Expect a lot of zone blitzes.
Just like Rogers, Raiola is too good to let hang back there patting the ball. His arm talent is even better than Rogers, which is ridiculous given how good Rogers is.
Unlike Rogers, he's not a 5th year senior that's seen all sorts of coverages known to man. And that's precisely where we MAY have a chance to dial up some zone blitzes to quickly force the ball out of his hands.
You can't play man against him all day with his huge WRs bc he's mobile and sees the field really well. He'll simply buy time and beat you deep. With his ball placement skills and the size of his WRs, those 50/50 balls are more like 60/40 balls, which could be a problem on 3rd and Long.
The plan is simple: Force him into quick throws, tackle really well, and hope he eventually makes some mistakes along the way. With our pass rush, or lack thereof, that means we need a lot of blitzes. #4 has been 'no bueno,' but he could actually be perfect for the game plan this week as a 3rd safety/small LB to bring on blitzes. As far as matching up against the run with #4 in there, their RBs are nowhere as good as Coleman so I like those odds vs having a 3rd LB in there against a pass-leaning offense.
We run a very similar scheme to the Illini on both sides of the ball and they had success against the Huskers on both sides. It is my opinion that they do have a better D and QB than we do, but not by much. With the right scheme, we can take advantage of Raiola's inexperience. It's our only shot. Either that or Kyle and Sam run for 300+ yards and Raiola is on the sidelines the whole game.
Just like Rogers, Raiola is too good to let hang back there patting the ball. His arm talent is even better than Rogers, which is ridiculous given how good Rogers is.
Unlike Rogers, he's not a 5th year senior that's seen all sorts of coverages known to man. And that's precisely where we MAY have a chance to dial up some zone blitzes to quickly force the ball out of his hands.
You can't play man against him all day with his huge WRs bc he's mobile and sees the field really well. He'll simply buy time and beat you deep. With his ball placement skills and the size of his WRs, those 50/50 balls are more like 60/40 balls, which could be a problem on 3rd and Long.
The plan is simple: Force him into quick throws, tackle really well, and hope he eventually makes some mistakes along the way. With our pass rush, or lack thereof, that means we need a lot of blitzes. #4 has been 'no bueno,' but he could actually be perfect for the game plan this week as a 3rd safety/small LB to bring on blitzes. As far as matching up against the run with #4 in there, their RBs are nowhere as good as Coleman so I like those odds vs having a 3rd LB in there against a pass-leaning offense.
We run a very similar scheme to the Illini on both sides of the ball and they had success against the Huskers on both sides. It is my opinion that they do have a better D and QB than we do, but not by much. With the right scheme, we can take advantage of Raiola's inexperience. It's our only shot. Either that or Kyle and Sam run for 300+ yards and Raiola is on the sidelines the whole game.
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