Every TL throw against GT - better game than stats indicate
Sep 1, 2019, 12:50 PM
Here is a link to every throw/run TL had in the game. TL pretty pretty well, though not the out of this world level we are used to. In his 23 passes, I observed the following:
- lots of screens (5 or 6), only one of which gained much yardage. - Ross should have caught the pass in the endzone on the opening drive. It was perfect placement but the DB briefly grabs Ross’s face mask and threw him off. Of course, TL ran it in the very next play, but those 2 touchdown passes on the stat sheet would have been nice. - GT played very tight coverage on every play. Maybe two plays was someone open enough for an easy pass - a 5 yard out and then Lay over the middle in the 3rd (after we began running every play). - TL missed maybe 4 or 5 throws out of 23. On the first two minute drive, he throws a dart to Higgins in the middle for 15-20 yards, then throws a very nice deep ball to Ross, who appears to slow down as the ball is approaching, then lunge ford ward, causing him to leave his feet, and he fails to drag the left foot. If he drags that left foot or keeps running the route, that’s 30-40 yards and sets us up nicely to eventually score. - The first interception was an incredible play by the DB who fooled everyone, including the coaches. Second pick slipped out of his hands.
He basically just played 2 quarters (1 attempted pass in the second half for him) and still racked up 168 yards and a TD.
This explains why Dabo after the game didn’t think TL had to “overcome adversity.” TL played just fine. That effort has us beating all but the top 2 or 3 teams in the country, especially if we don’t call screens 25% of the time and we commit more to the run when the defense is clearly keying on the passing game.