Week Seven Takeaways. Pt 2
The First Domino Of The Trade Deadline Had Fallen, And Many More May fall behind Him. Not In The Form Of Trades, But Would Be Defenders Trying To Tackle McCaffrey. The 49ers Lost Their Lead Back Elijah Mitchell Week Five To A MCL Injury. Not Only Have The Niners Missed His 4.7 yards(375 rushing yards on 74 attempts) Ground the Rushing Attack Has Shrank From top 10 A Year To Bottom Five In EPA This Year And Middle Of The Field In Per Rush Average(4.4). Kyle Shanahan Gets Whatever We Assume Remains Of Christian McCaffrey's transcendental talent. He's Still The Best Dual Threat Back In The League. On The Games Ago, He Leads The Panthers In Receiving Yards and Second In Targets, Top In Yards Per Game, And Far And Away Their Leader In Yards After Catch. The Panthers' Passing And Receiving Barracks won't Inspire Any Team To Envy, But McCaffrey Has Legit Receiver Chop And Not Just As A Screen Guy Or An Out Of The BackField safety. McCaffrey Can Push Into That Slot Spot. I Brought Up Mitchell as An Immediate Example because Last Shanahan Used The Former 6Th Rounder As A Receiver On 226 Snaps And Ran Routes 185 Times, Most Of Which Were Outside Or In The Slot. Pointing out that McCaffrey Can Fill That Role Feels "Lazy" In Truth, He Augment Half Back Receiver Model And The Niners Offense. Time Behind The Line Of Scrimmage Doesn't Grab The Attention As A Defining Stat For A Running Back, But McCaffrey Spends On Season 2.77 Behind The Line Of Scrimmage On Runs, and That Has Risen To Around A Solid Three Seconds(3.0) In Recent Weeks. TLOS Indicates A Runner Who Not Only Can stay Patience As Blocker Gets into Place But One Who Trust His vision and Reaction Ability. He processes Info Like Computer(You Don't Get Into Stanford If You Can't) To Respond Or Cut Back Against Defenders Or Into Openings(Perfect For Zone Blocking Scheme Where Cut Back are Generally Expected) And A Runner Who Can Make Multiple Cuts Before and After Contact. The 49ers Traded For The Feline Quickness, Easy Maneuverability Of McCaffrey. This Season Those traits Remain His Strongest Evidence Of The Former All-Pro.
Along With His Breakaway Ability, Starting Running Back Jeff Wilson Lacks in That area. He's More Of A Style Change. A Pile Driver. Yard Rake Even. But He's Not A Three Down Guy Or Offers Much In Pass Catching Department.
I Wrote This Piece Before He; Matt Ryan Got Benched By Tye Colts. Reports surfaced Monday That Frank Reich As Moved To Start Second Year Qb And Former Texas Star Sam Eligher In Place Of Ryan As The Division race Takes Shape.
Him For The Season. The Colts Have A lot of "Jobs" Resting On This Season. They've Invested Loads Of Capital Into A Quarterback Position That Continues Coughing "Mid" Results. As Reports Stand, Ryan Has A Shoulder Sprain Suffered against Tennessee. But The Word "Benching" remains The Reason, And Implications are Another One that Bites The Dust In Indy.
The Deeper Implications "Suggest" The Change Seemed Imminent. From The Ledgers Of The Early, The Reports The Results From Sunday's Game And The Results Of Ryan's Medical Examination Didn't All Lead To This Benching But Rather Something Under The Surface In Indy.
The Reports Of Matt Ryan's Declined Demise not Completely Misstated, But They're Not All The Way True.
If anything, His Demise and His Awaken Played a Game Of Tug Of war All year At Least They Would Have. I Think The Storyline Machine Will Swing and Oscillate Off The Hinges Back and Forth About Whether Matt Ryan Has Finally Gone Over The Mill. He Can Still The Ball With An "Elevated" Aptitude when The Circumstances Stand Behind Him.
The Colts Offensive Line Has Soured On Everyone. If Anyone Thought Indy Still Had A Top Ten Unit, that Preseason reasoning Are Dashed. The colts Were Imploresd To Fix Their Protection Issues If They Hoped To See The Offense Function Properly. Instead, They Cure The Entire Passing Game.
Ryan Has Proven He Can Deliver The Ball Accurately, Even Under Pressure. Ryan's Style Of Quarterback, That Statuesque
Drop Back Model Doesn't Threaten Defenses On Multiple Levels. The Falcons, Ryan's Former Team, Rose From A Bottom Offense To A Top Ten Offense Under The Same Play Caller, With Marcus Mariota Playing Quarterback By Most Measures Worst Than Ryan. NFL Teams Playing Drop Coverage At A Higher Or At least Steady Rate, Meaning More Defensive Players Drop Into Coverage Than Stay Down In The Box To Fit Runs Or Cover Curl Flats. The Colts Employs Some Of The Tallest Far Reaching Condors In Football, and So Too Does Atlanta.
