After a good nights sleep...

[NzoneGrizWhiz]

Let the disappointment from the game abate, got some sleep and got the alcohol out of my system and had some thoughts from the gameday experience we had:

Pre-Game
Improvement over last week but we still have quite a ways to go to get the crowd hyped and into it. Monte needs to learn how to work the crowd. Should have been taking notes with Benny in town. Work with the media to get some skits going during TV timeouts. playing with the mini tshirt cannon is all fine and dandy, but it was awesome to watch him crowd surf up the students section or pulling some side line antics to keep the fans involved. Can't we get the kid some motorcycle lessons? Still missing the skydivers. Just doesn't seem quite like a griz game without them. Can't wait for this god awful smoke to leave and them to come flying back into the stadium.

The 1st half
Wow did we get caught sleeping with the first play. Basically untouched for 75 yards. Yikes. After that though either the play p*****d a few kids off or the coaches lit them up but we started getting things going. TMac got a good rhythm and you could tell. He was comfortable in the pocket, and was checking down his routes, and the passes he threw in this period of the game were right on the mark. His play stems a lot off of his confidence but he needs to work on shaking off the mistakes, and keep being the play maker he has shown he can be. Many people seem to be ready to throw him under the bus, but I'm not gonna do that. He has shown HUGE potential and I will be more than happy to forgive the growing pains we will have from his inexperience. Our receivers started to step up and were making some plays as well. When the offense was clicking it was very fun to watch. Not sure what happened towards the end of the second but our play calling got really boring/transparent and that's when we started to have problems. Who's idea was it to call the on-sides kick when we have momentum and give them a short field? The defense did really well besides the 1st play. The O-line was getting really good penetration and the linebackers were doing well stretching the field and keeping their back contained for the most part.

Second Half
This game was the tale of two totally different halfs. We were not able to keep up with NAU's adjustments and it seems like we lost all but one page of our play book. NAU's defense was able to start getting pressure on TM and it showed. His happy feet came back, he stopped getting completely set on his throws and his high throws came back. Nguyen and Canada were pretty much a non-factor for most of the game. Not sure what happened with Moore after his second fumble and went MIA but I would have rather seen Kirschner than keep watching Nguyen and Canada run into the back of the O-line. TM tried to force some plays to get the momentum back on our side which ended up hurting us. When TM threw up that dead duck lob pass (which I agree he shouldn't have thrown, should have just been out of bounds) both of our receivers close just decided to turn around and watch. Neither of them adjusted to try to defend or make a play on the ball. Which was the general feel for the offense in the second half. The D just got beat up from being on the field for too long and eventually just ran out of gas.

The atmosphere
The U needs to take a serious look at how to keep the crowd into the game. Stupid advertising and the text and win gimmicks need to go away now. Let Jimmie Johns sponsor some skit that Monte does or some old inspirational movie clip. Coke and a Smile? Thanks for the Tshirt I will almost definitely never wear. How many people do we honor during games now? Keep the one for the kids, because that's huge for a kid to come down and get a ball and see Monte, but we honor so many businesses during the game that the novelty has kinda worn off... Please please please do something to get the crowd involved. The crowd also needs to do it's part. When the stadium is essentially empty for the majority of the 3rd quarter that sucks. I know the team shouldn't need us to be there for them to execute and take care of the game, but why shouldn't we be back in the stadium to yell our lungs out and help our team out? And for the people telling everyone to sit down and be quiet, if the Griz have the ball then that's fine but otherwise, this is NOT the opera. Get up and start screaming.

Conclusion
This game was tough to watch from the beginning to end. The first half was great and the second half... well we all know. We definitely need to just iron things out so we can keep out consistency up. The team has shown that we have the potential to be a definite playoff contender. I am optimistic for what this team is gonna become over the season and excited to see who is all gonna step up and make this team awesome.

 

[granitegriz]

+1 on Kirshner (sp)...he is going to be a good one. I really like Canada but what is going on there?...he needs to get the rust off and he will really be needed to step it up the next couple of years.

 

[PlayerRep]

In the 2nd half, Nguyen had 2 carries, one of which was for 9 yards. Don't think you saw him run into the backs of our o-lineman much in the 2nd half.

 

[NzoneGrizWhiz]

In the 2nd half, Nguyen had 2 carries, one of which was for 9 yards. Don't think you saw him run into the backs of our o-lineman much in the 2nd half.

After Moore went out (even he had been hitting our O-line) It felt like that's all we kept seeing was the other backs piling into the back of the blockers. Just what I remember seeing a lot in the second

 

[bpcats]

Watched replay of the game and some things jumped out at me regarding the Griz.

Your Griz defensive line and linebackers are really good at stacking the line of scrimmage. They did a pretty good job of maintaining the line of scrimmage. When they got burned by Bauman, it had a lot to do with the fact that the defense was bringing an overload blitz from the opposite side where the run ended up going.

McKinney had some basic freshman mistakes, but a lot of his turnovers had to do with whether he set his feet before he threw the ball or whether he was throwing off of balance. When he set his feet to throw more often than not he was deadly..

Gratton and Henderson are really dangerous on the outside with a ton of speed to burn.

NAU beating the Griz doesn't surprise me, since they have given the Griz all they could handle the prior two years and they are always dangerous during the early part of conference play. They may make the playoffs because the rest of their schedule is a lot easier.

 

[mtgrizrule]

Watched replay of the game and some things jumped out at me regarding the Griz.

Your Griz defensive line and linebackers are really good at stacking the line of scrimmage. They did a pretty good job of maintaining the line of scrimmage. When they got burned by Bauman, it had a lot to do with the fact that the defense was bringing an overload blitz from the opposite side where the run ended up going.

McKinney had some basic freshman mistakes, but a lot of his turnovers had to do with whether he set his feet before he threw the ball or whether he was throwing off of balance. When he set his feet to throw more often than not he was deadly..

Gratton and Henderson are really dangerous on the outside with a ton of speed to burn.

NAU beating the Griz doesn't surprise me, since they have given the Griz all they could handle the prior two years and they are always dangerous during the early part of conference play. They may make the playoffs because the rest of their schedule is a lot easier.

This is the kind of posts I like to see from fans of other teams. I for one, appreciate an honest outsiders point of view. :thumb:

 

[ALPHAGRIZ1]

In the 2nd half, Nguyen had 2 carries, one of which was for 9 yards. Don't think you saw him run into the backs of our o-lineman much in the 2nd half.

What game were you watching?

Nguyen doesnt play for the cats.........I wish he did but he doesnt.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[grizfan47]

Watched replay of the game and some things jumped out at me regarding the Griz.

Your Griz defensive line and linebackers are really good at stacking the line of scrimmage. They did a pretty good job of maintaining the line of scrimmage. When they got burned by Bauman, it had a lot to do with the fact that the defense was bringing an overload blitz from the opposite side where the run ended up going.

McKinney had some basic freshman mistakes, but a lot of his turnovers had to do with whether he set his feet before he threw the ball or whether he was throwing off of balance. When he set his feet to throw more often than not he was deadly..

Gratton and Henderson are really dangerous on the outside with a ton of speed to burn.

NAU beating the Griz doesn't surprise me, since they have given the Griz all they could handle the prior two years and they are always dangerous during the early part of conference play. They may make the playoffs because the rest of their schedule is a lot easier.

This is the kind of posts I like to see from fans of other teams. I for one, appreciate an honest outsiders point of view. :thumb:

Great post and I agree. :thumb: