I’ll have my Observations post up tomorrow, but I don’t think it takes any great insight to note that the primary reason the Peach Bowl was as close as it was turned out to be the offensive line’s worst showing by far of the season.
Look what happened on a couple of plays when pass pro held up long enough for Daniels to do his thing.
I’d love to know what Matt Luke was thinking when he decided that changing four of the five starters on the line was the way to go.
Get The Picture 
“I’d love to know what Matt Luke was thinking when he decided that changing four of the five starters on the line was the way to go.”
Same here…..I also hope that the experiment with #73 at left tackle is over.
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Agreed. And Truss looked like a clumsy newborn calf out there.
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The way Daniels puts so much air under the ball allowing out receivers to adjust and run under the ball reminds me, unfortunately of Danny Wuerffel throwing to Ike Hilliard and Reidel Anthony but in a good way. His timing with these guys is only going to get better with more time. Its exciting!
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He needs to put less air under the ball right now. He’s under-threw wide open guys and cost us 3 touchdowns in the Cincy game.
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Very true. He didnt seem to have quite as much zip on the ball as in previous games. May be my eyes lying to me though. I just dont think he was comfortable at all in the pocket all night with how the OL was playing.
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If you think these are our five best players available, and I wouldn’t argue that, the main debate would be playing sayler and shaffer at rg or lg. Having salyer next to truss to assist him may have been seen as an advantage.
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Having guys moved around definitely hurt but Truss was just bad and Ericson looks weak. Ericson has gotten bullied almost every time he played.
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It will be interesting to see if Van Pran wins that battle. Also interested to see if clay webb can lock down a guard spot.
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Gotta feeling that we will see Broderick Jones at left tackle next year….with some added weight.
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If not Mims. Mims looks to be a Andrew Thomas/Trinton Sturdivant type player. You may have:
LT Jones LG Ericsson/Webb C Van Pran RG McClendon RT Mims.
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Mims will be a right tackle imo, may need a year to get adjusted. Jones is an athlete that can move better than Mims and has a year under his belt. Thinks Jones would be perfect at that position if he is ready.
Very excited about Mims….hope he is ready. Watched him when he was at Cochran. Sky is the limit for him….guess we will see where he plays.
just think he starts off as a at right tackle to start with….probably slowly worked into the lineup his first year.
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Is it assumed Salyer won’t return for one more?
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Hadn’t thought of it…. We could use him.
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I’m certainly curious about it. I kinda expect him to move to G if he returns, though, he certainly played fairly well at LT for a guy who projects as an NFL guard.
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Haven’t really heard…..my guess is, he is probably evaluating it (NFL).
If he stays, hope we move him to guard..:.his natural position imo. That is, if we have the luxury to do so.
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I’m honestly shocked Webb isn’t at C or Jones or van Pran. Ericson has been in this strength program a couple years now and he’s still getting smacked into the backfield at the snap of the ball. If the C can’t consistently hold point without constantly needing double team help then the OL is already a liability.
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Not related to O line, but can we please see more of Mr. Darnell W. next season too! Washington will be impossible to cover if used correctly. He is a beast to tackle.
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Those two plays were things of beauty re: the receiving corps, eh? What a phenomenal catch by Pickens.
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Maybe we can recruit 6-star linemen, since 5-stars and 4-stars ain’t gettin the job done. Or it could possibly be the coaching.
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I ‘ve had my doubts about Luke. Would like to see Pittman’s big uglies again.
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You’re def on to something. Jury is still out on Luke.
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If Daniels can just tweak his mechanic a little, these chunk plays will be long touchdowns in ’21.
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Hopefully Daniels didn’t view the pass protection as a sneak preview of things to come or he will almost surely be entering the draft.
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I think it’s time for you to move on from this subject, brother. The shock effect has worn off and it’s a bore now.
If he leaves, you can take your victory lap. In the meantime, find something else to blather about. Fair warning.
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Can I talk about Mullen going pro?
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Would you like some cheese with that whine?
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Matt Luke has been average as grits imo. He won’t be here in 2022 if things don’t get markedly better.
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I agree with you. Since Pittman departed the O line has not performed consistently. It also seems that the in game adjustments are not there or working. We have some great running backs and there should be no excuse for the lack of yards on the ground. Not to mention our golden goose with 10TDs in 4 games is going to end up cooked if he isn’t better protected.
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I don’t know if I’m a Luke fan but I do think that it is too soon to judge. As a former O line guy I can tell you that it is really difficult to build a line with no spring or preseason. It seems like Luke has been here a long time but it’s actually only been the 2020 season. I think that we’ll have a better idea of what he can do after Clemson.
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UGA only had 450 or so yards….turnovers kept Cincy in the game…
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And penalties. Phantom calls on one team and no-calls on the other.
But the largest problem would be solved if we could just run the ball better.
