Let's talk Zorn/offense

[over the mountain]

agree with you all that the skins O worked at a nice pace and the players were into the game which should suggest they are buying into zorn's attitude and system.

i think it was sonny on radio who said one plus with zorn is that there is "no book" out on him so opposing coaches dont know what his tendencies are. good point, makes sense to me.

What a special start for our skins and the pre-season hasnt even started yet! i have not been this into a preseason game since spurrier's first season when we stomped the 49ers.

[bridaman51]

The thing that made the biggest impression in my mind was the excitment leve. It was just a preaseason game (and the first one at that) and after the Brennan through that touchdown players were jumping up and down, greeting on the field. It was not just the younger players it was Clinton Portis leading the charge, with Springs and Smoot out there it was cool to see, there was a different enthusiasm level on that field.

Campbell looked smooth, and distrubuted the ball well to various recievers. He kept the ball up high, got back quick and delivered it quickly. There were no miss steps, no hesitation, just smooth. Brennan also looked comfortable but boy his throwing style is awkward, low and side armed in a way, but dead on the money.

Stephon Heyer got owned a few times, (once for the sack on Campbell) but the run blocking was tight across the line.

[rugged d]

i was was amazed at the few catches that fred davis made that guy with cooley are gonna kill people underneath that guy is huge!

[Stuck in TX]

I absolutely loved the two TE sets and the trips WR packages! Rock is the man, but he is a third stringer, and Mason was a beast but again, not even a third stringer. With Yoder/Davis and Cooley on one side can anyone imagine what Portis is capable of? And on pass plays we will have a guaranteed check-down reciever in Portis and/or Cooley. Its almost fool proof. Also, with the trips WR packages we will have the opportunity to show off our burners, our slots, or our TE or RB on the weak side. I like his style and he really didnt give much away. I cannot wait to see what Zorn has in store for us!

[Schneed10]

On certain things, you can't put any stock in the preseason. For example, how free our WRs were running, even ARE on that TD pass. If Bob Sanders was playing I highly doubt that happens.

But certain things you can judge and put a lot of stock into, and I thought Campbell graded really well:

- In Zorn's offense, which is basically very similar to Holmgren's, you look for the QB to drop back, plant, and throw. If the throw doesn't come out right away, you look for the QB to make his progressions quickly. I saw Campbell move his head from target to target very quickly. His decision making seems quick already. That's a sign that sacks (and hence turnovers) could be lower this season.

- Campbell's most impressive throw wasn't the floating TD to ARE. It was the little 7-yard hitch to Moss. Campbell dropped back, planted on the 3rd step, and gunned the ball out. Moss hadn't even broken his route off yet. When he did, he turned around and the ball was in his gut. This was despite pretty tight coverage from the CB. The guy wasn't playing press, but he wasn't giving a cushion either. JC quickly read that Moss was not getting pressed, hence his route would be clean, and when he broke off the route he'd create adequate separation. This showed excellent rapport with Moss, good timing, and that Campbell has great confidence in his reads already. While the aggressive style of play is great and everything, I'm more concerned about our ability to sustain drives. Quick decisions on quick-hitting passes are paramount to moving the chains in the WCO. Well-executed.

- I thought our starting offensive line run-blocked well, even if they didn't pass protect that well.

- I think we're deep. Our reserves kicked the crap out of the Colt's reserves. I'm not going to say our reserves can beat other teams' starters, but at a lot of spots we can get by if we get hurt.

- I don't care about Brennan's stats because it came against chumps. But man was he accurate. It's hard to teach accuracy, technique helps, but Colt just has a knack for getting the ball in there. Yeah his WRs were open, but he was still hitting them right in stride in very catchable locations, and fitting it into a few tighter windows. We got no sense of how good his decision making was, because it's easy to make decisions against chumps. But we did see accuracy, which is a very good building block.

[over the mountain]

Originally Posted by bridaman51

Stephon Heyer got owned a few times, (once for the sack on Campbell) but the run blocking was tight across the line.

i have to respectfully disagree with you here. Heyer's man tried to go inside on him and he stopped him so the DE then went outside (which is what a tackle wants, to push the guy outside or past the pocket). Jansen was the one who got burned and it was his man that forced campbell to step to his left outside the pocket where heyers guy was.

i watched it a bunch of times but i could be wrong.

