re: I formation

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We don’t have a fullback The Gabe Reliford injury hurt in multiple ways. He was probably our 1st or 2nd best pass rusher from the 4 DEs we were rotating. HUGE downgrade between him and Carpenter, so we’re not rotating as much.

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Donovan Green would probably be effective in that role. If we get in the I, the D knows it’s at least 85/15 a run play, so using Bordelon as a 2nd TE wouldn’t be a problem, especially since he’s done it before.

Personally, I think any I formation needs to be limited to situational use. You can get some of the same benefit using 2 back in the Pistol. We already do this when Thomas motions into the backfield, making the RB a de facto FB for the play. Another variation could be Donovan Green motioning into the backfield from the TE spot to get a downhill start as the FB blocking for the RB. Several teams do this out of both the Pistol and Shotgun.

The point is there are creative ways to use a set like Pistol that we already run out of. This doesn’t require a full under center drop back of a QB who’s not used to doing that, but also doesn’t put the RB on a specific side like shotgun and allows them to run downhill to the ball and the hole.

We definitely haven’t thrown nearly enough out of the Pistol, especially when Thomas motions into the backfield. That’s been one of our only effective run plays, so we need to run more RPO and play action out of it to try and catch the defense sitting on the run. We haven’t had a defense guessing since the 2nd half of the Clemson game. The misdirection and disgusting that worked in Week 1 needs to reappear after the Bye.