1. I think Lynch is a 'serviceable' back. And I know if you look at his stat line it looks great. But that is mostly because of a 40 yard TD run in which the Temple D had a break-down, and no one touched him. Take away that one broken-play easy TD run, and his stat line is his typical 3 yard average. With this OL, we need a RB who can give us more than a consistent 2-3 yard gain, we need a RB who is a home run threat. I would seriously consider going with either Nick Scott or Saquan Barkely because both of them have more speed, explosion and big play ability over Lynch. Defenses are not fearing Lynch / running game. In part 1 of "It takes a Village", if the defense does not respect the run, then they can pin their ears back to rush the passer.
2. Part 2 of "It Takes a Village", where are the play calls that help out the OL for pass protect? Where are the quick slants, the quick hit seam routes, the little 7-8 yard TE curl patters, the screen passes??? How many years did we have a great pass rusher or a great pass rush, which was nullified by another team who simply ran all their patters on quick 3-step counts. 1...2...3 and bam ball out of hand. Nothing is more depressing for a DL to keep arriving at the QB just after the ball leaves his hand.
3. Part 3 of "It Takes a Village", the OL is bad. I know Palmer is the easy target from the game. And Palmer was bad. I'm sure when the staff grades out the players he will get a very low grade. But IMO Palmer / LT is a position which can at least be explained away. We lost Donovan Smith and with the effects of the sanctions still lingering our choices at LT were a redshirt FR or a JUCO. So I can at least understand the struggles at LT. But the interior of the OL is just as bad and they've now been together for 2 years. We get absolutely ZERO push from the inside of the line. None, zero, zip, zilch... a running game usually starts by controlling inside the box. It now appears, for the 2nd year in a row, we will be getting destroyed between the Tackles...... Get destroyed between the tackles.... you can not run .... you can not run .... the opposing defense pins ears back for pass..... you QB gets sacked 10 times.....
4. Personnel. I hate to bash college players. So let's just say that IMO there are now some players who are 2nd-year starters under Franklin who should not be on the field. I know that at certain positions we are still very thin and very young due to the after-effects of the sanctions. But it's time to cut bait on these guys and see what someone else can do.
5. Scheme & Adjustments. There is a highlight clip dominating this board of the infamous play in which a 2-man Temple pass rush sacked Hack. What leaves me scratching my head on that play (besides the OL play) is that we decide to leave the TE (#11) in to block, but have him on the right side of the line??? Nelson is a returning starter and the more stable of the 2 Tackles. Palmer is the 1st year starter and is struggling. So... if you are leaving the TE in to help block, why not simply tell Wilkerson to line up next to the LT, instead of the RT?? If Palmer knows that he has the TE lined up next to him, on his outside shoulder, then he can cheat inside. On this particular play, had Wilkerson been lined up outside of Palmer than Palmer cheats inside, Mahon (70) has no assignment so Palmer drives the Temple DE in Mahon and chances are the Temple DE is simply stood up between Mahon and Palmer. But instead, we have Wilkerson lined up outside of Nelson. When the ball is snapped Nelson engages (and neutralzes) his assignment, so Wilkerson is left with nothing to do but dance. As Wilkerson is dancing he finally sees #35 for Temple quickly approaching Hack, and by the times Wilkerson can stop dancing he arrives too late to stop the oncoming #35. This would be a very simple adjustment.
2. Part 2 of "It Takes a Village", where are the play calls that help out the OL for pass protect? Where are the quick slants, the quick hit seam routes, the little 7-8 yard TE curl patters, the screen passes??? How many years did we have a great pass rusher or a great pass rush, which was nullified by another team who simply ran all their patters on quick 3-step counts. 1...2...3 and bam ball out of hand. Nothing is more depressing for a DL to keep arriving at the QB just after the ball leaves his hand.
3. Part 3 of "It Takes a Village", the OL is bad. I know Palmer is the easy target from the game. And Palmer was bad. I'm sure when the staff grades out the players he will get a very low grade. But IMO Palmer / LT is a position which can at least be explained away. We lost Donovan Smith and with the effects of the sanctions still lingering our choices at LT were a redshirt FR or a JUCO. So I can at least understand the struggles at LT. But the interior of the OL is just as bad and they've now been together for 2 years. We get absolutely ZERO push from the inside of the line. None, zero, zip, zilch... a running game usually starts by controlling inside the box. It now appears, for the 2nd year in a row, we will be getting destroyed between the Tackles...... Get destroyed between the tackles.... you can not run .... you can not run .... the opposing defense pins ears back for pass..... you QB gets sacked 10 times.....
4. Personnel. I hate to bash college players. So let's just say that IMO there are now some players who are 2nd-year starters under Franklin who should not be on the field. I know that at certain positions we are still very thin and very young due to the after-effects of the sanctions. But it's time to cut bait on these guys and see what someone else can do.
5. Scheme & Adjustments. There is a highlight clip dominating this board of the infamous play in which a 2-man Temple pass rush sacked Hack. What leaves me scratching my head on that play (besides the OL play) is that we decide to leave the TE (#11) in to block, but have him on the right side of the line??? Nelson is a returning starter and the more stable of the 2 Tackles. Palmer is the 1st year starter and is struggling. So... if you are leaving the TE in to help block, why not simply tell Wilkerson to line up next to the LT, instead of the RT?? If Palmer knows that he has the TE lined up next to him, on his outside shoulder, then he can cheat inside. On this particular play, had Wilkerson been lined up outside of Palmer than Palmer cheats inside, Mahon (70) has no assignment so Palmer drives the Temple DE in Mahon and chances are the Temple DE is simply stood up between Mahon and Palmer. But instead, we have Wilkerson lined up outside of Nelson. When the ball is snapped Nelson engages (and neutralzes) his assignment, so Wilkerson is left with nothing to do but dance. As Wilkerson is dancing he finally sees #35 for Temple quickly approaching Hack, and by the times Wilkerson can stop dancing he arrives too late to stop the oncoming #35. This would be a very simple adjustment.
