Ramblings

Alright so our Omaha flag team won on sunday, putting us at 4-2. I think we’ve made a nice recovery and I think we still have a legit shot at taking this league. We’re as athletic as anyone we play (being young helps), and I think we just need to organize ourselves to put us in a better position to win.

Our D plays well for the most part- we have an extremely good pass rush, solid LBs, and a good secondary. Our offense on the other hand, is inept. I don’t know what it is…I think it’s really just our game plan in general. We initially wanted to just attack the middle and the shorter routes, working with a semi-conservative game plan and hoping to take the small gains. But that just isn’t working.

our basic alignment looks something like this, where we go no back, 3 wide, with all linemen blocking (though our center likes to ignorantly go out for passes when unneeded) -

Anyways, we obviously do different stuff with it (or have in the past). Sometimes trips, sometimes trips with an option…the problem with the short stuff is:

-We play on a short field…the Lincoln team’s field is much much bigger, allowing us to get the edge better.

-No real plays this year…we have a few basic bread and butters, but really, not everyone is on the same page.

Those are the two biggest problems. Here is the basic alignment we worked with yesterday-

As you can maybe see, the middle was a clusterfuck. I think we finally decided to open it up a tad bit in the second half, where we bombed it over the top…that’s going to be one adjustment that we’re going to make, in that we’re going to go down field a bit more. I think working some line releases could work too- We tried it once last game, where the C picked up the RT’s responsibilities (my spot) and the RT ran a post.

I think something like this-

I dunno…I think there has to be some way to get some of the deeper stuff there. We definitely need to open up though, those short inefficient routes are killing us.

I didn’t play great last game, I need to step up. I had a few bad snaps when I did backup center. I attribute it to two things- I haven’t played C in a long while, not since I injured my hand 2 years ago. The second was that our current QB lines up a tad farther than our old one did. With that said, it’s still no excuse, and I’ll be practicing the shotgun snaps before the game.

So, yeah…our flag team obviously needs to get better on offense. Our defense can play with anyone in our league though, I believe that. I’m going to have a conflict next week because my game in Omaha is at 4:00 and my lincoln one is at 5:30…I’ll have to figure something out, maybe leave at half time in Omaha.We have our playoff games in Omaha and it’s important I make that one, as both our depth is shorter and the game is more important.

Anyways, UF football- not going super fantastic in the fashion of victory, but hey, they are victories nonetheless. I’m happy that UF is 7-0, and despite the recent grumblings, am still excited for whats to come.

With that said, UF looked less than impressive. The good news is that many other teams have looked less than impressive as well- Bama squeaked by UTenn, UTexas actually looked pretty solid, though, Mizzou sucks balls. As someone who (somewhat) roots for the perennial champions for the BCS championship game, I’m somewhat alarmed that TCU/cincy/BSU are so highly ranked. Not that I don’t think these teams are good; they are…it’s just that I don’t think they are talented enough to play some of the elite teams in the nation, the teams that “deserve” to be in it. But hey, who knows…Like every year, I just hope there are some good matchups come bowl time, as the last few BCS bowls (in general) have been underwhelming.

UF’s D plays lights out, week in and week out. They know that they have to play near perfect, as the offense is truly inept these days. I’d think that the major problems stem from-

-OL issues- lost continuity, just players getting flat beat, missed assignments, etc. Nothing really to say here, other than losing Patchan was alot bigger than I initially thought (he was the semi-starting LT).

-Coaching- I’m wondering what Addazio is doing sometimes, and who is responsible for some of the play calling. TTebow’s number is getting called way too often (imo) in terms of the rushing attack. Yes, he’s a fantastic player, but I think he should have a lighter load. I think that the complete disappearance of a passing game is somewhat alarming, as is the lack of bubble screens, etc.

-Red zone issues are obviously huge. For whatever reason, UF just CANNOT score…losing Harvin hurts here, as we missed some of the jet sweeps and wildcat stuff that we ran more often. Or the quick slant that Harvin always ran, that has not been there. Really, all of the factors above have attributed to a lower amount of scoring for UF…frustrating.

-Tebow- Something isn’t right…be it caution from his concussion or a lack of confidence in his OL/WR, I’m not sure. I guess we’ll see in the future if he can get back to his 2007/2008 careers. He’s still having a solid year, just nothing spectacular.

With that said, I’m still happy with this team. I feel we’re the best defense in the nation, I feel like this offense has alot of talent that can be utilized, once the coaches figure out its issues. in other words, I feel like UF’s offense has alot of upside.

We have UGA this coming saturday, a bit nervous. UGA should never be taken lightly, and despite their recent struggles, this is where they want us- when they are down in the dumps and underrated. They have as much talent as anybody, and can obviously play. Sure, they’ve had missteps at OSU and UTenn, but even still, UGA IS somewhat of a ‘trap’ game, especially with the way UF has been playing. I’ll call it 27-14 UF.

Also took a quick picture of my 100NL run lately…running above equity, so can’t complain!

cheers