X's & O's All 22 Rookie Review PLUS Falcons Game

[KCSVEN]

I usually put this in the post game thread but a little more detailed here with some of the MAye throws so wanted to give it its own thread.
All 22 Rookie Report VS Browns

Stats I saw on O line make things look worse than the tape. Atlanta is a pressure defense. FYI, Onwenu missed the stunt that led to the strip sack.

Campell: 1 sack, 1 pressure
Wilson: 1 sack, 1 pressure
Bradbury: 1 pressure
Onwenu: 1 sack, 3 pressures
Moses: 3 pressures

Will Campbell-It’s a pleasure to watch a quality Tackle after last year. Is Will Campbell and All Pro? Not yet. Can he be a Pro Bowl Left Tackle? I think so. He continues to be dominant in the run game and above average in pass pro. Great hustle play on the strip sack also. Did he come away 100% clean, no but not expecting that. He held blocks for a long time on many plays. He’s just a very good player.


Jared Wilson-I don’t think it is coincidence the running game picked up once Wilson started run blocking at a higher level. He’s now getting very good with movement plays. Pulling and sealing the edge and getting to second level was something he struggled with up to 2 weeks ago. Now he’s really good at those plays. On straight up blocking he is solid. He does not get pushed back but sometimes does not gain ground either. A couple of times his guy came off him to stop the run at 2 yard gain. But overall he’s playing well. Pass Pro and stunt pickup has been great. Last 2 weeks have been really good games for Wilson, settling in at guard nicely.

Craig Woodson-I thought this was his best game of the year. He had Pitts in coverage quite a bit and blanketed him for the most part. Side note: What a disappointment Pitts has been as a pro. He had a nice tackle on Robinson. Played deep safety and kept people in front of him. Is he ever going to be dynamic? No. We could still use a safety that is more aggressive and willing to use instincts to aggressively attack runs and some throws. Woodson is not that guy, but this game showed he can be a good safety when playing to his strengths. I don’t believe he’ll ever be a great tackler, but he did not clearly miss a tackle which has been an issue.

Joshua Farmer-After a bad game, IMO, last week I think he bounced back with one of his better games. 3 times he had at least a little pressure on the pass rush and mostly played solid in the run game. He did have a double team drive him back 4-5 yards and have seen that before with him. He also had all 3 pressures when he moved laterally on the pass rush. If he goes power rush he’s generally stonewalled but good lateral ability allows him to have better success moving laterally when rushing. About 20 plays again but better play from him this week.

Elijah Ponder-Outside of special teams showed up on 7 defensive snaps. Set the edge on 1 run play well, on another got pulled inside on a play faked to FB and pitched to RB on his side. Had 1 good pass rush. Not a ton to gather on 7 plays but does not look lost out there.


Tre Henderson-Very good game I thought. Seemed more decisive on inside runs. Caught some passes, blocked OK in pass pro. He had one play Drake was flushed as his guy just got a bit to his outside, Tre pushed him past Drake but Drake had to step up into traffic. If Tre could have had a better block and Drake not have had to step up there was an open receiver. He was 14 attempts for 55 yds rushing but had the 8 yard loss on the missed Hollins block. Other than that, was 4.84 per rush. Overall pass pro was solid/improved and running and receiving were good. Nice step forward game for him as the lead back. I thought he looked more confident and was quicker looking than Rham by quite a bit.

Andy Borregales/Julian Ashby- Hasn't missed a field goal since his first field goal of the year vs Raiders. Missed the 2 XP’s vs Miami and been perfect on those since. A 32 yard FG and 3 XP’s isn’t asking a lot of him so easy day for him there. Of course, we know Romo missed the XP so interesting how that worked out. Ashby continues to be solid.

Cory Durden-Looking at him again after how impressive he was last week. Had 12 plays, was dominate on several of them. Just tossing a guy to the ground, steamrolling guys back on 2 other plays. He did get pancaked on 1 play but he pushed 3 yards into the backfield first and the run was nowhere near him and he tried to follow the RB and got pancaked but not really since the play was over and he got penetration first. The guy was a handful on almost every play. Where did he come from, why is he not playing more? Reading his scouting report his weaknesses were mainly technique related like playing too high. Good coaching maybe helping. PFF gave him 89.9 last week and 81.7 this week. Small sample sizes but kind of dominate. For the season he’s 81.6 rating as a pass rusher. Play him more.

