{"id":337216,"date":"2025-09-03T02:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T02:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/337216\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T02:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T02:19:11","slug":"how-kentucky-can-improve-deep-ball-accuracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/337216\/","title":{"rendered":"How Kentucky Can Improve Deep-Ball Accuracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kentucky failed to create explosive plays through the air against Toledo, but it wasn\u2019t for a lack of effort. The Wildcats threw eight passes more than 20 yards down the field, and all fell incomplete, with two drawing pass interference penalties. <\/p>\n

The inconsistency stalled drives and halted momentum, but for a moment during the first offensive possession, it looked like Zach Calzada<\/a> connected deep downfield to JJ Hester<\/a>. The wide receiver thought he got his foot in bounds, but his catch was overturned after a lengthy review. Hester knows the offense needs more momentum swings from those kinds of big plays. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives everybody around the offense, and even the defense, a boost of energy. Anytime somebody makes a big play like that, it makes everybody confident,\u201d said Hester<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Creating those deep connections is a point of emphasis this week for Kentucky, even if it means hitting the tight ends who are running underneath the deep routes. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gotta be my decision-making, knowing when to put the ball down and run, knowing when to take my outlets,\u201d the Kentucky quarterback told KSR Tuesday evening after practice. <\/p>\n

\u201cThose tight ends, we saw a lot of production hitting those outlet throws on some of our shots. We know exactly what we need to work on in regards to our shots. We\u2019re going to keep building that chemistry, and we\u2019re going to keep pounding the rock.\u201d <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the key to fixing the problem? KISS: Keep it simple, stupid. Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan wants Calzada to be more decisive when those long shots are called. <\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, there was indecision from our standpoint at the quarterback position, sometimes making it more complicated than it needs to be, checking left, checking right post-snap. We\u2019ve really addressed that from a standpoint of, post-snap pick the guy we\u2019re going with, hold the safety, and give (the receiver) a chance, give him an opportunity,\u201d said the Kentucky offensive coordinator. <\/p>\n

They say that teams make their greatest strides from week one to week two. Hamdan is banking on his players\u2019 work ethic to meet that goal. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t like how we played at all on Saturday,\u201d said Hamdan. \u201cWhatever the results may be, we got the win, and the guys know how focused and hungry we gotta be to get things better. I feel that. I\u2019ve felt from day one with these players, it\u2019s a group that wants to be out here, that wants to work. There\u2019s no drama, high work ethic. We gotta tap into that and fuel into that the remainder of the year.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kentucky failed to create explosive plays through the air against Toledo, but it wasn\u2019t for a lack of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,14677,40413],"class_list":{"0":"post-337216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jj-hester-20-booker-t-washington","10":"tag-zach-calzada-19-lanier"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115137974712118727","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}