What Big Receivers Make Up For In Catch Radius They Sacrifice In Separation. Separations Numbers Are Up(some), But Not For Every Team. What Offensive Architects Attempts Or Employ in Their Schemes To Counteract Backend Press Defense, As Arthur Smith Said Of Why He Champions Marcus Mariota As His Quarterback, "Conflict." Defenses Evolve To Play More 3-4 For Flexibility's Front With A Two Deep Shell On Top, Directly Negating The Impact Of the Big Receiver Who Take Most Home The Damage In Yardage Down. "These defenses can deny explosive passes by playing quarters coverage… or roll a safety into the box to stop the run by playing Cover 3." (the athletic/Dianne Lee)
Rolling that Safety Or Linebacker Type Down Creates Conflict between Defenders, Usually On The Edge Or To The Boundary, And Their Range Of Responsibilities Result In Several Misfires In The Mind Of The Defender According to What The Offense Deploys. A Defender Has To Shade Down. Offenses That Line Up A Bunch(Trips) Into The Boundary Type With a Quarterback Boot Installed In The Formation Can Stretch And Operate In The Range Of One Quadrant Of The Field. Send Sticks through Spooks or Jolts—the Send The Whole Server Hay Wire.
Using The quarterback As A Weapons Adds Another Calculation Of Sorts—forcing defenses to account for the rushing threat at quarterback—Who To Cover And for How Long? Having A Traditional Drop-back Quarterback Allows Secondary Defenders To Fall Back Into Zones. The Best Offenses Aren't Fighting To Find the Opponent's Weaknesses; They Create Weaknesses To Exploit—unfortunately, Matt Ryans And Quarterback Cut From That Dropback The Cloth Aren't Build To Exploit Those Measure. They were watching The Film Everything about Ryans Check. The Colts Have A diet Version, But The Taste Remains the same. He Can Beat Blitzes With His Arm; Best Coverages With His Eyes; Best Defenders With His Arm But No more. The Colts Faced Their Mortal Rivals, The Titans, Who Have Cloak Their presence as A Threat In The AFC Under The Guise Of A Rough Start. Coming Of A A Bye The Best AFC A Year Ago. The Titans Are Back To Competitive Football. The Bills Almost Threw The Titans Through A time Portal InWeek Two, But The Titans Got Back To Their One Score Winning Ways In Time To Welcome Division Foe Indy Into Tennessee.
Thursday Night Football Hasn't Produced Any Football Highest quality Of Football To Watch This Season like The Latest Season Of Grey's Anatomy. (I Don't Watch Grey's, But That's The "General" Conviction About The Latest Season.) Albeit TNF still Makes Kind Of Stand Alone As A stand-alone. There are No Other Games to Judge The Product Relative To Peers, Like a Solo In An Opera, Or a Doctor What's Her Face In Grey's Anatomy; Thursday Night Games Fall Under The Microscope. I'm sure The Cardinals Played Just as Porous Football as Anybody On Thursday.
This Time Thursday Had Something To Show, The Return Of Deandre Hopkins. Between A Suspension and A Injury, Arguably The Game's Best Receiver For Five(Devante Adams Excluded, Maybe) Hasn't Grabbed A Handful Of All The Big Numbers And All The Big Fun Receivers Have Had all Season long, But A New Season Starts Thursday. Greats News For The Cardinals, Who Need A New Seasoned. Can DHop's Return Act As The Reagent That Help The Cardinals Reanimate The Offense? According To ESPN, The Cardinals Point Spread Dropped By 12.6 From 30.2 Points To 18.8 With Hopkins. Without A Definitive Too Threat, The Cardinals Red-zone Offense Shrink InnAccordance With Their Passing Touchdown. The 2021 Season Didn't Reflect Kindly On Hopkins; You Can Argue That Hopkins Looked Near a Decline (Maybe) the Cardinals Will Usher In His Presence No Less. Declines Are Only Possibly After Reaching Soaring Heights, And Hopkins Has Pulled Heights Enviable Down Across The League Stratospheric Reaching Position. He's still Top Ten In targets Since 2018, Despite Missing Seven Games Last Year and Medleying Through An Uneven Season. His 57.2 Yards Per Game Were His Worse Since His Rookie Season, And His 65.6% Catch Rate was His Worse In Four Years. The Cardinals Are 2-4; They Lost Marquis Brown For Six Weeks—Their Season Starts Against The Saints Tonight. Hopkins Return Has The Spotlight, But A Receiver On The Saint's Side That Has Opponents Spinning. The Saints Got Their All-Pro Receiver, Micheal Thomas, Back, But New Comer Rookie Chris Olave has Grabbed The Notoriety And The Deep Passes. What First? Stats Or Description? His Movement Is parallel To None Unless you Can Compare them To The Millennium Falcon.
