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Note to CEO: fix red zone offense
Poke
Note to McCallum: In all your wisdom I thought you would know fixing red zone offense is not his job. That task delegated to Drink and O staff.
They are persevering. (Perseverance: steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.)Poke
On injury front… Nicholson’s career is over due to concussions. I hate to see that for any kid, but hopefully he got out before damage is permanent.
Also, Brock Miller is gone for the year with shoulder surgery.
These injuries leave us thin at lb spot. Good thing we play 4-2 vs 4-3 or 3-4.
These injuries do leave us thin at the LB spot but Fernandez, Moore and Pratt have been rotating and playing all the minutes at LB. Miller played on special teams Thursday night and I suspect the Fernandez-Moore-Pratt rotation was instrumental in the decision to have the surgery now and have him back in 2018.
We do have 2 true LBs, Louis Acceus and Raven Saunders, who are playing on special teams. I hear that Acceus is very good and Saunders not far behind. It says something that they are playing, not red shirting. With Nicholson gone and Miller out for the season Acceus is next man up should he be needed.
We should be Okay at LB unless we experience an injury that takes them out of the game for any length of time.
Speaking of LBs we haven’t had the kind of speed at LB that Pratt showed since Kenny Houston. He looked like an ex-safety on that INt — wait…
Hit 5 wins and they’ll offer you slices of Currituck County.
If you are waiting to hit 5 wins, you’re backing up. Get with the program, Mac. 😉
I think the boundary passes leave the receivers less vulnerable to injury and are therefore
more popularsmart.Protecting your assets is just good business. The holes have enough out with injuries to form another team.
The Pack is heavily invested in Strength & Conditioning as well as sports medicine which apparently pays dividends. Doeren asks for it and Yow finds the funding and provides it.
Yogi, Thanks for the thread. And I didn’t get the freshmanin83 comment until the end. And no, I didn’t spit my Geritol on my laptop monitor, either. 😉
If I’m not mistaken Debbie said that everything football comes under Dave Doeren. He’s the CEO responsible for all these changes we are so often these days talking about. You know the new, state of the art video production facility is in the Murphy Center, right and DD is responsible for that. I’ve read that he walks around once a day speaking to the staff working in Murphy Center.
BTW I thought I was the one poking the bear with my posts like the paragraph above. I seem to get a rise out of several folks. I never thought I would hear the negative nancies saying “Wait ’til next year.”
We notice all the things we don’t do well and then come here to let everyone know what we have seen and how poor the coaching is that allows such to occur.
Well, we do some things well, too. Hines scored running straight ahead. Gallaspy the same. We went over the top for six. Would we all be happier if we picked up a 1st down or 2 and then punted instead of moving down the field into the red zone and not doing so well?
I grit my teeth and shudder when we go up the middle for a yard or 2 in the red zone. Yet later we score on plays up the middle. Are we picking up information that is enabling us to open running room?
It’s hard to realize that we are 5-1 over-all and 3-0 in the conference standings. That dumb, dull Doeren has got his team operating pretty darn efficiently. And I don’t think this is the end of it. The red zone riddles will get solved.
After watching our long snapper I’m beginning to wonder if our kicker is the problem. It all starts with the snapper, then the holder and finally the kicker, who always gets the blame when there is a miss. When the holder has to dig the snap out of the turf or the holder doesn’t handle the snap cleanly, the kicker has to make undiscernable corrections in his kick.
It’s all the kicking game but it ain’t all on the kicker as we usually assert.
Could it be more our coaching
If we are coaching the kickers at all then it’s the coaching. And not because the coaching is bad or good but because they would be coaching something they know nothing about.
Kickers at this level have received expert coaching for years at camps before they arrive on a college campus. Position coaches watching kickers would be like an English major looking through a microscope. He doesn’t see what a scientist sees.
If there is a flaw in one of the kickers stroke, another kicker is far more likely to be of help than a position coach.
I believe you are barking up the wrong tree trying to put it on the coaches.
