In a nutshell, turnovers from the offense and a special teams breakdown blew the game wide open in the first half and then the run defense was gashed in the second half. When you have the ball for only 17 minutes, you just aren’t going to win. When watching live, I noticed Devaney was sitting to the right of Blank instead of McKay. Knowing now that Blank pursued Parcells, it may have been that McKay was notified that he would not be the GM next season.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (8/32), Norwood (9/73), Snelling (1/-1), Mughelli (1/1) and Redman (1/1). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 3 and Norwood, 6. Dunn also had 1 catch for 7 yards. One very strange call was Snelling’s carry to the outside. Why run your short yardage guy outside? Didn’t make sense to me.

Breakdown of passes:

Redman: 4/15, 34 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 5 Bad passes, 4 Dropped passes and 2 Defended passes.

Drops (4): Mughelli, 1; Dunn, 2; Norwood, 1. The running backs had a very hard time catching the ball this week.

YTD Drops (44):

Jenkins 9
White 10
Crumpler 6
Horn 3
Dunn 8
Norwood 3
Blakley 1
Robinson 3
Mughelli 1

Run blocking: It was decent. Still seems that most yards are on pure speed for the most part.

Pass blocking: It was okay again. A couple of passes batted at the line, a sack resulting in a fumble and 2 more pressures all on 15 attempts. Nothing to get excited about.

Sack responsibility (1): The lone sack was on Clabo which resulted in a fumble.

YTD Sacks (42):

Scheme 3.0
Norwood 2.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 3.0
Harrington 8.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 8.0
McClure 3.5
Dunn 1.0
Foster 1.0
Clabo 3.0
Ojinnaka 3.0
Batiste 2.0
Redman 1.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Allowed 190 yards and was very soft up front. Teams seem to just push us out of the way and do what they want.

Pass Defense: Wasn’t bad but when you get almost 200 yards on the ground, who needs to pass?

Sacks: Davis and Abraham each had sacks. There were also 6 hurries so we did a good job of putting pressure on Garcia.

Special Teams:
Norwood had 2 kickoff returns: 1. from the -1, 19 yards; 2. from the 10, 13 yards. Not an overly good day and stopped returning after injury on a running play.

Jennings had 4 kickoff returns: 1. from the -1, 28 yards; 2. from the 9, 25 yards (negated by holding penalty); 3. from the 5, 13 yards; 4. from the -1, 31 yards. Definitely had the better day.

There was also 1 pooch kick that wasn’t field cleanly.

Jennings had 1 punt return that resulted in a fumble but recovered by Chris Houston. He should have called for a fair catch on the play.

Koenen had 6 punts: 1-40 yards to the TB 34, 8 yard return. 2-36 yards to the TB 21, 7 yard return. 3-41 yards to TB 20, 8 yard return. 4-49 yards to the TB 26, 4 yard return (negated by illegal block penalty); 5-44 yards to the TB 41, 4 yard return; 6-63 yards to the end zone, no return. Very windy day but still a good day.

Koenen had 2 kickoffs: 1. to the 10, returned for touchdown; 2. to the TB 11, 8 yard return. Considering the wind, good distance.

Field Goals: Andersen made his only attempt from 33 yards.

Special Teams coverage: Outside of the touchdown allowed, very nice job.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Eliminate negative yardage plays (turnovers, penalties, negative rushes, and sacks).
2. O-line needs to get more push, reach the second level and put defensive players on their backs.
3. Find a GM AND Coach.

Offensive MVP: Jerious Norwood (73 yards rushing)

Defensive MVP: Chauncey Davis (4 tackles, 1 sack, 3 hurries)

Special Teams MVP: Stephen Nicholas and Ovie Mughelli (2 tackles each)

Goat of the Week: Bobby Petrino

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: AT Arizona Cardinals, December 23rd!

This was just miserable and the day after Petrino decides to walk out on everyone. After hearing the news of his departure, I just about decided not to continue the reviews this season because whatever we see won’t much matter since everything will be changing. However, these next few games may tell a lot about the players we have and more importantly, the players we don’t have. So unlike Petrino, I refuse to quit and will continue no matter how rough it looks.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (6/3), Norwood (6/21), Snelling (3/9) and Redman (1/4). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 1 and Norwood, 1. Dunn also had 1 catch for 11 yards, and Norwood had 2 catches for 57 yards. Norwood also had a couple of nice runs called back on holding penalties by WR’s which has plagued this team all year. Also, I’d note that Snelling converted yet another 4th and 1 and appears to be golden in short yardage situations.

Breakdown of passes:

Redman: 23/40, 298 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 5 Bad passes, 2 Throw aways, 1 Other (White quit on a route that looked very completable), 4 Dropped passes and 4 Defended passes. Despite the outcome of the game, Redman still appears to be the best option available.

