frdbtr wrote:
Two more thoughts:
1. I don't think it was all of the receivers. Gunner Romney played well (2 catches on 2 targets that I remember, for the highest ypc average). The TEs played well, especially MLP with 5 catches.
And Collie's getting a lot of grief, but I thought the defender just made a really good play in stripping the ball out of his hands. Like Criddle pointed out, it was Simon who missed the fairly routine comeback catch on 3rd & 5 that stopped that drive. Simon had at least 4 targets that I remember, and only hauled in 1 ball the whole game.
2. I think Michael Shelton got a little over-confident in his shake-and-bake on punt returns. He totaled -4 yards trying to do too much--and not just when we were down and he was maybe trying to spark the team. It was from the beginning. KO returns, too. There were several times where we should have called for the fair catch and started at the 25 instead of inside our own 15.
Go back and watch the replay on the Collie Drop. That catch was right on his hands and the ball just bounced off. The defender never touched it. That would have been an easier catch than the one he made in the AZ game.
I took your advice; you were right. Neither defender touched it before Collie bobbled it away. Too bad. It was a great pass.
In fact, i watched the rest of the offensive series from that drive that started with 5 minutes left in the second quarter, and I have to say, Tanner played a decent game. From that point on, he only had 3 passes that weren't either drops or he had to throw the ball away to avoid a sack. (He also had 2 sacks, so there's that.) Of those 3 inaccurate throws, 2 were picked off--in no small part because he was pressing trying to make something happen because the receivers and the run game had put them in a hole. So he paid dearly, but 3 inaccurate throws over the period where the team struggled the most isn't bad. (There was also another throw to Simon, i believe, where it was obvious that there was a communication error--Simon curled in (and into traffic) when Tanner thought he was going to curl out. Not sure whose fault that was, but had Tanner thrown it on the route Simon ran, it likely would have been picked by the middle linebacker; so Tanner made the better read on where it should go).
There were at least 3 times that many passes dropped by receivers--WR, TE and RBs.
Tanner wasn't perfect, but he played well enough to win the game. The defense also played better than I remembered--with the exception of third down. They still had five 3-and-outs. Plus the INT and scoop and score.
Watching it again, I was most disappointed in the play of the O line in the run game. I remembered it being bad, but not that poor. I'd saddle them and the receiving with equal blame for the outcome.
