game notes

[magnus]

made notes while re-watching tape


Rosinski looks to have lost weight. Scott O'Brien needs a haircut.
Note that some of these name notes may be wrong - if I'm noting formation it's to show trend and hope to ID a player but my tape quality isn't good and if the player isn't in the play it may be hard to ID between Walls and Mangum, for instance.

Opening kick - Bates has better stop-start ability than I remember. Still, not his strength.

Opening play - four wide, Moose slot right. Byrd slot left, cant' see the end left. Looks like smith outside him going deep, Moose crosses with an out. Great zip and accuracy on the ball. terry hustles to get in on the end of the play.

second down - Smith sweep right. Broken I right y-trade with Walls flanking left, coming right and being the seal block strong side. Basically it looks like everyone misjudged the line assignment because I'd assume Terry would get the seal backside - Wilkinson - who came free. INstead he's doubling the left end. Mitchell looks to be reaching for a backer, and Gardener comes off his back side. I guess we're figuring that Gardener would be unable to catch him downfield, but Wilkinson's presence there allows it.

Also odd is that Hoover, who was strong side, went upfield and looked for a corner to block. With Moose already on that side, you'd figure he'd be after taking out a linebacker coming playside.

Third and back to seven, Byrd end inside Steve Smith's flanker left, Moose right split to seven yards with Walls as a wing rather than tight. Walls y-trade but to a back position, interesting look. Walls goes on a flare, Steveophone goes upfield, Byrd comes crossing and converts. Good pass protection. Steussie was able to hit and pop for three seconds before sliding his man out.

First down, pro formation strong left, Walls heads straight up field, throw to Muhammad left on an out overthrown. Looked covered so I'd expect it was just thrown away. Walls looked covered that side, LSmith didn't appear to take off until late.

2nd down - twins right, Byrd and Smith outside, Muhammad left, two backs. Weinke bootleg right, the blocking wasn't there. 3rd - single back, looks like Steve Smith end to Muhammadflank to formation, with Walls just inside him. Walls trade left toward Byrd, but ends up taking the outside block. Muhammad sent deep. We know the rest. Moose looked it in but it's in the hands, then out of the hands. Can't say that would just "happen"...it would have to have help.

I'm not covering punt coverage.

First down Washington. Stephen Davis up the middle. First thing I notice is that Peppers is flexing before the snap - kinda rocking. Kinda nervous I'd expect. Gets off the snap behind Buckner. Peppers and Jansen lock up and kinda shove.


second down - three wide. Peppers stunt, but he picks up the back on the middle screen instead. Morgan takes on the fullback who got the ball on a skinny post. Good cover. I didn't know Morgan was PFW all-rookie, but the OLBs weren't that hot overall as rooks. Figure the big guys to come out were Morgan, Steele, Caver.

Third down - three wide, pass to Stephen Davis for the first down. open spot in the zone between Fields and Morgan. Looks like Fields wasn't very aware of the situation as Morgan was further away and had broken toward the ball first.
peppers - got off the snap before Buckner, yet another bull rush move accented by what looked like either a hump move or just a club. Inside move either way, left him with a few feet to go to Matthews.

First down, tight end left, slot right, two backs broken I right. One of the corners is still left, presumably with the TE, leaves Fields on the inside receiver. Peppers - crosses inside and meets the doubleteam inside. Buckner over his back outside gets mauled by Jansen. Ball caught in the flat by FB tackled by Morgan. Presumed three deep zone with the corner taking the short zone on the TE side and Morgan covering the play side - that or man, but Morgan didn't seem to be on his man.

2nd and 2 - pro form, two backs broken I weak. TE goes in motion, y-trade left, fullback straightens I. Ball deep down sidelineto Green broken up by Howard. Was playaction strong, Peppers stood up by TE/RT combo.

3rd and 2 - broken I, looks like jenkins gets in hard way before the rest of the line. Fields crashing backside makes the stop after pile formed. Peppers forced to come inside and occupy RT, Buckner stunting behind Jenkins and Navies crashing next to him. Interesting play but very dangerous on third down v/s run. got lucky.

