JC cannot throw the ball, and if you can't have the threat of throwing the ball against Highlands, you will not beat them.

 

People may laugh but I remember last year that when JC chose to throw, they were effective against the Birds. I'd like to see the stats on that game. According to what Matney said, they are working on a passing game. An effective balance would spell trouble for the Birds. Just my opinion.

Why do you think this year is any different than the past two year's against JC? JC kept it close in both 08' and 09'.....within 3 as a matter fact with the so called "national title" team.

 

 

The final score was deceiving. Really within 4 TDs (or more). JC scored its last TD against the Highlands JV players late in the 4th qtr. to cut the margin to 3 TDs. JC was gassed at that point in the game and I'm very confident that had Highlands kept its starters in the game, not only would Highlands O continued to score, but JC would not have. Don't get me wrong, JC is a good program that I respect highly, but until they start passing the ball effectively and greatly reduce the number of both way players, they are going to have to have an extremely dominant football team to beat teams that can both pass and run and that two platoon.

 

I don't care how disciplined and well coached a high school team is, we are still talking about high school kids playing. Which means there will be fumbles, interceptions and penalties in games, particularly in games against quality opponents. If a team counts on having or needing multiple 10 play drives to win, the likelihood of drive stalling fumbles, interceptions and penalties increases dramatically. Against lesser teams, JC can overcome those issues. Against comparable or better teams, it's much, much tougher to do so. Late in the game when two way players are getting tired, execution on offense gets sloppy. Which means an even greater likelihood of fumbles, interceptions and penalties. They get a step or half-step slower on D, which can be the difference between giving up a 3 yd run or a 50 td touchdown run.

 

Who knows, this may be the year that they have the extremely dominant team that can win state without passing and while playing a lot of kids both ways. But the style of play demonstrated by them in the past makes it very difficult to beat teams of comparable or better talent in my opinion. Heck, JC may have developed a passing game and cut down the number of two way players that will help them even more.

 

Back to the Highlands Manual game: I noticed at the pre game practice last night a few changes made (don't ask; I won't say) which will have, I believe, a favorable impact on the quality of play by the Birds. Manual will still be a very, very tough opponent, but I'm feeling a little better about tonight's game.

People may laugh but I remember last year that when JC chose to throw' date=' they were effective against the Birds[/b']. I'd like to see the stats on that game. According to what Matney said, they are working on a passing game. An effective balance would spell trouble for the Birds. Just my opinion.

Wasn't the pass interference call on a hugely overthrown pass their largest gain?

Is Bruns able to play for tonights game?

I have never been impressed with the play calling and defense of Lucas, I think highlands will be prepared and keep it low scoring.

People may laugh but I remember last year that when JC chose to throw' date=' they were effective against the Birds. I'd like to see the stats on that game. According to what Matney said, they are working on a passing game.[b'] An effective balance would spell trouble for the Birds. [/b] Just my opinion.

 

Not sure what you mean by trouble? Does that mean staying within 3 scores of the Birds or actually hanging an L on them?

I really do not think that Highlands showed much last week on the defensive side of the ball. Everything was pretty vanilla and there were a lot of substitutions that sometimes prevent a unit from showing that cohesiveness that is important on that side of the ball. Tackling was very suspect, but that can happen when you have some young guys (Sophs) getting their first real taste of varsity competition. Offensively, you have Towles with a year under his belt which is a plus, but basically an entirely new line when it comes to varsity competition which may cause some breakdowns in the early games. With that said, I think the big advantage for the Birds tonight is the fact that they are playing at home which will be a plus for those that are seeing extensive varsity action for the first time. I look for the game to be close with Highlands winning in the end by 10 to 14 points. Highlands will own the kicking game based upon what I saw last week and I would bet that at least one touchdown tonight will be the result of special teams.

I believe the game can be followed live here:

 

http://oldgoatradio.com/

 

Thanks.

People may laugh but I remember last year that when JC chose to throw' date=' [b']they were effective against the Birds. I'd [/b]like to see the stats on that game. According to what Matney said, they are working on a passing game. An effective balance would spell trouble for the Birds. Just my opinion.

 

I know you were just giving your opinion and here's mine: I guess it's all a matter of what is considered effective. On their second TD scoring drive, on 4th and long, they threw a desperation pass. Frankly we did not defend the pass well and the defender committed pass interference. The ball wouldn't have been caught by the receiver as it was well over thrown. They did have one completion. Another pass was way off the mark and fell incomplete. The fourth and only other pass I can remember off the top of my head was a screen pass that was thrown high (as a result of pressure on the QB) and was intercepted by Quillen. If I recall properly, they only had about 50 yds passing and all of it came on the one completion. Forgive me for disagreeing, but I don't think that's an effective passing game.

