"I know many are still disturbed by what happened Saturday and I can understand that. No offense under Meyer has been so ineffective. I also understand this leads some to identify scapegoats, valid or not (Meyer, Addazio, Azzanni, Pouncey, Rainey, et al).
But I think there is at least one significant distinction that needs to be made between what we saw Saturday and what we expect to see going forward.
What happened Saturday was surely an anomaly in many respects. Eight fumbles, including three fumbled snaps, 10-15 bad snaps, dropped passes, bobbled exchanges, massive offensive line shifts due to injury and suspension, etc. That is a perfect storm and the offense suffered mightily. Toss in a vanilla game plan, lack of motivation against a subpar opponent, a veteran opposing defense that came to play with a great plan of their own, and general opening game malaise that kills most offenses, and you can see why we were so poor. While we should not have been that bad, there was enough of a confluence of bad luck that you could expect a poor performance. My expectation coming into the game was a sloppy performance offensively with no more than 34 offensive points scored. We had 27, so my assumption wasn't too far off.
Now, that has to be separated from problems we can expect to see going forward. When you replace a three year starter at quarterback, who was a perfect fit for the triple option phase of our offense, and your top receivers and are undergoing some schematic transitions due to different skill sets all around, you can expect a bit of an adjustment period. I don't believe that will end anytime soon, or at least not until the off-week prior to the UGA game.
Some things we will get right sooner rather than later. If Pouncey doesn't snap well this week and Robey gets healthy, then I would expect to see a shift along the line to get those snaps down. Likewise, if our running backs continue to drop the ball (by my count, every one of our returning backs had a fumble Saturday), then the rotation will get shortened and the guys who hold onto the ball will get a shot. If our perimeter receivers continue to struggle blocking, then we will either put different packages out there or substitute more liberally. Same for the blocking H-backs.
Other things will take more time to resolve. Brantley desperately needs to get into a rhythm with his receivers. One of the reasons the staff failed to sub last week was their desire to establish some of that rhythm in the passing game, but we all know how the third quarter went. You can see that Brantley already has it with Hines and Thompson. He trusts those two guys. But we need Moore to contribute and we need to involve Hammond, Debose, and Reed. That will not come quickly.
Also, we have to determine what kind of a running team we will be. Obviously, we aren't going to run much option, but the question remains whether we will be a zone read team out of the spread, an off-set I, a two tight end, what have you. I don't believe skill players this inexperienced and an offensive line this jumbled right now can attack you both ways. We need to find out which one we run best and that will take a little time to determine.
Lastly, the offensive staff has to improve on a few fronts. One of the reasons I get frustrated with folks who incessantly blame play calling is that our offense doesn't simply have one play caller and one option on each play. Our pass routes have multiple options the quarterback can throw to depending on the coverage. Our pre-snap reads can get us out of dedicated pass or run plays as needed. And our entire play card is developed during the week from combined scouting and game prep. So, a play is not the sum of the play call; it is rather the sum of film work, game planning, practice install, in-game decisions, and execution. Furthermore, you cannot really isolate and judge individual plays, but rather look at them in the larger context of down and distance, field position, drive, and game flow.
Those qualifiers being made, our offensive staff would be the first to admit they did not have our kids ready to play. Sure, part of that was the skeleton playbook we commonly run in opening games, part if was the injury and suspension situation, and part of it was the desire to protect Brantley behind a patchwork line.
But there are a couple of areas where we can improve. First, third down, short yardage, and goal line situational packages and plays have to get resolved. We struggled in all of those areas Saturday, but none were necessarily because we ran a limited playbook. Those by and large are the same for every game as they tend not to be opponent-specific. We have to figure out what our best packages are going to be for these situations and which guys we can trust to make those plays. I don't think a play was called for our U receiver to run three yards short of the first down marker on a third and intermediate pass, but the staff has to make sure these guys know where they are on the field and in the flow of the game.
Another area where we can improve is in checking out of plays. While Miami did a nice job disguising their coverages early, my uneducated opinion is that there were any number of plays where they did tip their hand. If Brantley either isn't ready or isn't allowed to get us out of those plays, then Addazio has to.
Lastly, we have to find an identity. I personally think we are best spreading the field with four and five wide and letting Brantley play to his strengths: Reading defenses from the pocket and getting rid of the ball quickly and accurately to take advantage of mismatches. Again, though, we can't go back and forth between pro pass spread, two tight end, off-set I, under center, etc., with this team right now. We have too much unsettled across the board to do that.
Otherwise, I did not have a real problem with the playcalling. Like most, I thought the screen to Rainey at the goal line was very dangerous. Nice play outside of the twenty, but less so at the one. Overall, though, we took a couple of shots deep, we got the ball in the hands of our experienced playmakers (Demps, Rainey, Thompson), we kept Brantley's jersey clean, and we kept him out of throwing bad balls on disadvantageous down and distance combinations. With only a few exceptions, each of our plays was in a position for positive gain.
But we need to establish an identity, clean up those specialty packages, and find a way to get out of bad plays. None of that will come immediately or quickly. I expect Saturday to be a much prettier display even against a better defense, but there will still be weaknesses and inconsistencies. That will continue for awhile, especially as long as the strength of our entire team--the offensive line--is in disarray due to injuries.
So, I would simply ask for patience and a slightly deferred optimism. I think his offense will be very good by year's end and outstanding a year from now, but we aren't going to get there this Saturday. There is simply not enough continuity for any number of reasons."