4th and 1 - there's why. Same stunt, sweep left, converted. Peppers, Minter, and the tackling Morgan strong in pursuit but not enough. Gain of 3. Team wasn't set nor was it able to make a play because of the stunting - not enough heads in the game with their heads up.

1 - three wide two back. Peppers takes inside move yet again on Jansen. Everybody seems to be just rushing straight - bull rushing - not unlike the comments from one poster suggested. So there's validity to that.

Cousin taking nickel coverage stops Green short of first down, good tackle.

2-2 - Stephen Davis off left end for 1. Peppers and Jenkins first off snap. peppers gets walled off, holds contain, then recognizes pursuit, textbook. Rucker got pushed back a little by all-pro Samuels after the combo block brings the FB. That frees up Howard, who sheds and drops the much larger Davis.

3rd and 1 - jumbo (2 tights) and third TE flank right. I backs. Davis again, for the first down up the gut. Jenkins got off snap fast but gets turned sideways. He's gotta control that. Still, pushes pile toward Buckner who comes free. Buckner and Peppers are credited on NFL.com, but no assist for Peppers in stats.

first - three wides, two backs becomes four wides as Gillespie goes in motion and then goes deep. Ball overthrown but Howard's on him and Grant's there to back up. Rucker uses a speed move but gets buried 8 yards deep. Peppers - bullrush. They had the reins in on him.

Second - fullback motion leads to playclock violation. Of note is that the first string line is out except for Peppers. Odd that it would be noted in ESPN that Peppers was "winded" if he was the only lineman that didn't rotate out in the drive that lasted 9:43.

second and 15 now - Gardner comes up with 19. We sent the house - Cousin weakside, Morgan behind, Fields from the strongside slot. That's seven coming after the QB and still barely got close (Cousin). Jenkins misses the tackle, Minter buries him.

first - Davis up middle. Burton crossed up kept hole open. From endzone replay it's even clearer - Burton guessed wrong and got walled off. Navies came off block and got hit on him but moved him sideways - Morgan coming off center block finished him off. Navies with the credit. .


2nd and 4 in the red zone - peppers out, Fernando Smith comes in with the starting line. Smith gets upfield but never clears Jansen. . Gardner is hard to bring down - first and goal.

first/goal - same rush. Smith gets upfield for no particular purpose or benefit and Rucker cautiously works upfield. They left Green alone in the corner of the EZ but overthrown.

2nd and goal - peppers back in. two plays he was out. Winded my ass.
Does get popped in the head by Jansen, though, and has to recover. Rucker comes inside on stunt, Buckner outside. Buck and Fields read screen and cover it well.

Third down - Peppers doubleteamed. No rush. Green gets ball crossing at the two but creamed by Fields and Morgan both. That's gotta suck. Conway FG.



first down. Twins left with TE flanking left. Looks like Moose right alone, till L Smith motions that direction. Smith crossing route broken up. Too much pressure that play, just in general. Steussie rode his guy out, but was a little too close to Weinke. Others were just getting backed up. Then again it was a 3 step.

second down shows one back, Walls split right with Muhammad. Ugly endzone angle doesn't show left side. Smith puts on good juke move cutting left after Gardener jumped offside right, gets two though his blocking had all gone right. They take penalty.

second and 5. Moose and Smith inside split left, but only a few yards off formation. Walls motion left. Sweep left - Terry cuts his man, Steussie and Nesbit take off and James pulls. Real sloppy. Steussie shouldn't be pulling out at all, I'd put him inside. Moose cuts DE. Nesbit pulls a block but Steussie is just part of the wash. No gain for Smith.
3 and 5 - twins left, Smith right, motion in, five step drop and flare to L SMith out of backfield. Starts to elude first tackler and head upfield but loses ball, counted incomplete. Had he kept the ball he'd have gotten the first down.

Punt, twice since Jackson wasn't lined up right. Basically, the five interior linemen (I believe Minor, Towns, Mangum, and Jackson are left to right around Kyle) have to line up just like a regular OL - including being up on the line. You can't fan out behind the center, and Jackson did.
Sauerbrun gets great air. And he still looks like he'll be waiting outside East gate to kick your ass. And he probably would.


