UVA
Virginia's most recent loss Saturday came at the hands of the hated Terrapins. Virginia hung around for awhile, even taking a 23-21 lead in the third quarter after being down 21-10 at one point. However, the defense broke in the fourth quarter and allowed Maryland to score 21 points to win 42-23. While the offense scored only two TDs and three FGs, it effectively moved the ball for most of the game. I was pleased once again with the offense for the most part. The defense continues to disappoint. If we don't decide to get rid of any of the defensive staff, I can only hope that we get recruits who maybe fit the 4-3 system better. Mike London said before the year he thought the talent fit the 4-3, not the 3-4, and that's why he switched. It sure hasn't looked like it. This has by far been the worst UVA defense since I became a fan in the late 1990s. And we have a lot of the same players as we've had the last couple years and they've never looked worse. Nick Jenkins, Matt Conrath, and even Zane Parr, who came on strong last year as the season progressed, have been largely absent. I was expecting them to be beasts this year on defense. John-Kevin Dolce has been a workhorse at DT but is just too undersized for the position. We have had no pass rush all year. We rank second to last in the ACC in sacks with 15. That number seems to high for me and it is probably ballooned by playing Richmond, VMI, and EMU. The secondary has been hurt by the loss of
Ras-I Dowling but was still supposed to be the best part of the team and it has been the worst. Although our rush D ranks worse than our pass D, I feel as if our pass defense has given up big play after big play and third down conversion after third down conversion all season long. We know these guys are capable of being good on defense or, at least, not this bad so it is very perplexing why it has been so dreadful. If it's not the players, which I don't think it is, then it must be the schemes or the coaching. Virginia takes on BC Saturday, a team with a pretty weak offense so maybe that could help the D out. It would be good to get to 5-7 on the year and BC is probably our last chance to get a win as I don't see us having a chance against VT.
DALLAS
Dallas improved to 2-7 Sunday with a 33-20 win over the Giants and looked like a 7-2 team doing it. OC Jason Garrett, who took over for fired head coach Wade Phillips, obviously lit a fire under the players somehow and got them to respond. These same players had essentially quit after Tony Romo went down against the Giants three games ago. Dallas was a shell of its 2009 self over the past two games, getting shellacked by Jacksonville and then Green Bay. I'm not really sure how every facet of the team looked so much better Sunday than against Green Bay, especially the offense. Garrett has been the playcaller all year for the offense so that didn't change. Even with Romo, the offense had been disappointing. I guess with Phillips as head coach, energy, execution, and attention to detail was lacking everywhere, not just the defense, which he coordinated. So I can only believe that Garrett's infusion of details, discipline, and energy has helped the entire team, even his ailing offense. My question is, why didn't he do this before? I guess he didn't want to speak out with Phillips still has head coach, but it seems as if he could've at least motivated the offense during the slump.
Hopefully the Cowboys can record a 4-4 or better second-half mark. This Sunday, they face the Lions, so we should have at least a decent chance to mount a two-game win streak against a team that just gave Buffalo its first win of the season.
Virginia's most recent loss Saturday came at the hands of the hated Terrapins. Virginia hung around for awhile, even taking a 23-21 lead in the third quarter after being down 21-10 at one point. However, the defense broke in the fourth quarter and allowed Maryland to score 21 points to win 42-23. While the offense scored only two TDs and three FGs, it effectively moved the ball for most of the game. I was pleased once again with the offense for the most part. The defense continues to disappoint. If we don't decide to get rid of any of the defensive staff, I can only hope that we get recruits who maybe fit the 4-3 system better. Mike London said before the year he thought the talent fit the 4-3, not the 3-4, and that's why he switched. It sure hasn't looked like it. This has by far been the worst UVA defense since I became a fan in the late 1990s. And we have a lot of the same players as we've had the last couple years and they've never looked worse. Nick Jenkins, Matt Conrath, and even Zane Parr, who came on strong last year as the season progressed, have been largely absent. I was expecting them to be beasts this year on defense. John-Kevin Dolce has been a workhorse at DT but is just too undersized for the position. We have had no pass rush all year. We rank second to last in the ACC in sacks with 15. That number seems to high for me and it is probably ballooned by playing Richmond, VMI, and EMU. The secondary has been hurt by the loss of
Ras-I Dowling but was still supposed to be the best part of the team and it has been the worst. Although our rush D ranks worse than our pass D, I feel as if our pass defense has given up big play after big play and third down conversion after third down conversion all season long. We know these guys are capable of being good on defense or, at least, not this bad so it is very perplexing why it has been so dreadful. If it's not the players, which I don't think it is, then it must be the schemes or the coaching. Virginia takes on BC Saturday, a team with a pretty weak offense so maybe that could help the D out. It would be good to get to 5-7 on the year and BC is probably our last chance to get a win as I don't see us having a chance against VT.
DALLAS
Dallas improved to 2-7 Sunday with a 33-20 win over the Giants and looked like a 7-2 team doing it. OC Jason Garrett, who took over for fired head coach Wade Phillips, obviously lit a fire under the players somehow and got them to respond. These same players had essentially quit after Tony Romo went down against the Giants three games ago. Dallas was a shell of its 2009 self over the past two games, getting shellacked by Jacksonville and then Green Bay. I'm not really sure how every facet of the team looked so much better Sunday than against Green Bay, especially the offense. Garrett has been the playcaller all year for the offense so that didn't change. Even with Romo, the offense had been disappointing. I guess with Phillips as head coach, energy, execution, and attention to detail was lacking everywhere, not just the defense, which he coordinated. So I can only believe that Garrett's infusion of details, discipline, and energy has helped the entire team, even his ailing offense. My question is, why didn't he do this before? I guess he didn't want to speak out with Phillips still has head coach, but it seems as if he could've at least motivated the offense during the slump.
Hopefully the Cowboys can record a 4-4 or better second-half mark. This Sunday, they face the Lions, so we should have at least a decent chance to mount a two-game win streak against a team that just gave Buffalo its first win of the season.
Comments
Post a Comment