The "O" Line

The difference maker today and all year will be the play of our offensive line.



Wasn't it amazing that we didn't give up a sack the entire game last week? You would have thought that Sark would have brought the house and in an attempt to rattle our new QB's. With Airforce's best defender out and our O-line giving the guys plenty of time I think we will do what Bronco has always done as a head coach (against the cadets) and pull away in the second half.



I am also wondering if the potential "NFL Lock-Out" could keep Matt Reynolds in Provo through his Senior year. Do you think he will stay in school if there is no NFL in 2011?

UW blitzed plenty of times last week, they were just unsuccessful. Kariya did an amazing job of picking up blitzers. If I was Sark, I would have given serious consideration to just rushing 3 and dropping 8.

O-line, Schemes, and Kariya and other FB's--huge, no doubt.

Although I might argue that the difference maker today needs to be our receivers.

AF cant afford to do too many blitzes, as their D backfield, which has lost their best player, would be left out there on there own. Our receivers need to make catches. If we cant throw effectively, our run will be too one-dimensional. We may win in a close battle, but we need to start getting the ball downfield if we are to have a chance in tougher upcoming games.

I think the receivers will have gotten out the 1st game jitters and will settle down and play. It was sad that the dropped balls didn't allow Heaps to get the stats that he deserved last week. The mistakes were so bad that they had to have spent extra time this week in practice to prevent it from happening again.

crh55 wrote:
I think the receivers will have gotten out the 1st game jitters and will settle down and play. It was sad that the dropped balls didn't allow Heaps to get the stats that he deserved last week. The mistakes were so bad that they had to have spent extra time this week in practice to prevent it from happening again.

Jake heaps got the stats he deserved last week. Dropped passes happen, that is why a dropped pass does not count as a completed pass in favor of the QB. Everyone has been blaming the fact that recievers are dropping Jake heaps passes on the recievers. I think it is time to start looking at Heaps as the reason that recievers are dropping his passes since they don't seem to be dropping Nelson's passes. There are a lot of reasons for dropped passes including too much mustard on a throw, bad timing between reciever and QB and others. I am not criticizing Heaps by any stretch of the imagination, it is going to take time for him to iron out these issues.

Our Oline is certainly important, but the Cougs have to make good decisions on 3rd down or what the Oline does won't matter. We cant' afford to let Air Force have the ball. This game is all about keep away and ball control. We did a great job of that last week, except for 3rd downs.



I like that the strength of our defense is the secondary; I dont' think they'll get fooled on plays and our front seven certainly are physical enough to do an adequate job.



I really dont' know what to expect today; we haven't played AFA this early in a very very long time.

frdbtr wrote:
Everyone has been blaming the fact that recievers are dropping Jake heaps passes on the recievers. I think it is time to start looking at Heaps as the reason that recievers are dropping his passes since they don't seem to be dropping Nelson's passes. There are a lot of reasons for dropped passes including too much mustard on a throw, bad timing between reciever and QB and others. I am not criticizing Heaps by any stretch of the imagination, it is going to take time for him to iron out these issues.

That is total bunk, and are you kidding me? Sorry, but drops ARE the fault of the receiver. It is the QB job to deliver the ball to a place where the receivers can make the play, and the receivers job to catch it. Heaps did that, and Jacobsen, Ashworth and others dropped them. Nelson did have a drop as well, again on a well thrown ball the receiver dropped. The receivers deserve the criticism and blame for drops. Everything else, like rotation of the ball, thrown too hard, whatever is total BS. That is, uness you think Elway, Favre, Manning and other QBs throw it too hard. And I do not recall the 49ers receivers complaining about ball rotation the year Montana got hurt and Young took over. Just plain excuses. The receiving group needs to get it done and it is as simple as that. And I guarantee that the Bronco and staff have talked to the receivers about this as well. Few balls are perfectly thrown. Guys just need to catch it, like Pitta did, Collie did, and many BYU players over teh years.

"The ball was thrown too hard coach, it hurt my hands"

Lawboy wrote:
And I do not recall the 49ers receivers complaining about ball rotation the year Montana got hurt and Young took over.

Not to be argumentative, Law (because I do agree with both of you to a certain extent), but Rice actually did change his entire warmup because of the switch to Young. One of the backups usually warmed up with him (a right-hander), but when Young took over, he had one of the assistant coaches (a lefty) throw his warmups, so that the spin was right (or left, rather. ;) )



That said, I don't care how the ball is caught, I just want a WIN today!!!

:evil: :evil: :evil: