Football Articles
Fiesta Bowl Post-Mortem Part IV: Offense & Special Teams
Posted by Scipio Tex on January 9th, 2009 under Football
Offense
A great Longhorn points to Tim Tebow’s father
Quan Cosby was sensational and my Game MVP. 14 catches, 171 yards, 2 TDs, physical blocking that created Colt’s TD run, the game winning score. There’s something deeply satisfying about seeing a quality guy enjoy success. I admire him precisely for his imperfections as a player. When a guy with projected combine grades that scream 5th round can dominate a football game with nothing more than effort, skills won through endless repetition, and hard-nosed play he deserves entry into your pantheon of all-time Longhorn favorites.
Quan take a plunge into my list of all-time favorite Longhorns
Our decision to move both Cosby and Shipley around in our formations to avoid Malcolm Jenkins at boundary corner was solid. Jenkins is not an elite pure cover guy but he will knock the shit out of you and he would have created some turnovers for them if we’d matched him on our primaries. Because Ohio State always uses Jenkins to cover the wide side of the field, we often ended up with one of our key guys matched up with an OSU safety or #2 CB while Jenkins covered Kirkendoll. Not ideal from the Buckeye perspective and solid tactics from GD. I also liked our decision to go to a turbo version of the hurry-up offense in the 3rd quarter after seeing success with it in the first half. It was decisive in giving us the 17-6 lead and even allowed us to pretend for a quarter that we possessed a running game. OSU was struggling to substitute, they couldn’t get set, and their guys were seriously winded.
I was a bit surprised with how much pressure Ohio State brought blitzing, but I think the Texas A&M film was pretty decisive for them in making that decision. If those guys can knock Colt around, why not bring it? Hits on Colt are given out in our offense like peanuts at the concession stand and the Buckeyes certainly knew they had a better grade of athlete to do it with. They tackled pretty well in the secondary and I can count their significant missed tackles on one hand. They were content to let us roll up 8-10 yard passes in hopes that Colt would stop making perfect throws and they could get some big hits and negative plays on him. Not a bad strategy. Too bad for them we’re quarterbacked by a robot. He threw the ball 58 times with one interception against a high quality college secondary. Granted, his one interception was ridiclously unsound but his girlfriend demonstrates the quality of his overalll decision making.
Malcolm Williams enticed several mallards to land near him, but not any footballs
Kirkendoll and Collins proved that they’ll be solid guys for us next year, though neither has Quan’s rugged demeanor over the middle and they need to hit the weight room. Shipley’s slip probably kept him from breaking a long touchdown catch, but he was solid all night. Malcolm Williams actually got a play called for him! Deep! He used the Thorpe Winner Jenkins! Ball thrown to the wrong side of his body out bounds! Back to bench, Malcolm. See you in the Spring!
Peter Ullman gave us another volleyball jump set on a catchable ball over the middle and his blocking was negligible. DJ Grant, come on down.
People complained about Greg Davis’ play calling in this game, but other than the counter play on 2nd and forever near the goalline, play calling was not the issue. He actually called a good game within the constraints of the offense that he has created. No game highlighted better what I wrote weeks ago about our running game and why in my game preview I thought we’d rack up yardage but have difficulty turning those yards into points.
Our lack of an identity in the running game destroys any pretense of a play action game where you can create deep opportunities with minimal risk. The thought of sucking up safeties with our running game and then hitting a receiver one-on-one is a dim memory. To criticize our playcalling misses the point entirely. This is structural. Our run/pass ratio was positively Texas Techian. When deception leaves your offense, everything becomes about execution.
The most troubling thing about our lack of a running game is that it bled directly into our pass protection issues. DE Thaddeus Gibson was coming off of the edge like an Olympic sprinter – about as unconcerned for the zone read or a draw play as Mark Gastineau in his prime. He owned Ulatoski, who played his two worst games in the season’s last two contests. Not a coincidence and not due to injury. Charlie Tanner (poor run blocking, multiple QB pressures) and Chris Hall (sack, holding call, poor run blocking) also struggled pretty badly, while Hix and Dockery did a pretty nice job on the right side. Against a reasonable defense like OSU, our entire success in the running game is predicated on the other team’s exhaustion.
That we’ve carved out a pretty badass little offense based on flawless execution in the passing game and Colt’s feet is both praise and an indictment of what we do and the surest argument I know for my belief that the wrong guy won the Heisman.
