offense – Page 52 – Syndication Server

Chiefs offense impresses in Touchdown Wire’s latest power rankings

The Chiefs are still the No. 2 ranked team for Touchdown Wire’s Week 12 power rankings.

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The Kansas City Chiefs are No. 2 in Touchdown Wire’s power rankings for the sixth consecutive week. They just so happen to be on a six-game winning streak too.

Yes, the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers have yet to play their constantly rescheduled game. The folks at Touchdown Wire plan to release a second version after that game is played or should I say if the game is actually played.

Back to Kansas City, though.

Most recently, the Chiefs notched a 27-24 road win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 12. It was a non-conference game, but this team always puts its best foot forward against their competition no matter the opponent.

This was an explosive game offensively for K.C. but the defense also showed some signs of improvement after being a large area of concern in Week 11. Still, it was the performance from Patrick Mahomes and the offense that left Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield in awe.

Here is a preview of what Schofield wrote about the team this week:

“The quarterback again showed his mastery of the position on Sunday, completing 37 of 49 passes for 462 yards and three touchdowns. What stood out watching and re-watching that game was how difficult it remains to defend both Mahomes and the entire Kansas City offense. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers tried everything: Man coverage, zone coverage, blitzing, dropping eight, sub packages, base packages, and nothing worked. Mahomes always found the open man in the concept and if one was not open, he made one come open, either with his eyes or with a throw.”

Mahomes is in the midst of another MVP season. In his last four games, he’s thrown for 1,598 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and one interception. His weapons, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce are unguardable. Up until DK Metcalf’s monster performance on “Monday Night Football” they were No. 1 and No. 2 in the NFL in receiving yards, respectively.

The defense concerned Schofield a bit for surrendering 17 points in the second half, but I think they should be commended for holding Tom Brady to just a touchdown through three quarters of play. The secondary, in particular, had a bounceback performance after getting embarrassed by the Raiders in Week 11.

It feels like it’s only a matter of time before the Chiefs have the type of performance that gives them the boost they need to ascend past the Steelers in these weekly rankings regardless of overall record. Perhaps it’ll come in Week 15 against the New Orleans Saints?

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Three reasons why the Texas Longhorns lost to Iowa State on Friday

The Texas Longhorns lost a game on Friday afternoon that they just couldn’t afford to. A primary reason being the head coach Tom Herman.

It was quite the scene in Austin, Texas as the Longhorns prepared to take on the Iowa State Cyclones in a game they couldn’t lose. They lost. Continue reading “Three reasons why the Texas Longhorns lost to Iowa State on Friday”

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Texas Longhorns vs Iowa State: A look at the numbers

Much like the 2018 game, the Cyclones and Longhorns are preparing for a Big 12 Championship knockout game. A look at the numbers.

The biggest game of the weekend just might happen on Friday afternoon. The No. 13 Iowa State Cyclones come to Austin for a Big 12 fight with the No. 17 Texas Longhorns. Continue reading “Texas Longhorns vs Iowa State: A look at the numbers”

Tua Tagovailoa suffers first NFL loss, what went wrong?

Former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffers his first loss as a starting NFL QB. In a terrible game that led to him being benched …

Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins have been handed their first loss in the last six weeks after losing to the Denver Broncos (4-6) on the road with a final score of 20-13.

In start No. 4 for Tagovailoa, expectations were high, especially against a team with a losing record. With an undefeated resumé as the starter, the former member of the Crimson Tide is no longer perfect.

The Broncos defensive front obliterated the Dolphins’ offensive line and got to Tagovailoa far too many times. He was sacked six times for a total of 33 yards and hit eight times.

In addition to the heavy pressure put on by Denver, it appeared as if Tagovailoa held onto the ball too long, not rolling out looking to extend the play.

He tallied 11 completions off of 20 attempts for 83 yards and a touchdown.

Only throwing for 83 yards makes this game the one with the fewest passing yards in his four starts.

Unsure if it was due to an apparent leg injury due to an awkward tackle in the fourth quarter, or because of his poor performance, Tagovailoa was sidelined for the remainder of the game. The veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick entered the game and tried to give Alabama life on what would have been a 99-yard drive down the field with roughly five minutes remaining to tie the game at 20.

Fitzpatrick’s attempt was killed in the endzone on an interception that, if completed, would have been a touchdown to DeVante Parker.

It’s likely we will see Tagovailoa back as the starting quarterback next week as the Dolphins take on the New York Jets on the road.

While the overall performance of the Dolphins was poor, Tagovailoa needs to be the leader of the team and carry them out of a slump, no matter how big.

Some things will need to be addressed with the 2018 Heisman finalist over the next week. Not being as comfortable in the pocket, getting rid of the ball faster and decision making will be some of the items that ought to be addressed, seeing as these were some of the biggest issues he faced in today’s loss.

Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on Tua Tagovailoa as he looks to bounce back next week.

Here’s what Florida needs to do defensively against Vandy

Florida Gators face the Vanderbilt Commodores in what should be a tune-up game. Here are a few things the team can work on this Saturday.

A game against a winless Vanderbilt team may be just what the doctor ordered for Florida’s beleaguered defense. The unit showed signs of improvement in wins over Missouri and Georgia, but last week against Feleipe Franks and Arkansas, it gave up a handful of big plays.

UF has a good tuneup game this week against a Commodores team that doesn’t pose much of an offensive threat. But if there’s one thing the Gators have shown this year, it’s that they will allow inferior teams to score enough points to keep games competitive.

Here’s what Florida needs to do defensively on Saturday to ensure this game doesn’t get closer than it should.

Chiefs coaches reflect on Week 5 loss to Raiders

Steve Spagnuolo, Eric Bieniemy and Andy Heck explained what went wrong in Week 5.

The Kansas City Chiefs suffered their lone loss of the season in Week 5 against the Las Vegas Raiders.

On the defensive side of the ball, the coverage on the back end failed, surrendering a number of long touchdowns to various Raiders receivers. When Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo went back to review the tape and adjust, he didn’t identify a specific problem. Instead, he identified a number of things that snowballed into the most points ever scored on his defense in Kansas City.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” Spagnuolo explained. “It wasn’t one specific item. I told you guys this before, after the game, I hold myself personally responsible for at least one of them because I just didn’t think it was a good call and I put CW (Charvarius Ward) in a bad down. But look, if that was nine plays, 214 yards if I remember correctly, and it kind of changed the whole game and it did not help our football team. So, the emphasis has been not to allow explosive plays, it’s that every week. I’ve got to be a little bit smarter with the calls that I make and everybody’s eyes and what they’re doing, and everybody does their job a little bit better and hopefully, that doesn’t happen.”

This time around the goal is for the defense to not allow those explosive plays. It’ll take a combination of Spagnuolo doing a better job calling the defense on a play-to-play basis, but he also challenged his players to improve as well.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Chiefs allowed 22 total pressures against the Raiders in Week 5. It’s the single most they’ve allowed in a game all season. Chiefs OL coach Andy Heck explained how his group felt after the game and how they’ve prepared ahead of this game.

“With regards to the game against the Raiders previously, we came out of that thinking, ‘We’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to put our nose to the grindstone and get to work,'” Heck said. “We got outplayed there. Those guys got the win. They did a nice job. It’s a young, aggressive, talented, well-coached group and they came to play. They played the game the way it was supposed to be played and they got us that day. We know the challenge that’s in store for us. We know what we’re capable of. We’re working our tails off to go out there and compete and get a win.”

Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy was a little blunter with his comments on Week 5, but no one would expect anything less. He says that this game will be all about his players being better prepared, mentally and physically.

“Well, I just thought it was obvious, they played better than what we did,” Bieniemy said. “And at the end of the day, kudos to them. They did an outstanding job of coming in here and doing what they needed to do. I’ve said this before, we got exactly what we deserved. Now it’s up to us to make sure that we’re mentally and physically ready for the battle in which we’re about to face.”

One common thread between all of the Chiefs’ coaches — no one was content with the performance from their unit during the Week 5 loss. That fact alone has been a source of motivation from the coaching staff heading into this pivotal Week 11 rematch with Las Vegas.

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Thursday night halftime stats: Seahawks lead Cardinals 16-7 Week 11

A look at the Thursday night halftime stats as the Seattle Seahawks face off against the Arizona Cardinals Week 11 at Lumen Field.

The Seattle Seahawks lead the Arizona Cardinals 16-7 Thursday night at the half. Here’s a look at the stats after two quarters of play.

Texas Football: Struggles with the Texas Offense

A look inside the number of the Texas Longhorns offense. With the struggles, is the key feeding their young budding star in Bijan Robinson?

One of the biggest issues for the Texas Longhorns lately has been on the offensive side of the ball. A far cry from what was seen at the beginning of the year. The offense was No. 1 and No. 2 in terms of scoring for the early part of the year. As the season has gone on, the offense numbers are dropping.

