what I saw there.
Special teams were night and day better compared to the past several years. Our kicker was consistently creating touchbacks on kickoffs (though he did have the one go out of bounds), and of course we had the runback for a touchdown, as well as a nice punt return by Parmalee.
The last item that I will count in the good column is what I saw watching Beaty after the game. I like him. He didn't spout a bunch of crap like CW used to do. He didn't blow sunshine, and yet he was very supportive of his players. I also credit him and the kids for not giving up. They were getting pounded and could have easily packed it in. Instead, they kept fighting, and actually gave themselves a chance to win it at the end.
The Bad-
Our defensive line struggled mightily. Through much of the first half, their RBs were getting five yards before they got touched. We were unable to generate a consistent pass rush, which was something that I thought we would be able to do. Their big WRs ate our CBs lunches, and our safeties were unable to provide help over the top due to our inability to slow down the run. Other than the one hit by Dineen, I didn't think that our LBs did much to speak of.
I am not good enough with X's and O's to knock Bowen or any of our defensive coaches for playcalling. My sense is that we simply don't have much talent on that side of the ball. However, I would love to hear some thoughts (educated thoughts...get tired of reading all of the rants) from some folks that know play calling and defensive schemes.
All in all, I'm disappointed with the loss, but felt that two out of three phases of our game were greatly improved over the last several years. And in fairness to the defense, we lost a MLB and two CBs to the NFL.