Drops (4): Crumpler, 1; Jenkins, 1; White, 1; Norwood, 1. Jenkins had an opportunity late for a catch but was absolutely drilled and the ball popped loose. Probably technically a drop since he had it in his hands but I had a hard time calling that a drop but instead labeled it as “defended.”

YTD Drops (40):

Jenkins 9
White 10
Crumpler 6
Horn 3
Dunn 6
Norwood 2
Blakley 1
Robinson 3

Run blocking: This just hasn’t been very good all season and I don’t expect it to improve.

Pass blocking: It was okay. Redman does a very good job of getting rid of the ball in less than 2 seconds MOST of the time otherwise, the sacks would surely go up.

Sack responsibility (3): First one is on Batiste. Second was due to Redman holding the ball too long and the final one was on a delayed LB blitz who had no one available to pick him up so that goes on the scheme.

YTD Sacks (41):

Scheme 3.0
Norwood 2.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 3.0
Harrington 8.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 8.0
McClure 3.5
Dunn 1.0
Foster 1.0
Clabo 2.0
Ojinnaka 3.0
Batiste 2.0
Redman 1.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Allowing 145 yards to backups is embarrassing. The middle was very soft and taken advantage of all night in particular.

Pass Defense: Kornheiser said it best, it looked more like a passing drill than it did a game.

Sacks: No sacks and only 1 hurry. This was a huge factor in the why the pass defense looked as bad as it did.

Special Teams:
Norwood had 3 kickoff returns and 4 touchbacks (Mare did an excellent job on kickoffs): 1. from the -3, 19 yards; 2. from the -1, 23 yards; 3. from the 3, 31 yards (15 yards negated on McIntyre penalty). Nothing special tonight.

Jennings had 2 punt returns: 1. from the 39, 3 yards; 2. from the 23, 3 yards. Nothing special here either.

Koenen had 6 punts: 1-46 yards to the NO 9, no return. 2-23 yards to the NO 11, no return. 3-60 yards to NO 1, out of bounds. 4-58 yards to the NO 6, out of bounds; 5-53 yards to the NO 20, 1 yard return and fumbled (caused by Boley and recovered by Irons); 6-42 yards to the NO 39, no return. Outstanding day punting.

Koenen had 3 kickoffs: 1. to the end zone, touchback; 2. to the end zone, touchback; 3. to the 9, 19 yard return. Very good day kicking.

Field Goals: None

Special Teams coverage: Outside of the McIntyre penalty, very nice job.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Eliminate negative yardage plays (penalties, negative rushes, and sacks).
2. O-line needs to get more push, reach the second level and put defensive players on their backs.
3. Find a Coach.

Offensive MVP: Chris Redman (23/40, 298, 2 TDS/1 INT). Would have been Jenkins if not for the drop that resulted in a pick 6.

Defensive MVP: Michael Boley (4 tackles, 1 pass defended and 1 special teams fumble forced)

Special Teams MVP: Michael Koenen.

Goat of the Week: Bobby Petrino

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: AT Tampa Bay Buccaneers, December 16th!

The first 3 quarters were almost impossible to watch again but the last quarter made it worth it. It wasn’t a win but I believe we got a glimpse of what this offense is truly capable of. In hindsight, perhaps going for it on 4th and 7 at the 9 wasn’t the right decision and should have opted for a FG instead but it’s really hard to say because field position would have changed, the INT might not have happened, etc. At any rate,

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (10/17), Norwood (8/94). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 2 and Norwood, 4. Dunn also had 1 catch for 23 yards, and Norwood had 3 catches for 21 yards. Norwood was clearly the more effective back this week and got almost equal carries.

Breakdown of passes:

Harrington: 17/34, 184 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 10 Bad passes, 2 Dropped passes, 5 Defended passes. Not effective at all.

Redman: 16/24, 172 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 5 Bad passes, 1 Throw away and 2 Defended passes. The offense was drastically more effective with Redman.

Drops (2): Jenkins, 1; White, 1. Both balls could have been thrown better as they were high from Harrington but they were definitely catchable.

YTD Drops (36):

Jenkins 8
White 9
Crumpler 5
Horn 3
Dunn 6
Norwood 1
Blakley 1
Robinson 3

Run blocking: Not a very good job. A lot of Norwood’s yards were made by his speed and not gaping holes.

Pass blocking: The unit did okay. It’s about the best we can hope for at this point.

Sack responsibility (4): First one is on McClure who got ran by. Second was on Blalock. Third one was on Harrington for not picking up the blitz. Final sack was on Batiste.

YTD Sacks (38):

Scheme 2.0
Norwood 2.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 3.0
Harrington 8.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 8.0
McClure 3.5
Dunn 1.0
Foster 1.0
Clabo 2.0
Ojinnaka 3.0
Batiste 1.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Was very stout except for the 50 yard gashing at the end.

Pass Defense: Got picked on early and often but did pick it up in the second half. Very little pressure from the d-line didn’t help.

Sacks: Davis got the only sack.

Special Teams:
Norwood had 3 kickoff returns and 1 touchback: 1. from the 7, 15 yards; 2. from the 5, 19 yards; 3. from the 5, 32 yards.

Mughelli had 1 kickoff return for 10 yards from the 36 on a squib quick.

Jennings had 5 returns: 1. from the 16, 4 yards; 2. from the 29, 13 yards; 3. from the 23, 77 yards for TD (nullified by illegal block on Nicholas); 4. from the 23, 12 yards; 5. from the 42, 6 yards. The illegal block call as very, very iffy. Solid day returning.

Koenen had 7 punts: 1-48 yards to the STL 5, no return. 2-46 yards to the STL 29, no return. 3-34 yards to STL 12, no return. 4-55 yards to the end zone, touchback; 5-50 yards to the end zone, touchback; 6-26 yards to the STL 12, no return; 7-50 yards to the STL 23, 6 yard return. Excellent day punting.

Kickoffs: Koenen had 4 kickoffs: 1. to the -2, 37 yard return (nullified on holding penalty); 2. to the -1, 15 yard return; 3. to the 2, 15 yard return; 4. to the 4, 19 yard return. Very good distance.

Field Goals: Andersen 1/1, from 41.

Special Teams coverage: Outstanding. Tony Taylor had 2 very nice tackles.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Eliminate negative yardage plays (penalties, negative rushes, and sacks).
2. O-line needs to get more push, reach the second level and put defensive players on their backs.
3. Time Management

Offensive MVP: Chris Redman (16/24, 172, 2 TDS/1 INT) and Roddy White, (10 catches, 146 yards, 1 TD)

Defensive MVP: Lawyer Milloy (5 tackles, 1 INT, 1 pass defended, 1 QB hurry)

Special Teams MVP: Michael Koenen.

Goat of the Week: Joey Harrington

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS New Orleans Saints, December 10th!

This one started out good (despite a 3/9 start by Harrington) but two missed opportunities in the end zone followed by an offense stuck in stall and the Colts offense getting on track ended up killing us. As for the running into the punter call, I don’t like it but technically that’s the rule.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (17/70), Snelling (4/6), Norwood (6/33), Mughelli (1/0) and Harrington (2/3). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 9; Snelling, 0 (but did convert two 4th and 1′s) and Norwood, 3. Dunn also had 2 catches for 10 yards, Norwood and Mughelli each had 1 catch for 9 yards.

Breakdown of passes:

Harrington: 14/30, 155 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 10 Bad passes, 4 Dropped passes, 1 Defended pass and 1 Throw away. Not anywhere near good enough.

Drops (4): Crump, 2; Robinson, 1 (although I don’t really blame him as he got rocked); and White, 1 (although it should have been defensive holding since Jackson had a handful of jersey).

YTD Drops (34):

Jenkins 7
White 8
Crumpler 5
Horn 3
Dunn 6
Norwood 1
Blakley 1
Robinson 3

Run blocking: This area has gotten better it seems and not a bad effort in this game.

Pass blocking: The Colts were very limited due to injuries and this area was passable.

Sack responsibility (2): First one is on Harrington for holding the ball too long and the second is split between Clabo and McClure who got “turtled” (put flat on his back looking like a turtle teetering in his shell).

YTD Sacks (34):

Scheme 2.0
Norwood 2.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 3.0
Harrington 7.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 7.0
McClure 2.5
Dunn 1.0
Foster 1.0
Clabo 2.0
Ojinnaka 3.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Allowed over 4 yards a carry in both halves. Not very strong at the point of attack.

Pass Defense: Started off well but got picked apart by Manning.

Sacks: Boley got 3 and Brooking got 1.

Special Teams:
Norwood had 6 kickoff returns and no touchbacks: 1. from the -2, 23 yards; 2. from the 7, 37 yards; 3. from the 1, 28 yards; 4. from the 1, 20 yards; 5. from the -3, 26 yards; 6. from the 1, 27 yards (negated by Wilkerson holding penalty).

Jennings had 2 fair catches and 1 11 yard return wiped out by the running into the kicker penalty. No real opportunity to do anything.

Koenen had 4 punts: 1-47 yards to the IND 45, 12 yard return. 2-51 yards to the IND 32, 8 yard return. 3-52 yards to IND 37, 9 yard return. 4-50 yards to the IND 13, fair catch. Great distance.

Kickoffs: Koenen had 4 kickoffs: 1. to the 0, 24 yard return; 2. to the -1, 25 yard return; 3. to the 3, 25 yard return; 4. to the 2, 28 yard return. Solid day.

Field Goals: Andersen 2/2, from 30 and 34.

Special Teams coverage: Fairly solid.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Eliminate negative yardage plays (penalties, negative rushes, and sacks).
2. O-line needs to get more push, reach the second level and put defensive players on their backs.
3. Get healthy.