Special Teams
There’s nothing much to Ohio State’s kickoff return game, but their punt return game is very solid (our ability to bypass Roy Small as a returner with rugby kicks is an under appreciated key to our win) and their coverage units are spectacularly well-coached. Let’s send someone to their instructional camp, shall we? Ohio State’s attention to the little things is plainly evident there.
Our patented upback snap fake punt – which has become a staple of the Mack Brown era – was an excellent call and even though Ohio State expected it and left in their first team D to stop it, I was pleased that we pulled the trigger on it in a tight ballgame. Other than that, our return game was pretty pedestrian.
Final Thoughts
What can you say? 3 BCS bowls against traditional powers Michigan, USC, Ohio State. Three wins. By eight points. All by last minute 4th quarter comebacks. This team surpassed expectation, gave us glimpses of an even brighter future, and played their hearts out. This staff deserves a lot of credit for wringing every bit of blood from the stone. The future is bright. It’s time to reload.
Thanks for a great season, Longhorns. Take a bow….
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Activity
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Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Oklahoma Sooners – Recruiting So Far 5 minutes ago
BOC: Neither has visited, yet we hold ’ships open for both.
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Nate Heupel wrote a new blog post: Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout 13 minutes ago
TMZ reports that Tiny Gallon took a $3000 payout from an agent. My God, Capel has no control over this team whatsoever. This is 2007 offseason Texas football levels of embarrassing. You can’t let a half dozen bad apples spoil a bushel of 10 apples…that analogy sucked balls, but you get my
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Previewing Jimmer and the Cougars 1 hour, 25 minutes ago
Great stuff, bear. really looking forward to this game.
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Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 1 hour, 25 minutes ago
06_UT: you are probably right. I thought about changing the post description to “least favorite Barnes team” because that’s more accurate but I didn’t feel like it.
That said, I’m not sure this team would beat those other two. They would lose Abrams and let him go 7-15 on 3s and the Abrams team played better -
admin commented on the blog post Nike U in Turmoil 1 hour, 30 minutes ago
Aren’t they building some sort of super duper hoops arena? Most expensive ever bilt or something?
Who will the get? Mark Few?
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Nike U in Turmoil 1 hour, 30 minutes ago
Aren’t the building some sort of super duper hoops arena? Most expensive ever bilt or something?
Who will the get? Mark Few?
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srr50 wrote a new blog post: Nike U in Turmoil 1 hour, 46 minutes ago
10 weeks ago, Oregon played in the Rose Bowl as Pac 10 champions. Since their loss to Ohio State, the program has been in some kind of bizzaro parallel universe where every headline concerns a player arrest, a firing, or now a resignation.
Mike Bellotti, the Duck AD and former head coach earlier this week
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Luke commented on the blog post First Round: Clemson Tigers 3 hours, 58 minutes ago
Prescient comment, Doc.
I think we learned today that no team is really a mirror image of Missouri, even if Clemson is about as close as it gets. Unless you have significantly better/more talented athletes, if you try to run with the Tigers, you will lose. This team is so much fun to watch in games
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srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 4 hours, 12 minutes ago
Good to see that Tom Penders still believes in the weave offense. Maryland finally figured out that if you pass quickly, the middle is always open.
37-29 Maryland late in the first half.
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Luke wrote a new blog post: Previewing Jimmer and the Cougars 4 hours, 13 minutes ago
Kansas State is going to be under a lot of pressure tomorrow night in primetime at the Ford Center.
Not only are the Wildcats the favored #2 seed going against #7 seed BYU, but if the Wildcats lose, they may sentence hundreds of boys to nonstop harassment from all the kids who think that “Jimmer” was
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Ibas water bottle wrote a new blog post: Georgia Tech post mortem 4 hours, 25 minutes ago
We came up short.
Credit to Georgia Tech they worked the ball inside where they had the advantage and played great D on the perimeter. Matt Pilgrim is the most athletic big man we’ve had in years around here and he was irrelevant. When we tried to drive they collapsed like Chris Farley on a
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Phenomenal Smith commented on the blog post First Round: Clemson Tigers 5 hours ago
Doc, the turnovers seemed to do the trick – there were great big chunks of time when Mizzou didn’t even have to get into a half court offense.
Great to see Ramsey have such a good game and pretty stifle Booker. As Euclid said during the game, even when Mizzou doesn’t play well
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dick commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 5 hours, 40 minutes ago
“Also because those other teams gave great effort almost every game. This team’s effort was questionable. Dumb and lazy, not a good combo…..”
