So....the offense

Finally! I really liked what they did in the first half, and honestly I think the two biggest contributors to a lack of offense in the second half was a) the entire team was shell shocked that the Stains began to actually move at will against our D and score at will, and b) they started running A LOT more. The offense was hugely successful in the first half because they used the pass and Bell dump offs to open up the run.

The passing game looked amazing. It look coordinated and orchestrated. I hope that they continue to build off of what they did in the first half and the end of the game, and evolve that gameplan into something even better.

Bell is a beast. Blount is too.

Brown seems like he is continuing to get better, and he is already a top 5 receiver in the league.

Wheaton looked much better than Sanders did his second season. I think we have a legitimate 1-2 punch at WR now.

I thought the O-line, for the most part, played pretty well, minus the run blocking in the second half. Some of the sacks were coverage sacks. I think the worst offensive linemen though is definitely Beachum, but I don't want Adams anywhere near the starting line.

Ben looked fantastic. In command and smart. His pick was bad but I don't think anyone would have guessed that that Stain would have ruined Bell's pants like that.

Justin Brown, I was less impressed with him than some others here are. He had a few nice blocks but had a really bad drop and another play where he seemed to go Wallace-mode and lost effort.

The Bell dump screens, FINALLY we can call a screen and it actually has the potential to be deadly.

Speaking of screens, did we finally go through a game without a WR bubble screen? I think so!

I am glad we aren't carrying 5 TEs like we were last year, as we simply don't need the. Outside of a sprinkling of Heath, the other TEs were not noticeable at all. Speath as a blocker, sure, but really I am glad they are using Bell and the WRs as the primary weapons (and Heath). That is how it should be.

I hope Archer didn't break himself, as the Stains clearly were worried about staining their pants if he got the ball in his hands with space.

Finally, I feel that any time we come into a game with an offensive gameplan and execute it, we will look good. If we change it to something else mid-game, going from great to unknown, we will get into trouble.

 

Yeah the offense in the first half seemed to have rhyme and reason which BA never had. I've always been the president of the Todd Haley Fan Club and I still am. However, he really needs to get away from the dang Marty Ball when we get a good lead.

 

Loved the 1st half. We looked fired up and unstoppable. Everything clicked....Penalties killed our offense in the 2nd half, along with the fact that we seemed to do the lets run on 1st and 2nd down and then try to throw on 3rd.. Too predictable..We tried to play not to lose in the 2nd half.. Every time we get a sizeable lead, we seem to try and sit on it. For once I'd like to see us be like the patriots or the broncos. (Although the pats today stunk up the joint)..They don't let up until the last second comes off that clock in the 4th quarter. Playing not to lose on offense is like playing prevent on defense.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought we were playing Marty Ball today. That 3rd and 1 draw to Blount pretty much made me blow my top. If the D isn't gonna bring the house the O is gonna have to.

 

I knew that play was doomed when Ben dropped from under center to right next to the RB. On 3rd &1 let the power back get a running start, not a draw when the d is trying to penetrate into the backfield. Draws work when they other team thinks it might be a pass.

 

I also blew up on that play call. a delayed handoff on the goal line? seriously todd?

 

Pretty much agree with everything except that the Oline played well. They really didn't play well at all. Most of Bell's runs were basically broken plays where he busted it outside because the middle was a pile of bodies. We didn't open up anything in the middle and that's going to be problematic for us this year. Most of the time Bell isn't going to be able to get outside, we're going to have to be able to run up the middle of he's going to get stuffed. We really didn't block well for him at all

 

Yep. Every person on the face of the planet knew what was coming.

 

I actually thought they played pretty well. There were a few times he had some nice holes to run through and Ben had pretty good protection all day.

 

Yup.. They did well in pass protection. On the one pic Ben had a good 6 seconds with the ball before delivering an errant throw to cause the INT

 

The only other Haley play I can think of that made me more mad was that stupid end around to Cotch last year in Cincy. I was at the game and screamed at the top of my lungs of how dumb that was. LOL.