I'm sure almost no one wants to rehash this, but I just watched the key plays down the stretch of Tulane's loss on Thursday. Here's what happened:
1) THE HAIL MARY
Regardless of what else happened in the game, this was the the play that lost it. A defense simply has to make the play here. Here is what all 11 guys did on the play, with the ball in between the 37 and the 38 on the snap in what amounted to a 3-2-2-1-3 alignment (three rusher, two linebackers, two intermediate coverers, one deeper guy and three backline safeties) against Tulsa's set of trips receivers to the right. a running back, and a lone receiver to the left.
-- For someone who gives tremendous effort on just about every snap, Cam Sample chose a strange time to take a play off. He must have felt the game was secure, but as the outside rusher on the left side (Darius Hodges was lined up on the nose and Patrick Johnson was on the right side of the three-man alignment), he lost contain while allowing his blocker to push him around the quarterback and totally out of the picture. He then jogged slowly away from the play before starting to turn around as Brin ran the other way. His vacating his side of the field allowed Brin to take about eight steps to that side with no pressure whatsoever before setting his feet to launch his pass exactly the way he wanted to, with both receivers having plenty of time to get to the back of the end zone.
--Patrick Johnson was blocked effectively, never disengaging from his man and ending up with his back to the play.
--Hodges, playing out of position in what must be Tulane's Hail Mary defense, had no chance against a double team. He finally got off of them and ran after Brin and was a step away from him when he launched the ball and tackled him after the throw. It would have been hard for him to do anything more.
--Marvin Moody, one of two linebackers on the field, following a running back who went in motion to the other side of the field from the play..
--Linebacker Dorian Williams, lined up on the left hash (from Tulane's perspective) at the 30, followed JC Santana, the inside of the three trips receivers to the right as he cut outside slightly. He then followed the flight of the ball but was well short of Santana and never got in position to keep him from catching the ball. He jumped off of one foot but the ball, and Santana, were at least three yards clear of him.
--Cornerback Kevaris Hall, lined up at the 25 on the outside, ran with the other receiver who ended up in basically the same spot as Santana, stopped in the middle of the end zone, backed up slowly while the ball was in flight, jumped while off balance and watched it go over his head to Santana. The guy he was covering was behind him, too.
--Ajani Kerr stood at the 6-yard line guarding the middle of the field and was watching a receiver coming his way. He had no chance to get over to make a play when the ball was released to the outside, although you would have liked to have seen him do more than jog toward the ball.
--Jaylon Monroe, who has the best ball skills of Tulane's corners, was stationed at the 17-yard line outside the far hash. He covered the middle of the three receivers, who ran right down the hash (the same guy Kerr watched) and never left his side. He had no chance to make a play.
--Freshman safety Cornelius Dyson was the deep man on right side of the field. He was not involved in the play.
--Larry Brooks, who graded out as the second-best safety in the country over the weekend by Pro Football Focus, was ultimately the guy most responsible for the completion. He lined up at the 7-yard line outside the hash and absolutely, positively could not let anyone get behind him. Yet that's exactly what he did. He was in perfect position when the ball was released, but he did not follow the ball correctly, taking a half step forward as if he was going to try to intercept the ball and barely jumping when the ball came down with Hall right next to him making the same mistake.
--Willie Langham, lined up at the 24, was the wide cornerback on the opposite side of the field from the throw and guarded the wide receiver who ran straight down the field on his side. He played no role.
2) THE DRIVE BEFORE
--Brooks made an outstanding play on third-and-13, breaking up a deep ball for Santana even though he had his back turned to the play, knocking the ball away at the last second to force a fourth-and-13 from midfield with 4:15 left and a 14-7 lead. Tulane was now one play away from taking over and needing two first downs to either run out the clock or get in range for a clinching field goal. Instead of punting, Tulsa decided to go for it on fourth-and-13.
--Tulane rushed four with its starters on the field but got nowhere, giving Brin a clean pocket. He passed to wide receiver Josh Johnson three yards short of the first down and with his back to the line to gain. safety Macon Clark was in perfect position to make the play but fell off of him. That's a play that simply has to be made. Making matters worse, Dyson grabbed a face mask cleaning up for Clark's mistake, moving the ball 13 yards to the 13.
--Brin had a TD pass on the next play but missed his receiver slightly with Brooks covering. The pass was high but could have been caught in the end zone.
--Brin scrambled for 8 or 9 yards on the next play but Santana was called for illegal motion, making it second-and-15.
--Patrick Johnson showed excellent anticipation on the next play, jumping to deflect a pass but he could not gather it in for what would have been close to a clinching interception. The ball fluttered down and off his left hand as he could not get both hands together to make the grab. He would not have scored as I initially thought. AThere was a receiver right there who probably would have made the tackle. But it would have been Tulane ball with 3:25 left.
--Ajani Kerr had excellent coverage on the third-down pass into the back corner of the end for Santana. There was no room for the throw, making it fourth-and-15.
--Tulane called timeout before the snap on fourth-and-15. Hodges was on the field instead of Sample on the left side, and Sample replaced him after the timeout.
--When the ball was snapped, Tulane went with a three-man line of Patrick Johnson, Eric Hicks and Sample and also rushed both linebackers--Nick Anderson and Dorian Williams. I give Tulsa a ton of credit here because Brin threw a beautiful pass and Josh Johnson ran a pro route, cutting to the outside on Monroe and then curling back inside without losing speed. This is a play a lot of teams would have failed to defend. Dyson was the safety near the ball but could not get to it. The window was small, but Brin put it exactly where it needed to be with good zip. Neither of Tulsa's other two QBs would have made that throw and certainly not Seth Boomer, the No. 2 guy. What an unlikely performance from Brin. Tulane would have taken over at the 18 with 3:16 left if the pass had not been complete. The Wave would have needed to pick up two first downs to end it.
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1) THE HAIL MARY
Regardless of what else happened in the game, this was the the play that lost it. A defense simply has to make the play here. Here is what all 11 guys did on the play, with the ball in between the 37 and the 38 on the snap in what amounted to a 3-2-2-1-3 alignment (three rusher, two linebackers, two intermediate coverers, one deeper guy and three backline safeties) against Tulsa's set of trips receivers to the right. a running back, and a lone receiver to the left.
-- For someone who gives tremendous effort on just about every snap, Cam Sample chose a strange time to take a play off. He must have felt the game was secure, but as the outside rusher on the left side (Darius Hodges was lined up on the nose and Patrick Johnson was on the right side of the three-man alignment), he lost contain while allowing his blocker to push him around the quarterback and totally out of the picture. He then jogged slowly away from the play before starting to turn around as Brin ran the other way. His vacating his side of the field allowed Brin to take about eight steps to that side with no pressure whatsoever before setting his feet to launch his pass exactly the way he wanted to, with both receivers having plenty of time to get to the back of the end zone.
--Patrick Johnson was blocked effectively, never disengaging from his man and ending up with his back to the play.
--Hodges, playing out of position in what must be Tulane's Hail Mary defense, had no chance against a double team. He finally got off of them and ran after Brin and was a step away from him when he launched the ball and tackled him after the throw. It would have been hard for him to do anything more.
--Marvin Moody, one of two linebackers on the field, following a running back who went in motion to the other side of the field from the play..
--Linebacker Dorian Williams, lined up on the left hash (from Tulane's perspective) at the 30, followed JC Santana, the inside of the three trips receivers to the right as he cut outside slightly. He then followed the flight of the ball but was well short of Santana and never got in position to keep him from catching the ball. He jumped off of one foot but the ball, and Santana, were at least three yards clear of him.
--Cornerback Kevaris Hall, lined up at the 25 on the outside, ran with the other receiver who ended up in basically the same spot as Santana, stopped in the middle of the end zone, backed up slowly while the ball was in flight, jumped while off balance and watched it go over his head to Santana. The guy he was covering was behind him, too.
--Ajani Kerr stood at the 6-yard line guarding the middle of the field and was watching a receiver coming his way. He had no chance to get over to make a play when the ball was released to the outside, although you would have liked to have seen him do more than jog toward the ball.
--Jaylon Monroe, who has the best ball skills of Tulane's corners, was stationed at the 17-yard line outside the far hash. He covered the middle of the three receivers, who ran right down the hash (the same guy Kerr watched) and never left his side. He had no chance to make a play.
--Freshman safety Cornelius Dyson was the deep man on right side of the field. He was not involved in the play.
--Larry Brooks, who graded out as the second-best safety in the country over the weekend by Pro Football Focus, was ultimately the guy most responsible for the completion. He lined up at the 7-yard line outside the hash and absolutely, positively could not let anyone get behind him. Yet that's exactly what he did. He was in perfect position when the ball was released, but he did not follow the ball correctly, taking a half step forward as if he was going to try to intercept the ball and barely jumping when the ball came down with Hall right next to him making the same mistake.
--Willie Langham, lined up at the 24, was the wide cornerback on the opposite side of the field from the throw and guarded the wide receiver who ran straight down the field on his side. He played no role.
2) THE DRIVE BEFORE
--Brooks made an outstanding play on third-and-13, breaking up a deep ball for Santana even though he had his back turned to the play, knocking the ball away at the last second to force a fourth-and-13 from midfield with 4:15 left and a 14-7 lead. Tulane was now one play away from taking over and needing two first downs to either run out the clock or get in range for a clinching field goal. Instead of punting, Tulsa decided to go for it on fourth-and-13.
--Tulane rushed four with its starters on the field but got nowhere, giving Brin a clean pocket. He passed to wide receiver Josh Johnson three yards short of the first down and with his back to the line to gain. safety Macon Clark was in perfect position to make the play but fell off of him. That's a play that simply has to be made. Making matters worse, Dyson grabbed a face mask cleaning up for Clark's mistake, moving the ball 13 yards to the 13.
--Brin had a TD pass on the next play but missed his receiver slightly with Brooks covering. The pass was high but could have been caught in the end zone.
--Brin scrambled for 8 or 9 yards on the next play but Santana was called for illegal motion, making it second-and-15.
--Patrick Johnson showed excellent anticipation on the next play, jumping to deflect a pass but he could not gather it in for what would have been close to a clinching interception. The ball fluttered down and off his left hand as he could not get both hands together to make the grab. He would not have scored as I initially thought. AThere was a receiver right there who probably would have made the tackle. But it would have been Tulane ball with 3:25 left.
--Ajani Kerr had excellent coverage on the third-down pass into the back corner of the end for Santana. There was no room for the throw, making it fourth-and-15.
--Tulane called timeout before the snap on fourth-and-15. Hodges was on the field instead of Sample on the left side, and Sample replaced him after the timeout.
--When the ball was snapped, Tulane went with a three-man line of Patrick Johnson, Eric Hicks and Sample and also rushed both linebackers--Nick Anderson and Dorian Williams. I give Tulsa a ton of credit here because Brin threw a beautiful pass and Josh Johnson ran a pro route, cutting to the outside on Monroe and then curling back inside without losing speed. This is a play a lot of teams would have failed to defend. Dyson was the safety near the ball but could not get to it. The window was small, but Brin put it exactly where it needed to be with good zip. Neither of Tulsa's other two QBs would have made that throw and certainly not Seth Boomer, the No. 2 guy. What an unlikely performance from Brin. Tulane would have taken over at the 18 with 3:16 left if the pass had not been complete. The Wave would have needed to pick up two first downs to end it.
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