...after second watch.
Man I love being back in the stadium because the two perspectives (live) and then a tape re-watch really give you a good feel for a game.
Let me start with my initial impressions in the first quarter live and they were distinct.
First, the defense. Early in Mattison's career (already a grizzled vet when he arrived) we had pretty significant communication issues in his first couple of games. No one got too mad about it because a.) we had just experienced RichRods crap show on D and b.) we trusted he'd get it right. So coming in with a 36 year old rookie DC I prepared for issues. Yet they were limited and didn't come till the second half when some fatigue and other focus set in. That place was loud and we are playing a lot of inexeperienced kids. Yet early on the communication was on point and you could feel the confidence of the kids pre-snap in their asssignments and the substitutions were fast. When Junior Colson a true freshman was jumping in with confidence to tap Mazi Smith over before settling in to play fast and with confidence I giggled and thought "holy crap MacDonald is good". Coaching football is a remarkable art. There's so much that can be taught. Complexity is great because it will confuse offenses, bad in that it can confuse your own kids and slow you down. Balance needs to be struck. To get that balance right your first go round as a coordinator especially after coming from a different level where all the dynamics of teaching are different (more time all day with the pros) is pretty remarkable. And it looks like we have struck a great balance. These kids seem to know exactly what MacDonald wants out of them. Correspondingly young unproven kids are showing competence. Linebacker play looks solid. D-line play looks solid and suddenly it seems as if we have depth. Jenkins is the one I'm most excited about, impressed me live and on tape. Had no idea he was son of one of Belleville's Jenkins brothers (two played dline in the league). Suddenly I sense a stud with NFL legacy coming on.
Another tricky balance in coaching defense, the sweet spot between playing with ferocious speed and aggressiveness and the right amount of patience to not run yourself out of plays and take a bad angle giving up leverage. There was a pass to the flat were Green was the only man out there briefly, I'd already seen him come hard and aggressively when it was safe to do so, here he simply squatted at a 45 degree angle to the line of scrimmage ensured contain on the receiver that made the catch and waited for the receiver to make his move and his help to come. Patience when patience is required. Keeps five yard gains five yard gains. Seems so simply and relatively meaningless but its everything.
Bottom line, we look to be getting really good coaching on defense.
Now, don't take this to mean I expect 1997 or 2006. I don't. We don't have enough high end studs at the right stage of their career (like Hutch and Dax) to be a generational D, but we have enough to be a very good D and that's what I expect. We can't always scheme away from Ross or Moore in mismatches and opponents will find them. But we are going to make offenses earn their yards and points.
That all stems from my first impressions on D and it was backed up by the tape.
First impressions on O and I texted these out to some friends. 1.) Cade did not look comfortable and was not seeing the field. 2.) Their corners were anihilating our receivers in their attempts to get blocks on the perimeter and were all over us in coverage.
This has lasting impacts if we don't improve but as it pertains to THIS game the clear competitive advantage for Washington was on the outside and in the passing game for Washington's defense. Jim wasn't going to and didn't allow that clear advantage to be A story let alone THE story in the game. I felt like I was watching the 2015 MSU game where the Ruddock that few remember, the one Jim didn't quite trust yet was barely a part of the gameplan. I felt Jim's heavy involvement not only in the gameplan but the initial adjustments. On tape I felt it even more when after the fake punt he was running down Robbins because he noticed that he took a stupid chance pushing a guy in the back at the end of the play. As I said last week, Jim seems to be fully back in the saddle and this finally looks like another Jim Harbaugh team.
Wide receiver blocking in space (and tight end when split wide) was pretty miserable and the reason our passes to the flat were flat garbage. This is an area that needs to improve and after being encouraged last week with receiver blocking this week I was discouraged. Washington has NFL studs out there but so too will OSU. Look for that to get work in coming games. Wilson got run over in the first half, Sanristil ole'd a linebacker and Johnson took a horrific drive killing penalty just needless rolling at the feet of Washington DB instead of taking him on for an illegal block. Second half was a little better but not much, thankfully (and to my amazement) Washington kept its cornerbacks in wide receiver facing posture (man or cover two) and not with their eyes in the backfield enough to contribute to stopping our run so we weren't forced to block them effectively.
I'm afraid the Ronnie Bell loss was even bigger than I already knew it was.
Offensive line execution was impressive as hell. Looked like Jim's old Stanford lines with some of the counter and pull action and guys actually getting hats on people and not whiffing in space. Good early sign for Moore and I need those signs for my peace of mind. His jury will be out for a while but the good signs are welcome.
I could tell Jim felt good all offseason about the team but worried about Hoke era prognostications where watching mediocre play mediocre skewed forecasts. Well I don't have that worry anymore. This is a pretty good football team and most important a typical Jim Harbaugh football team.
I think it lacks the high end contributors as of now - particularly at qb and wr but in general enough of those high impact players anywhere to be a championship squad, but it has enough pieces to be much better than 7-5. Feels a bit like 2015 to me right now without having to open on the road at Utah.