That's the first quarter, save two Washington plays I will deal with on the next quarter for simplicity.

 

[magnus]

2nd quarter

:25 first quarter
coming back from break peppers actually quoted as having said that since the tackles in the
NFL are that much quicker, he's using this game to work on using his strength game...i.e. bullrush. Right now I have a different VCR, one that allows clearer slow motion and reverse slow motion, so there will be more detail. If I've got this much detail in reports prior to this one it's because I redid them.


playaction out of Pro I, Peppers not fooled passes up the back and keeps rushing.
MOrgan and Navies are sold, Morgan has to stop at about the LOS to backpedal. Slow rewind shows Kris Jenkins first off the snap, then Buckner who's coming off too high. He pays the price and goes nowhere. Peppers gets doubled by the pulling G and the fullback, starts working around the back outside and gets within about two yards of Matthews. Jenkins gets some amount of push as well but is tied up. Note on-side guard having to come back toward LOS as ball is thrown to elude a downfield penalty.
Quick out to Davis. As the ball is nearing the defender Morgan's halfway to the ball. Good burst. Corner on that side has position...wait, that's Navies. Good hustle Han. Incomplete.

Jenkins is again off the snap faster. He's in sync with the interior OL and the fullback on these two plays. I note Buckner again too high and kinda twisted. Peppers is coming out low, power steps, getting into Jansen who is trying to wall off. At this point Buckner is again stopped at the LOS being doubleteamed, the fullback is coming through the line and Davis is about to get the ball. Jenkins is fighting to get the G pushed back toward the hole as it's obvious it's a draw now. Peppers is now fighting to get in pursuit and kinda struggling as jansen reverses and helps Peppers go upfield but not toward the ball. As Morgan comes into the screen you can see him slip his block and take on head to head one of the strongest backs in the league - and it's a stalemate. Morgan and Davis fall sideways. Flags fly. Illegal formation, O. Fox does his standard look around not knowing what to do and then yelling at nothing in particular.

third and long as the quarter ends. Stats show the Skins with 15 yards rushing, 65 passing, and twice the time of posession. Panthers have total 8 yards O.

third and 9? Skins come out in the I, three wides, then Davis splits far left. the nickel adjustment goes where Morgan fills to the middle, Navies comes right to cover the inside guy and the corner moves out to Davis. Two nice mismatches there. Morgan fakes the blitz, Jansen comes out of his stance a tick too early but I don't remember a call. Subsequently, Peppers is the first off the ball. Jenkins is last and pulls the doubleteam. Peppers and Rucker both getting good depth into their rushes, and as time slowly ticks forward Rucker keeps on with the outside move but Peppers seems to put on a hump move (note to Julius - gotta put it in there earlier) but ends up going back to a bullrush. Rucker then puts on a spin that was, as well, put on too late in the play. He looks to have gotten free and would have had a coverage sack but Matthews releases. The ticking by shows Morgan and Navies with good coverage as the ball goes downfield. Jenkins pulls the ball down for the pick on the inside of double coverage, basically looks like he was too far underneath and got rewarded for poor cover. Of course he may have just read it but in realtime it looked like he wasn't slowing to get under it, he was just there and made the play.



First down at the 35. Broken I, TE right as well, and Moose comes in motion back toward the strength. Good mismatch situation. Skins have a stunt on, play action is sold as Hoover starts hauling ass toward the LOS. Corner passes up Moose for Hoover, and then focuses on him as he flares out toward the sideline. Line bunches left, Smith blocks right. Moose crosses, or rather it looks like a very long slant...what most defensive books call a "china" route. First and goal at the five on a great grab. Hard to get an idea of pass protection. Endzone view shows great ball by Weinke, grabbed just past eye level by Moose.

I backs, Mangum tight right with Walls flanking, then Walls trade left toward Moose. On the snap, Walls, Nesbit pull as well as Hoover leading. Mangum has his end OK, Terry's up on a linebacker five yards upfield. Mitchell is laying out his man and Steussie's bending his downfield. Mangum's man gets free and takes Smith down. Mangum needs to drive.

