There are a lot of examples of bad coaching that I can point out from this game, but I will keep it to just a few.
1) Cinci's first TD came on a 1st-and-goal at the 13 yard line. Marshall was in cover 0. For those without a ton of football knowledge, that means Marshall was playing straight man-to-man coverage without any safety help. From the 3 yard line, that is understandable, as you have to sell out to stop the run being so close to the end zone. But from the 13 yard line? That really makes no sense unless you're in a situation where you are going to lose the game on a field goal, so you have to take a big risk by trying to get a sack to push them back. But that wasn't the case.
Marshall went cover 0 on 1st-and-13. That's bad enough. To completely blow my mind, it didn't look like Marshall even blitzed on it! If you're going to risk everything and go cover 0, you absolutely have to do whatever it takes to get to the QB as fast as possible so that he doesn't have time to get rid of the ball to any receiver since there is no safety help. But Marshall didn't bring any pressure from my first look. Then, this really blows my mind: The Cinci receiver who the ball was thrown to on the fade route wasn't even the open receiver. The single receiver at the bottom of the screen would have been the better throw, and that's because the cornerback was a good eight yards off of the ball. Then, he was aligned head-up on the receiver. Being that deep, without inside leverage, and without any help allows an easy pitch-and-catch on a slant. A good QB/system would have allowed the QB to simply give the signal to the WR to run a quick slant or any type of dig/inside route to be wide open for a TD. There were so many dumbfounding things on that call:
- going cover 0 from the 13 yard line
- going cover 0 with no pressure
- having no safety help at the 13 yard line and being eight yards off of the ball, which allows an easy pitch-and-catch on a hitch/slant, which takes away the whole point of stopping the run if you're going to give up easy throws
- having no inside leverage with no safety help, thus allowing an easier throw instead of forcing them to complete a harder throw on a fade route
2) Once again, the horrible use of timeouts by Doc. At the end of the 1st half, Cinci was about to go up by four scores. Clearly, you had to do whatever you could to save as much time as possible to try and score and make it a three possession game before half. Cinci had plenty of time and all three timeouts, so it wasn't an issue of hoping they would be pressed for time. Marshall should have been using their timeouts to stop the clock on those last few plays by Cinci. As was discussed after the Boise game, timeouts are far more valuable for you in those situations when you are on defense compared with when you are on offense. On defense, you have absolutely no control over the clock. You're at the mercy of the offense. On offense, you have a lot more control of the clock in a time sensitive situation. You can spike the ball, step out of bounds, throw an incomplete pass, get a first down, etc. which all stop the clock. You'd much rather have the ball with two minutes on the clock and zero timeouts as opposed to having the ball with 40 seconds and three timeouts. For some reason, Doc just doesn't understand how that works.
3) Player attitude:
A) On Cinci's first drive, they were marching down the field. They hit a big pass play, and the receiver was pushed out of bounds. A Marshall offensive lineman, looking like an idiot, tried looking like a jokester by mocking the Cinci receiver as he had his back turned. He looked like an idiot and you're having the ball jammed down your throat. It's all fun and games until you get your ass whooped by 38 points at home.
B) I may be mistaken, but I believe it was Levi Brown who was involved in a brief scuffle going into halftime. During the normal pushing and shit-talking, Levi (or whomever the OL was) crossed his arms and kept turning to Cinci players with his arms crossed looking like an idiot. At first, I thought he was doing it to show that he wasn't fighting/pushing back so that he didn't get flagged, but then he kept doing it repeatedly to each Cinci player who was around. He looked like he was again trying to be a jokester. You're getting your ass kicked 28-0 at home. It's not jokester time. I have no idea about the kid - perhaps he is a great kid who doesn't get mad, etc. But when you're getting your ass kicked, try having a little attitude, sticking up for your team, and not being a jokester in that situation.
C) This happens on more teams than just Marshall, but if I am that position coach, I am lighting into him: Marshall didn't get a first down until 1:20 left in the first quarter. Levias caught a pass to convert on third down. Marshall was losing 14-0 at the time, they finally got a first down with 1:20 remaining, and that moron gets up throwing the first down sign.
1) Cinci's first TD came on a 1st-and-goal at the 13 yard line. Marshall was in cover 0. For those without a ton of football knowledge, that means Marshall was playing straight man-to-man coverage without any safety help. From the 3 yard line, that is understandable, as you have to sell out to stop the run being so close to the end zone. But from the 13 yard line? That really makes no sense unless you're in a situation where you are going to lose the game on a field goal, so you have to take a big risk by trying to get a sack to push them back. But that wasn't the case.
Marshall went cover 0 on 1st-and-13. That's bad enough. To completely blow my mind, it didn't look like Marshall even blitzed on it! If you're going to risk everything and go cover 0, you absolutely have to do whatever it takes to get to the QB as fast as possible so that he doesn't have time to get rid of the ball to any receiver since there is no safety help. But Marshall didn't bring any pressure from my first look. Then, this really blows my mind: The Cinci receiver who the ball was thrown to on the fade route wasn't even the open receiver. The single receiver at the bottom of the screen would have been the better throw, and that's because the cornerback was a good eight yards off of the ball. Then, he was aligned head-up on the receiver. Being that deep, without inside leverage, and without any help allows an easy pitch-and-catch on a slant. A good QB/system would have allowed the QB to simply give the signal to the WR to run a quick slant or any type of dig/inside route to be wide open for a TD. There were so many dumbfounding things on that call:
- going cover 0 from the 13 yard line
- going cover 0 with no pressure
- having no safety help at the 13 yard line and being eight yards off of the ball, which allows an easy pitch-and-catch on a hitch/slant, which takes away the whole point of stopping the run if you're going to give up easy throws
- having no inside leverage with no safety help, thus allowing an easier throw instead of forcing them to complete a harder throw on a fade route
2) Once again, the horrible use of timeouts by Doc. At the end of the 1st half, Cinci was about to go up by four scores. Clearly, you had to do whatever you could to save as much time as possible to try and score and make it a three possession game before half. Cinci had plenty of time and all three timeouts, so it wasn't an issue of hoping they would be pressed for time. Marshall should have been using their timeouts to stop the clock on those last few plays by Cinci. As was discussed after the Boise game, timeouts are far more valuable for you in those situations when you are on defense compared with when you are on offense. On defense, you have absolutely no control over the clock. You're at the mercy of the offense. On offense, you have a lot more control of the clock in a time sensitive situation. You can spike the ball, step out of bounds, throw an incomplete pass, get a first down, etc. which all stop the clock. You'd much rather have the ball with two minutes on the clock and zero timeouts as opposed to having the ball with 40 seconds and three timeouts. For some reason, Doc just doesn't understand how that works.
3) Player attitude:
A) On Cinci's first drive, they were marching down the field. They hit a big pass play, and the receiver was pushed out of bounds. A Marshall offensive lineman, looking like an idiot, tried looking like a jokester by mocking the Cinci receiver as he had his back turned. He looked like an idiot and you're having the ball jammed down your throat. It's all fun and games until you get your ass whooped by 38 points at home.
B) I may be mistaken, but I believe it was Levi Brown who was involved in a brief scuffle going into halftime. During the normal pushing and shit-talking, Levi (or whomever the OL was) crossed his arms and kept turning to Cinci players with his arms crossed looking like an idiot. At first, I thought he was doing it to show that he wasn't fighting/pushing back so that he didn't get flagged, but then he kept doing it repeatedly to each Cinci player who was around. He looked like he was again trying to be a jokester. You're getting your ass kicked 28-0 at home. It's not jokester time. I have no idea about the kid - perhaps he is a great kid who doesn't get mad, etc. But when you're getting your ass kicked, try having a little attitude, sticking up for your team, and not being a jokester in that situation.
C) This happens on more teams than just Marshall, but if I am that position coach, I am lighting into him: Marshall didn't get a first down until 1:20 left in the first quarter. Levias caught a pass to convert on third down. Marshall was losing 14-0 at the time, they finally got a first down with 1:20 remaining, and that moron gets up throwing the first down sign.
