Six points from TheDerisoReport.com on Grambling’s third week of football, which included a 27-17 win over Jackson State in a rematch of the last two Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Games …
ONE
Grambling’s anemic offense has begun to frustrate fans. Rod Broadway shares your frustration, and vowed in comments to me after the Jackson State victory to fix it.
No matter who has to go.
“We’ve got to go back and rethink some things,” he said. “We’re going to make some changes on what we are doing and who we are doing it with. If we can’t get the results we need, then we’ll just move on. It’s getting frustrating. We’ve got 10 starters back and we’re not producing right now.”
TWO
A knock on Grambling’s game-changing defense has been that it sometimes misses on a fundamental here and there in pursuit of the gut-shot moment. Broadway has been careful to couch his praise for Christian Anthony, in particular, with an admonishment to stay within the scheme.
“Chris is a big-time player who makes big-time plays,” Broadway said. “If the guy ever learned how to play gap control a little better, but that’s what you give up sometimes. Playmakers make plays for you and sometimes they hurt you too. We’ve got to get in position to where he’s not hurting us quite so much. But he’s going a great job. I’m so proud of him.”
Getting outside the scheme is how a defense, for instance, surrenders two seven-play drives covering 100 total yards late in the fourth quarter, and two touchdowns, when the contest is already decided.
THREE
Jackson’s offensive numbers, in fact, were deceptively lopsided: 187 of its 200 passing yards came after 2008 starter Trae Rutland returned to the ball game in relief of redshirt freshman Dedric McDonald with 8 minutes left in the third quarter against Grambling.
Fourteen of its 17 points were scored after the 2:25 mark in the fourth period, once the fans and band — and the team, apparently, too — had already begun celebrating.
That’s a lesson to Grambling, which still must learn to close out games.
“It’s no big secret, we need to start playing better,” Broadway said. “Even late in the ballgame, all we need to do is get a couple first downs and they don’t score. We can’t even do that.”
FOUR
To illustrate how little the score reflects the way that Grambling manhandled its Saturday opponent, Jackson was held to:
Five yards in punt returns.
12 yards passing in the first half.
Zero — yes, 0 — yards rushing for the game.
FIVE
Greg Dillon doesn’t look anything like last year’s Bayou Classic and SWAC Championship Game offensive MVP. Really, he more closely resembles the former walk-on trying to juggle too much information who we first saw battling J.P. Tillman for the starting position over the first month of 2009.
What changed?
I’m not certain that this isn’t a result of the staff’s efforts over the offseason to make him a pocket passer.
Though he entered the preseason bursting with confidence, on game day Dillon seems to be thinking too much, then trying to do too much when things break down. By then, it’s often too late to use his feet, and too late to force a pass — leading to bundles of turnovers.
Dillon had found a rhythm by late in last year’s title run. He still made the odd head-scratching mistake — see Broadway explanation, above, about playmakers — but he moved with a confident fluidity that you’re not seeing right now.
He seems alternatively rooted to the ground, or running for his life. I think the space between those two actions is now dominated by an overexamination of what he’s been taught to do, versus what comes naturally. And it’s hurting his ability to be the playmaker he used to be.
Let Greg Dillon be Greg Dillon, I think, and you get your offense back, Grambling.
SIX
First, I want to stress that I didn’t use the word “ugly” after the game. Didn’t even use its alternative, “pretty.”
I just asked a question about a return to winning early-season games with the defense.
We’ve been through this ugly thing, and I’m not looking to go back there. Honest, Coach.
Still.
He said it, not me …
“It wasn’t as pretty as we would like,” Broadway told me after the game, “and we didn’t execute as well as we would like, and we didn’t score as many points as we would like — but we won the ballgame. Winning is hard. We can’t take any thing for granted. We need to enjoy these wins when we get them.”
I agree…allow Dillon to be a playmaker. And let him show off the arm the used on the last drive versus SC State. A more vertical passing game would certainly help.
Also…Frank Warren is preforming well. I look for Walker to have a good outing in the near future… two good backs.
So the OC wants to make Dillon a "Pocket Passer" What pocket? This year's offensive line appears to be weak. Let Dillon make something happen when the pocket breaks down.
Mike this sound real familiar to what I said about Dillon in the Dillon Spady thread. Let the boy play and stop all that pocket crap. Dillon is not 6'4 like Jordan Jefferson and he doesn't have Cutler's arm but he is gutty and very savvy. Dillon can win for us. I would teach him one thing, stop carry the ball like a loaf of bread after he crosses the line of scrimmage and nothing else. He will stop fumbling and the offense will click.
Open the cage and let the Tiger out.
Spady, Please do it now!
I agree…allow Dillon to be a playmaker. And let him show off the arm the used on the last drive versus SC State. A more vertical passing game would certainly help.
Also…Frank Warren is preforming well. I look for Walker to have a good outing in the near future… two good backs.
