Welcome to the era of Troy Williams. How great was it to see him put some zip on the ball with confidence and doing very well for most of the night. I can only think of 2 or 3 questionable throws but other than that I thought he had a solid first night out. I'll let K.Scott handle more on the receiver end of the breakdown but from what I saw they did very well and used great physicality to get position on the ball. What I loved about the WR/TE group was their downfield blocking, I could tell this was a point of emphasis with Coach Holliday.
Defense had a solid first outing, there will be some things to clean up but they played about as vanilla of a defensive scheme as you can play. Not to mention they gave up zero points. Zero. That's a really good thing. Look for next week to have the heat turned up a little bit. I liked Sunia and Cody, I hope to see them continue to grow into their role next week. Marcus Williams is the real deal people.
Now for the rough part. Yes the offensive line struggled, a lot. There were mental errors that I fully expected i.e. False starts but what I didn't like at all was their body language and how they finished plays. I saw way too much lunging and wall off blocking that was lazy and very soft. Too often there would be 2-3 offensive limemen at the end of the play looking at the tackle. That's not good, ideally you want to see them still engaged, finishing a block in a dominant position and I just didn't see that as often as I believe they are capable of. Sure, Bolles is new and JJ is playing a new position but there is no excuse for lack of effort. I love those guys and believe they can do so much more and I will be looking to see them come with a different attitude next week. They are too good of a group and too experienced not to get things back on track, I believe it will happens sooner than later. My last observation is that when Joe Williams runs with power he is a great back, when he runs pretty it doesn't work out too well. Troy McCormick looked like a guy that came back stronger than ever after having major knee surgery, I can't wait to see what he can do this year.
All in all, not bad. Not great, but not bad. The greatest strides of improvement come from week 1 to week 2, and I can't wait to see how much Troy Williams will make that statement true.
-DT
Defense had a solid first outing, there will be some things to clean up but they played about as vanilla of a defensive scheme as you can play. Not to mention they gave up zero points. Zero. That's a really good thing. Look for next week to have the heat turned up a little bit. I liked Sunia and Cody, I hope to see them continue to grow into their role next week. Marcus Williams is the real deal people.
Now for the rough part. Yes the offensive line struggled, a lot. There were mental errors that I fully expected i.e. False starts but what I didn't like at all was their body language and how they finished plays. I saw way too much lunging and wall off blocking that was lazy and very soft. Too often there would be 2-3 offensive limemen at the end of the play looking at the tackle. That's not good, ideally you want to see them still engaged, finishing a block in a dominant position and I just didn't see that as often as I believe they are capable of. Sure, Bolles is new and JJ is playing a new position but there is no excuse for lack of effort. I love those guys and believe they can do so much more and I will be looking to see them come with a different attitude next week. They are too good of a group and too experienced not to get things back on track, I believe it will happens sooner than later. My last observation is that when Joe Williams runs with power he is a great back, when he runs pretty it doesn't work out too well. Troy McCormick looked like a guy that came back stronger than ever after having major knee surgery, I can't wait to see what he can do this year.
All in all, not bad. Not great, but not bad. The greatest strides of improvement come from week 1 to week 2, and I can't wait to see how much Troy Williams will make that statement true.
-DT
