Spotlight #1: Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon 

Spotlight #2: Texas A&M WR Jeff Fuller 

1st quarter

14:11: Jeff Fuller is targeted for the first time tonight. Ryan Tannehill’s pass sails on him. No chance for Fuller. Fuller is tall, but not that tall.

11:30: Blackmon drops a pass on the sideline. He needs to make that catch.

11:23: Blackmon holds on to this one. Catch short in coverage. Blanketed and can’t make the first. 3^rd and 1.

11:02: Blackmon catches the ball on the flat and runs for the first down.

4:55: Blackmon is getting pissed at his quarterback for not getting him the ball.

3:03: Not Jeff Fuller, but Ryan Swope is another junior receiver for Texas A&M. The slot receiver had as many catches as Fuller did last year, 72, and he leads the team this year with 14 in 2 games. He’s got 2 catches tonight, both out of the slot, and shows nice moves in the open field. He could be someone to watch in the future.

2:49: Fuller drops a pass now. This one was bad.

0:50: Blackmon gets the target this time, but quarterback Brandon Weeden makes a bad decision throwing to him. Blackmon is double covered and completely blanketed. No chance and almost picked. Bad on Blackmon for not being able to get separation here. The cornerback ran with him the whole time.

2^nd quarter

13:06: Ryan Swope again with the catch. Jeff Fuller isn’t doing anything, but Swope is.

12:45: Fuller targeted, unable to come up with the catch. It would have been a tough catch, but he should have made that, even with a guy breathing down his neck.

11:11: Swope with his 4^th catch of the game.  He’s been Texas A&M’s best receiver tonight, by far, over Jeff Fuller. He’s been getting open underneath and showing soft hands.

10:34: Fuller finally does something. He goes over the middle and makes a big touchdown catch. He attacks the football with a defender on him and snatches the ball out of there. Excellent catch. 17 yard touchdown.

10:22: Blackmon does something. Weeden with perfect timing with Blackmon on a slant. Weeden threads the ball between two defenders perfectly and Blackmon shows his speed on the run after catch. 20 yard catch for Blackmon.

7:15: Fuller catches the ball on a curl route, but accidentally steps out of bounds before he can go anywhere with the ball.

6:20: Tannehill looking for Fuller, but the ball is inaccurate out of bounds. No chance for him.

1:08: Weeden finds Justin Blackmon down field matched up with a safety over the middle of the field for a pretty big gain.

 

3^rd quarter

14:52: Blackmon with the poor effort on an outside run block, just lets his man get free to tackle the ball carrier on a sweep play.

14:27: Blackmon targeted, but unable to come up with the ball. He wasn’t open against double coverage. He did give it his best effort, but it was a very tough ball to catch.

13:37: Blackmon much better on this outside run block, keeps his man sealed off inside to open an outside seam for the runner.

11:13: Jeff Fuller catches a first down dump off for 6 yards.

9:15: Blackmon catches the ball over the middle of the field against loose man-to-man coverage. When he’s been single covered tonight, he’s burned them. However, Texas A&M’s defensive coordinator has done an amazing job of making Blackmon a relative non-factor with double coverages. He has 5 catches for 69 yards.

7:33: Justin Blackmon catches a touchdown in the front corner of the end zone. Nice job catching it and staying in bounds, but he doesn’t bring the ball to his chest after catching it. He leaves it out and it gets knocked out, out of bounds when he’s hit. Poor fundamentals there. Still a nice touchdown grab.

6:09: Blackmon cuts across the field and gets open for a short catch followed by a nice run for a first down. He’s a very physical runner.

5:12: Blackmon catches it in the flat, avoids a couple tackles, and almost gets the first on 1^st and 10. The ball was thrown high by Weeden and Blackmon had to go up and get it.

3:12: Jeff Fuller and a defensive back both catch the ball and the defensive back rips the ball out of his hands for the interception. If you’re the receiver there, you have to come up with that ball. You don’t let the defensive back steal it out of your hands.

2:59: Blackmon catches it over the middle of the field and then runs backwards for a few yards trying to break the back one, but almost loses first down yardage. He went way too far back there. He needs to know when to give up and head up field on a play like that.

1:51: Blackmon catches the ball in space and has an easy touchdown, but loses the ball untouched before he gets a touchdown. He needs to take the ball and tuck it away. He keeps running with the ball out like a loaf of bread. Very poor fundamentals. He should have had 7. Instead A&M gets the ball back. Absolutely inexcusable.

4^th quarter

14:11: Weeden looking for Blackmon in the end zone, but Blackmon is blanketed and Weeden is inaccurate on the pass. Blackmon had position and could have made the catch, but Weeden didn’t put it in the right spot.

10:43: Oklahoma State wide receiver Josh Cooper with his 11^th catch of the night, 1 more than Blackmon. He’s been impressive tonight as their #2 receiver. He’s more of an underneath guy, but with now 25 catches on the season and 68 last season, he could be a late round pick.

7:13: Blackmon catches the high ball in the flat on 3^rd and goal and has blockers in front of him, but a big hit keeps him out of the end zone.

6:16: Jeff Fuller with just his 4^th catch of the today, short of the first down and goes nowhere after the catch. He’s been a relative non-factor. Maybe his hamstring problem is slowing him down.

6:03: Fuller targeted, but unable to come up with the low ball in the flat.

5:58: Fuller targeted again, but it’s on a throw just tipped at the line that falls very short.

5:21: Fuller has his 5^th catch on a short catch on 2^nd and 5 for the 1^st. Oklahoma State is playing a zone prevent defense right now so they’re just giving him short gain.

5:03: Jeff Fuller unable to make the deep catch with Broderick Brown blanketing him once again. The hamstring might be part of the problem, but Brodrick Brown isn’t helping. The 5-8 cornerback is somehow outplaying the 6-4 receiver. Brown is a mere junior and given his size, I doubt he leaves early. He’s having a right game, but the demand for 5-8 cornerbacks in the NFL is pretty small.

2:43: Fuller having a nice drive and is able to get his 2^nd touchdown of the night on a short 4 yard score.

0:00: This was supposed to be a matchup between stud wide receivers. I came away disappointed with both of them. Jeff Fuller was battling a hamstring injury, which could have explained his 6 catch, 55 yards, 2 touchdown performance. He dropped a pass and just couldn’t get a lot of separation. Slot receiver Ryan Swope looked better than him as he has for the entire season. Swope leads the team in receptions and could be a late round pick.

Justin Blackmon had better stats, with 11 catches for 123 yards and a score, but he fumbled in the red zone which cost them 7 points and he dropped a pass. Texas A&M clearly frustrated him with double coverage and he became very frustrated with his quarterback for not getting him the ball, which led to quarterback Brandon Weeden trying to force things to him when he wasn’t open on several occasions. He also almost dropped a 2^nd touchdown. He needs to improve his fundamentals and carry the ball in a safer way and avoid mental lapses. Also, unwarranted frustration with your quarterback is never a good thing. He’s obviously very talented, but this wasn’t his best game. 11 catches isn’t that impressive when you consider that Oklahoma State threw 60 times and had 47 completions.

This game also had mid round prospects at quarterback in Brandon Weeden and Ryan Tannehill. I wasn’t particularly impressed with either of them, but I thought Brandon Weeden had the better game. Tannehill had a very poor 2^nd half. However, Weeden is 27 years old and a former minor league baseball pitcher. That’s definitely going to hurt his stock.