Browns Players, Local Soldiers Team Up in Video Game Play
September 28, 2011Attention Cleveland Browns Front Office…
September 28, 2011This week, when I sat down with my notebook to start my re-watch of the game I discovered something terrible. Instead of the Ohio State game, my DVR had recorded the Texas A&M/Oklahoma State game. Oof.
So instead of a 12-pack of insights from carefully watching the game again, you are going to get 10 first impressions from myself and perhaps a couple of the other writers from the site. Sorry for the technical difficulties.
No. 1– It was a huge rebound win for the Buckeyes. Yes, Colorado is not a good team. Understood. But after what happened against Miami, OSU needed to come out and push someone around. They did just that. The defense kept a supposedly good offense in check, and the offense was able to move the ball for freshman QB Braxton Miller.
No. 2– Let’s start with Miller. Obviously the team did exactly what they had to do early on- get a lead. You didn’t want to play from behind in this one and put extra pressure on Miller to throw the ball. Ohio State ran the ball on it’s first nine plays (excluding one punt). After a fumble recovery led to a FG, it was a fairly quick 10-0 lead. And Colorado hadn’t gotten a first down yet.
Miller ran the ball 13 times in the first half. My biggest criticism of Michigan the last season and a half is that they run Robinson way too many times. You don’t subject your QB to 25 hits a game outside of the pocket. It’s just not practical if you intend to keep him around all season. Miller was on pace for 26. Not good. Fortunately, the Buckeyes backed off the designated Miller carries in the second half, and he finished with 17 carries for 83 yards.
No. 3– More on Miller. I don’t know what has happened to his throws. Perhaps the Akron game was the anomaly. He threw some nice tight spirals all over the field in that game. The last two games his throws have looked ugly at best. They aren’t rainbow ducks like Pryor’s early passes, but they certainly aren’t cutting through the air like lasers either. Watching that pass wobble to Devin Smith from the end zone camera is going to stay with me for a while. It has to be hard catching passes thrown like that.
As for his running, obviously he is a very talented athlete. There were a couple things I noticed. First, the announcers need to calm down with the comparisons to Denard Robinson. I don’t think Braxton is nearly as fast as Denard, or even Pryor in a straight-line race. He is incredibly agile though. Maybe too agile for his own good? He needs to make a cut and go, just like they teach running backs. I see situations where Miller is going to try and reverse field and get nailed for big losses. His blockers also had no idea who or where to block as he kept shifting all over the field.
No. 4– This one comes from Andrew: “I know we all wanted to see Braxton play, and playing him is 100% the right thing to be doing, but man are we seeing how tough it is to make an impact as a true freshman. I see a lot of things I like in Braxton. I like the way his eyes are always downfield looking for receivers, even when trying to escape the pocket for dear life. I like the extra dimension his legs give the offense, although I’d like to see him run more north-south and not juke around so much. But still, he has moments where his composure seems lacking, and he’s really struggling throwing a catchable ball right now. He threw such a pretty ball at Wayne last year, but he seems to be trying to overthrow everything right now. There’s a lot of pressure on this young kid right now, very similar to the tough circumstances Pryor walked into as a freshman. Hopefully Miller can eventually make the same kind of impact Pryor ended up making by the end of his freshman year.”
No. 5– Got to love the running game from Saturday. Jordan Hall led the team with 84 yards on 18 carries. He ran hard again for the second week, and continues to improve. I love the way they used Carlos Hyde. As a change of pace battering ram, Hyde ran 6 times for 40 yards. Freshman Rod Smith got a few late game carries and made the most of his opportunity. It was good to see Smith run like he wanted to be on the field, something I have criticized him for in the past. Of course, the offensive line deserves a good amount of the credit for the 226 yards rushing.
No. 6– Again, from Andrew: “I’m sick of focusing on negatives with this team, so a positive that deserves mention is the Buckeye’s special teams. I’m still not super confident in Drew Basil, but Ben Buchanan has been an absolute rock at the punter position. The Buckeyes have cleaned up their issues covering kicks, and with Jordan Hall back, they have a legit threat to turn any kick into great field position. That can be a struggling QB’s best friend, and the Buckeyes QBs are certainly struggling right now. So it’s nice to see the Buckeyes have a solid return game for once.”