Offensive MVP: Roddy White, (6 catches, 104 yards, 1 TD)

Defensive MVP: Michael Boley (9 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 QB hurries, 1 fumble forced and a special teams tackle)

Special Teams MVP: Tony Taylor and David Irons (2 tackles).

Goat of the Week: Joey Harrington

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: AT St. Louis Rams, December 2nd!

I knew I wanted to get this one done before Thanksgiving dinner to ensure that I still had my appetite. I may not have finished this one soon enough. Leftwich was off, the line couldn’t protect long enough for his long delivery, a couple of early horrible calls by the officials, negative plays in general, a defense getting worn down and one of the worst days I’ve ever seen by a single offensive lineman in my lifetime.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (15/32), Snelling (2/13) and Norwood (2/4). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 5; Snelling, 2 and Norwood, 1. Dunn also had 8 catches for 40 yards and Norwood had 2 catches for 10 yards.

Breakdown of passes:

Leftwich: 15/27, 0 TD, 2 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 4 Bad passes, 6 Drops, 3 passes defended. Byron could have helped the WR’s out by throwing better balls but at the same time, they could have done a lot more as well. The first INT came as a result of a miscue by Blalock and Dunn not picking up a rusher which resulted in Byron getting drilled as he was throwing. The second was due to Ojinnaka getting beat and the defender disrupting Byron’s throwing motion. He also had 3 fumbles all of which were a result of being in the motion of throwing.

Harrington: 16/20, 139 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 2 Bad passes, 1 Drop and 1 throw away. Joey played his game and it’s tough to rate the performance since half of the attempts came on the Falcons’ last drive and not really in crunch time.

Drops (7): The crew came up with 8 but I just didn’t see another I could justify as a drop. White, 2; Jenkins, 1; Robinson, 1; Dunn, 3.

YTD Drops (30):

Jenkins 7
White 7
Crumpler 3
Horn 3
Dunn 6
Norwood 1
Blakley 1
Robinson 2

Run blocking: Not a lot of success to the edges nor was there success in short yardage situations again. It’s obvious that Petrino doesn’t have confidence calling short yardage plays up the middle and also that we’ve simply got to get more power along the line.

Pass blocking: Big regression this week but mostly from the two young tackles. I can understand Clabo missing since this is his first year’s worth of game experience playing the position but not Ojinnaka. Truly one of the worst efforts I’ve seen from a lineman.

Sack responsibility (4): First one is on Clabo and Blalock resulting in the fumble return for a TD. Second goes to Ojinnaka. Boselli said that it wasn’t a bad job and while Leftwich did get 3 seconds there was no way for him to get rid of the ball without another fumble occurring. Third is also on Ojinnaka which forced a fumble that we were fortunate to get back. Fourth is also on Ojinnaka.

YTD Sacks (32):

Scheme 2.0
Norwood 2.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 3.0
Harrington 6.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 7.0
McClure 2.0
Dunn 1.0
Foster 1.0
Clabo 1.5
Ojinnaka 3.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Was very solid early but with early injuries to Coleman and Lewis wore down in the 2nd half and wilted.

Pass Defense: While yardage was low, D-Hall bit on a play fake which resulted in a TD and Alex Smith was left wide open for another.

Sacks: Abraham got the lone sack.

Special Teams:
Norwood had 5 official kickoff returns, 1 that resulted in a re-kick and no touchbacks: 1. from the 7, 19 yards; 2a. from the 11, 15 yards(Bucs offsides re-kick); 2b. from the 8, 21 yard return. 3. from the 11, 27 yards; 4. from the 9, 21 yards (negated by holding penalties on Mughelli and Nicholas); 5. from the 13, 87 yards and touchdown (negated by holding penalty on Nicholas). Solid and had the touchdown stood it certainly would have been excellent.

Babineaux had 1 kickoff return for 8 yards on a short kick.

Jennings had 4 official punt returns, 1 that resulted in a re-kick and 1 punt downed by Tampa: 1. from the ATL 43, 7 yards; 2. from the ATL 12, 4 yards (Holding on Tampa tacked on the end); 3. from the ATL 37, 1 yard; 4a. from the ATL 31, 16 yards (Tampa was offsides/should have declined it); 4b. from the ATL 13, 3 yards. Nothing special.

Koenen had 7 punts: 1-47 yards to the TB 8, 7 yard return. 2-30 yards to the TB 13, no return. 3-37 yards to end zone, touchback (chop block penalty added on and Harris could have had it down at the 1 or 2) . 4-46 yards to the TB 22, -3 yard return. 5-31 yards to the TB 15, no return. 6-42 yards to the TB 36, -1 yard return. 7-24 yards to the ATL 45, no return. Outside of the last punt a very good day.

Kickoffs: Koenen had 2 kickoffs: 1. to the -1, 21 yard return; 2. to the 27, -1 yard return. Good distance on the first and the last was more like a long squib quick.

