CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina offensive coordinator Phil Longo met with the media Monday to field questions about his unit’s struggles the last two weeks, Drake Maye, Elijah Green, pass protection, and to look ahead to Clemson, which UNC will face in the ACC championship game Saturday.
The Tar Heels have lost consecutive games to Georgia Tech and NC State, and were 9-for-34 on third downs in the two games, scored four touchdowns in 12 red zone trips versus the Yellow Jackets and Wolfpack, and have just six touchdowns in their last 32 possessions dating back to the Wake Forest game.
UNC is 9-3 overall and finished 6-2 in the ACC and as Coastal Division champions.
Above is the video of Longo’s presser, and below are a few notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
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*UNC QB Drake Maye said one of the issues versus State was that the Pack was dropping eight in coverage, and that trimmed down passing lanes and kept receivers from getting open. State also kept everything in front defensively, so UNC couldn’t take the top off. Longo, however, said State and GT did different things to have similar effectiveness.
“The two approaches were very different,” Longo said. “I don’t think they were similar with regards to NC State. They dropped eight a lot, and when they didn’t do that, they pressured. So, it was really, you were getting two things (from) NC State, which I don’t think we didn’t expect. It’s what they have done.
“I thought we’d get a steadier diet of dropping eight because of how effective we are when we throw the football. The game for us just really came down to we needed to be more patient in all our position groups with what we do.
“When you drop eight, it’s harder to get the ball downfield, which we like to do… We had 89 plays with lesser yards, and you knew that was going to happen with how they play. So, our scoring drives were 14, 15, 12 (plays), they were drives where we had to manufacture a number of plays, different ways to get the ball out, run the football, or do some things with Drake.
“Really, it’s a smart way to play us at times. You had a mix of making us earn it and Drake trying to force it and get the ball out quickly.”
*So, patience is the number one thing that must improve, Longo says, and it isn’t just with Maye.
“The running backs out of the backfield, not hesitating with regards to hit-and-run holes,” Longo said. “For the most part, and this is going to sound funny because they’re an exceptional run defense, when we did a good job blocking up front, we actually made more money in our run plays than we thought we might…
“And we had a number of plays where we missed a back block… or we weren’t quite as physical as we needed to be. That’s where you got your ones, and negative ones, and your zeroes. That’s part of being a little bit more patient, being consistent.
“And then you have your swing throws out of the backfield, we’d take those receivers settling things down sooner because they’re trying to run the bigger route, the deeper route, a route that’s going to give them more yards. And it applies to the tight ends as well. It’s a team-wide understanding that this is what they do on defense, and this is how we try to minimize, and here’s how we beat it.”
Longo added that when his team was at its most urgent in the fourth quarter, it was also its most patient, and as a result, Carolina gained 144 yards after amassing just 189 through the first three quarters.
*It appears there is a chess match element to trying to get teams from dropping eight so much. The first step would be protecting Maye so teams can’t sit back rushing just three up front. Another might be running the ball off of RPOs more effectively. Here’s what Longo says about it:
“I suppose so,” Longo said, referring to the chess match terminology. “They mixed it up. They dropped eight and they brought pressure, and I’m sure they did that with regards to what our tendencies are. We had an expectation they were going to drop eight on certain down-and-distance situations, and we had an expectation as to when we thought they might bring pressure.”
*Maye has been so accurate all season, but he missed on some the last two games, notably a couple in the corner of the end zone Friday. Maye said Friday moving left and having to hit that throw in a tough play for him, so did Longo see anything specifically off on those throws that would explain Maye being a tad off?
“When they drop eight, the safety structure’s wider,” Longo said. “So when you’re throwing the ball outside – we had three great catches on the sideline, all three were out of bounds. That’s the game of inches that you talk about…
“We had our share of drops on Friday, and the kids are going to roll their eyes when I say this, but the better teams, those little things show up. Those little things make a difference.”
