A couple of noteworthy items from this week’s Bulldog Hotline transcript (thanks, Bernie!)…
First, Richt talked about Murray’s pick-six and said something I meant to mention after seeing the broadcast of the game, but forgot about:
… Richt – says he would never accuse Murray of staring down a receiver. Does a great job of reading coverages and going through his progressions. Says there are times when it’s a one receiver route where it might look like he’s staring the guy down, like on the one interception. Says there wasn’t a good enough fake after the snap. Also says our linemen have to have a good posture when it’s a run fake and our fullback’s got to run through there and isolate on the LB and the tailback has to sell the fake as well. That should create the seam we need to get it done.
Live, I thought Murray was guilty of exactly what Richt absolves him of there. But watching the play on TV, I realized it wasn’t that Murray stared down Charles; Charles was the sole intended target. The ball was poorly thrown, as even Tim Couch noted, but the other problem was that the Mississippi State defenders didn’t bite on the play fake. Given how much of Georgia’s passing game runs out of play action, that’s a big problem if the execution isn’t good enough to sell the run. And Richt’s right to point some of the blame in the o-line’s direction, although I wonder (again!) if all the time the line has to stay in stance for that no-huddle, look to the sideline stuff is having an effect on their mechanics.
Okay, enough grumbling. See if this quote about the secondary gets the same reaction from you that it does from me:
Tim from Bonnair has a concern about Tyler Bray of Tennessee. How are we going to approach their offense with him at QB? Richt – says Bray is the real deal. Good fundamentals, accurate thrower. They’re 7-1 in their last 8. Averaging about 320 yards passing during that time. Special guy. Thinks they’ll try to balance things out, but they‘ll definitely sling the thing around. Says we’ll try to re-route the receivers and mess around with their timing. [Emphasis added.] And we also need to get after the quarterback.
Wait… what was that? Defensive backs are going to try to affect the other team’s route running and timing on pass plays? Georgia defensive backs? As part of a deliberate strategy? What a novel concept!
I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. We aren’t in Martinez Country anymore, that’s for sure.
The point about the play action fake is a good one… not just on that play, but a couple of other times, Murray stretched the ball out to fake the handoff on his dropback, but the running back wasn’t close enough to actually take the handoff. I don’t know if that’s a Murray problem or the tailback’s mistake, but it’s hard to sell the handoff when you wouldn’t actually be able to make the handoff.
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I noticed that a couple of times but it always seemed like the back was trying to pick up a block and abandoned the fake.
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It’s been posted here before, but I think each year the offense should watch David Greene’s play action fake. When the QB, RB, and receiver act their parts well, it’s an almost guaranteed big play.
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Greene got sacked a lot. Love him, but I think we tend to give him more credit than is due. The defense back then, like now, determines whether we win or lose. Does anyone really believe our offense has become better than we were 9 or 10 years ago?
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+1.
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Bray definitely has two recent losses (@ Florida and vs. UNC in the Music City Bowl) that 7-1 stat must be only counting the regular season.
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“re-route the receivers”. What a nice euphemism for bruise inducing contact.
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We were going to do that against Boise, too. Why did we go away from it? Still not sure why we got caught in those zones when all they did all night was run underneath.
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Da’Rock Da’Rick???
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I think on the last two int’s that their D was prepared for the play we were running. Not that the execution of the fake was poor…but that the disguise of the play call was poor. (or, conceivably both) On the second pick, you can hear their coaches calling out the coverage as we are changing the play at the line and then you can hear their LB’s communicating the play call in a manner that indicates they know what’s coming. Then the get the LB to hide behind the Line and just float under the route for an easy pick. He was practically looking for the ball.
I think we need to go to the tape and figure out what the ‘tell’ is and try to mix up the formation or the line positioning.
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I think the defenses we’ve been facing have been making adjustments during the half. They look better prepared, and add on the factor that Crowell is getting gassed and our productivity starts dropping.
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Somebody pointed out to me in the stands that when Murray is about to throw the ball, he wipes his hands on the towel before taking the snap. It checked out every time and I did not see him do that on a run play. Some of those passes were play-action.
