MexicoLionFan wrote:
BTW, as for Joe's "Game Diary" I wish that more posters here would do that...its fascinating to me as it takes us inside your mind and let's us see the progression of thoughts. Along with Blitz's and BCFAN"s detailed game posts, Joe's Diary is the best thing on this board!!! TLK, Blitz, Cro, Nota, Sammy, Dano I would love if some of you did that as well!
Thanks, MLF. Just something I started to do with my iPad, in order to have a quick post for game end. Our appetite for reading about our team is rather huge. So many knowledgeable posters on here. As noted previously, the collective wisdom of a group of people with a passion and vast lifetime experiences goes deep. We see that on this site. I know that I always look forward to the comments of MLF and Blitz and so many others. It always helps to understand, and that is what we get.
MexicoLionFan wrote:
The Lions offence, whether under Chaps (until he broke up his spread offence) or under Jones TELL THE WORLD what they are going to do play in and play out. Add to that the fact that Dorazio has turned 300 lb. monsters into tepid kittens, and this Offence couldn't beat a CIS team. OLinemen, for the most part, aren't necessarily deep thinkers, but what they are for sure are maulers...LET THEM MAUL! Let them do what they do best. With the D being a yard off the football, there shouldn't be a team in the league that can consistently stop our running game. We have 3 INT OLinemen who are natural run blockers and are monsters...our NAT Linemen are maulers too. Shove the football down their throats...force their LBs and DBs to cheat forward and make their first steps forward, then run a PLAY ACTION pass! Now all of you have played the game, even in a field behind your own house. No one, not even Ronnie Lott or Larry Crawford can defence a flag pattern off of a play action pass. Its impossible, especially if the DB is guessing as to pass or run...he have the ability to lineup Manny and EJ as slot receivers...we could have big play after big play if we just had a consistent running game and we actually remembered that play action is part of football. Jones made a living as a QB, using playaction...this is what I ran all the time when I played, and I practised LONG hours disguising the football. Why don't we do this? Even when Andrew Harris was tearing up the league this season, we didn't run play action. I'll bet we haven't run play action passes more than 10 times in 14 games this season, and it SHOULD BE the FOCAL POINT of our offensive strategy!
MLF, of so many of your outstanding posts, this is one of your best.
Given the right mind set, our O Line can be maulers. That is what they were in college. How do they lose it? Too much garbage in the head. Too much focus on itty bitty techniques. Too much focus on complicated assignments. Too much hesitation. Too much confusion. Poor results. Loss of confidence.
Confidence can always be destroyed, especially by overcoaching. It is hard to build. Austin builds it, with his QBs, with his entire team. Hufnagel builds it. Chris Jones builds it. Milanovich builds it. That might be Job 1 for a Head Coach -- building confidence. Lombardi did it. Jimmy Johnson did it. Madden did it. Bill Walsh did it. Pete Carroll does it.
Can our O Line get or regain some confidence at this time? It is always possible. Hamilton did it. They have transformed their O Line.
Now, a number of you have suggested that the players have quit on the coaches, or tuned them out. That rarely happens in football, it might be happening here, but I doubt it...Washington certainly has his unit in tune with him and they play hard every snap. On offence I don't think they have quit on Jones, they simply DON'T HAVE ANY CONFIDENCE. Think about it...anything in life, from downhill skiing to baking a cake gets done well ONCE YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE GOOD AT IT! Until then, we struggle until such time as we BELIEVE! And NOTHING will change for our offence until such time as Jones and his players start BELIEVING that they can execute and be successful! Unfortunately, its hard to believe that you are good at something until you have done it and had success! And who are the players looking to for help? Who is Jones looking to for assistance? Everything on this football team points back to a HC that doesn't really KNOW football. Now, turn and imagine John Hufnagel or Marc Trestman? Those are two guys that players and coaches can go to for answers. What would MB do if Jones walked into his offence and said "help"! Here's a scenario..."Dog, you got want it, your players gotta want it...you gotta take it one play at a time and keep your focus on every down...chest bump them when they do something right and scream at them when they do something wrong Dog..." Then Jones..."Ah, gee, thanks MB, I just wanted some ideas on a running play?" MB again, "Yo Dog, make 'em believe, make 'em believe dog, make them dogs on your Oline come home to roost!" Jones again..."Ah, thanks MB, I'll just go talk to Kato instead..."
I agree with your premise. Our guys played hard. They have not given up on themselves nor on their HC. For one thing, they cannot give up. New coach means huge turnover in personnel. But they have doubts. As pros, they don't like the rah rah stuff, the cliches, nor the wasted emotion. Mostly they want answers. They want direction. They want belief. They want results. When the results are poor, confidence goes down the drain.
After 14 games, in our third year of this regime, we are what we are. We play hard. As noted many, many times, our biggest hurdle is this ... The level of coaching facing us.
Just look at Kent Austin's journey as a football player and coach. It is about as good as it can get. Look at his well focused intensity. Intensity with sharp purpose. Takes a few notes. Checks his sheets. Misses nothing. His players give him exactly what he wants, because they know exactly what he wants. And he identifies strengths in his team, and weaknesses/tendencies in his opponents.
They had us fooled on the punt onside. Phillips took it early or the TiCat was there.
They had us fooled on the pass from Banks. And the pass to Grant. These were not accidents.
They had a game plan that produced way over three hundred yards passing. They put extreme pressure on our D. They had a game plan that laid a body on Solo on virtually every play. They had a game plan that put extreme pressure on beleaguered Kevin Glenn. They had great ST returns, defensive coverage and trickery.
They built their O Line, its skills and confidence in a hurry. They have a very tough defence. They moved the ball almost will. They should have had a bunch more points. They fully deserved to win.
We dodged a few bullets that night. At the start we took a quick 10 point lead. Thereafter we were generally outplayed in my view. The football Gods would have been cruel to deny the TiCats IMO.
No complaints with our effort. But once again we were badly outcoached.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.
Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.
Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.