This is what made this season so bizarre for me. This has never been a problem for Barnes’ teams. But I actually questioned this team’s heart and desire to play together
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srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 5 hours, 53 minutes ago
Travis Ford spent the 2nd half channeling his inner Rick Barnes — lot’s of standing around on offense while one player tries to generate something off a ball screen — then taking a forced shot.
So the Big 12 goes 5-2 in Round One.
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skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 5 hours, 58 minutes ago
This is the worst coached team ever in Barnes era. Period.
Worst defense over the whole season,
Offense sucked big time and the bench coaching was horrible, ransom’s attitude was better then the coach’s overall this season.
Trips write up pre and post better then the game plan and O schemes.
Hell we could have -
srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 6 hours, 2 minutes ago
advertisers think they will probably get some deals for the additional 32 games that would be added. The feeling is that an ESPN would disount rates somewhat, since they already have a dual revenue stream — advertising dollars and subscription fees.
It’s all about content for ESPN — even mediocre content.
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dick commented on the blog post FLV March Madness First Round Bets 6 hours, 3 minutes ago
a great first round of the tournament from an excitement standpoint, very mediocre from a gambling standpoint.
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srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 6 hours, 19 minutes ago
Ga. Tech — last in the ACC in free throw shooting at 64% — 13 for 13 tonight.
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srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 6 hours, 29 minutes ago
A poll of media buyers from the major agencies overhwhelmingly showed that advertisers believe that the NCAA will expand, and the tournament will join the BCS on ESPN.
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whiskey wrote a new blog post: The week in news- Pariahs, Malcontents and Power Hour 6 hours, 31 minutes ago
In the midst of March Madness, St. Patrick’s Day, house guests, nice weather outside and a host of other distractions I still managed to come across quite a few interesting college football stories this week. Here we go.
Mike Leach and Craig James were apparently in the same room this week and nobody wrestled. Bummer. Leach
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srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 6 hours, 43 minutes ago
Anderson finds out what going to the paint is like when there is a big who knows how to defend the low block.
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srr50 wrote a new blog post: March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 6 hours, 53 minutes ago
So far on Day Two, no buzzer beaters, but there was the obligatory #12 over #5 with Cornell thumping Temple 78-65, but the Ivy League school was everyone’s “inside” pick for an upset. Still the day hasn’t come close to generating the action that Thursday had.
Today
#5 Texas A&M 69 #12 -
Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 7 hours, 18 minutes ago
I wasn’t trying to say they quit. They just didn’t play hard a lot of the time. Lazy = lack of effort. Example, our transition defense was about 75% effort and 25% stupidity. We loafed down court a lot. The kids didn’t like to lose so they would fight back,
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 8 hours, 51 minutes ago
This the most disappointing team because our talent level is higher than those others.
The DGib/Buckman team was the least talented, barely, after the injury to LaMarcus and Tucker’s suspension.
Last year’s team was the hardest to watch. Just watching AJ Abrams, who I don’t hate as much as most, run around like a
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uthookem commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 8 hours, 57 minutes ago
Agreed on Damo being my favorite Longhorn basketball player, I wish him all the best.
This was definitely the worst, by far.
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest: Post Mortem 10 hours, 10 minutes ago
Don’t have time to address each and every comment now, but I wanted to say thanks to everyone for contributing to the site this season. It’s made it a lot of fun to follow a team that’s tough to watch at times.
Also, I wanted to thank you for the kind words as
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Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post Big Dance: Day Two 10 hours, 11 minutes ago
And that’s all she wrote…relatively boring day so far. A&M out to a nice early lead.
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Art Vandelay commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest: Post Mortem 10 hours, 14 minutes ago
Trips,
Great work all year long. Love the passion. The fact that you kept writing these (even around the birth of a child), is fantastic, shows your commitment, and is a little freaky. :-)
I think you showed great restraint in this post. It would have been easier to “go off” on Barnes.
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ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 10 hours, 15 minutes ago
Second awesomest thing — Magnus gets his woman to go to Hooters with him.
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Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post Big Dance: Day Two 10 hours, 22 minutes ago
Missouri going to hang on…
Sconsin clinging to a 2 point cushion
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Huckleberry said:
January 9th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Malcolm Williams actually got a play called for him! Deep! He used the Thorpe Winner Jenkins! Ball thrown to the wrong side of his body out bounds! Back to bench, Malcolm. See you in the Spring!