Ugly, and we need not send so many people in. If Walls is strongside and can clip pursuit, that's better than having him weakside, getting the misdirection, and having to pull so many people because the timing wasn't there. The backside G coming with the FB should be enough. It wasn't and it was uncoordinated.

Three TEs but Moose shows to be the third (the flanker right). Assume a receiver split left.
Playaction isn't shown and Weinke rolls right to hit Moose at the 2. Interestingly enough Walls is shown looking upfield for someone to block and never looks for the ball. I imagine that the second option was either run or, sadly, Mangum backside.

Third down and I remember this play made my skin crawl. Five wides, Smith, Moose, Walls, Smith, Mangum from left to right. No backs obviously. Moose slant to 1. We don't go for it.
Moose should be a force this year based on their reliance. Team calls TO for no apparent reason. FG after.

Sauerbrun kicks short and from the second view either he screwed up or hit his toe but he wasn't at all happy with it. Hits at the 25 and is taken up to the 35. good impromptu coverage.

second team D is in permanently. Two back poor playaction, Leroy got off snap before Burton. Burton uses mammoth swim move that seems to take forever, almost as long as it takes the linebackers to adjust to the fact it's not run. They do so in unison, however. Burton gets free first, but doesn't do damage. Jenkins recovers fast and nearly gets to the ball but is turned around. Richardson has to cover a lot of yardage and doesn't do well at it. Fumble, and it's actually Howard on the ballcarrier, Richardson comes in later. Ball stripped, Witherspoon flies by it. Skins recover.

Nickel v/s three wides and two backs. Sweep to strength. Howard fights hard but doesn't get free. Wallace taken out of the play as he was reading pass. Witherspoon reads fast and is there but gets buried by FB. Jackson reacts to the pile and starts looking to cut behind Howard. Cooper flies into the picture, a little high, and hits, doesn't wrap. Actually ends up taking the impact in the chest - way too high a tackle. He comes down, partly assisted by Jackson, but Cooper did bring him down. Just sloppily. actually knocks the carrier's helmet off. Holding is the call, likely against Burton's man. If you look like you're trying to get free but can't, you may be better off than actually trying to get free. Fox points his hand in the direction of the Skins and it looks really bizarre.

Shotgun, three wides max protect. Bringing seven again. OT handles Jackson, the back looks for Witherspoon inside of him and the FB reaches for Howard - but lunges and misses. Matthews hurries the ball out and Howard doesn't bring Matthews down. While all this is happening the right side of the line takes off and Matthews was obviously firing a screen ball. Witherspoon wraps as it's caught.

2nd and 22 - 3 wide two back. Ball barely snapped in time. Wallace coems off ball late as does Leroy. LBs get back in coverage quick and we rush just four. Wallace looks to make a hard stand inside and Burton apparently is going behind his pick. Doesn't work, Samuels pushes Wallace up the line and then Burton tries a spin move. Why? Shane Burton spins about as fast as the earth itself. Wesley makes a play on the ball and bats it away.

3rd and 22 - I backs, three wides. I know Washington will be using the TE at some point, but it probably won't be tonight.

Howard as the nickel shows blitz and the left corner is back off the line. Line comes off in unison, no one stands out. Suddenly WW and Richardson burst toward the ballcarrier recognizing run. As this is happening, Burton seems to get depth in the backfield and Wallace drops into coverage. Howard recovers from the blitz late and misses the ball...the linebackers converge late - Jackson hits and misses, Witherspoon has to dive to get at him, Richardson has taken himself out of the play. 32 breaks WW's tackle, Vinson gets caught up by Doering, Cooper comes in late and doesn't take the hit because Wilson was coming at a bad angle. Odd.

Basically, the blitz was designed for pass, and neither the Wallce drop nor the HOward blitz helped. everyone took bad angles expecting the outside sweep and when 32 turned it inside it confused the lot of us. Burton got ridden out of the play as well. Still, punt.

Smith calls FC but flag. 12 men. first down washington. O'Brien talking to Wesley.

