Dorman Coaching Too Conservative...

[DeCav]

I agree it was too conservative Friday night. But that's not the game that counts. Both on defense and offense I saw things Friday night that indicated we were playing not to lose. I have my Columbia blue glasses firmly on my head when I say Gutshall was holding back for a reason. Everyone knows there's a good chance the two teams meet again this year and we're gonna need a bag we can go to that our opponent didn't get to see.

I will admit though that I've thought that before only to see us go out and be too conservative again in the post season. 3 things I see...

1) Our db's play with too much cushion. We kept the Rebs in front of us all night and prevented the bigs plays but we can tighten the screws from what I saw.

2) Trust more in developing our running game. If we are beginning to gash the other team on the ground, why risk increasing the risk of a holding call by sending in a pass play?

3) Overall this Cav team has played as one with great discipline. But wow, penalties when you have momentum will just kill you sometimes.

3) Get the other receivers involved. I know they dropped key passes in the Spartanburg game but we need them.

Anyway, I believe in the team and the coaches. Credit the quality of our opponents this year for dropping those two games. Best thing is that we def have room for improvement. Byrnes will be even more dangerous when they get the penalties under control but I believe the best is also yet to be seen from Dorman.

[trojangrad78]

Just my opinion, but going away from the running game probably cost Dorman the game against Spartanburg.

[DeCav]

100% agree.

[DeCav]

Hopefully we are saving the best for the post season.

[Fridaynightfan]

Disagree on the defensive criticism. Dorman is the first team all season that has not given up big plays to Byrnes. In fact, the longest play we had (I believe) was the 23 yard TD pass to Dawkins (which was an amazing catch btw in good coverage). Defense could not have played much better, particularly the DBs.

[DeCav]

Dorman played a great defensive game against Byrnes. 5 sacks I believe to Byrnes' 1 sack and as I said dorman prevented the big plays. But I'm telling ya as good as we played we still left some money on the table. The curl routes were working well for the Byrnes receivers. We did tighten up the coverage in the 2nd half but I see these guys capable of creating more turnovers. Byrnes really protected the ball well.

[trojangrad78]

Not hijacking the thread, but NW held Byrnes scoreless in the 2nd half. That being said, all teams are, or better be, way better now than in the first game of the season.

[SF Band dad]

Dorman Coaching Too Conservative...

There you go using those highfalutin, citified words like "too" again.

[Sibilance]

I agree it was too conservative Friday night. But that's not the game that counts. Both on defense and offense I saw things Friday night that indicated we were playing not to lose. I have my Columbia blue glasses firmly on my head when I say Gutshall was holding back for a reason. Everyone knows there's a good chance the two teams meet again this year and we're gonna need a bag we can go to that our opponent didn't get to see.

I will admit though that I've thought that before only to see us go out and be too conservative again in the post season. 3 things I see...

1) Our db's play with too much cushion. We kept the Rebs in front of us all night and prevented the bigs plays but we can tighten the screws from what I saw.

2) Trust more in developing our running game. If we are beginning to gash the other team on the ground, why risk increasing the risk of a holding call by sending in a pass play?

3) Overall this Cav team has played as one with great discipline. But wow, penalties when you have momentum will just kill you sometimes.

3) Get the other receivers involved. I know they dropped key passes in the Spartanburg game but we need them.

Anyway, I believe in the team and the coaches. Credit the quality of our opponents this year for dropping those two games. Best thing is that we def have room for improvement. Byrnes will be even more dangerous when they get the penalties under control but I believe the best is also yet to be seen from Dorman.

Great post, maybe yer right, but we had too much to lose in losing that game. A 3 seed v 10 seed (current projection). We did leave meat on the bone, but so did Byrnes. I do not look forward to traveling.

[DeCav]

There's no doubt that there was a lot riding on the game. That's why both teams played hard and the difference at the end was just one point. But consider in '09 dorman lost by 7 points in the regular season and then beat Byrnes by double digits in Columbia. Next year dorman beats Byrnes by 7 points and loses by double digits in Columbia to the rebs.

That doesn't mean dorman will even make it to Columbia this year and if we don't it might very well be because of seeding but I'm hoping we have yet to peak.