I guess my point was, others were saying that Trotters issue were of no concern and if anything, was caused by the D's inept nature. That was not the case yesterday. D was fine. And he still sucked all by his lonesome. No excuse for him. He got decent protection. WR's were open enough.
I was one of those. I was both right and wrong. The Def. was different yesterday. Taken over by Chiz? Don't know, but it sure as hell looked like he's much more involved in it. At one point during one of those final time outs during the last drive, I saw Chiz flat out giving Roof the business. I couldn't read his lips, but they were going at each other, and Chiz appeared to pull the "I'm the fucking HC, your way sux, do it my way" card. I saw Chiz many times talking to Def. players before they were to go out on the field. I also saw a much more aggressive defense, SLIGHTLY improved tackling...only slightly, and much better play by the DBs. Bell even had Alshon covered and turned to play the ball on that TD pass, he was simply beaten by a much better player. Fact is few CBs in the country would have won that battle.
Trotter? He wasn't THE issue the last few weeks. I had conceded he wasn't great, and that he often failed to see open receivers, but thought that would get better. It hasn't. A real SEC defense exposed him. He simply cannot make himself pull the trigger. Then, in a pinch, when we have to have a play, he forces bad throws. Worst combination I can imagine.
I've read and heard bitches about "play calling". Bullshit! Just like every game, there was a plan yesterday. Gus calls plays like a "series offense" play caller does. He hits you with something until you adjust to stop it, then takes advantage of the adjustment. Well, To USCe's credit, they never gave him the adjustment to hit the Buck Sweep. They chose to funnel Dyer inside to the LBs Pretty smart move. We ran Power and Counter probably 40 times yesterday. The Buck Sweep is the homerun threat in the run game. The play action passing game? When it became crystal clear Gus wasn't going to risk throwing, they shut down Dyer too. Well, Gus doesn't have to rip pages out of the playbook for Trotter. Trotter took out 99% of the passing game for him yesterday. QB draw on 3rd and 10? Gus was scared shitless to throw it! And well he should be! There was a decent plan, Trotter fucked it in the ass hard. We left somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to as much as 21 points on the field yesterday due to Trotter, and Trotter alone. The pass pro was adequate most times...good enough Trotter got to his drop point and had time to look before he bailed out early, and ran because he failed to find an open WR. I knew there were issues, I hoped he'd improve. He didn't.
Don't give a shit what you say about Garcia, the Def. flat carried the team yesterday. Punter was brilliant too. Chiz found a way to get the Defense to play good enough, now it's on Chiz and Gus. Does Chiz have the nuts to give Trotter the hook? Does he even think he needs to? What are Gus' feelings on it. Is he the one keeping Trotter out there, or is it Chiz...OR is it that he is really the best option on the team? IMHO, yesterday's performance tells me they have some soul searching do to on both QB and the approach to offense. Trotter isn't even serviceable vs SEC defenses. Makes Chris Todd look like a great QB. Gus has the tools in the toolbag to be an option team. We saw much of it last year. Frazier has the wheels, and can't be any worse passing than Trotter.
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