Now there's no one covering the left receiver. Cooper points, then pulls up to do it himself. Wesley runs back on the field and covers. None of this is actually on the tape, it's just a vivid remembrance. Matthews audibles on the tape, for some reason Jackson is tending to the LOS rather than the open receiver and blitzes. Goes nowhere, picked up by Samuels. Likewise, no one else does either. Wallace struggles v/s the guard on an inside move, Burton's at the LOS still, Fernando is getting depth but he's also being pushed toward the sideline. Leroy starts to get depth against his guard as Matthews is setting up. Zone look shows Vinson covering his man, Witherspoon covering nothing, and no one covering Anthony. Howard comes into the play to tackle.

 

[magnus]

never realized that there was a character count on posts. 10,000. So here's part two of second quarter.

first down. 3 receivers, back, TE right. DTs stunt, Burton's the trailer, and it's slow, oh so slow. WW picks up the TE, Jackson the back, Wallace gets depth but is nowhere near matthews as he sets up. Matthews has time, and a clear passing lane. Could have run if he'd wanted. Hits Lockett back of the EZ with Wesley and Richardson trailing. Conventional wisdom suggests Richardson should be over top. Replay shows 39 shuffling his feet to jump rather than getting position. TD.

not covering the KO.
Three wide left with the inside guy being Walls. One back, set behind the RT, and Smith right. Walls comes in motion left, draw play to Lamar Smith. Walls takes off upfield, line tries to seal. Linebacker comes up big hole left, Smith shifts right and finds a way to bury himself where the players are. In all fairness gets dropped by the free LB. If not he'd have gone ahead for yardage, he got 3.

three receivers and then Hoover on formation, with motion left. Assume a receiver right as well since there's no back. Hoover blocks inside a sec and then releases to get the ball. Terry makes a nice upfield block but Smith's man comes back around Terry and makes the ankle tackle. gets 3.

3rd and 4 - formation isn't shown at first. Looks like SSmith motion right, broken I, two WR left. Pass blocking line, playaction but it's fairly easy to read. Steussie's man gets free and gets a hit on Weinke, who pumps and then throws short to Lamar Smith who drops it. Terry, as well, was being ridden inside. punt.

talk by Del Rio. Says D is about accountability and discipline but they're going to cut loose and swarm to football.

First down. Bland rush, nothing interesting. Jenkins gets turned around and allows reception, makes ugly tackle.

Next play, line swarms right in unison and they swarm to ball. Jackson gets him from behind the play to take Betts down. Wouldn't have gotten much further if Jackson had missed though.

3rd and 2 - 3 TE, strong left two backs, given up right guard to Betts, Leroy fights to get open in the hole but FB knocks back. Wallace gets there and dives for no real purpose. Pile shows first down. Can't say who made tackle, don't care either.




first down pass. One back, 3 wide, TE right. Wallace makes hard fight outside, and Fernando Smith is out there just as always, a little out of reach and contained. Back goes through the line and cuts to look back. Matthews is unimpressed and takes off. Witherspoon closes to push him out of bounds.

2nd and 3, four wides spread equally. Left inside wide cuts toward QB as line shows run and Matthews holds ball out for Betts. Skins make nice wall and Jackson has to fight over a block to make tackle, he was being blocked by Samuels. Hmm.

FIrst down. same formation, no play fake, deep ball, Wesley falls down and flag comes out. Dumbass fans cheer, then realize it's PI against Wesley. First down. Samuels is hurt.

two wides right plus TE. Wide left and one set back.
Sigh...stunt. Burton trails. All DL are noticed walking their linemen back toward the ball and then you see draw. Burton naturally was stunting away from the draw and Jackson makes tackle because center was looking to hit him but referee was in way. He takes on Towns instead who fights off block well. two yards.

Shotgun, Matthews audibles, line points. Wallace gets great push off ball, back flares left. Receiver and flared back are in same space, sandwiching Jackson. What? but you're right, I'd overlook them too. Ball heaved downfield with time, corner of EZ Wesley is jumping and the safety is trailing (though for no good use), ball goes over 34's fingertips and is caught out of bounds. Bad coverage rewarded by our extra defender, the thick white line.

3rd and 8, timeout because of delay. Comes out four wide one setback, no real rush, though Smith gets off the ball fast. Thompson gets a great grab inside Jackson. Cooper comes up to hit. Actually replay shows Jenkins was on the coverage and Jackson was just closing in from that angle.