Now you’re just trying to make me angry.
Parlin Hall said:
January 9th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
“Against a reasonable defense like OSU, our entire success in the running game is predicated on the other team’s exhaustion.”
Oddly, this also describes my love life.
Scipio Tex said:
January 9th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Ha!
CrazyJoeDavola said:
January 10th, 2009 at 12:35 am
Scip, I have a feeling – and this is just a hunch – that RansomStoddard will be displeased at the ultimately complimentary nature of your post.
For my own part, I will try to keep my bile down next year as we seemingly make it borderline impossible to achieve our goals and then somehow miraculously manage to do so. All this due to a truly great (and nationally under-appreciated) college QB and an inventive DC who will throw every fiber of his being into covering up our weaknesses and maximizing our strengths.
Colby said:
January 10th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Very well then. We hereby declare 2009 the year of BOOM.
Bow Shumbuckler said:
January 10th, 2009 at 6:44 am
To some extent I think Davis gives up on the run too early because it’s so easy to fall back on Colt’s accuracy. But it’s chicken-egg because if the initial runs worked he wouldnt be tempted to do that.
Texoz said:
January 10th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Great stuff.
Malcom Williams wins my MUP (Most Underused Player) award. When the ball was thrown to him, it seemed to be out of the back of the endzone or out of bounds on the sideline. I lost count of how many good catches he made OOB.
Obviously, Quan and Ship are part of the reason he wasn’t thrown to much. With Quan gone and Irby not likely to play until well in to the season (if at all), next year should be a breakout year for Malcom.
p.s.
I’d kill everyone on this board for a decent running game.
Texoz said:
January 10th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Oops, forgot to say Happy New Year.
Kafka said:
January 10th, 2009 at 8:15 am
I wasn’t surprised that Tressel relentlessly pressured Colt. Given that the horns can’t run well (and when they do it is so slow developing that the D has plenty of time to respond) and don’t throw deep very often, why not pressure the QB? Also, why not go with 5 or 6 DBs?
The extreme hurry up offense is a big deal and is here to stay. The extreme hurry up takes the defensive coordinator out of the game. There is no time for a DC to reflect on the proper strategy. The extreme hurry up offense requires much better communications systems between sideline and D players, requires smarter D players, and forces the D to simplify their D plan (better to play a vanilla D that is lined up properly than try to get into a more optimal D when there is not enough time for everybody to get on the same page (or even lined up properly)).
If it has not already happened, it seems inevitable to me that realtime constraints will force both offensive and defensive coordinators to use computers to call/display their signals.
The horns were over achievers this season and, on offense, Colt, Quan, and Ship led the over achieving.
Having said that, it seems so obvious to me that you want to power run well enough to force the opposition to play a 4-3 with 4 real DL guys and 3 real LBs. With that personnel package, the opposition D is much more vulnerable to the horns’ proficient passing attack.
Next season, I would prefer to play a couple of TEs who can block, run and catch (like Irby) and a couple of WRs who are fast and tall enough and tough enough to win those 50-50 balls downfield.
I would prefer a TB who is big (not tall) and fast who can run for power.
Greg Davis has gone strictly finesse. All the WRs that he throws to are small. The OL is optimized for pass blocking. The TE position was basically MIA this season (after Irby went down). Fozzy and Vondrell are both small at TB (Cody is a big guy but does carry the ball much).
It is amazing that the horns could function so well on O this year with an offense that depended strictly on the short pass. I love the short passing attack but I hope GD will mix in some power running and more long passes next year.
Minnesotahorn said:
January 10th, 2009 at 8:39 am
I don’t have a bunch to contribute but this whole series was excellent and you deserve a reply noting that and an effort at additional thoughts. Let’s see…
You know what’s neat about Quan? His progression as a man has been gratifying to experience. As a high schooler, at least through his junior year, he had a pretty standard elite-athlete-from-a-rural-area attitude. I’m badass. The world is my oyster. Fawn over and serve me. That wouldn’t be notable except for the fact that he’s now an outstanding dude. Obviously many factors have lead to his thoughtful, courteous and exceptionally dedicated mindset at this point but there are seven million examples of people with a similar journey who never undergo such a mental reformation. That he has speaks volumes of him as a guy and it’s really neat for me as a UT fan to have experienced it. Your fifth round appraisal of his measurable skill set is more optimistic than my own but I do think he’s going to stick wherever he winds up. And that’s really cool. I’ll cheer for him forever.