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This. Cincy is a good team, but there were effectively two turnovers in the 1st quarter. JTs pick took points off the board, and the shanked was as bad as any turnover short of a pick-6 or scoop and score. Add in the aforementioned phantom calls, and you have a very different fist half/game than it likely would have been.
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Shanked punt*
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I don’t see where anyone has questioned whether or not the DB interfered on Daniels’ pick.I thought he was all over Pickens, grabbing and pushing.
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When it is an Alabama db or any db against UGA, its called “hand fighting” not PI.
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It was kind of mutual. And the pass was off target, which lowers a ref’s flag threshold. DB going through a WR gets a flag every time. Ball placement on the DB side dramatically lowers the call rate.
Just the way those guys call it. Daniels and Pickens know it
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We move Salyer from G to LT and he played well. Schafer played ok and he certainly wasn’t an elite recruit. Hill was really good and mostly got his snaps under control. Cleveland was Cleveland. McClendon played well at RT for a true freshman. New OC, new OL coach and played most of the season with one arm tied behind our backs at QB. I actually think they played well despite that and especially since they didn’t have a legit off-season together.
If the angst is over the bowl game, well, some of it is the moving parts but I put most of it on Monken and even Daniels. Why were we constantly running against more defenders than we had blockers? Why did we constantly have Daniels making full drops and looking deep when they were bringing more than we could block?
I get going deep against the blitz/ single coverage but there were points where we were running two plays: 1st down run White outside into 5 defenders. 2nd and 3rd down 5 step drop and uncorking deep while Cincinnati had 2 or 3 extra defenders head hunting. We all but stopped leaving a TE in to help. Obviously, some of it was on Daniels because he didn’t start looking to underneath guys until it was almost too late. He had guys open underneath but took a couple sacks while looking deep. The OL wasn’t great but it seemed like play calling any QB play put us in harms way more than Luke and the OL.
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Matt Luke needs to go to some clinics.
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Need a great LT from the magic portal.
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I’d love to know what Matt Luke was thinking when he decided that changing four of the five starters on the line was the way to go.
Let’s see, you have 2 starters out, you have to move a starter to another position which in turn requires moving another to his former position. Your dealing with CV19 testing (3x’s in the week) that we aren’t privy to information. Watch those clips you’ve posted and w/out fail Cincy was bringing pressure from different angles every pass play and run blitzes too.(oh and watch Ericson pu the blitzing LB in first clip) For the most part OL gave a good pocket that allied JT to go up over the top. I know of at least once when Kenny Mc gave a textbook Lookout block on one sack so that’s not on the OL.
I don’t know exactly how many combos at OL Dawgs have had but amidst the qb turnover, injuries and CV19 I would say Matt Luke earned his money this year (not to mention recruiting gets).
If you disagree please offer a better option? (Btw: Pittman ain’t coming back anytime soon)
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I assume you think my question was rhetorical. It wasn’t. I’d really like to know his thought process.
As far as your “Let’s see” goes, your first statement is an assumption, not a fact. Your second statement is a guess, as you acknowledge.
Your third sentence is why I wonder what was going on! Georgia’s o-line had issues with stunts and run blitzes all season, and the solution is to rebuild four of the five spots on the line? Again, I’m just curious as to why.
“For the most part OL gave a good pocket that allied JT to go up over the top.” Apparently you and I watched a different game.
Don’t know why you interpret my post as a plea for Pittman, but thanks for the input, anyway.
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How is the fact that with Hill & Cleveland out that Ericsson moving to center which necessitates that Salyer move to guard and “assumption”? These moves obviously started the issue of who goes where, with the exception of Shaffer and McClendon staying put, they basically had two days of practice prior to Christmas break and then reconvene to try to get as many reps as possible for this new unit. So I don’t believe for a minute that Luke was thinking about much other than trying to get the five on the field with the most reps this season and hope they do a serviceable job. Their run blocking obviously left much to be desired but when you put up almost 400 yards at 69% rate and 10.4 avg. while giving up 3 sacks (1 as mentioned on RB missed block) vs a defensive unit that had given up 100+ less per game I would say this patchwork unit performed pretty well.
The plea for Pittman wasn’t meant for you but for other posters who keep remembering “the good ol days”. That line of thinking makes one more closely resemble a coach that resides in Gainesville,FL.
Much like Monken it’s best to give Luke the benefit of time given no spring ball and having to shuffle on the fly with CV19, injuries and opt outs.
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Spot on senator. Same issues all year. And the bowl game is no time to tinker and get cute.
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I did yell “Throw the damn Ball” enough that my wife told me to zip it. JT seemed to hold it too long for the OLine to hold, especially against the crazy twists and blitz’s. Cinci obviously watched the Mississippi State game and saw how it affected our ability to run the ball. JT has got to find his short game to really become a first rate NFL guy.
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Did anyone else take note that SBIV looked calm and collected the one play he was in for the game…and executed very well…props for him being ready and coming through. Could’ve been a predictable handoff but they kept the foot on the gas even with him in. Glad we had him there.
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