Field Goals: None

Special Teams coverage: Except for the penalties was very good.

Things that really need improvement:

1. O-line needs to get more push, reach the second level and put defensive players on their backs.
2. Eliminate negative yardage plays (penalties, negative rushes, and sacks).
3. Get healthy.

Offensive MVP: Joey Harrington (16/20, 139 yards, 1 TD/0 INT and more importantly was very supportive of Leftwich when some would have pouted about being benched)

Defensive MVP: John Abraham (2 tackles, 1 sack, 1 hurry) and was held all day and it wasn’t called.

Special Teams MVP: David Irons (2 tackles).

Goat of the Week: Quinn Ojinnaka (3 sacks allowed and 3 penalties).

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS Indianapolis Colts, November 22nd!

Hope all have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Outside of the first drive and a portion of the second half, the offense struggled but the defense came through in flying colors allowing only 2 field goals in the game.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (26/89, 1 TD), Pinner (1/-3) and Harrington (1/2). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 7. Dunn also had 3 catches for 51. He was a majority of the offense in the game.

Breakdown of passes:

Harrington: 19/26, 192 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 3 Bad passes, 3 Passes defended and 1 Drop. Joey made some good plays and managed the game. From what I saw, 2 of the defended passes could have possibly been completions with more arm strength. Also, there were a couple of short completions on 3rd down that he had plenty of time on and could have looked past the sticks to continue the drive.

Redman: 1/1, 9 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT. Nice job of coming in cold and picking up the 3rd down conversion.

Drops (1): White.

YTD Drops (23):

Jenkins 6
White 5
Crumpler 3
Horn 3
Dunn 3
Norwood 1
Blakley 1
Robinson 1

Run blocking: Outside of the short yardage push issue still existing, I noticed that our linemen aren’t getting to the second level. This contributed heavily to Dunn’s low YPC number. Had the blocking gotten to the second level (linebackers in particular) then more yards would have been gained but with the linebackers roaming free, they were able to quickly close the hole for a 1 or 2 yard gain.

Pass blocking: Much, much better this week. Hopefully, the improvement is a sign of things to come. The sacks that did occur were due to guards not coming off their double teams to pick up a stunt or a delayed linebacker blitz.

Sack responsibility (2): Forney was engaged in a double-team and didn’t pull off to pick up Diggs in time. The second sack was a result of a stunt by Rucker that Blalock didn’t pick up in time.

YTD Sacks (28):

Scheme 2.0
Norwood 2.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 3.0
Harrington 6.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 6.5
McClure 2.0
Dunn 1.0
Foster 1.0
Clabo 1.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Very stout effort allowing only 90 yards on 28 carries.

Pass Defense: Very good. Noticeably better on RB’s and TE’s and a very good effort all around.

Sacks: Rod Coleman got both sacks.

Special Teams:

Jennings had 3 kickoff returns and no touchbacks: 1. from the goal line, 25 yards; 2. from the 11, 21 yards; 3. from the 3, 21 yards. Solid day returning.

Jennings had 5 punt returns and 1 fair catches: 1. from the ATL 15, -2 yards; 2. from the ATL 30, 7 yards; 3. from the ATL 31, 2 yards; 4. from the ATL 21, 6 yards (negated by illegal block by McIntyre); 5. from the ATL 32, 23 yards. Not a lot of opportunity to do much but came through on the last one to set up the game-winning TD.

Koenen had 8 punts: 1-40 yards to the CAR 20, no return. 2-49 yards to the CAR 26, 15 yard return. 3-51 yards to CAR 22, 8 yard return. 4-49 yards to the CAR 32, 33 yard return. 5-50 yards to the CAR 14, no return. 6-47 yards to the CAR 9, 7 yard return. 7-49 yards to the CAR 30, 10 yard return (negated by holding penalty). 8-50 yards to the CAR 20, 2 yard return. Excellent distance.

Kickoffs: Koenen had 5 kickoffs: 1. to the 4, 28 yard return; 2. to the 1, 28 yard return; 3. to the -2, 21 yards; 4. to the end zone, touchback; 5. to the 27, 14 yard return. Very good day for Koenen.

Field Goals: Andersen went 2/2. Good from 36 and 47. Absolutely no doubt that 47 is his limit.

Special Teams coverage: Very spotty. Robinson had a pretty good day for the Panthers.

Things that really need improvement:

1. O-line needs to get more push and reach the second level.
2. Eliminate negative yardage plays (penalties, negative rushes, and sacks).
3. More throws beyond 10 yards.

Offensive MVP: Warrick Dunn (89 yards rushing, 51 yards receiving, 1 TD)
Defensive MVP: Chris Houston (8 tackles, 2 passes defended)

Special Teams MVP: Michael Koenen.

Goat of the Week: Laurent Robinson (fumble resulting in Carolina’s only touchdown).

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS Tampa Bay Buccaneers, November18th!

