Sam is a keeper and the OL changes improved although we still need Lucas in at RT and move Wylie to the bench. Jack Del Rio needs to get his stuff together as 38 points is ridiculous with all the draft capital utilized on that side of the ball.
I actually don't think the OL changes made a huge difference. Perhaps Larsen was better with the calls but that's impossible for us to know. Overall, I genuinely think Howell was just significantly more efficient with the ball, likely stemming from having the experience of already playing the Eagles earlier this season and having experienced what they like to do
I agree w/you that Howell progressed nicely from the first Eagles game but he also progressed a ton from just last week. I've got to think having Larsen and Paul in there made a big difference because he had time to go through his progressions this week and he also threw from a much cleaner pocket. I think it was both things but until I see otherwise, I'm not letting Gates or Charles see the field again.
I'm gonna rewatch the offense to focus on those two up front, but as I said above, I genuinely don't think the OL changes made a huge difference. Now yes, Charles and Gates really struggled against the Giants but those were both of their worst performances by a margin. If you accept those as outliars, then comparing what Larsen and Paul did with the average from Charles and Gates was similar in my first viewing of the All-22.
Paul actually had quite a few mistakes, probably more than Charles consistently averaged so far this season. Larsen was about the same level as Gates has typically been all season, but obviously much higher than the low of Gates' performance against the Giants. The one thing that Larsen could have done better was making the calls compared to Gates, but that's really impossible to know without being in the building and knowing what calls were being made.
Edit: Just to add on to this, I think the real significant difference was how efficient Howell was in going through his reads and getting the ball out. I've said all year the OL has generally done enough to allow a QB to get the ball out on time. Howell has been inconsistent in doing that, which has led to sacks because this OL isn't good enough to sustain blocks for longer than the play is designed. Yesterday, Howell was consistently good at getting the ball out on time, which meant the sacks were drastically reduced.
I was hoping you would at that 4th and 1 call. There was a receiver that looked to be running down the right seam wide open. And other key moments in the game. 4th and 4 non catch that was ruled a catch. (2 years in a row at home both by Smith)The 3rd and 5 Dotson catch that was then ruled incomplete by the league office then on challenge the league office position stood (not confirmed so the call on the field really mattered) The 1-10 illegal grounding that when watching looked liked illegal touching. Big difference between 1-20 vs 2-20.
Also the 3rd-8 Mclaurin corner route and the subsequent 4th-8 Mclaurin curl route. Both bad passes but catchable balls. All of the above were huge monents in the game that if 1 went Washington’s way could have impacted the game positively.
Yeah, those passes both could have been better. The first one on 3rd down was understandable, he kinda held it off in case the corner on the outside peeled off the vertical route and attached to McLaurin. Still a tough catch, but one McLaurin is capable of making. the 4th down one was a worse miss from Howell but an easier catch for McLaurin to make. Was wide open, no real reason for Howell to miss in such a manner, but McLaurin also had tons of time to react and was still very catchable, especially for a receiver of his quality. Both will think they should have done better on those plays and both are correct.
- 4th and 1 call. Lots of people unhappy they didn't run the ball. I liked the call. They had a bunch set to the right with McLaurin isolated out to the left. Motioned Robinson out of the backfield to the right side to make it a 4x1 look, further isolating McLaurin. Who do you want to go to in key situations? McLaurin 1-on-1. Thats what they wanted and thats what they got. McLaurin didn't run a great route and Howell made a bad throw. And yes, Curtis Samuel ran wide open down the seam as the Eagles had a coverage bust, but play was intended to get McLaurin 1-on-1, which it did, so Howell was always going there first.
- 4th and 4 non-catch ruled a catch. Haven't watched the defense All-22 yet, so don't have any insight to offer there other than what we all saw on the broadcast. No idea why Rivera didn't challenge.
- 3rd and 5 Dotson catch ruled incomplete. Was actually a play I had clipped up as a good throw and then remembered they actually ruled it incomplete. Surprised it was ruled incomplete as it didn't really look conclusive either way, certainly not enough for the replay booth to get involved. Was a nice play otherwise.
