Look again. Cam was initially confused about his assignment. He looked inside first, then realized the TE was blocking to the inside, then turned to engage Beasley. By the time he realized the TE was blocking inside of him, it was too late to engage Beasley. And then he looks back at the TE like WTF after the play.
I did mention in my post that Beasley struggled to get pressure in the 2nd half, so uh, yeah....
Ok, so i'll take an early lunch and watch it bc in the 1st half he was dominant aside from when FSU when 3 step and that's almost always going to neutralize an outside pass rusher to SOME extent.
Here we go:
3.55
Gets edge on OT and OT has presence of mind to wash him just as Shane gt washed on one of his "big plays"...lol. OT has hand clearly on his back and it's a borderline holding call/penalty which could easily have been thrown as it turns into a take down. That's a win and shows him AGAIN killing Cam off the ball. They should be chipping at this point.
5.16 Beats his man with an strong inside moves runs into lineman and/or gets held....nice move, more fluid than Ray and sometimes when working to the inside you're going to get held/run into trafffic, but that's still a win off the snap.
5.50 Sets good edge against O'Leary who people consider a good blocker, play goes inside for minimal gain. GJ Vic, that's a win/.*
6.28 Disguises coverage (he has back) well off the snap and jams him from coming out. QB get's killed perhaps in part because there is no outlet to back. I dunno, and am on lunch so I am not going to rewatch it.
6.55 Vic sets contain edge and stays disciplined, he then comes off of O'Leary's block easily to help clean up the play when the back cuts it back. That's good to see from someone who people consider a pure rusher.
O'Leary is battling Vic a lot in the 3rd and was considered a very solid run blocker at FSU with his somewhat squatty frame and physical play.
8.13 Beasley makes one of the most athletic yet subtle moves of both tapes, First he completely owns Nick O'Leary athletically with a jab/stutter step inside speed outside move (have no idea what the actual terminology would be) beat him in less than a second cleanly, then, and this is really superior, threatens OT's outside shoulder with speed and forces him to open enough for him to gain inside path to the QB which is EXACTLY WHAT THE OL IS TRYING TO NEVER ALLOW IN THESE SITUATIONS. Amazing play by Vic, worth 3X as much to any real scout than a garbage time sack, lol....
9.50 Vic Jumps inside and gets caught, not good. He is too small at ~230lbs to muscle back into position against legit sized/skilled OL if initially jumping wrong. Also, his power moves/bull moves are being fairly effectively neutralized late in the game. Honest scouting here.
10.39 Famous play, Vic gets caught sneaking inside. What no one told you is he kept contain the play before and the RB ran right up inside with no one there and FSU was grinding Clemson down a bit. Still not a good play and upsetting a bit considering how well overall he was playing the run before late in the 4th. He almost looked a bit worn out in the last couple series. Being undersized this will happen if you're playing virtually every down. It has to be noted though...
Ok, lets talk about half to half pass rushing and what not only we saw, BUT WHY WE SAW IT. There was certainly more pressure in the 2nd quarter than in much of the 2nd half, some of it was due to the aforementioned fatigue setting in, but the vast majority wasn't...so, why is it we say that?
The problem with people who have never scouted or played the game at a decently high level is they don't really look at the context of each play and the why's behind what they're often seeing. You talking about Vic "struggling" to get pressure in a vacuum is a perfect example of a layman watching a game and just drawing a conclusion off of what he is seeing.
Ok, smarty pants, so why didn't he get as much pressure?
1) They, as in the 1st quarter went to more quick sets and 3 step drops/shorter routes.
2) I think tbh there was a technique shift by the OT to grab and hold more, and I believe he gave up a holding call in the 2nd half. There could have been several.
3)They rolled/moved the QB away from Vic's side a few times after tasting his speedrush in the 1st half and ran some different schemes (TE involvement) at him.
4) He absolutely got a bit worn out, and that should be noted. As he shifted to a bullrush, he was absolutely less successful 1 on 1, no issue with admitting that.
5) This didn't happen that often, but they actually dropped/spied him in some pass rushing situations. Isn't always 100 percent clear to me, but it seems like they really did this a bit.
Overall Vic played a WHALE of a game and had a ton of impact on Clemson being in it into OT. If you watch that game versus FSU and Ray's game against UF and in any way, shape, or form think those are comparable performances, then I simply have nothing to say to you bc I don't think we're operating on the same level football-wise and I am hardly an expert myself.
*From NFL.com's scouting assessment of Nick:
"Uses good technique as a run blocker and will win against players his size."
At this point Vic is holding up well against Nick who is a pro-level TE as a blocker and admittedly had his moments against Vic as well. Now, is that a plus or a minus? You tell me...??
