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Blake Cashman was really everywhere and a sure tackle while so many others whiffed. He was part of some key stops and felt like the safety blanket the defense needed when the Cards broke off some big plays. Another mention was Stingley, who had a great game.
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On the big sack that knocked Stroud out for a play, I think Beck didn’t recognize the late blitz so Stroud may not have been expecting someone through the gap. Beck ran out of through the gap and ended up looking at a defender in coverage while the blitzer ran straight into the same gap
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The first int may have been Stroud trying too hard to get Collins involved. He threw to Collins multiple times in tighter windows than I think he usually would other receivers. So that first int may have been trusting Collins to make the play but he threw the ball too low.
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The 2nd half may not have been as bad as it felt. The play calling became more conservative with quick passes, the screens were sniffed out, and the run game stalled a bit. Stroud didn’t attempt as many deep throws. The interception to Dell was probably the one real rookie interception of the game caused by a bad decision from pressure.
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WAJ had a great game. I don’t know snap counts or defensive schemes, but it felt like he was on the field more than previous games, and I hope it continues to feel like this
Also, 2 of the interceptions were just flat out bad decisions from CJ. Nico’s in the endzone should have been a throw away. The Tank one CJ knew pressure was coming and just decided on Tank pre-snap; he stared him down the whole time. Unfortunately Schultz was wide-ass open on a little choice route in the middle; straight up had his defender completely turned around on the cut and would have had a good amount of YAC on that one. It feels like CJ really tries to force it to Tank. That’s usually sound, but sometimes it’s bitten him in the ass.
I don’t disagree with you lol tackling is awful. It’s more so from certain players than others. I didn’t really rewatch to see who was missing tackles, but it was noticeable how much Pitre can’t finish a play. I think if he had made 2 or 3 of the plays he should have, we may have a bit different of a memory. On top of that, Connor was making it real tough.
I’m mostly mentioning the one to Collins to bring up why he threw it. It’s almost like CJ is over-distributing, trying too hard to get everyone involved, especially since our “WR1” hasn’t been shining as much lately. For the Tank interception, it’s easy to say Schultz was open, and just going off of what you’re saying, a choice route would take time to deliver and be a higher risk of miscommunication. Maybe there was film on how Stroud handles the pressure, and they saw their moment, but he’s been great against pressure the majority of the season. This is a good opportunity to see how Stroud will adjust to what defenses are finding.
It’s really about the only hole in his game but also something that he can fix very quickly. But the Tank int he was definitely staring at Tank’s out route only; maybe Tank usually gets the jump on the CB, but iirc it was the short side of the field and the CB was absolutely sitting on that route.
Not sure if he was forcing it to Tank, or he just didn’t see the extra defender sagging back in coverage, i.e. he thought Tank was open and wasn’t trying to “force” it over the defender in the front. not seeing the defender is its own problem, but one i’m sure all rookies struggle with. hopefully, he gets better at recognizing them over time.