I thought Zwick looked GREAT in the pocket. I don't think I noticed him take a sack, and I don't think I saw him get happy feet. He was blitzed, but he CONSTANTLY made the right read. All day, he was forced into throwing before the play developed and he did. Threw a couple of bad balls, but come on, he looked better than Krenzel or Bellisari as far as PASSING goes. He doesn't have Craig's headiness or his leadership yet, but that arm...
And Smith was nothing to laugh at, either. He looked collected in there, maybe tried to run once he should have thrown it away, but still.. that pass to Holmes (where Holmes pushed off, I'm pretty sure of it
), thing of beauty. Both guys gave our players chances to get more yards. That's what it's all about. Hamby gets hit in stride, he gets 5 more yards. That's CRUCIAL. If once every 5 passes we get that extra 5 yards, that is crucial.
Zwick's pass to Holmes was incredible. Running, throwing off his back foot, just flicked his wrist.. hit him in stride. Unbelievable. I think this kid is something else.. I remember watching USC's first game last year and I wasn't as impressed with Leinart's throws, and he turned out ok. Did get a bit rattled on some of the passes, after his INT's, but he looked as good as any quarterback that I've seen in the pocket since Germaine. And that's saying something.
Running game was good. Yes, Ross got 68 of his 140 yards on one carry, but he showed a toughness and a burst that I'm not used to from him. After that first big run, he was pretty consistently good. Pittman looks like the future. I think he should have tried to stop on that run, instead of going out of bounds, but I don't think absorbing the hit would have been a good idea.. two guys have the angle on you, I don't blame you for going down. Mo Hall looks like a nice
WR.. wow. Holmes and Childress looked great.. Ginn looked nice on the pass that went OB. Very nice catch, very smooth. Hall looked fine when he got the ball. Hollins didn't stand out, but I noticed his blocking was excellent. I thought Lyons would see more time at WR. He'll get in, though. Hall/Childress/Lyons/Hollins/Holmes sounds like an awesome 5-wide.
That's just the skill positions. I'll write more in my blog.
When was the last time we had a balanced offense like this? Loved it. I don't know if we had this many yards against Indiana last year, our best offensive game. If we did, then that was it, for sure.
I don't post at Bucknuts because I love posters like ashland and Dihard and bucknuts480-0251251 that post here and are positive. I got in an argument with a friend -- we almost doubled their yards, played GREAT D (especially late) and ran the ball nicely. Our brand new starting QB looked good. What's there to be negative about? A win is a win, and 3-TD win, with the way we played.. that's a GREAT win. I'd give the game an A, honestly. What a great way to start.