-Illegal grounding. Was pretty clear from the All-22 it was illegal grounding. He basically threw it straight at the OL, no eligible receiver was there.
Whoa! Another good breakdown Mark, and in record time. Amazed at how quick they can get those All-22s out to you!
Really glad that you were able to so a "Good Sam" breakdown this week. Hopefully we won't be back to a "Bad Sam" scenario after he faces whatever Belichick will be throwing at him next week. Seems like you've been needing to switch between Jekyll & Hyde comparisons - for both offense AND defense - on alternating weeks. That has got to end!
A couple random things that caught my attention when watching. After asking you about him during the game thread, I decided to focus in on the play of Larsen in the clips that you provided. I know it was only a small sample, but I was happy to see that he looked pretty good, usually handling his assignment, as well as quickly picking up stunts. I've definitely seen worse play from that position (as in last week's NYG game!).
A player who always flies under the radar, but caught my eye in these clips, was TE John Bates. On those 2 check down plays you analyzed it looked to me that he had gained some separation fairly deep down the seam! It seemed like Sam mighta actually had a shot at him if he'd had a tic longer to throw. Who knew the Coms' blocking tight end had any speed whatsoever? Not me! And later he got open on that wheel route to bail Sam out. Nice. Maybe EB will find a way to get a more production out of JB87 going forward.
Will be interesting to see what the Pats throw at him. Lots of Belichick's best defenses were heavy man coverage defenses that looked to neutralize the top 2 receiving threats and force the offense to win with rest. I'd expect McLaurin to receive plenty of double coverage. Will be interesting to see if Belichick targets Logan Thomas or Jahan Dotson as the second threat.
Gonna rewatch the offense and focus in on those two OL, see how they got on. Perhaps I'll do a post on them tomorrow if there is enough to write about.
Thanks for this. I was really impressed by how he looked Sunday, and kept thinking "I'm really eager to see what Bullock has to say, because this genuinely looks impressive."
It was genuinely impressive. A very good performance. Doesn't mean he'll be great next week because progress isn't linear. The Pats will provide a different test that he'll have to learn how to solve. But he passed this one.
Sam is a keeper and the OL changes improved although we still need Lucas in at RT and move Wylie to the bench. Jack Del Rio needs to get his stuff together as 38 points is ridiculous with all the draft capital utilized on that side of the ball.
I actually don't think the OL changes made a huge difference. Perhaps Larsen was better with the calls but that's impossible for us to know. Overall, I genuinely think Howell was just significantly more efficient with the ball, likely stemming from having the experience of already playing the Eagles earlier this season and having experienced what they like to do
Mark,
I agree w/you that Howell progressed nicely from the first Eagles game but he also progressed a ton from just last week. I've got to think having Larsen and Paul in there made a big difference because he had time to go through his progressions this week and he also threw from a much cleaner pocket. I think it was both things but until I see otherwise, I'm not letting Gates or Charles see the field again.
I'm gonna rewatch the offense to focus on those two up front, but as I said above, I genuinely don't think the OL changes made a huge difference. Now yes, Charles and Gates really struggled against the Giants but those were both of their worst performances by a margin. If you accept those as outliars, then comparing what Larsen and Paul did with the average from Charles and Gates was similar in my first viewing of the All-22.
Paul actually had quite a few mistakes, probably more than Charles consistently averaged so far this season. Larsen was about the same level as Gates has typically been all season, but obviously much higher than the low of Gates' performance against the Giants. The one thing that Larsen could have done better was making the calls compared to Gates, but that's really impossible to know without being in the building and knowing what calls were being made.
Edit: Just to add on to this, I think the real significant difference was how efficient Howell was in going through his reads and getting the ball out. I've said all year the OL has generally done enough to allow a QB to get the ball out on time. Howell has been inconsistent in doing that, which has led to sacks because this OL isn't good enough to sustain blocks for longer than the play is designed. Yesterday, Howell was consistently good at getting the ball out on time, which meant the sacks were drastically reduced.