As the defense has improved against teams running the ball and bottling up top runners, it is the offense that is failing to catch up. Against the Oklahoma State Cowboys the team failed to generate sustained success. They needed four OSU turnovers to generate points in a game they had to win. Only one drive for a score for more than 60 yards. The offense struggled ever since the Oklahoma game.

Looking at key statistics at different points in the season. We looked at following the Texas Tech, Oklahoma and West Virginia games. As pace of play has gone down, so has total offense, points per game and points per play. The offense is far less efficient than it was earlier this year. A big reason why they aren’t putting away teams that they should. The Texas offense has far too many weapons to have these issues week in and week out.

Pace of play is determined by the number of plays a team runs per game.

Week	Pace of Play	Total Offense	PPG	Points/Play
Week 4	82.5	582.5	61.0	0.739
Week 6	79.5	495.2	49.5	0.623
Week 10	77.0	437.1	40.4	0.525

Slowing the offense is down is a byproduct of a Tom Herman offense. A staple of a Mike Yurcich offense is tempo and big plays down the field, that is where the Longhorns have been lacking.

Explosive Plays	10+	20+	30+	40+
FBS Rank	31st	26th	20th	7th

Some of this can be based on the fact that Texas has dealt with injuries across the board. Some of this can be based on the fact that Sam Ehlinger has plenty of issues throwing down the field and outside of the numbers. Given that, the Longhorns should be running the ball at a higher rate.

Yurcich likes to use the run to set up the pass, more runs help his offense. The emergence of Bijan Robinson can be a focal point and should be a focal point moving forward. The lack of touches for the talented freshman is head scratching. Not to mention with the injuries that are piling up on Sam– despite what Herman will tell you– means that the Longhorns should feed the freshman.

Despite playing less snaps, Robinson leads the Longhorns in yards from scrimmage. He has the largest yards per touch of any non receiver. His 6.7 yards per touch is over a yard more than Keaontay Ingram and two yards more than Roschon Johnson.

Of his 294 yards rushing this season, 204 are on yards after contact. He averages almost four yards per rush after being contacted by a defender. According to PFF his elusive rating is 90, best on the team. Not surprising since he leads the team in missed tackles forced.

The Formula: (Missed Tackles Forced) / (Designed Run Attempts + Receptions) * (Yards After Contact Per Attempt * 100) per PFF.

The Texas Longhorns head coach needs to stop being stubborn and play your best players, not players you may be loyal to because they have been here longer.

Is Damien Harris the Patriots’ new starting running back?

Former Alabama running back Damien Harris has had an interesting first two seasons in the NFL. However, now he looks to become the lead …

Former Alabama running back and 2019 third-round selection by the New England Patriots Damien Harris has found himself in an ideal situation when it comes to earning a starting spot and proving his value.

With former Georgia running back, and Patriots lead back, Sony Michel out due to injury, Harris has had the opportunity to shine. In last night’s upset win over the Baltimore Ravens, Harris did just that and he impressed the nation.

He totaled 22 carries for over 120 yards, but wasn’t able to find the touchdown. What the box score won’t show is how big of a difference-maker he was for the Patriots on offense, keeping the fast-pace tempo going, leaving the Baltimore defense struggling.

“We knew we were facing a tough, physical team that kind of wanted to bully us and push us around, but we wanted to stand up for ourselves and go out there and show how tough and physical we are,” said Harris.“That was kind of the mentality of the whole team tonight and we went out there and competed hard for 60 minutes and we were able to come out with a great win against a great team.”

With Michel able to come back into the game and be taken off the injured reserve list, it is imperative for Harris to conitnue playng at such a high level to help New England get back into the swing of things after falling behind and sitting behind the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins in the AFC East race.

Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports predicts Harris should be the go-to guy for New England from now on.

“Even as the backfield reaches its full strength, the pecking order should continue to begin with Harris, who has taken hold of this starting spot and has, quite literally, run away with it,” writes Sullivan.

Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on Harris as he makes his way through season No. 2 in the NFL with the New England Patriots.

5 takeaways from Seattle’s 23-16 fall to Los Angeles in Week 10

The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Los Angeles Rams by a score of 23-16 in Week 10 to drop to 6-3 on the season. Here are five takeaways.

The Seattle Seahawks (6-3) lost to the Los Angeles Rams (6-3) by a score of 23-16 and dropped to third place in the NFC West Week 10. Here are five takeaways from the game.