We played a much improved brand of football today against the Larks. Offense, Defense, and STs all stepped up to give us a much needed win. We eliminated a lot of the negatives from our game today. I think we wanted it more than our opponent and it showed. I think Lapo had a much improved game plan. I think our roster management was better. I think the QB play was better. The play of our secondary was better. We kept the penalties down and we are the least penalized team in the league. For us to have a chance of winning a championship we need to keep this going and we need to keep improving because there is definitely room for improvement. We still are not playing up to our potential.
One area I believe we need to improve if we are going to challenge the best teams in our league is the play between our QB and the receivers.
It seems to me that if a QB throws a pass to a receiver that has one-on-one coverage, in other words, it's just a receiver and an isolated defensive back, then of those 2 players the receiver has a huge advantage and should come down with the ball the majority of the time. The receiver knows the route he is running and he knows where the ball is being thrown and it is much easier for him to see the ball being thrown and it's trajectory. The DB is at a disadvantage because he does not know the route and his vision of the football isn't as good as he often has to look back over his shoulder. My point is, the odds must be better than 50-50 that if anyone is going to catch that ball it should be the receiver.
During the 20 point comeback by the Argos, MBT threw numerous 50-50 balls and the Argo receivers came down with the majority of them. During the Montreal comeback from 24 points down the Montreal receivers came down with the majority of the 50-50 balls too. Here is what I don't understand. What is it about the way our offense works that if we throw a 50-50 ball it seems to yield an inordinate number of INTs? Why is it that with our receivers we rarely come down with a 50-50 ball? I've seen this with both Nichols and Streveler and I find it perplexing. A QB like Mike Reiley has had a very successful career throwing the 50-50 ball to his receivers. Why does this stategy seldom seem to work in our favour? It seems like every 50-50 ball we throw either gets knocked down or intercepted. Is there something about the way these passes are being thrown? Do the DBs somehow know exactly where these balls are being thrown? Or is there something that our receivers are doing or not doing that yields INTs?
I think if we can solve this riddle it'll enhance our chances of winning going down the stretch.
Of course, I could be completely out to lunch about this 50-50 ball thing but I don't think so.
These aren't all 50-50 balls but a lot are. Check it out ...