 

I do agree with you however, that if JC can effectively pass the ball, they become a much more dangerous opponent for the Birds (and every other opponent they face). The question becomes however when you start mixing the passing game into their O: do you have a QB that can capably run their run offense and also pass the ball? Not every QB has the ball handling skills needed to run their O, has the ability to keep the ball and effectively run it himself, AND is an accurate passer. I'd say very, very few do at the high school level. So a coach has to start making the decision as to whether he wants the QB with great ball handling skills and the ability to run the ball vs. the skilled passer. Plus in order to pass the ball effectively, you have to spend a lot of practice time working on it: time that's then taken away from working on ball handling skills and in JC's case often, time that is spent on that kid's defensive position. In JC's O, you have to have a TE that can not only block at an exceptionally high level, but but would have the agility needed to get down field and open and then have the hands to catch the ball consistently. And you have to have a running backs that can catch the ball, in addition to being a great blocker and runner. Finally, in JC's O, they put a premium on big O linemen that fire off the ball well. Quick feet aren't really a necessity in my opinion in order to play O line for JC. But quick feet are a necessity to effectively pass block.. If you start placing a premium on pass blocking, you may hurt your ability to run block. Those are rare combinations in high school athletes. Heck, it's tough to find O linemen in the pros that can run block really well and pass block really well too as the Bengals know. Play action fakes help, but let a defensive linemen or blitzing Lber pop the QB as he passing the ball and its a sack, an incompletion or an interception. And while an interception is the worse, the loss of yds due to a sack or the loss of a down due to an incompletion can be a drive killer in JC's ball control offensive style.

 

I know that I, you and others have often said if JC can develop an effective passing game they'd be tougher to beat, which I continue to believe. I just don't think that it's as easy as we make it seem to be and the development of a passing game could be to the detriment of their run O and to their D because of the number of two way players. Matney is a good coach and if it was easy to do and was just a matter of practicing on it a little more, I think he'd have done it a long time ago.

Is Bruns able to play for tonights game?

 

Do you really think anyone who knows would say?

I know you were just giving your opinion and here's mine: I guess it's all a matter of what is considered effective. On their second TD scoring drive, on 4th and long, they threw a desperation pass. Frankly we did not defend the pass well and the defender committed pass interference. The ball wouldn't have been caught by the receiver as it was well over thrown. They did have one completion. Another pass was way off the mark and fell incomplete. The fourth and only other pass I can remember off the top of my head was a screen pass that was thrown high (as a result of pressure on the QB) and was intercepted by Quillen. If I recall properly, they only had about 50 yds passing and all of it came on the one completion. Forgive me for disagreeing, but I don't think that's an effective passing game.

 

I do agree with you however, that if JC can effectively pass the ball, they become a much more dangerous opponent for the Birds (and every other opponent they face). The question becomes however when you start mixing the passing game into their O: do you have a QB that can capably run their run offense and also pass the ball? Not every QB has the ball handling skills needed to run their O, has the ability to keep the ball and effectively run it himself, AND is an accurate passer. I'd say very, very few do at the high school level. So a coach has to start making the decision as to whether he wants the QB with great ball handling skills and the ability to run the ball vs. the skilled passer. Plus in order to pass the ball effectively, you have to spend a lot of practice time working on it: time that's then taken away from working on ball handling skills and in JC's case often, time that is spent on that kid's defensive position. In JC's O, you have to have a TE that can not only block at an exceptionally high level, but but would have the agility needed to get down field and open and then have the hands to catch the ball consistently. And you have to have a running backs that can catch the ball, in addition to being a great blocker and runner. Finally, in JC's O, they put a premium on big O linemen that fire off the ball well. Quick feet aren't really a necessity in my opinion in order to play O line for JC. But quick feet are a necessity to effectively pass block.. If you start placing a premium on pass blocking, you may hurt your ability to run block. Those are rare combinations in high school athletes. Heck, it's tough to find O linemen in the pros that can run block really well and pass block really well too as the Bengals know. Play action fakes help, but let a defensive linemen or blitzing Lber pop the QB as he passing the ball and its a sack, an incompletion or an interception. And while an interception is the worse, the loss of yds due to a sack or the loss of a down due to an incompletion can be a drive killer in JC's ball control offensive style.

 

I know that I, you and others have often said if JC can develop an effective passing game they'd be tougher to beat, which I continue to believe. I just don't think that it's as easy as we make it seem to be and the development of a passing game could be to the detriment of their run O and to their D because of the number of two way players. Matney is a good coach and if it was easy to do and was just a matter of practicing on it a little more, I think he'd have done it a long time ago.

 

I see that Football 101 class has done you some good. Maybe I should've taken it too. Seriously though, this is a great analysis as well as your previous post. :clap:

Do you really think anyone who knows would say?

 

I would not think it is really letting the proverbial cat out of the bag. Sort of like saying, NEWS FLASH!!! Pat Towles is going to start at QB tonight. Just enjoy watching him play and hoping I get to see him in uniform tonight. A PM would be fine if anyone knows. :thumb:

I see that Football 101 class has done you some good. Maybe I should've taken it too. Seriously though' date=' this is a great analysis as well as your previous post. :clap:[/quote']

 

 

Glad to provide the analysis. When you played football from 4th grade through college, you get to skip 101 and go straight to 203.

The HHS internet feed appears to be at http://highlands.localsportsradio.com/articles/home.imp. Hope that turns out to be correct. It would be nice to have coverage of each game during the season.

The HHS internet feed appears to be at http://highlands.localsportsradio.com/articles/home.imp. Hope that turns out to be correct. It would be nice to have coverage of each game during the season.

 

You got it my friend. I just got off the phone with one of the guys doing the broadcast and all systems are go! Barring technical difficulties, they will be broadcasting the game.