Efton Chism-In on 2 pass plays, 1 he was just running off the CB. The other was RZ scramble Maye got to Hollins late for 4 yards, it was one of those play action left and Drake then rolls right and you have Hooper, Hollins and Chism, short, medium and deep to that side. Chism was in front of safety, but only by a yard, chance for Drake there, maybe, but tough play to make that far downfield. As a KR, I don’t think he has the speed, you need speed as a KR. He’s adequate but rather see Kyle Willimas try to return kicks than him

Kyle Williams-Not much to say, will touch on him in the next post on Maye. Josh needs to get some plays in to get Williams open and get him a few balls to get his confidence up. Many of his plays he’s just running off the CB and deep safety. I think he needs to work on making sharper cuts into his routes, can round those a little too much. He shows that ability to release and the speed is evident. I think the miss on the throw to him was on more on him than Drake BUT last time I said that it ended up being Drakes fault when talked about a few days later. So benefit of the doubt but will explain why I think its Williams in my Maye review below.

Barmore and Williams-Williams is a monster, a handful every play. Barmore is a handful occasionally. Would like to see more consistent dominance from Barmore. Like to see Durden and Williams together also. I'm now Durden's biggest fan LOL.

 

[KCSVEN]

Drake Maye-After reviewing the 2nd half was not as bad as I thought it would be. I will say that end of half fumble CAN NOT happen. He’s been using 2 hands on the ball in the pocket movement a lot lately as they’ve been coaching him but with fumbles in the game he had only 1 hand on the ball. He doesn’t have big hands for his size soi he needs to compensate by keeping 2 hands on the ball. If he can up that consistency his fumbling issue will go away. Until he does fumbling is way more a concern than him throwing interceptions. Getting that out of the way, MAN is he fun to watch on tape. He makes difficult throws look easy. He is still finding the balance between breaking free for long runs, like he does at least once a game, and hanging in the pocket a bit longer. I don’t think they need a team meeting with players about it like Aaron Rodgers had to have in his early days with the Packers. Like Rodgers, he’ll get better and he’s already better at it than Rodgers was early in his career.

Going to highlight 4 throws with photos:

The Pick-The first photo shows Henry when Drake goes to throw. Henry decides to cut underneath #31 and turns left right into #31. Bedard said after the game his initial thought is that Maye was fooled by defense and Henry was right. I don’t know how because if Henry runs straight and turns, he is 5 yards from the deep safety. I do NOT believe the ball was overthrown watching it several times. Henry is open where Maye threw it and not open where he cut. It’s the fine line of playing QB and WR in the NFL. Being on the same page every throw.

In the second photo of pick the ball is over the defenders head on the far right of the screen/photo and just after Henry turns the route. Not sure how that was on Maye but I don’t know the play call and the options based on the defense so could be wrong.




Diggs Throw-Wanted to highlight a great throw. 3rd and 12 and WOW is Drake Maye special on 3rd and long, but I regress…First photo is as Maye starts to throw it. The deep safety and the under DB both see it starting and start to close on Diggs. Looks wide open but in NFL terms, defenders close fast on a 25 yard pass.

In second photo you see the under defender reaching for the ball which you can see right on the 50 yard marker, while the deep safety closes fast on Diggs. Any shorter, knocked down, any deeper, broken up by safety. Most teams expect to be able to defend that throw and it takes a great pass to defeat it. Better than it looks in photos, a high-quality throw by Maye. These are plays not many QB’s make as routinely as Maye.



Douglas Miss-Again 3rd and 12. I believe this is drive with the 8 yard loss to Tre. This is chalked up as an overthrow miss. Maybe, maybe not. He does get pressure and can’t step into it so might be a little higher than he wanted HOWEVER…

Douglas was heading on a deep post and it looks like he gets rerouted by the CB covering the other WR Diggs, so he adjusts his route and flattens it when he was initially going deep slant.

The next photo is just after release. Douglas is on the 30. At this point Douglas can still go up field toward the 25 yard line or continue across to the 31. Douglas stays flat and does not go to where the initial route was intended. I THINK when Maye let it go he did not realize DD was going to avoid the other CB and flatten his route. Also, if he threw it to where DD went the under defender actually might have been in position by time ball arrived to make a play. These plays show the difficulty of playing QB in the NFL, but also WR. If the DB was closer to Diggs then DD is running the post to where the ball landed. The last photo shows the under defender getting back to the 30 where DD was going until he saw the ball deeper. Just bad luck that DD had to adjust his route just as Maye had to throw due to pressure.