I don’t base my observations about the middle of the field on the Louisville game. It’s only year 2 with Drink, I know. As some of commented here before, very few slants, very few fades in red zone. Some nice throws against Louisville but the routes don’t tend to be in middle of the field. If it works, it works. But I think against better defenses, we need to utilize the whole field.
Nice conversation, Whiteshoes.
I see your points about using the middle of the field and what I have to say is just my thoughts and certainly not knowledge of what Drink is thinking. So I have a few “maybe’s” to offer up for consideration.
Maybe the blocking for our run game by the WRs is better keeping the receivers out side vs. slants.
Maybe slants would be a ‘tell’ that we are not going to run.
Maybe throwing towards the bandaries lessens the risk of INTsOne thing for sure, our offense is by committee. (Hines has commented how he likes that.) George McDonald is the receivers coach so it may not be all on Drinkwitz. Also it seems most balls thrown on Sunday are sideline routes with a few mixed in to the middle. The abundance of sideline routes tends to open up the middle. IOW it may not be as simple as not realizing the slants and other mid-field routes are available.
Changing the subject slightly, I’m wondering what influence Dan Patrick’s pro experience is making in what we are doing on defense.
Defense. More snaps for Pratt. Not just saying that because of the Pick6. As someone alluded to earlier, he’s too athletic to not be out there against spread teams.
The problem Pratt has had getting on the field is not his athleticism, it’s his head. He has been out of place too often in the past. Maybe the L’ville game the light turned on for Pratt. The trio of LBs are rotating and staying more fresh than last year. I would make sure that Pratt was in on 3rd and long. His experience at safety is too valuable to not be exploited.
Drink doesn’t utilize the middle of the field enough in the passing game. Not sure why. We have some success there.
Drink/Finley is taking what the defense is giving. I suggest you (and others who give a hoot) go to the YouTube L’ville game. The Hasselback brothers do a terrific job of explaining the why’s and therefore’s of the game. They even call plays before they happen based on how the pre-snap set of the defense lines up.
Very enlightening. I didn’t learn much but I did learn how little I do know.
Same is true on defense. They commented how we were jumping into the Buddy Ryan defense before the snap of the ball. I know who Buddy Ryan is but not what the heck they were talking about. What I got out of that mostly was I couldn’t tell from the pre-snap set what our defense was doing. We are disguising our coverages to keep the opp from picking us apart. It doesn’t take but one screwed up 3rd and long for the defense to get off the field.
there are other examples of high level talent across the whole team, except for kicking.
After watching our long snapper I’m beginning to wonder if our kicker is the problem. It all starts with the snapper, then the holder and finally the kicker, who always gets the blame when there is a miss. When the holder has to dig the snap out of the turf or the holder doesn’t handle the snap cleanly, the kicker has to make indescernable corrections in his kick.
It’s all the kicking game but it ain’t all on the kicker.
I hope State wins all their games and all the alumni get laid when we beat Alabama but that would not change a history of very bad coaching hires and sh.itting on the fans.
You got perfect hindsight, just not so great at predicting how games are going to go.
I hope State wins all their games and all the alumni get laid when we beat Alabama but that would not change a history of very bad coaching hires and sh.itting on the fans.
Mac, listening to you is like reading old weather reports. Interesting but not much use in looking towards the future.
You’ll be eating your young when they run dive plays all day long against and State loses 11-7.
Lose to L’ville by how many?
Count me in the group who is thrilled and impressed with Nyheim’s improvement – which has been evident if you were paying attention.
He has ran well in 3 straight games. He is getting better as the game goes on, and he is doing well at avoiding negative plays.
The offensive line has been great in these games too…and guess what, we still haven’t played a “perfect” game, enjoying this season.
Quite frankly, seasons like this are why we are fans for a team like NC State.
^
ThisIf you watched on TV and bothered to listen to the Hasselbacks explain some of the things that went on, you would get just how well we were prepared on defense. I heard “the Buddy Ryan defense” referenced on the YouTube re-run.
