My takeaway? Two stout defensive lines that will be a real test for our shaky but improving O-line. I think we will see whether I am right about the overall improvement in the O-line. Az and SL are going to be relentless in bringing the pressure, blitzing, and generally harrasing Wilson. That is what they are built for, what they are good at, and it is probably their only chance to beat us.
Neither of them has a secondary that makes me particularly worried, but do we have the receivers to make them pay when they sell out on the pressure? :229031_banghead:
I expect to see a lot of Lynch/ Turbin hammering into an inside zone block wall early in the game with an occasional screen or, God forbid, slant. Per usual, we will probe with some bootleg/ scrambling reads. I would love to see a couple of Richardson and Baldwin go routes early on to take some of the pressure off, but I doubt Bevell/ Carrol agree with me on that. Instead, we will line up, see how they respond, and use that response for solid drives later in the game.
As the game progresses into the late second to mid third quarter, we should see the play action/ read option open up a little although I don't see Russ having a huge game on the ground against either of the teams if we want to keep him healthy. Moeaki will get involved with some chip and release routes after being mostly protection in the first quarter. We will continue to rely on YAC for production.
Late in the game their defenses will be gassed and we will start sending the running back by committee at them and grind out the clock. If we are behind at this point, we will see one or two long drives, with some 10ish yard passes, designed to score.
Defensively, we do what we do. Expect them to get some mid-range drive-extending passes, but mostly short drives and 3 and outs unless we bone it and give them short fields to work with.
Unlike last year, special teams is an area where these two teams can take advantage of us. If we play like we should, we win the field position and special teams battles, but we sure have had some miscues the last couple of weeks. I don't expect any big returns against the Rams as I truly believe Carrol will make damn sure that Fisher doesn't catch us by surprise again.
Steve Money Hauschka will keep us in these games.
Lynch ends up in the 80-110 yard range depending on his late game useage and Russ ends up with 200 and change through the air and 30ish on the ground.
We win each game by 13-17 points.
- bsd