Passing Offense

[ah59396]

I know we won but there’s always room to improve. On offense our passing game continues to underperform for me. A few items of note:

Only 4 players had a catch yesterday.
Hennigan
Davis
Henry
Wilson

Three WR’s and one TE. Not a single reception from an RB is interesting to me. Yes I understand flow of the offense and covid and the final score but it was still a one score game at the half.

Regarding depth and reps:
Virgil and Williams out due to covid
Sutton opted out
Blowout against an FCS team where I would expect to see everyone

And yet no Christian Horn nor Jacoby Pinckney

Does anyone know why? I remember reading something pre-season about how Horn was going to be our breakout player, and Pickney was a 4 star VT transfer. If neither saw a rep yesterday when would they?

Unless I missed something in which case correct me

[AppDub]

Could be wrong , but I'm pretty sure Pinckney has to sit this year.

[AppDub]

That being said, the quick strike passing game we saw last year no longer exists. I understand the commitment to the run, but would like to see us open it up a bit more. Passes to the RBs out of the backfield would be a nice touch to get them into space where they thrive.. But, I'm just an armchair qb.

[postalapp90]

Pretty sure Horn was won of the covid casualtys.

[biggie]

And top three TEs out injury/COVID. I won’t really judge this game for passing offense. All they had to do was double Henni.

Thought Davis did pretty well.

[booneboy92]

And I still think we’re not showing our hand in non-conference... part of what bit us last week... I still have faith in Peterson, and we’ve seen Clark open up the playbook against MTSU.

[booneboy92]

Now, do we have the playmakers to open the book?... after seeing our youth yesterday, I’m confident, plus we’ve seen a lot of the vets make big plays before...

[97APP]

Quite honestly I think the offense passed the ball well considering who was available and that we were going to focus on our running game.

[Stonewall]

That was Ivey against MTSU.

[booneboy92]

That was Ivey against MTSU.

Ivey was HC and Clark was OC, if I remember correctly. I know it was Clark that declared “Bombs over Baghdad”.

[booneboy92]

... and “SPTA”!

[Seattleapp]

I am not in love with the passing game thus far. I don’t want to say we are one dimensional just yet but we aren’t far off.

[Deano]

So this is one area where we miss a Drinkowitz type of offensive mind, I know I know Im not wishing him back just saying his fingerprint was a tempo style of offense that could speed up and slow down at will, and a quick short pass first mentality. I watched Mizzou yesterday and even though they lost I could see the offense that resembled ours last year. We just seem to slowly be relearning our offense this year, I just hope that when our run first mentality stops working against our upcoming opponents that we can mix it up effectively.

[Seattleapp]

So this is one area where we miss a Drinkowitz type of offensive mind, I know I know Im not wishing him back just saying his fingerprint was a tempo style of offense that could speed up and slow down at will, and a quick short pass first mentality. I watched Mizzou yesterday and even though they lost I could see the offense that resembled ours last year. We just seem to slowly be relearning our offense this year, I just hope that when our run first mentality stops working against our upcoming opponents that we can mix it up effectively.

You are correct. It’s all about scheme. Everyone points to no Sutton, but creative passing routes can negate that. The
Miss st QB who know one knows passed for 600 yards yesterday against LSU. Admittedly I am not an offensive coordinator but the Marshall game was so telling in just how vanilla our passing offense is. Thomas is much better in rhythm. The hurry up and wait and then rely on Thomas making an NFL type spot pass every time is not his game. The interception at the end of the first half showed that. Honestly it looks like Thomas is going through a quarterback camp. He’s throwing to spots whether the receiver is open or not and more
Times than not it ends up being on the receiver to out man his defender, a la Hennigan. I feel like the throws he’s having to make are making it a lot harder to be successful. Screens, speed the tempo, bootlegs are all easy throws to establish rhythm. The long, far side of the field
Out route is a hard throw to make. And while Thomas has the arm, it’s not the best use of his arm. Ok that was my diatribe.

[AppSt94]

So this is one area where we miss a Drinkowitz type of offensive mind, I know I know Im not wishing him back just saying his fingerprint was a tempo style of offense that could speed up and slow down at will, and a quick short pass first mentality. I watched Mizzou yesterday and even though they lost I could see the offense that resembled ours last year. We just seem to slowly be relearning our offense this year, I just hope that when our run first mentality stops working against our upcoming opponents that we can mix it up effectively.

You are correct. It’s all about scheme. Everyone points to no Sutton, but creative passing routes can negate that. The
Miss st QB who know one knows passed for 600 yards yesterday against LSU. Admittedly I am not an offensive coordinator but the Marshall game was so telling in just how vanilla our passing offense is. Thomas is much better in rhythm. The hurry up and wait and then rely on Thomas making an NFL type spot pass every time is not his game. The interception at the end of the first half showed that. Honestly it looks like Thomas is going through a quarterback camp. He’s throwing to spots whether the receiver is open or not and more
Times than not it ends up being on the receiver to out man his defender, a la Hennigan. I feel like the throws he’s having to make are making it a lot harder to be successful. Screens, speed the tempo, bootlegs are all easy throws to establish rhythm. The long, far side of the field
Out route is a hard throw to make. And while Thomas has the arm, it’s not the best use of his arm. Ok that was my diatribe.

kJ Costello was the starter at Stanford. He is hardly a nobody.

[BambooRdApp]

Charlotte game was first game with new offense..so a bit of a pass as everyone is trying to jell in new offense. Marshall game was not a good showing offensively. Campbell game - I give a pass as only one starter at receiver and TE. Thomas does not have as much reps with the receivers that do not play much. In addition, the team rushed for over 400 yards on Saturday. So why pass...With that said, the Marshall game, from a passing perspective, was a disappointment given expectations with all the folks coming back. I am not a believer in not showing what you have in the playbook for OOC games....as you could loose a game...which we did to Marshall. Only 3rd game, but really just basing on Marshall game, passing game does not appear to be too creative. In several pass plays, it appears we have more than one receiver in the same area which means more defensive players in the vicinity. I do not care if Drink, Leach, Longo or someone else type offense, it seems we need to be more creative than throwing it down the sideline hoping our receivers win the one on one battle which seems to be our strategy at the moment.

[Seattleapp]

So this is one area where we miss a Drinkowitz type of offensive mind, I know I know Im not wishing him back just saying his fingerprint was a tempo style of offense that could speed up and slow down at will, and a quick short pass first mentality. I watched Mizzou yesterday and even though they lost I could see the offense that resembled ours last year. We just seem to slowly be relearning our offense this year, I just hope that when our run first mentality stops working against our upcoming opponents that we can mix it up effectively.

You are correct. It’s all about scheme. Everyone points to no Sutton, but creative passing routes can negate that. The
Miss st QB who know one knows passed for 600 yards yesterday against LSU. Admittedly I am not an offensive coordinator but the Marshall game was so telling in just how vanilla our passing offense is. Thomas is much better in rhythm. The hurry up and wait and then rely on Thomas making an NFL type spot pass every time is not his game. The interception at the end of the first half showed that. Honestly it looks like Thomas is going through a quarterback camp. He’s throwing to spots whether the receiver is open or not and more
Times than not it ends up being on the receiver to out man his defender, a la Hennigan. I feel like the throws he’s having to make are making it a lot harder to be successful. Screens, speed the tempo, bootlegs are all easy throws to establish rhythm. The long, far side of the field
Out route is a hard throw to make. And while Thomas has the arm, it’s not the best use of his arm. Ok that was my diatribe.

kJ Costello was the starter at Stanford. He is hardly a nobody.

Yeah he was dominating at Stanford. So much that he transferred to Miss State. Please man. Leach’s awesome scheming is why Costello passed for 600 yards.

[AppSt94]

So this is one area where we miss a Drinkowitz type of offensive mind, I know I know Im not wishing him back just saying his fingerprint was a tempo style of offense that could speed up and slow down at will, and a quick short pass first mentality. I watched Mizzou yesterday and even though they lost I could see the offense that resembled ours last year. We just seem to slowly be relearning our offense this year, I just hope that when our run first mentality stops working against our upcoming opponents that we can mix it up effectively.

You are correct. It’s all about scheme. Everyone points to no Sutton, but creative passing routes can negate that. The
Miss st QB who know one knows passed for 600 yards yesterday against LSU. Admittedly I am not an offensive coordinator but the Marshall game was so telling in just how vanilla our passing offense is. Thomas is much better in rhythm. The hurry up and wait and then rely on Thomas making an NFL type spot pass every time is not his game. The interception at the end of the first half showed that. Honestly it looks like Thomas is going through a quarterback camp. He’s throwing to spots whether the receiver is open or not and more
Times than not it ends up being on the receiver to out man his defender, a la Hennigan. I feel like the throws he’s having to make are making it a lot harder to be successful. Screens, speed the tempo, bootlegs are all easy throws to establish rhythm. The long, far side of the field
Out route is a hard throw to make. And while Thomas has the arm, it’s not the best use of his arm. Ok that was my diatribe.

kJ Costello was the starter at Stanford. He is hardly a nobody.

Yeah he was dominating at Stanford. So much that he transferred to Miss State. Please man. Leach’s awesome scheming is why Costello passed for 600 yards.

You said he was someone that no one knew. Just letting you know that someone knew.

[AppDub]

I possibly get hammered for this but this offense is nowhere near as exciting to watch as last year's was. At any point this the game it seemed last years offense had the potential to score on a quick strike. This years lacks imagination and I'm not buying the "we aren't showing our cards yet" theory. Didnt love the Peterson hire when announced and confirming it more and more with each game. Ball control is fine if you are ahead, but doubt we catch up when down multiple scores.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

All I know is the video of Hennigan in the end zone looked like a broken wrist and not just broken but it was bent in a way that if they said he would never use that hand again all I would have thought would have been, "That seems about right." The fact he was back in the game quickly put a huge smile on my face.