It wasn’t pretty but a win is a win and we’ll take them any way we can get them!

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (27/100, 1 TD), Norwood (6/39), Mughelli (2/2, 1 TD) and Harrington (4/14). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 11; Norwood, 5. No passes to either back. Dunn had his best day in quite a while. Norwood was hurt a couple of times where his ankle was turned awkardly.

Breakdown of passes:

Harrington: 14/25, 138 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 6 Bad passes, 2 Passes defended and 3 Other. Very mediocre day. Harrington missed a few opportunities to extend drives with either bad choices or bad passes. The passes I put in “other”: Was an obvious miscommunication with White, White being screened by the official and not seeing the pass and Jenkins falling down.

Drops (0): None! We need more like this!

YTD Drops (22):

Jenkins 6
White 4
Crumpler 3
Horn 3
Dunn 3
Norwood 1
Blakley 1
Robinson 1

Run blocking: Was much, much better. If we could get this consistently we’d be in very good shape. Hopefully, this becomes the norm. The only exception is short yardage as we still aren’t getting push up the middle.

Pass blocking: While only 1 sack was registered, we still aren’t getting more than 3 seconds of protection. Sure, that’s enough to get the ball out of your hands but when you look at the top teams it seems their pocket always forms a nice “U” shape and the QB rarely gets pressured before the ball is away. Our “U” tends to cave in almost immediately and the QB is forced to throw instead of choosing to.

Sack responsibility (1): I’ll side with the announcers on this one that Harrington held it too long because it was right at 3 seconds. However, Blakley flat out blew his block to allow the initial pressure and I do believe without that pressure Harrington would have gotten rid of the ball before the sack took place.

YTD Sacks (26):

Scheme 2.0
Norwood 2.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 2.0
Harrington 6.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 5.5
McClure 2.0
Dunn 1.0
Foster 1.0
Clabo 1.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Saw several plays where Brooking was blocked out by a lineman sometimes caused by Brooking getting into the LOS too quickly or a lineman getting free off a block. Also, it seems we have an overpursuit or misreading problem as our linebackers tend to react to first move and immediately crash down to the inside and get caught on misdirection to the outside. Could have been a lot better.

Pass Defense: Wasn’t bad at all. We still have those issues of covering backs and tight ends. 98 of Smith’s 149 yards went to tight ends and backs.

Sacks: Abe got 1 and Brooking got 1. Abe also forced an intentional grounding call which I look at as a sack itself.

Special Teams:

Norwood had 4 kickoff returns and no touchbacks: 1. from the 2, 18 yards; 2. from the goal line, 30 yards; 3. from the -3, 25 yards; 4. from the -5, 30 yards (negated by holding call on Harris). Solid day returning.

Jennings had 1 kickoff return from the -4, 28 yards. He seems a lot more confident returning now.

Jennings had 3 punt returns and 2 fair catches: 1. from the ATL 19, no return (invalid signal penalty) 2. from the ATL 12, 19 yards (negated by unnecessary roughness on Irons); 3. from the ATL 35, 23 yards. Very good return yardage overall.

Koenen had 6 punts: 1-50 yards to the SF 26, 15 yard return. 2-40 yards to the SF 24, no return. 3-53 yards to SF 8, 4 yard return. 4-38 yards to the SF 28, 4 yard return. 5-50 yards to the SF 17, 4 yard return return. 6-34 yards to the SF 11, no return. Very good day punting with only 1 subpar punt.

Kickoffs: Koenen had 5 kickoffs: 1. to the 1, 20 yard return (negated by holding penalty); 2. to the -2, 24 yard return; 3. to the 10, out of bounds; 4. to the 11, 12 yard return; 5. to the end zone, touchback. Outside of the out of bounds kick, very good day.

Field Goals: Andersen went 2/2. Good from 33 and 27.

Special Teams coverage: 15 yard return and the penalties aside, a good day.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Pass protection.
2. Get touchdowns and not field goals, make the most out of red zone opportunities.
3. Run defense.

Offensive MVP: Warrick Dunn (27 carries, 100 yards, 1 TD)
Defensive MVP: Lawyer Milloy (8 tackles, 1 INT, 1 pass defended and several key tackles stuffing the run)

Special Teams MVP: Michael Koenen.

Goat of the Week: Linebackers in run defense.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: AT Carolina Panthers, November11th!

Another typical game this season. Started off really well only to lose by less than a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Leftwich looked much better under pressure than Harrington although Harrington did show some good things while in the game. Still not sure why the coaching staff didn’t challenge the call of Roddy White out of bounds at the 7, he looked like he stayed in to me.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (13/28), Norwood (6/38), Mughelli (1/3), Leftwich (3/6) and Harrington (1/0). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 2; Norwood, 1. Dunn had 1 catch for 1 yard and Norwood had 3 for 1. Although the effective runs doesn’t show it, Norwood is more effective at this point than Dunn. Norwood did not have any negative yardage plays while Dunn had quite a few.