What do you see from our offense next year, specifically the distribution of Quan’s allotment? It would seem obvious that Malcolm Williams needs to get most of those but I’m wondering if his abilities are a little incongruous with Colt’s strengths as a passer. He could murder people on a 20 yard out or a deep post but asking Colt to throw those twelve times a game seems folly when he’s peerless at fifteen and in. Can we incorporate him?
Math Police said:
January 10th, 2009 at 9:04 am
“Three wins. By eight points.”
Seven
38-37
41-38
24-21
Buzzard Lips said:
January 10th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I think that the structural issue with the offense is a direct result of a dip in our OL recruiting and current weaknesses there. You can’t play a power running game if your whole left side can’t run block.
Charlie Tanner should not be a starter. Big U is an average tackle. I’ll predict right now that Snow will play in Dock’s RG spot and back up Center next year… and I’ll pray Huey et al. start improving enough to clean up LG. Otherwise, it’s back to pass protection and the short game, fellahs.
ctex80 said:
January 10th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Our 3 BCS games have been decided with a COMBINED 27 seconds left on the clock.
Are you not entertained?!?
Steve Nebraska said:
January 10th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I just pictured Ullman, Gideon, and Thomas all playing a game of pepper. It wasn’t pretty.
Justaguy said:
January 10th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Minnesotahorn,
Look no further than the Texas Tech game to see if Malcolm Williams can fit into this offense with Colt and be effective.
4 catches for 182 yards and 2 td’s
Everyone recalls the 91 yard touchdown where he showed his great speed, but also look at the three other catches, their results, and the situations.
10 yard catch on 3rd and 8
44 yard catch down the sideline in traffic on 3rd and 25
37 yard catch and run for touchdown in which he showed more explosive speed than any other Texas receiver besides possibly Shipley, strength, and elusiveness after the catch.
Additionally, go back and see the leaping catch in traffic for the 32 yard score versus Missouri early in that game.
These 5 catches were not garbage time catches like Buckner’s one long touchdown. Each was while the game was still being contested and has left my son and I scratching our head as to why in the world Texas’ three receiver set was not Quan, Jordan, and Malcolm.
Bottom line is Texas has a bunch of small receivers with speed in Jordan, Brandon, James, D.J. (if eligible), DeSean (who I saw multiple times in high school and reminds me of Eric Metcalf), but no receiver on that roster has Malcolm’s combination of size, speed, athletic ability, and explosiveness after the catch.
If it is route running as some have guessed than Bobby Kennedy had better get on Malcolm’s ass this spring. If it is something else than maybe Colt needs to take him aside and share with Malcolm what he is willing to sacrifice for one last chance to do what he came to Austin to do and that is to win a national title and nothing less than complete dedication is expected from his teammates.
Regardless of the why’s for this year aside from injury I can’t not fathom a reason why Malcolm would not play a prominent role for the Horns offense in 2009 and provide them with something they haven’t had since Limas junior year.
Newy25 said:
January 10th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Our offense is by no means perfect but it is absolutely clutch. In case you missed the BCS game, Florida’s offense is far from perfect as well. And for that matter so is USC’s.
Our running game went wrong when Blaine Irby got hurt. Not that we were 1995 Nebraska before but when Davis realized putting Ullman in the lineup was a dead giveaway for a run he went to the 4 and 5 wide sets which severely limited our ability to mash people.
Hopefully we have a serviceable TE that allows us to fire off the line out of our base package that can actually catch a ball and run a route. Our TE this year was really a 3rd tackle at best.
hopefulhorn said:
January 10th, 2009 at 10:51 am
“He actually called a good game within the constraints of the offense that he has created.”
This sentence captures my ambivalence about Greg Davis very well. Our run-game woes are absolutely structural and of GD’s creation as your referenced post spells out in painful detail. Davis labors mightily to overcome this with under-appreciated play-calling. He also does not get enough credit for developing QB’s. He has now played a significant role in bringing along two very different QB’s in Vince and Colt with the common trait of coming up big in the clutch.
The struggle to transcend our own tragic flaws gives our offense a Shakespearean dramatic quality that we are clearly stuck with until GD retires. How long, oh Lord?
