Esquire's Turn

[AUesquire 1]

I just got in and didn't have time to read all the threads but suffice it to say, I wasn't surprised at the bashing. Usual suspects. First, let me say a big thank you to AUTailgating. Got there late but it was great to meet and get to know folks like the Tailgater himself, DKW and his family, TriMajor, Proud Tiger, Big Dude and a few others. Great AU folks but I didn't expect any less.

Now, my take on our new quarterback:

The negatives were obviously some questionable throws and the uncertainty under center. A lot of procedure penalties and too many time outs. The play clock ran down too often and seemed to cause a bit of panic. He also seemed to hold the ball a bit too long, which caused some of the bad throws and int's.

NOTE: ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE ISSUES THAT WILL IMPROVE WITH EVERY START.

On the other hand, this guy showed flashes of absolute brilliance. He throws darts and threw the long ball very well. Fortunately, he has what in my opinion, is one of the top 2-3 receiving corps in the nation. Please tell me a better group. When BC and these guys clicked, it was a thing of beauty. This was his first start in front of 87,000 screaming fans at JH and a few million more watching on TV. This, following a 13-0 season and following one of the great AU quarterbacks. Pressure???? Naaaaahh!!

When we fell behind 10-0, the original game plan was out the window. BC was asked to throw virtually every down for a while and wound up chunking what, 44 passes?? Tell me any first time AU starter that has had to do that. And while we focus on the bad decisions, we easily overlook the numerous times the play just wasn't there and he had the presence of mind to throw it away. All in all, the positives far outweigh the negatives in BC's first start. Again, everything I consider "negatives" are all things that will be worked out with game experience.

Quickly, a note on our DBs. Early on, they got torched a couple of times and then settled in. After that, I was as impressed with that group of DBs as any we've had in a long, long time. Gibbs has them playing an in-your-face, pressing style and they responded. Johnson almost made several circus catches but if you noticed, he had to go over the defenser every time just to attempt it. These guys are fast and physical. Kudos to the defensive backs and the future looks bright indeed in the secondary.

Sorry for the lengthy post. Any thoughts?

[one 2]

I agree whole heartedly!

Outside of the first five minutes our DBs played wonderfully. There was one play where we had Johnson covered perfectly going up the sideline he still lept up and almost made the grab. Luckily the ball was knocked lose on the way down.

Of course I am talking about our DBs that are playing DB. The DBs that played LB got punched in the mouth several times. We can get beat by anyone with a big back and a good blocking fullback. WE ARE TOO SMALL UP FRONT. 6'1 300 at Tackle is very average (not big). Other than that our ends are LBs and our LBs are safeties.

Again, as I said in another post, last year we didn't have to deal with a running game all game long because we jumped out ahead of every body and forced them into passing the whole game.

If UT had figured that out in the first quater last year instead of the third this wouldn't be the first loss in fifteen games.

Good tackling can beat the lack of depth and hopefully that probelm will get fixed by the time we get to LSU.

[WarTim 3,533]

Esquire, you are correct. BC did a VERY good job under the circumstances. He will only get better and will be a VERY good SEC qb.

The defense had a few lapses but the dbs are gonna' cause a lot of teams a whole lot of problems. The pass rush left a lot to be desired, but, that can be corrected with coaching.

WAR EAGLE ! ! !

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Good observations Esquire.

[channonc 466]

The mistakes Cox made seemed to me to be rookie mistakes and will improve with playing experience.

However, I am extremely disappointed in our OL. They did an extremely poor job of blocking and when Cox was asked to throw he had about 2 sec. to find an open receiver before being in serious trouble of being sacked, I think this really contributed to most of the interceptions. Also, the OL had major trouble getting holes open for Tre, especially up front. I think this also contributed to the coaches changing the offense from a good mix to 99% passing.

The younger guys will get better with time and experience, so I am not worried, I just hope that the coaches are better prepared for our next game.