I have not watched the replay so I don’t know whether I was mis-seeing things or not, and would love some input on that from someone who has seen the replay.
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He wipes his hands on that towel a lot. I think he may have some sweaty palm issues-which is why he might have wanted to wear a glove. But if you’re right and he’s only doing it on passing plays that could be a problem for us. Didn’t the ginger ninja have some problems with his footwork and giving away run vs. pass?
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One foot was slightly behind the other or something like that. Yeah, I remember that being an issue.
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Yup, His feet were parralel with his shoulders for run plays and he had one foot back when he was going to drop back for a pass.
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So let’s say, just for blogs and giggles, that this is true.
That would make the 2nd time in 3 years where a fan is picking up a QB tell that our coaching staff is apparently oblivious too.
The arena is even smaller than we thought.
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THAT is a problem. No, not Murray wiping his hands on a towel–that the coaches didn’t spot the”tell.”
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Well, to be fair, there are alot more of us looking at him than there are coaches.
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it’s why computer software gets beta-tested…
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gonna definitely be watching for this on saturday night.
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I may have it wrong and maybe he did it on some run plays too. But definitely something to keep an eye on.
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On an unrelated note: Did Samuel line up at Fullback a few times Saturday? I could have sworn he did, and I haven’t watched a replay yet?
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As long as we are talking Samuel, I love the fact that he is catching the ball out on the flat more often. His ability to catch that pass when he is in the game creates some problems for the D when you send Figgins in the opposite direction.
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I think Richt mentioned that last night on the call in show. So I think he did…
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Samuel is a great compliment to IC and CT(a pleasant surprise), but to me he is clearly 3rd behind IC and CT. Him at FB is intriguing, but we only have so many snaps and Figgins has become everything we thought he could be there. I would have loved seeing RS at LB.
I think he’ll get a long hard look from the NFL as a developmental/special teamer. Big, fast, not affraid of contact. He just has a hard time running from contact.
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He’s a north south runner who’s center of balance is too high. But I think his main issue is that he has very little swivel in his hips. Runs full speed tho. Powerful too. Glad I don’t have to tackle him.
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The best description/comparison/metaphor of Samuel that I’ve seen is that he is a four seam fastball every time.
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My God…..the expertise, the understanding, the all-encompassing knowledge…..and they’re only bloggers!!!!!
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Well, technically, blogger posters. 😉 Blogs are too much work.
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I don’t think he has a center of balance. Just a center.
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I have to make this point again. We don’t hold Calvin Johnson to no TD’s and miniscule yards during his time at the NATS w/o getting GREAT play from our DB’s. If you watched our DB’s, they used to absolutely pummel other teams WR’s; The problem is that we haven’t had DB’s who could do that. AGAIN, he wouldn’t be the DB coach at OU if he sucked.
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Not so much knocking his coaching skills here, as I am his talent evaluation. Small DBs can’t get physical like bigger ones can.
And as for CJ’s production, I think his QB has to get some of the credit. 😉
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Paul Oliver did an outstanding job against CJ – 1 on 1. Got to give credit where credit’s due. If anyone doesn’t agree, go back and watch the game.
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Jason Aldean is a big Georgia Bulldogs fan
http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/index?id=5748884
Macon, Ga., native and country music star Jason Aldean talks to Kenny Mayne about being a lifelong fan of Georgia football.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6750726
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I definitely love seeing the W’s and the direction we’re heading right now. I hope they can work the kinks out and keep it going.
Still, I won’t breathe a sigh of relief until after a W at the Cocktail Party. That’s our Elinore.
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Very nice ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ reference.
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My question though, where was this in the Boise game, as long as they weren’t throwing 20 yards downfield, we seemed more than happy to let them nickel and dime us to death all the way to the endzone.
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There was a lot of stuff missing from the Boise game…
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Early on we did well. We just could not handle their 5th year senior laden D-Line. Period. Those guys were good and we were trying some new stuff to boot.
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