Breakdown of passes:

Leftwich: 15/23, 145 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 5 Bad passes, 2 throw aways, 1 drop. Leftwich was able to go downfield and get rid of the ball quickly. Poor pass protection eventually got him knocked out of the game.

Harrington: 12/18, 128 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 4 Bad passes, and 2 Drops. Not a bad performance in relief just not enough.

Drops (3): Robinson, 1; Jenkins, 1 and Dunn, 1

YTD Drops (22):

Jenkins 6
White 4
Crumpler 3
Horn 3
Dunn 3
Norwood 1
Blakley 1
Robinson 1

Run blocking: Outside of Norwood’s big run wasn’t all that good. It’s a shame I didn’t have to change this one from last week.

Pass blocking: Horrid. It’s pretty bad when a line can’t consistently give even 3 seconds. Didn’t have to change this one either.

Sack responsibility (3): First sack is on Clabo. Second is on Forney. The announcers talked about Harrington holding it too long but he didn’t have 3 seconds. Final sack is on Blalock.

YTD Sacks (25):

Scheme 2.0
Norwood 2.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 2.0
Harrington 5.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 5.5
McClure 2.0
Dunn 1.0
Foster 1.0
Clabo 1.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Not horrible but there were key breakdowns especially up the middle on the Thomas TD where the center was allowed to get to Brooking unimpeded by our d-line. Unacceptable.

Pass Defense: Man to man seemed pretty good but zone allowed several mismatches as well as the TE and RB’s to make far too many catches.

Sacks: None.

Special Teams:

Norwood had 2 kickoff returns and 2 touchbacks: 1. from the 2, 20 yards; 2. from the 15, 18 yards. Norwood is explosive but I’d rather have Jennings on all returns and use Norwood’s explosiveness more in the backfield.

Jennings had 4 punt returns: 1. from the ATL 19, 12 yards; 2. from the ATL 41, 15 yards; 3. from the ATL 22, -2 yards; 4. from the ATL 48, 12 yards and 1 fair catch. Very nice day returning.

Koenen had 6 punts: 1-45 yards to the NO 11, 48 yard return. 2-48 yards to the NO 44, 7 yard return. 3-33 yards to NO 13, no return. 4-51 yards to the NO 32, no return. 5-45 yards to the NO 7, no return. 6-43 yards to the NO 10, no return. Much better distance on punts with 1 coverage breakdown.

Kickoffs: Koenen had 5 kickoffs: 1. to the 3, 21 yard return; 2. to the 42A onside, Jennings recovered; 3. to the 2, 25 yard return; 4. to the end zone, touchback; 5. to the -1, 32 yard return. Very good day kicking.

Field Goals: Andersen went 3/3. Good from 38, 33, and 21.

Special Teams coverage: Big breakdown on the first punt and the last kickoff. Decent day but definitely needs improvement.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Pass protection.
2. Get touchdowns and not field goals, make the most out of red zone opportunities.
3. Overall defense especially after scores.

Offensive MVP: Roddy White (8, 110 yards, 1 TD)
Defensive MVP: Demorrio Williams (7 tackles, 1 INT, 1 pass defended)

Special Teams MVP: Michael Koenen.

Goat of the Week: Offensive Line.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS San Francisco 49ers, November 4th!

This game started off promising but went south quickly after the first quarter. There was a glimmer of hope in the third but that was quickly eradicated when the offense went three and out. Really nothing outside of Norwood went right.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (8/15), Norwood (6/87, 1 TD) and Harrington (1/1). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 1; Norwood, 2. Dunn had 2 catches for 13 yards and Norwood had 4 for 51.

Breakdown of passes:

Harrington: 18/39, 209 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 8 Bad passes, 5 Defended, 8 Drops. First quarter was very good but it really unraveled from there.

Drops (8): White, 1; Crumpler, 3; Horn, 1; Dunn, 1; Blakley, 1 and Jenkins, 1.

YTD Drops (19):

Jenkins 5
White 4
Crumpler 3
Horn 3
Dunn 2
Norwood 1
Blakley 1

Run blocking: Outside of Norwood’s big run wasn’t all that good.

Pass blocking: Horrid. It’s pretty bad when a line can’t consistently give even 3 seconds.

Sack responsibility (4): First is on Blalock by Robbins. Second on the scheme as everyone was blocking but it was a delayed corner blitz. There was no hot man or RB to block in that spot. Third one is on Norwood for missing a block. Final sack is on Harrington for holding it too long.

YTD Sacks (22):

Scheme 2.0
Norwood 2.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 1.0
Harrington 5.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 4.5
McClure 2.0
Dunn 1.0
Foster 1.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Allowed almost 200 yards rushing. Not good at all.

Pass Defense: Over 300 yards passing. Not good at all.

Sacks: Abraham, 1.

