[BostonCard]

In terms of the defense being too "passive" during the first half, it kind of felt like the right call. Mario Cristobal, in his post-game conference, even admitted that the team had been holding things back and saving them from Stanford. Their top receiver Mitchell, who had 14 receptions for 239 yards, had only 6 receptions total from the first three games. I've heard of holding stuff back, but this takes it to a new level.

If you don't have tape of the real offense -- or even of who the top receiving targets will be -- it seems practical to give a bigger cushion when you have confidence in your DBs like ours to close out distances and make sure tackles. Even with the cushions, Herbert had to hit some very, very tight windows to get completions. It was pretty shocking.

In terms of the offense being too passive, it's the dumb drive-killing errors. If they eliminate the stupid holding/false starts/delay of game stuff, and can maintain their pass-blocking consistency, and if Costello plays early the way he plays late, then the first half plays are fine. 

Another side of Stanford's play-calling and cautious starts: 0 interceptions.

Also, remember we had safeties injured, so we may have played the cornerbacks off the ball because we were worried about a big play against inexperienced safeties.

BC

[BostonCard]

In terms of the defense being too "passive" during the first half, it kind of felt like the right call. Mario Cristobal, in his post-game conference, even admitted that the team had been holding things back and saving them from Stanford. Their top receiver Mitchell, who had 14 receptions for 239 yards, had only 6 receptions total from the first three games. I've heard of holding stuff back, but this takes it to a new level.

If you don't have tape of the real offense -- or even of who the top receiving targets will be -- it seems practical to give a bigger cushion when you have confidence in your DBs like ours to close out distances and make sure tackles. Even with the cushions, Herbert had to hit some very, very tight windows to get completions. It was pretty shocking.

In terms of the offense being too passive, it's the dumb drive-killing errors. If they eliminate the stupid holding/false starts/delay of game stuff, and can maintain their pass-blocking consistency, and if Costello plays early the way he plays late, then the first half plays are fine. 

Another side of Stanford's play-calling and cautious starts: 0 interceptions.

Also, remember we had safeties injured, so we may have played the cornerbacks off the ball because we were worried about a big play against inexperienced safeties.

BC