- A very winnable game. At the start of the game, Mercer looked like they were going to buzzsaw their way after both teams traded 3 and outs. Then the Lions were within two scores before the offense handed Mercer their final 7 points. Turns out to have been the difference. The Lions had some great chances to win this game.
- The Lion defense played absolutely outstanding. They allowed some big plays but also did not allow Mercer to get into the end zone, and this was the fastest and hardest hitting defense I have seen since the 2022 season. You saw some big hits, good deep ball coverage, and playing through to the whilstle. Mercer had some good passing yards compliments of having to guard an All-American Receiver, but none the less kept the Bears out of the end zone when it counted. It was an inspired effort and also the execution was there, no unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, a few offside infractions but nothing that was catastrophic.
- Eric Rodriguez looked awful in the first half and then looked amazing in the second, but we need to talk about E-Rod’s arm and is role in the offense. E-Rod has lost a lot of the explosiveness and speed that made him the next big thing in 2022 due to being injured twice, and having to bulk up after injury always takes the spring in the step out of the fastest athletes. That being said, when E-Rod had clean pockets and Recievers running their routes, Mercer backed out of the box leaving him with lanes to see through to throw. All that said, he needs to drop the sidearm slinging. And NOW. When a player throws sidearm instead of over the shoulder, it creates throws from the side of the shoulder causes the balls to loft up then down instead of line drive darts.Sadly you saw that on the play that would have set the Lions up to tie the game. Yeah, hes a senior, but ive seen his high school film, and he can throw over shoulder. He works on that this season and gets the right motion, the offense will be that much better.
- Speaking of the offense, the Lions had some critical guys missing on the recieving group, but still put together enough plays to stay in it, and EJ Oakmon…….my gosh. What a great performance. The offensive line started out poorly, but got stronger as the game went on. With so many starters new, the offensive line can be hard to gell at times.
- The defesnse, as I said was fanstastic and was the reason the game went down into the wire. Special teams were terrific, and I felt the coaching staff coached a good game. As the game went on, Dolezel’s play calling got more aggressive and pushed the ball downfield opening up the field, Bobby Connelly was making O-Line adjustments well, and overall it was a game where the Lions overperformed, and still should have won, as odd as that sounds.
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