Olave Came Out Of Ohio State With Questions About His Ability To Beat Press Coverage, But Covering Blades Of Grass With Lightning Release Like Peddles Didn't Show Up As A "Minus" Scouting Report. So Far, Olave Ranks Second In TAY—"the Average Air Yards Per Target"— At 17.5 Yards Per Target Downfield. He Flash A scorching Hot 4.26(Unofficially)Speed at The Combine, Later Adjusted To 4.39(Officially). He's Not Explosive(which Explains The Official 4.3) Or Deceptively Quick. He's Nifty— He Caught A Ball Almost Backpedaling To The Sideline At Full Speed, Back Wards He Caught The Ball Through A defender. The Cardinals Secondary For Their Stout Resistance.
Thursday Night Football, Chris Olave, Deandre Hopkins, and The Cardinals Secondary Had A Game. The Two Teams Combines For 820 And Almost 600 Yards Of Passing Offense( 598); Anything Over 700 Would Have Sufficed. The passing Attack Perpetrated Most Of The Damage, Both For the Cardinals And Too Themselves. The Cardinals And The Saints Are Both Looking Up At Two Teams In Their Division Need To Carve Space Between Each Other In The Wild Race. The Saints Came Out Passing Even With Decimated Receiving Corp The Saints Came Out To Pass. The Cardinals scored Mixed Results When Playing From Behind This(Which Happens Every Game, By The Way). The coaching Staff Understanding That Stockpiling Touchdowns On Top Of Touchdown On Top of The Cardinals Early, Their Lack Of Offense "Put-Togetherness" won't Have A Chance To Hit Back. A 53 Yard Strike On The Fourth Play Of The Saints First Drive From Andy Dalton To rookie Rashid Sasheed Stepping In Place With Bith Micheal Thomas And Jarvis Landry Injured. Rasheed Split The TWO Deep Safety Shell With Text Accuracy, and Dalton Laid The Ball Out Perfectly To Just Rest In His Receivers Hand For A dance In Touch. The Cardinals Secondary Strike Back in A BIG way, But First, They Had Olave To Deal With All Night.
The Saints carved Up The "Under Belly."
Of The Cardinal's Zone Like A Butcher Shearing The Skin From A Circus. Place Got Right Back To Working The Sleekness as King Underneath. Following Gen stats Counted Olave 84 Yards In Short Range Route(Curl, Hitch) Routes In The Intermediate Area (10-19). The Perfect Chain mover On A Night When The Saints Running Assault Felt A Little Grounded. And The Saint Moved The Ball Explosively and judiciously. In Their First Two Drives, The Saint's Offense Eat Up 140 Yards in The Second Drive, Amassing 15 Plays From The Saint's 25 To The Cardinals Door Step. But As The Adage Goes, "You Live By The Gun, Die By…."
Don't Let The 42 Points Fool You. The Cardinals are Still A Very Stochastic Offense. The Game-plan Still Looks Ameba Like. Nothing Looks Sequenced Or Deliberate (They Are But Not Effectively From Drive To Drive) But Pushing And Moving As Things Change. From Drive To Drive, The Cardinals Rack Up Negative Plays —Usually In The Form Of Sacks To Kyler Murray Or Negative Runs—Just As Much As A They Racked Up Explosive Ones. The Offense Finished With 5.4 Yards Per Play, But The Life The Running Showed 4.7 Per Rush, Their Second Highest Figure Since Week 1 Versus The Chiefs. The Run Scheme Hasn't Changed, Just Eno Benjamin Pushing Plies For Tough, Hard Fought For Yard After Contact.
D-hop Adds Some level Of Continue, But Kliff Kingsbury knows Most Of The Work For the Offense Lays Ahead. Hop Hot That 100-Yard Game, 10 Catches 103 Yards. Chris Olave Matched That Production with 106 Hards On 7 Catches On 14 Routes.
"It's Hard To Live Playing Off Schedule In The NFL." Kurt Warner Once Said On QB Confidential. The Cardinals Are Finding They Have To Drag Themselves Back To Life Every Other Offensive Possession.