Mark
I was hoping you would at that 4th and 1 call. There was a receiver that looked to be running down the right seam wide open. And other key moments in the game. 4th and 4 non catch that was ruled a catch. (2 years in a row at home both by Smith)The 3rd and 5 Dotson catch that was then ruled incomplete by the league office then on challenge the league office position stood (not confirmed so the call on the field really mattered) The 1-10 illegal grounding that when watching looked liked illegal touching. Big difference between 1-20 vs 2-20.
Also the 3rd-8 Mclaurin corner route and the subsequent 4th-8 Mclaurin curl route. Both bad passes but catchable balls. All of the above were huge monents in the game that if 1 went Washington’s way could have impacted the game positively.
Yeah, those passes both could have been better. The first one on 3rd down was understandable, he kinda held it off in case the corner on the outside peeled off the vertical route and attached to McLaurin. Still a tough catch, but one McLaurin is capable of making. the 4th down one was a worse miss from Howell but an easier catch for McLaurin to make. Was wide open, no real reason for Howell to miss in such a manner, but McLaurin also had tons of time to react and was still very catchable, especially for a receiver of his quality. Both will think they should have done better on those plays and both are correct.
- 4th and 1 call. Lots of people unhappy they didn't run the ball. I liked the call. They had a bunch set to the right with McLaurin isolated out to the left. Motioned Robinson out of the backfield to the right side to make it a 4x1 look, further isolating McLaurin. Who do you want to go to in key situations? McLaurin 1-on-1. Thats what they wanted and thats what they got. McLaurin didn't run a great route and Howell made a bad throw. And yes, Curtis Samuel ran wide open down the seam as the Eagles had a coverage bust, but play was intended to get McLaurin 1-on-1, which it did, so Howell was always going there first.
- 4th and 4 non-catch ruled a catch. Haven't watched the defense All-22 yet, so don't have any insight to offer there other than what we all saw on the broadcast. No idea why Rivera didn't challenge.
- 3rd and 5 Dotson catch ruled incomplete. Was actually a play I had clipped up as a good throw and then remembered they actually ruled it incomplete. Surprised it was ruled incomplete as it didn't really look conclusive either way, certainly not enough for the replay booth to get involved. Was a nice play otherwise.
-Illegal grounding. Was pretty clear from the All-22 it was illegal grounding. He basically threw it straight at the OL, no eligible receiver was there.
Whoa! Another good breakdown Mark, and in record time. Amazed at how quick they can get those All-22s out to you!
Really glad that you were able to so a "Good Sam" breakdown this week. Hopefully we won't be back to a "Bad Sam" scenario after he faces whatever Belichick will be throwing at him next week. Seems like you've been needing to switch between Jekyll & Hyde comparisons - for both offense AND defense - on alternating weeks. That has got to end!
A couple random things that caught my attention when watching. After asking you about him during the game thread, I decided to focus in on the play of Larsen in the clips that you provided. I know it was only a small sample, but I was happy to see that he looked pretty good, usually handling his assignment, as well as quickly picking up stunts. I've definitely seen worse play from that position (as in last week's NYG game!).
A player who always flies under the radar, but caught my eye in these clips, was TE John Bates. On those 2 check down plays you analyzed it looked to me that he had gained some separation fairly deep down the seam! It seemed like Sam mighta actually had a shot at him if he'd had a tic longer to throw. Who knew the Coms' blocking tight end had any speed whatsoever? Not me! And later he got open on that wheel route to bail Sam out. Nice. Maybe EB will find a way to get a more production out of JB87 going forward.
Thanks for the great work.
Will be interesting to see what the Pats throw at him. Lots of Belichick's best defenses were heavy man coverage defenses that looked to neutralize the top 2 receiving threats and force the offense to win with rest. I'd expect McLaurin to receive plenty of double coverage. Will be interesting to see if Belichick targets Logan Thomas or Jahan Dotson as the second threat.
Gonna rewatch the offense and focus in on those two OL, see how they got on. Perhaps I'll do a post on them tomorrow if there is enough to write about.
Thanks for this. I was really impressed by how he looked Sunday, and kept thinking "I'm really eager to see what Bullock has to say, because this genuinely looks impressive."
It was genuinely impressive. A very good performance. Doesn't mean he'll be great next week because progress isn't linear. The Pats will provide a different test that he'll have to learn how to solve. But he passed this one.