Watching the game on YouTube I saw our defense aligned a certain way, then at a point in the QB’s cadence, jump into a different alignment. The QB had made his pre-snap read telling him what kind of coverage, etc., we will be in. When we jumped into another alignment and the QB has some doubt, confusion, etc., and our defense has an advantage. It was executed well enough to limit LJ to below 100 yards rushing, I believe.
Hines has said the offensive coaches are all in on the offense together, which he likes. Sounds to me like our defensive coaches are in it together as well. I don’t like hopes but if I may indulge myself in one, I hope our defense continues to plan together and create defensive game plans that get better and more effective as the season progresses.
The bad:our mistakes. They didn’t cost us this time, but if we keep making them, they WILL cost us at some point.
nextyearhellwhynotthisyear, I like your user name. 🙂
I agree that if we keep making mistakes they will cost us at some point. Correct our mistakes by making good play calls and good execution. Nothing to it.
State fans see everything as a Wolfpack mistake, hardly ever giving credit to the opponent for good preparation and good play. It’s not as simple as we think it is. Film has been broken down, analytics performed, tendency charts produced etc., etc., etc. Defense slants in the right direction or a run blitz is called and a good play call becomes a blown up play and “a bad play selection or poor execution. The chess match is on.
Coaches are studying to see what defenses are doing to blow up plays, not wringing their hands wondering what play they should have called. Some OCs run the first 15 or so plays from a script to see what defenses do under certain alignments, motions, WR sets. We have coaches, GAs, and Quality control coaches analyzing everything that goes on during the game — charting and comparing to past situations, etc. (I use “etc” a lot because I’m not on the sideline, in the press box or in the meetings to know exactly what IS going on. I only know that there is a lot happening.
Our opponents have down and distance tendencies on every thing we do. When you see us run a play you wouldn’t run, think about this: we are trying to run something that will work against the defensive corrections our coaches are confronting. Or we have seen what the defense will do if we run play “X”.
Some of you think our coaches are dumb and dull. We may have some of the smartest coaches in the business. Did anyone see the ND/UNC game. Some brilliant coaching there — in particular by the holes at the end of the first half. Our guys out coached Jimbo and Petrino and they are suppose to be the smartest. If you watched on TV and bothered to listen to the Hasselbacks explain some of the things that went on, you would get just how well we were prepared on defense. I heard “the Buddy Ryan defense” referred to on the YouTube re-run. I know who Buddy Ryan is but have no idea what the Buddy Ryan defense is.
I wrote all this hoping you will see that not everything we see as mistakes are actual mistakes but instead good defense. Try trying to figure out what our coaches have in mind when they make decisions, call plays on both offense and defense. Why that personnel change? Some times the coaches see, “that didn’t work” and make changes.
Enjoy the Pack’s success. Personally I don’t see a game we don’t have a good chance of winning with the possible exception of Clemson. (We are trying to catch up to Clemson.) Clemson will likely be our toughest test. Hopefully we will enjoy some of the turn of luck we are well past due.
Louisville by at least 20.
State flubs the 1st half, down by 21 at half. Nice 3rd quarter and narrows it to 13 points. Late pick by Louisville seals the deal, 41-20.
All the stars are lining up with “hope” abounding and reports of NC State stupidity and cheapness gaining strength.
Great running by backs?
Hines presents significant challenges with his ability to find the edge as well as a match up with linebackers in space. He ran well between the tackles against Louisville but their defensive line is weak.
I’m not sure if he can handle big hits from the likes of Clempson. RGII will have to up his game and break tackles going forward.McCallum,
L’ville game turned out the opposite of how you said it was going to go. Have a glass of Cool-aid and sit back and relax. If that doesn’t do it, score some Geritol. Meantime try and remember some of the things I wrote this past spring. I’m pretty much right on about how this Pack team was going to do.
The season is only half over and there are plenty of games for you, Alias and Owen92 to be right about my sanity and failure to grasp reality as Troll sees it.Well apparently our pr department is showing why they should be paid in pesos. They’ve given an incredibly weak response on the blackout question that only confuses message further ….but absolutely yells “we are clueless.”