Man I love being back in the stadium because the two perspectives (live) and then a tape re-watch really give you a good feel for a game.
Let me start with my initial impressions in the first quarter live and they were distinct.
First, the defense. Early in Mattison's career (already a grizzled vet when he arrived) we had pretty significant communication issues in his first couple of games. No one got too mad about it because a.) we had just experienced RichRods crap show on D and b.) we trusted he'd get it right. So coming in with a 36 year old rookie DC I prepared for issues. Yet they were limited and didn't come till the second half when some fatigue and other focus set in. That place was loud and we are playing a lot of inexeperienced kids. Yet early on the communication was on point and you could feel the confidence of the kids pre-snap in their asssignments and the substitutions were fast. When Junior Colson a true freshman was jumping in with confidence to tap Mazi Smith over before settling in to play fast and with confidence I giggled and thought "holy crap MacDonald is good". Coaching football is a remarkable art. There's so much that can be taught. Complexity is great because it will confuse offenses, bad in that it can confuse your own kids and slow you down. Balance needs to be struck. To get that balance right your first go round as a coordinator especially after coming from a different level where all the dynamics of teaching are different (more time all day with the pros) is pretty remarkable. And it looks like we have struck a great balance. These kids seem to know exactly what MacDonald wants out of them. Correspondingly young unproven kids are showing competence. Linebacker play looks solid. D-line play looks solid and suddenly it seems as if we have depth. Jenkins is the one I'm most excited about, impressed me live and on tape. Had no idea he was son of one of Belleville's Jenkins brothers (two played dline in the league). Suddenly I sense a stud with NFL legacy coming on.
Another tricky balance in coaching defense, the sweet spot between playing with ferocious speed and aggressiveness and the right amount of patience to not run yourself out of plays and take a bad angle giving up leverage. There was a pass to the flat were Green was the only man out there briefly, I'd already seen him come hard and aggressively when it was safe to do so, here he simply squatted at a 45 degree angle to the line of scrimmage ensured contain on the receiver that made the catch and waited for the receiver to make his move and his help to come. Patience when patience is required. Keeps five yard gains five yard gains. Seems so simply and relatively meaningless but its everything.
Bottom line, we look to be getting really good coaching on defense.
Now, don't take this to mean I expect 1997 or 2006. I don't. We don't have enough high end studs at the right stage of their career (like Hutch and Dax) to be a generational D, but we have enough to be a very good D and that's what I expect. We can't always scheme away from Ross or Moore in mismatches and opponents will find them. But we are going to make offenses earn their yards and points.
That all stems from my first impressions on D and it was backed up by the tape.
First impressions on O and I texted these out to some friends. 1.) Cade did not look comfortable and was not seeing the field. 2.) Their corners were anihilating our receivers in their attempts to get blocks on the perimeter and were all over us in coverage.
This has lasting impacts if we don't improve but as it pertains to THIS game the clear competitive advantage for Washington was on the outside and in the passing game for Washington's defense. Jim wasn't going to and didn't allow that clear advantage to be A story let alone THE story in the game. I felt like I was watching the 2015 MSU game where the Ruddock that few remember, the one Jim didn't quite trust yet was barely a part of the gameplan. I felt Jim's heavy involvement not only in the gameplan but the initial adjustments. On tape I felt it even more when after the fake punt he was running down Robbins because he noticed that he took a stupid chance pushing a guy in the back at the end of the play. As I said last week, Jim seems to be fully back in the saddle and this finally looks like another Jim Harbaugh team.
Wide receiver blocking in space (and tight end when split wide) was pretty miserable and the reason our passes to the flat were flat garbage. This is an area that needs to improve and after being encouraged last week with receiver blocking this week I was discouraged. Washington has NFL studs out there but so too will OSU. Look for that to get work in coming games. Wilson got run over in the first half, Sanristil ole'd a linebacker and Johnson took a horrific drive killing penalty just needless rolling at the feet of Washington DB instead of taking him on for an illegal block. Second half was a little better but not much, thankfully (and to my amazement) Washington kept its cornerbacks in wide receiver facing posture (man or cover two) and not with their eyes in the backfield enough to contribute to stopping our run so we weren't forced to block them effectively.
I'm afraid the Ronnie Bell loss was even bigger than I already knew it was.
Offensive line execution was impressive as hell. Looked like Jim's old Stanford lines with some of the counter and pull action and guys actually getting hats on people and not whiffing in space. Good early sign for Moore and I need those signs for my peace of mind. His jury will be out for a while but the good signs are welcome.
I could tell Jim felt good all offseason about the team but worried about Hoke era prognostications where watching mediocre play mediocre skewed forecasts. Well I don't have that worry anymore. This is a pretty good football team and most important a typical Jim Harbaugh football team.
I think it lacks the high end contributors as of now - particularly at qb and wr but in general enough of those high impact players anywhere to be a championship squad, but it has enough pieces to be much better than 7-5. Feels a bit like 2015 to me right now without having to open on the road at Utah.
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