Kyle Williams Miss-I want to cover this one to point out why I think Williams was in the wrong. First photo is after snap. Top of photo you see the CB has inside leverage on Kyle and no help to the sideline.

Next photo is William’s decision time. I assume he can stop, go out or go in but maybe he has other instructions, not 100% sure but my guess is he has at least 2 choices based on the defender. Or maybe it’s an in-cut UNLESS defender is inside then it’s a hitch. Maye throws a hitch and Williams runs an in. I don’t see ANY reason why Williams would run inside when the defender set up inside and stayed inside. I don’t know the play call or how Josh teaches the options but common sense says if it is an option then the last thing you’d do here is run inside.


Just wanted to highlight some of the plays that look bad live but on tape review are not always bad misses or a bad decision and point out how so much trust is involved with WR and QB on many of these timing plays as the throws. .

 

[patfanken]

ABOUT ****in' time you gave us one of your breakdowns. Thanks

Nice job of course, but I think you are a little too tough on Woodson. The kid is a rookie who has started from day one, played a key position in the defensive scheme, and has been solid at WORST. You make it sound like this is all he can be. He is only a baby as far as his development is. Give him some time to get familiar with the things he is going to see the rest of his career. Think about it. Every play he is seeing is something for the first time. Think of how quicker he will appear to be when he has seen these plays a couple of dozen times down the road.

He is 4th round pick and likely NOT a physical freak of size speed and quickness. So, his lack of anticipation and the ability to read the field is bound to make him appear a bit slower until he has a chance to get more reps. As you noted, we are already seeing an improvement in just 9 games. He is a willing tackler and again all these players suffer from the lack of contact in practice during the preseason, and they get better they more they ACTUALLY get to do it. We've seen it from the LB's who have all suffered from missed tackle syndrome and have all gotten much better as the season wore on.


Let's check in on him again at the end of the season before we declare him a must move on from player. And thanks again for the content.

 

[PYPER]

Great breakdowns...nice work

 

[sb1]

Great breakdown. Yes I've always been more wary of Drake fumbling than his INTs since the beginning.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I don’t know why williams isn’t back there on kickoffs at least. They should be trying to get the ball in his hands somehow. I remember when amendola was struggling to get going here he started getting touches on st and end arounds and that might have helped a little

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Nice work. I did not read your comments on Woodson to be a must move on player. I thought your comments were fair.

 

[mayoclinic]

All 22 Rookie Report VS Browns

Stats I saw on O line make things look worse than the tape. Atlanta is a pressure defense. FYI, Onwenu missed the stunt that led to the strip sack.

Wilson: 1 sack, 1 pressure

Jared Wilson-I don’t think it is coincidence the running game picked up once Wilson started run blocking at a higher level. He’s now getting very good with movement plays. Pulling and sealing the edge and getting to second level was something he struggled with up to 2 weeks ago. Now he’s really good at those plays. On straight up blocking he is solid. He does not get pushed back but sometimes does not gain ground either. A couple of times his guy came off him to stop the run at 2 yard gain. But overall he’s playing well. Pass Pro and stunt pickup has been great. Last 2 weeks have been really good games for Wilson, settling in at guard nicely.

This can't be correct. DaBruinz assures us that Wilson had a terrible game both yesterday and against Cleveland, and is not a fit at LG. It is well known that DaBruinz is never wrong.

It can't possibly be that Wilson is actually developing at LG with more playing time, having not previously played the position.

 

[upstater1]

Drake Maye-After reviewing the 2nd half was not as bad as I thought it would be. I will say that end of half fumble CAN NOT happen. He’s been using 2 hands on the ball in the pocket movement a lot lately as they’ve been coaching him but with fumbles in the game he had only 1 hand on the ball. He doesn’t have big hands for his size soi he needs to compensate by keeping 2 hands on the ball. If he can up that consistency his fumbling issue will go away. Until he does fumbling is way more a concern than him throwing interceptions. Getting that out of the way, MAN is he fun to watch on tape. He makes difficult throws look easy. He is still finding the balance between breaking free for long runs, like he does at least once a game, and hanging in the pocket a bit longer. I don’t think they need a team meeting with players about it like Aaron Rodgers had to have in his early days with the Packers. Like Rodgers, he’ll get better and he’s already better at it than Rodgers was early in his career.