[memphisskin]

1. Campbell having to learn so many different offenses and his familiarity with the WCO is paying off. I think that's why Collins is struggling, this is the first new offense he's had to learn in 10 years.

2. The tempo was great. Collins struggled when there was pressure as he is unable to evade pressure at all. Campbell looked like he knew where everybody was and quickly made decisions in the pocket, Collins didn't have that same feel.

3. Good run/pass mix, good control by Zorn, and the team looked like they were having fun. Great start, especially if Heyer and Wade only have sprains and not tears.

[Stacks42]

I'm just glad we arent running that stupid WR screen on every first down, like we have done for the past 2-3 years.

[birdz4gibbs]

overall i liked the energy the team showed... the offense for the most part looked sharp.the rookies looked good also...

[GhettoDogAllStars]

Originally Posted by over the mountain

i have to respectfully disagree with you here. Heyer's man tried to go inside on him and he stopped him so the DE then went outside (which is what a tackle wants, to push the guy outside or past the pocket). Jansen was the one who got burned and it was his man that forced campbell to step to his left outside the pocket where heyers guy was.

i watched it a bunch of times but i could be wrong.

Doesn't Heyer play RT -- same as Jansen? I could have missed it, but I don't remember seeing them both on the field at the same time.

Anyways, I do remember Jansen getting beat (not sure if a sack resulted) on the inside. He got the guy to the outside, and then fell over when the DE moved back inside.

[MTK]

Heyer played some LT last night

[SmootSmack]

I was definitely pleased with our performance overall. I want to make sure we keep things rather close to the vest though. I don't want us to show all or cards too early. Zorn seems like he has a lot of good ideas of how to use the talent on this team, but there's a fine balance between showing it all on day one of preseason (a la Spurrier) or waiting approximately 24 regular season games (a la Gibbs/Saunders).

That said, I don't have many complaints, if any. I thought Jansen looked a little off at times. To be expected though coming off a major injury for a minor game. I was a bit disappointed by Todd Collins. He looked a little lost out there. I've been convinced that he'd have no problem learning the WCO, but maybe it will take a bit more time than I thought.

[JWsleep]

At a team level, the thing that impressed me most was the crispness and the discipline. This was the first preseason game and we didn't have a penalty until the 2nd quarter. That says a lot to me, because one worry with a "players' coach" is that people will take a casual approach and not be focused. That was most certainly not the case. We played against one of the best coached teams in the league (and one of the classiest from top to bottom) and looked just as good, IMO, in terms of professionalism. That comes from the coach, and from the players being psyched to play for the coach. We'll see how it all plays out, but that was a good sign.

As for playcalling, it's early, no doubt, but I loved the pace and I loved the 2 TE stuff. Seems like for years teams have used that on us but we've never struck back. With Cooley and Davis we're going to gobble up some yards. And that frees up everything else. (Davis looked good, btw.) Hard to judge much else, given the circumstances.

Remember, folks: it's VERY early and we are going to have set backs, trials, missteps, etc. We've got to give this thing time to gel, and we may have something good. But be ready for ups and downs. That's the nature of the game.

PS Very psyched to see how Zorn continues to coach and teach the QBs all game long. I am very confident that he'll correct any problems with JC et al. And if you have good QB play you can go far.

PPS How many of you screamed in sheer joy at the TV when we hit that first TD? Man, it's good to have some productive skins offense!

[SeanTaylor21SKINS]

It definately seemed a lot faster paced than the past years which I like. I think this will be a pretty exciting offensive year for us and this offense can be effective.

[12thMan]

I just heard B. Mitch on John Thompson, and they pretty much agreed that this is a different team under Zorn; in terms of how they approach the preseason in general is what B.Mitch and Thompson pointed out.

B.Mitch said that under the "previous administration" (I chuckled) that the team approached preseason as if it was "a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of their shoe." This year, he said you can tell this team is preparing differently and they want to strike the right tone early. He also said he was impressed with Rock and Mason.

Thompson, too, pointed out how it's important for Zorn to get out to a good start so both the fans and the players will have a comfort level with him from the start.