No. 7– Let’s talk defense. The coverage in the secondary was superb early on. After the Buckeyes scored to go up 17-0, I felt like the defense just relaxed instead of going for the jugular. Not very characteristic of Buckeye defenses. Ohio State loves the shut-out. That’s a successful game for the defense. The final drive for Colorado made the game appear closer than it really was, and skewed the numbers for the defense. 91 of Colorado’s 238 yards passing came on that last drive.
No. 8– From Andrew: “This team desperately misses Nathan Williams. With Solomon Thomas still suspended for another game, and Williams out for the foreseeable future, the Buckeyes really struggle generating any pass rush from their defensive line. Hankins and Simon are fantastic run stoppers. But when it comes to pass rushing, the Buckeyes seem to be trying to move Simon to the outside of the line to generate the pressure, but that’s not working so well. It seems like the Buckeyes would be better suited to let Simon try to do what he does best and generate pressure from the interior. Perhaps the coaches feel it’s too easy to double team him when he rushes the QB from the inside. Whatever the case, it’s not working. “
No. 9– Looking ahead, the Buckeyes start league play with the Michigan State Spartans. Michigan State comes in ranked #25 (USA Today poll). The Buckeyes actually start a streak of 4 straight games playing ranked opponents. They would have to be the underdog for the next four games then you would think. How long has it been since you could say that about the Buckeyes?
No. 10– This is also the last game that Posey, Herron and Adams have to sit. Make no mistake, this offense will look very different once those three are back in action. Can the Buckeyes squeak out this first league game without them? It will be difficult. The defense is going to have to force a couple turnovers I believe.
By the way, the last time Michigan State beat OSU was in 1999 in East Lansing. The last Columbus win for Sparty was the year before, 1998 when they knocked off top ranked OSU.
10 Comments
I’m not sure if I agree with Andrew’s assessment of Simon (and the use of him in the defense). If there is one person in the world (hyperbole alert) that I would not have wanted to be on Monday, it’s the Colorado right tackle as he was watching film with his position coach. Simon made that poor kid look utterly stupid – like an ogre wearing cement shoes – on about 10 plays. Simon might not be the fastest guy out there, and doesn’t quite get to the QB on time for the sack, but he has some great moves off the line and was perpetually in the face of the QB all day. That pressure had a visible effect on the QB’s performance and the outcome of the game.
Of course, my humble opinion (“IMHO”, as the kids say).
It would of been funny if you had re-capped the A&M/Ok St. game like you didn’t notice.
@2- Ha! I was sitting there Saturday watching the game and even thought I should jot a couple of thoughts down, but said to myself, nah. I’ll have the same thoughts when I re-watch it.
Whoops.
I agree with you Garry, but I can see Andrew’s point. Simon is a bit more of a beast on the inside. Let him keep working there & then you can bring in numerous others to try to rush from the outside. It’s OSU, they have to have some youngster who can come in for 4-5 plays and just go at the QB with reckless abandon.
Yaaay. The Buckeyes are at least on par with Hawaii. In football.
Someday, we’ll reclimb the ranks enough to be able to compete with Maryland and Kansas State.
It’s Miller Time…
A backfield of Herron and Hall along with seasoned hands of Posey will be just what the Dr ordered for Miller.
If Herron can return to half his form with what Hall has done thus far this year we had the beat backfield in the Big 10. They will eat yards as well as clock allowing the right pass plays to be called for Miller while he develops that better touch on the ball.
Millers problem from what I see is his cannon of an arm. He has it wound so tight that he has tried to let up a little which is causing him to lame duck everything. He’ll find the right touch over the next few games as he gets more comfortable with his receivers routes.
……or he won’t, twist his ankle on a scramble and go out for the year forcing Bauserman back into the starting role. 🙁
*have the best backfield in the Big 10.
My dominant thought after the game was “we’re going to get Braxton killed if we keep running him that much”.
I really hope they beat MSU this week. Living in Spartan country will be much more annoying if I have to put up with losing to them…