Going to highlight 4 throws with photos:

The Pick-The first photo shows Henry when Drake goes to throw. Henry decides to cut underneath #31 and turns left right into #31. Bedard said after the game his initial thought is that Maye was fooled by defense and Henry was right. I don’t know how because if Henry runs straight and turns, he is 5 yards from the deep safety. I do NOT believe the ball was overthrown watching it several times. Henry is open where Maye threw it and not open where he cut. It’s the fine line of playing QB and WR in the NFL. Being on the same page every throw.

In the second photo of pick the ball is over the defenders head on the far right of the screen/photo and just after Henry turns the route. Not sure how that was on Maye but I don’t know the play call and the options based on the defense so could be wrong.




Diggs Throw-Wanted to highlight a great throw. 3rd and 12 and WOW is Drake Maye special on 3rd and long, but I regress…First photo is as Maye starts to throw it. The deep safety and the under DB both see it starting and start to close on Diggs. Looks wide open but in NFL terms, defenders close fast on a 25 yard pass.

In second photo you see the under defender reaching for the ball which you can see right on the 50 yard marker, while the deep safety closes fast on Diggs. Any shorter, knocked down, any deeper, broken up by safety. Most teams expect to be able to defend that throw and it takes a great pass to defeat it. Better than it looks in photos, a high-quality throw by Maye. These are plays not many QB’s make as routinely as Maye.



Douglas Miss-Again 3rd and 12. I believe this is drive with the 8 yard loss to Tre. This is chalked up as an overthrow miss. Maybe, maybe not. He does get pressure and can’t step into it so might be a little higher than he wanted HOWEVER…

Douglas was heading on a deep post and it looks like he gets rerouted by the CB covering the other WR Diggs, so he adjusts his route and flattens it when he was initially going deep slant.

The next photo is just after release. Douglas is on the 30. At this point Douglas can still go up field toward the 25 yard line or continue across to the 31. Douglas stays flat and does not go to where the initial route was intended. I THINK when Maye let it go he did not realize DD was going to avoid the other CB and flatten his route. Also, if he threw it to where DD went the under defender actually might have been in position by time ball arrived to make a play. These plays show the difficulty of playing QB in the NFL, but also WR. If the DB was closer to Diggs then DD is running the post to where the ball landed. The last photo shows the under defender getting back to the 30 where DD was going until he saw the ball deeper. Just bad luck that DD had to adjust his route just as Maye had to throw due to pressure.




Kyle Williams Miss-I want to cover this one to point out why I think Williams was in the wrong. First photo is after snap. Top of photo you see the CB has inside leverage on Kyle and no help to the sideline.

Next photo is William’s decision time. I assume he can stop, go out or go in but maybe he has other instructions, not 100% sure but my guess is he has at least 2 choices based on the defender. Or maybe it’s an in-cut UNLESS defender is inside then it’s a hitch. Maye throws a hitch and Williams runs an in. I don’t see ANY reason why Williams would run inside when the defender set up inside and stayed inside. I don’t know the play call or how Josh teaches the options but common sense says if it is an option then the last thing you’d do here is run inside.


Just wanted to highlight some of the plays that look bad live but on tape review are not always bad misses or a bad decision and point out how so much trust is involved with WR and QB on many of these timing plays as the throws. .

Agree on the last part about Williams

 

[KCSVEN]

Nice work. I did not read your comments on Woodson to be a must move on player. I thought your comments were fair.

I think he’s a solid starting NFL safety and is young so he can improve. He is, however, physically limited on his upside.
There are some safeties that look like they shot out of a cannon when they go to tackle the ball carrier.

Rodney Harrison type pared with Woodson would be a good combination.
Of course I’m talking style play not that you can just find another Rodney Harrison.
Hawkins and Woodson are similar players and in some ways that’s good because they’re interchangeable, but in another way, it would be nice to have one of them be a very aggressive ball Hawking type safety.
Can’t have all-pros at all positions and Woodson can fill 1 safety role as a solid starter for a long time.

 

[JoeSixPat]

The OL might have given up 6 sacks and lots of pressure - but somehow there were still a LOT of plays in which Maye had a TON of time to throw downfield.

I agree that a pressure D is effective against any of the linemen with the Browns and Falcons showing how its done. Not everyone has personnel as good as those teams but you can expect you'll face even tougher Ds in the playoffs.