So the OC wants to make Dillon a “Pocket Passer” What pocket? This year’s offensive line appears to be weak. Let Dillon make something happen when the pocket breaks down.
The solution to the offense is simple make Spady special teams coach promote coach White to oc. Gurantee the offense would be much better, also we would have a vertical game again.
Mike this sound real familiar to what I said about Dillon in the Dillon Spady thread. Let the boy play and stop all that pocket crap. Dillon is not 6’4 like Jordan Jefferson and he doesn’t have Cutler’s arm but he is gutty and very savvy. Dillon can win for us. I would teach him one thing, stop carry the ball like a loaf of bread after he crosses the line of scrimmage and nothing else. He will stop fumbling and the offense will click.
Hopefully, we can get it together. However, we can not depend on the defense to always pull us out.
Open the cage and let the Tiger out.
Spady, Please do it now!
The solution to the offense is simple make Spady special teams coach promote coach White to oc. Gurantee the offense would be much better, also we would have a vertical game again.
I agree with Bill, name Spady the special team coach. He is not teaching the guys fundamental on blocking. I think Broadway need to get on the offensive line butt a little during the game, because it's a disgrace the way they block. You can't keep depending on the defense to bail you out. PLease come up with better pass routes.
Hopefully, we can get it together. However, we can not depend on the defense to always pull us out.
Spady has to find mixture of pass and run from the end of last year.
Not special teams coach huh? Lol. I want Sammie to be able to call his own plays, incorporate his own styld into the offense.
I agree with Bill, name Spady the special team coach. He is not teaching the guys fundamental on blocking. I think Broadway need to get on the offensive line butt a little during the game, because it’s a disgrace the way they block. You can’t keep depending on the defense to bail you out. PLease come up with better pass routes.
Spady has to find mixture of pass and run from the end of last year.
Not special teams coach huh? Lol. I want Sammie to be able to call his own plays, incorporate his own styld into the offense.
A friend of mine spoke with Greg Dillon's uncle at the JSU game. His uncle said: (Paraphasing) Greg has been playing football since he was 4 years old. He has always been a scrambler and found a way to make plays. The GSU coaching staff trying to convert him into a pocket passer, will not work with Greg""
Sammie was a better OC for Spears than Spady is for Broadway and that's for sho(no pun intended)
A friend of mine spoke with Greg Dillon’s uncle at the JSU game. His uncle said: (Paraphasing) Greg has been playing football since he was 4 years old. He has always been a scrambler and found a way to make plays. The GSU coaching staff trying to convert him into a pocket passer, will not work with Greg”"
Sammie was a better OC for Spears than Spady is for Broadway and that’s for sho(no pun intended)
As Nick said in the paper, dont expect this weekend to be a true indicator of improvement. Next weekend is the game that I am looking for improvements. Spady must find a way to bring the old Dillon back. Right now Dillon is not the same qb he was last year.
Sammie never really had a chance to call his own plays. Vyron Brown called alot of the plays. Spady is Our Oc at the moment and its up to him and broadway to get this offense going. I hope they can get it going.
Comparing Spady to previous OC at GSU there is no comparision. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, from day one he is at best a nine. With that said thank god for the defense.
As Nick said in the paper, dont expect this weekend to be a true indicator of improvement. Next weekend is the game that I am looking for improvements. Spady must find a way to bring the old Dillon back. Right now Dillon is not the same qb he was last year.
Sammie never really had a chance to call his own plays. Vyron Brown called alot of the plays. Spady is Our Oc at the moment and its up to him and broadway to get this offense going. I hope they can get it going.
Comparing Spady to previous OC at GSU there is no comparision. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, from day one he is at best a nine. With that said thank god for the defense.
I didn't disagree with the idea, at first, of trying to limit Greg Dillon's forays out of the pocket — as I say here (http://www.thederisoreport.com/2009/09/22/what-wed-like-gramblings-offense-to-do-and-what-it-can-do/), there is a significant injury concern.
But it's clear that Greg is out of sync right now. The logjam could be broken by running the ball more. I argue, in the entry above, for that; what about Frank Warren this year?
Going to a more rush-focused attack plays to the strength of this offensive line. They've struggled with traditional pass protection, but showed a notable flair for road-grading in front of a rusher.
It also opens up the passing game.
I didn’t disagree with the idea, at first, of trying to limit Greg Dillon’s forays out of the pocket — as I say here (http://www.thederisoreport.com/2009/09/22/what-wed-like-gramblings-offense-to-do-and-what-it-can-do/), there is a significant injury concern.
But it’s clear that Greg is out of sync right now. The logjam could be broken by running the ball more. I argue, in the entry above, for that; what about Frank Warren this year?
Going to a more rush-focused attack plays to the strength of this offensive line. They’ve struggled with traditional pass protection, but showed a notable flair for road-grading in front of a rusher.
It also opens up the passing game.