Chop,
I know it’s an incredibly dumb thing to do to support any NCSU admin BUT I’ve been accused of being incredibly dumb before. Sometimes you need to pick your battles. Our PR department is likely not independently authorized to create a promotional campaign. Annabelle is an associate AD so I assume she clears her promo campaigns with DY. Coach Doeren most likely has veto power over football related promos.Doeren actually said he was wearing red and was Okay with the fans wearing either red or black.
We are on national TV with some really hot black unis. Let the focus be on the team, not what the fans are wearing. The crowd focus last night (I was there) making noise when L’ville had the ball. 4 false starts by L’ville in the second half. That’s 20 yards worth of defense that’s creditable to the fans, I’d say.
VT had a purple out vs Clemson recently. That was very effective — for about 4 minutes.
This is just a different point of view. Like this past spring when my point of view of how this team was going to do was so different.
Grey and I both were blasted pretty heavily for our beliefs that DD was going to be successful.
Yogi, I thought I was being stalked. Every favorable comment I made about Doeren and the Pack drew some sort of insult — usually about my intelligence or sanity or geritol. I don’t use geritol but they might be right about the other. 😉
I don’t think we are going to win nor do I think we are going to lose. I do think we have a chance to win. This is the kind of game/opponent where anything can happen. If LJ gets hot, it could turn ugly. If we play well on defense and play our usual game offensively… well, that would be the best case scenario.
Not very bold I’ll admit but consistent with my usual effort of not having expectations.
Thanks.
I get the feeling that it’s a little more to it than that. We have plays that isolate LBs on certain receivers. For example we got McKever open in the Belk Bowl. (I believe we badly under utilized Pharaoh both offensively and defensively. That kid had almost 20 INTs in HS. Maybe he wasn’t our best option as a WR or DE but in some circumstances he could have been a real asset in several positions defensively.
Back to the subject — for sure we don’t want a LB covering a WR deep with or without help. We just about have to use them to backs coming out of the back field.
Again off he subject but I’d like to see our folks using Boone like Green Bay is using Josh Jones.
Tomorrow night is going to be interesting to see how we defense LJ. I’ll be there so I won’t really see it until Friday on YouTube.
This is close to mid-season. Being at #24 is part of the national conversation. The measure of this team is coming up tomorrow night.
Chop’s got it right about our DL staying in lanes. We don’t need to get out of position trying to get sacks or keep pressure on. as chop says make LJ beat us with his arm, not his legs.
I’m ignorant about what “4) Keep our lb’s away from “the island” means. I’m also not one to coach “don’t” as in “don’t pitch him high” is an invite for the pitcher to throw high. Coach our LBs where to be, not keep away from “the island” whatever the “island” is. It’s better IMO to make a mistake going full blast than to be trying to stay away from something or situation.
As far as running the ball, yes but mix it up. Balance by our offense keeps the defense off balance.
To me this is a can’t lose situation. We aren’t expected to beat the Heisman QB. L’ville is favored. If we win, and I’m clueless as to if we will or not, our stock goes up along with our team confidence. If we lose, as long as we play half way decent, it’s not going to damage us psychologically.
This is a mentally tough Wolfpack. Win, lose or draw the possibility of a good season is in front of us.
tractor57,
Have to agree with you about the mental toughness. We lose a game we should not have lost and as many have said made it tough on ourselves in having the kind of season we want to have. Then we go down to FSU and after a safety and punt block kept that mental toughness. It would have been real easy to fold up the tent after that and we didn’t.
FSU’s big gun receiver went down and FSU didn’t have the mental toughness to have the “next man up” get it done. With all the 4 and 5-star recruits they have, surely somebody would step up.
Hines’ run for a first down on 3rd an 7 may not have been the call most would have made but he believed and the team believed. We won the game with that run, did not have to try and keep from losing.
And our coach looked like a P-5 coach and Jimbo did not. Hey, Jimbo, you only get 3 TOs per half and you squandered yours.