Great season that I am sad to see end. Thanks for putting in the time, thought and effort to bring us these write-ups. This site’s commentary on the Horns is the most insightful currently available anywhere.
Levander Williams said:
January 10th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Is it too much to hope for a reenactment of Buddy Ryan clocking Kevin Gilbride?
Run game still stinks on ice – thank God for Colt/Quan/Shipley’s ability to execute this year.
Justaguy said:
January 10th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Looking at the game again a couple of things strike me.
Texas average starting position on offense was inside their own 20 for the night and their best starting position in the second half was the last drive and that was their own 22.
Texas was way out of balance in the first half. They only ran the ball 6 times and threw it 27. In the second half they had 23 running plays to 31 passes. In fact, take going into that last drive Texas had run the ball 22 times (2 of those were actually sacks) and thrown it 21 times. Be it from the spread or under center Texas was much more effective when they played at the quicker tempo and made Ohio State at least have to worry about defending the run and the pass. Take out the 8 yard loss on third and a mile and the two sacks and Texas had some success running the ball. As Newy pointed out, this team wouldn’t be confused with some of the great running teams of all times, but they did have some success in the second half.
Finally, Texas only had one truly bad series in the second half and that was the three and out.
The drive after the opening touchdown had Texas convert on first down three straight plays until the sack/grounding on 2nd and ten. After 5 straight passes a run would have been a good call in anticipation of the rush, but I still wonder why Colt went straight back instead of breaking out of the pocket or getting rid of the ball like we have seen him do so often this year.
Then first series of the fourth quarter Texas is again on the move with 4 runs and 2 passes for 45 yards when Colt rolls out behind U, gets flushed, breaks back to his right, and then fumbles out of bounds. Not a bad call in theory except U can’t move well and I am not sure why Colt seemed intent on forcing the play instead of getting rid of it. What makes this one hurt worse is that on the next play Texas has the right play called in Malcolm Williams going deep and the only way that doesn’t result in a td is he drops the ball or a poorly thrown pass.
Bottom line to me is that as frustrating as the second half was to watch at times what Texas did on offense was very impressive considering the opposition and I am very excited about what this offense can become in 2009 with another year to develop.
Nero said:
January 10th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Quan Cosby = Wayne Chrebet?
Crash said:
January 13th, 2009 at 5:46 am
Nero,
No. Quan = Hines Ward.
Scipio Tex said:
January 13th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
You know, I read that comparison a lot, Crash. Did you know that Hines Ward goes about 6′0 210-215?
Quan is going to measure out at the combine around 5′9″ 188. Chrebet size.
They’re certainly all tough, gritty guys with great hands.
Phenomenal Smith said:
January 13th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Quan is going to measure out at the combine around 5′9″ 188. Chrebet size.
I read this as “Cherub size,” which would make sense and be funny.
Horncasting said:
January 13th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
“People complained about Greg Davis’ play calling in this game, but other than the counter play on 2nd and forever near the goalline, play calling was not the issue.”
2 other instances I had issues with, both involve the running game.
In the first half we ran 2 plays in a row from (gasp!) under center. The first was a carry by Chris O. that went for 7-8 yards. The second was a carry by Fozzy that went for 5-6 yards but was called back for holding. I don’t believe we ever ran the ball from under center again the rest of the game.
On a drive in the second half, in our turbo hurry up, we were running the ball very well, when Davis decided to call a pass that ended in huge negative yardage (the play where Colt fumbled out of bounds maybe?) that killed a promising drive.
Lapu Lapu said:
January 13th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Quan=Quan, as in money, attitude, the whole package! The MVP for the game.
Hook’Em
Crash said:
January 14th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Scipio,
I did not know that Hines was that big. I can believe he now weighs 210, but I don’t see the 6′0. Who knows? Maybe he is taller than he appears.
For me the comparison is more about the way they play and how they look when they do. Both are multidimensional. Quan was a HS QB and can throw. Ward played QB in a pinch at Georgia. Both want to block and do so with devastation. They are fearless over the middle and consistently pick up more yards than they should catching short passes and making controlled cuts in tight spaces. Whether they are the same size or not, they have the same build and similar gait. They are strong-legged, choppy-stepping dynamos with clutch hands and perfect attitudes.
I never spent much time watching Chrebet. I don’t know his game. As a Horn and Steeler fan, I have seen a lot of Quan and Hines, and they’ve always reminded me of one another.