As talented as Burden is with the ball in his hands, his impact as a decoy can't be understated. At one point last year, Drink lauded his selflessness. And while I can't call myself a true "knower of ball," I think anyone with two eyes could see that the fake pitch to Luther-Brady dive play is the reason Brady has so many rushing touchdowns.
That being said, I think instead of the "you're going to have to beat us without Luther" defense we've seen so many times, Vandy went with the opposite - "if you're going to beat us with the pass, Luther will have to beat us." It's why most of the LBs stayed home in the middle of the field (taking away our biggest passing threat) and the safeties just played center field. You couple that with the OLine's overall below-average pass protection and--credit Gabe with this take--Kirby's insistence to "fix" the passing game while in game, you saw the offense we saw.
It's also why that first play in OT was so open. Credit Brady for looking off the safeties--if you notice everyone sold to the right side and the safety responsible for the Luther double was caught flat footed. It was an absolute dime and probably the best passing play of the season.
I'm trying real hard to focus on the positive, but I don't think the offense is as far off as it felt on Saturday.
That being said, I think instead of the "you're going to have to beat us without Luther" defense we've seen so many times, Vandy went with the opposite - "if you're going to beat us with the pass, Luther will have to beat us." It's why most of the LBs stayed home in the middle of the field (taking away our biggest passing threat) and the safeties just played center field. You couple that with the OLine's overall below-average pass protection and--credit Gabe with this take--Kirby's insistence to "fix" the passing game while in game, you saw the offense we saw.
It's also why that first play in OT was so open. Credit Brady for looking off the safeties--if you notice everyone sold to the right side and the safety responsible for the Luther double was caught flat footed. It was an absolute dime and probably the best passing play of the season.
I'm trying real hard to focus on the positive, but I don't think the offense is as far off as it felt on Saturday.