Special Teams:

Norwood had 5 kickoff returns: 1. from the 13, 17 yards; 2. from the 16, 17 yards; 3. from the GL; 4. from the 15, 14 yards (nullified by Blakley holding); 5. from the 10, 19 yards.

Mughelli had 1 kickoff return for 18 yards from the 15.

Jennings had 1 punt return for 7 yards and 2 fair catches.

Koenen had 7 punts: 1-34 yards to the NYG 22, no return. 2-55 yards to the NYG 24, 10 yard return. 3-40 yards to NYG 45, no return. 4-37 yards to the NYG 13, no return. 5-34 yards to the NYG 8, no return. 6-50 yards to the NYG 14, no return; 7-38 yards to the NYG 33, no return. Very mediocre distance on punts.

Kickoffs: Koenen had 3 kickoffs: 1. to the 2, 25 yard return; 2. to the 6, 22 yard return (nullified by penalty); 3. to the goal line, 23 yard return. Not great but a good day.

Field Goals: Andersen went 1/2. Good from 47, short from 48.

Special Teams coverage: A few good returns but otherwise a very good day.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Pass protection.
2. Get touchdowns and not field goals, make the most out of red zone opportunities.
3. Overall defense.

Offensive MVP: Jerious Norwood, (6, 87 yards, 1 TD)
Defensive MVP: Deangelo Hall (11 tackles, 1 INT, 4 passes defended)

Special Teams MVP: Jerious Norwood.

Goat of the Week: Offensive Line.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: AT New Orleans Saints, October 21st!

Nothing but wasted opportunities and a game where the the o-line reverted back to prior form. Harrington started off okay but the pressure really got to him in the 3rd quarter and you could tell he was rushing throws. Norwood really needs to get more carries and Mughelli needs to be on the field more. The other thing I question is with 1-G on the 1, why not sneak Leftwich 4 straight times? As big as he is, he’s bound to break through once.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (10/27), Norwood (6/23), Pinner (1/49), Mughelli (1/1), White (1/-2) and Leftwich (1/1). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 2; Norwood, 3. Both had 2 catches for minimal yardage.

Breakdown of passes:

Harrington: 16/31, 87 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 4 Defended, 2 Drops, 2 Throw aways and 7 Bad Passes. First half was okay but the pressure really got to him midway through the 3rd quarter and ended up being replaced after rushing several throws in a row.

Leftwich: 2/8, 28 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 4 Bad Passes, 1 Defended, 1 Dropped (iffy in my opinion). Jenkins had to jump and it was noted he should have caught it but because it was high and he technically didn’t get hands on it it could have very easily been called a bad pass.

Drops (3): White, 2 and Jenkins, 1.

YTD Drops (11):

Jenkins 4
Horn 2
White 3
Norwood 1
Dunn 1

Run blocking: Horrid. Tennessee was in the backfield all day. The o-line got very little push nor did they open holes.

Pass blocking: Horrid. See the above. The MAX time Harrington/Leftwich had was 3 seconds.

Sack responsibility (2): Blalock on the first sack and Foster on the last play of the game.

YTD Sacks (18):

Scheme 1.0
Norwood 1.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 1.0
Harrington 4.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 3.5
McClure 2.0
Dunn 1.0
Foster 1.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Wasn’t all that great in the 1st half but did lock it down in the 2nd half. Overall a very good effort considering Tennessee’s running offense.

Pass Defense: TE’s, RB’s and whoever Sanders is covering continue to be a problem. Other than that, very good. I didn’t have to change this at all this week.

Sacks: None

Special Teams:

Norwood had 3 kickoff returns: 1. from the 0, 23 yards; 2. from the -1, 76 yards; 3. from the 10, 45 yards and there was also 1 touchback.

Jennings had 1 punt return for 0 and 2 fair catches.

Koenen had 6 punts: 1-51 yards to the TEN 26, 7 yard return. 2-38 yards to the TEN 45, no return. 3-45 yards to TEN 18, no return. 4-32 yards to the TEN 17, 28 yards. 5-39 yards to the TEN 45, fumbled return recovered by the Falcons. 6-23 yards to the TEN 12, no return.

Kickoffs: Koenen had 4 kickoffs: 1. to the 8, 34 yard return; 2. to the 5, 18 yard return; 3. to the end zone, touchback; 4. to the -2, 23 yard return.

Field Goals: Andersen went 2/3. Lone miss was from 48 and just short. Koenen went 0/2 from 53 and from 50.

Special Teams coverage: A few good returns but otherwise a very good day.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Lewis Sanders.
2. Get touchdowns and not field goals, make the most out of red zone opportunities.
3. Coverage of TE’s and RB’s. Seems they are wide open far too often.

Offensive MVP: Jerious Norwood, (6, 23 yards)
Defensive MVP: Michael Boley (10 tackles, 1 INT)

Special Teams MVP: Jerious Norwood.

Goat of the Week: Offensive Line.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS New York Giants, October 15th!