First and goal, three wides, TE and single setback. Matthews audibles, pass. Wallace gets upfield for no result. Matthews sits and buys time, but has no need as no one's coming. TD washignton, Anthony jumps, Jenkins falls. Horton says there was a push. Jenkins sucks. I start to get mad and FF past the kickoff.

Rosinski bitches that they aren't running the ball after they said they did. Then when they pass he complains again. Pro set, Walls split just a hair to show it's pass like he always does when it's pass. left side stunt handled well by Terry as he shoves his man inside and picks up the DT. Backs, which were split, each head upfield and then cross at LOS. Ball is a high spiral meant for Walls. First impression is that you want less arc and more velocity.
Replay shows that it's not so much the arc as the fact that it kinda drops at the end. Touch when you don't want touch maybe. Or maybe he threw it right, and the end result on the play is what is biasing my thought, as the coverage got there jsut at the right time.

We go five wides on second down, three right. The Skins struggle to adjust as they have no linebackers in, they're all assigned to a receiver. Backside LB comes on blitz. Terry's man is contained but in close, then the right DT comes free. Weinke looks poised but then darts off, having checked off his receivers and seeing green in front of him. Odd pump fake comes after the LOS and then Weinke goes to sideline. Give credit to Lamar Smith for a great heads up on a standing drive block in front of Weinke. Gives him yardage and keeps him from being hit.

No backs on first down, but Hoover is as an H-back and goes in motion left. No noticeable response by Skins. Lots of pressure but Weinke looks poised again, heaves ball up left side to SSmith. IMO, as stated many times, I feel like Smith could have come down with this in bounds had he been another receiver.

Fasani comes in, Hankton, Foster. Hmm...Foster. It's Australian for "punked your former All-pro DB". nah, that's too long. 2nd and ten, four receivers, Foster as a set back behind LT. Looks like three man DL, lone LB set deep, six DB. Tuten gives his man a shove, big hole, one unID'd WR (the e left) gets a good block, outside WR doesn't but Foster shakes him. Top receiver (now noticeable as Goings) nails the FS instead. Baker has the offside safety. Foster's in stride as he hits midfield. Green's got an angle at the 35 and remember this is the guy who was supposedly timed sub 4.3, most likely as an added bonus for his extension. Yeah, he got hooked up. At the 20 Green goes in for the hit, and Foster bends in stride to hit back. It wasn't a forearm, he just plain outhit Darrell. He uses DG as a balancer to get straight and bounds from the 15 to the score. I watch it again at full speed just because I can.

I can also review the rest of the first half, but don't feel like it. Chances are good I never get to the second half in earnest either.

 

[LarryD]

hot damn!

i still want to see the videotape.

 

[magnus]

I'd feel the same way.

Overall first half impressions - Smith didn't look as terrible as you'd imagine. Weinke looked very good. They were going against a better D and when you're doing that the ball won't roll your way.

 

[Foxman]

Well I am impressed. Thats as thourough as it gets.

 

[lex]

love the new avatar, larry!

Originally posted by LarryD
hot damn!

i still want to see the videotape.

you do? it's all up there. i think mags did an excellent job. talk about thorough!

dont forget to tape the dallas game, c! we might want a blow by blow account (oops, i mean game notes) again. i know you will be at the game again, so tape it, please, so some of us i can watch it on here.

 

[magnus]

note from the Bears game - it's funny that there are two 29s for Chicago.

I really dig this big white boy at QB for Chicago...Pastrami? Minestroni?

Christian pulled in two great balls on that drive too. If you didn't see it, and I'm sure you didn't, you missed a good grab.

 

[magnus]

Does anyone else remember that guy who though that if we didn't trade for Dez White we'd be doomed?

 

[Turbo]

Originally posted by magnus ver magnusson
Does anyone else remember that guy who though that if we didn't trade for Dez White we'd be doomed?

I don't remember who the person was but I remember what you're talking about. Cracked me up big time then. Now, Dez looks like he's finally coming around and allowing his abilities to show. I don't know how it happend all of a sudden, but if Terrell overcomes his problems, the Bears will have a great group of receivers.