Burns pretty much lays it out for what it is: something has to change on D

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MplsGopher

MplsGopher

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https://247sports.com/college/minne...pins-PJ-Fleck-five-takeaways-recap-153900751/

Just six days ago against Northwestern, Maryland's offense struggled to do anything. They put up three points, ran the ball for 64 yards on 3.0 yards per carry and lost by 40 points. Tonight against the Gophers, they put up 45 points. Their running back Jake Funk ran for a career-high 221 yards on 21 attempts (10.5 ypc!!) and quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa assisted with nearly 70 yards of his own and two touchdowns.

- Taulia Tagovailoa went 14/25 for 94 yards and three interceptions against Northwestern last Saturday.

- Taulia Tagovailoa went 26/35 (74%) for 394 yards (15 yards per completion) with three touchdowns and one interception tonight.

Maryland's offense put up 675 yards of offense tonight. Averaged over 10 yards per play on 66 total plays.

However you want to frame it for Minnesota's defense, it was absolutely sad on all three levels of the defense.


Seriously, watch this play above. The Maryland wide receiver starts slowing down at the 25 to look back the Gopher defenders.


Or this touchdown where Maryland just runs to the right and Funk is untouched into the end zone. #45 true freshman linebacker Cody Lindenberg eats the puller and can't get off him, #55 Mariano Sori-Marin is late scraping around Lindenberg and can't make the play because of it. #27 Tyler Nubin as the off-play safety takes a horrendous angle to the ball carrier and doesn't make the play because of it and the Howden and St-Juste don't make the play as well for another touchdown.

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It's really any of level of the Gopher defense, because it's all been bad. The defensive line is struggling to set an edge, make a play on the ball carrier, maintain their gaps and also generate anything resembling pressure. Minnesota finished the night with ONE tackle for loss and ONE sack on 66 offensive plays for Maryland. If the Gophers are going to continue to play Thomas Rush over Boye Mafe at defensive end, they're going to need to get a lot more out of him. Esezi Otomewo at the other defensive end spot played essentially the entire game and finished with one total tackle.

I also know that Joe Rossi had high expectations for #55 linebacker Mariano Sori-Marin coming into the season, saying in October that, "my expectation is that he's going to be one of the best linebackers in the league." And that's great to have those lofty expectations, but those thoughts aren't the reality of the way he's playing so far in his young Gopher career. I understand that he filled in last year when Barber and Kamal missed time and it was very hit-or-miss then, but in full-time action this fall, Sori-Marin has been a step slow too often. It's tough for me to knock Cody Lindenberg too much as he's a true freshmen with no spring ball and an accelerated fall camp, but he's really struggling to diagnose plays and he's also a step slow. If there's not a long, hard look at making some personnel changes at linebacker with other young guys like James Gordon, Donald Willis, Josh Aune and Jaqwondis Burns waiting their turn. I just don't know what else to think. The two starters are struggling to make plays and tackles. There's got to be some solutions found soon.

And in the secondary, it was far too easy for Maryland to complete some of these balls. Minnesota played a ton of "off-coverage" tonight when the Gopher corners were giving eight to ten yard cushions. That allowed some very easy completions, but St-Juste and Durr need to be better. Terell Smith got some work after St-Juste appeared to be benched for a stretch, and his problems from last year still remain. He needs to be more physical in the run game and needs to make open field tackles, and in coverage, he's not turning his head and looking for the ball. I suppose the safeties looked better, but that group still needs to improve immensely.

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Joe Rossi and his entire defensive staff need to figure something out this weekend because through two games, here are the stats for Minnesota.

- Rushing yards allowed: 268.5 yards per game with a 8.7 yards per carry average

- Passing yards allowed: 309.5 yards per game with 15.1 yards per completion

- Total yards allowed: 578 yards per game and 9.5 yards per play

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Essentially, opponents are gaining a first down per play on this 2020 Gopher defense right now. I don't know what the answer is to what ails this Minnesota defense, but something or multiple somethings need to change soon if Minnesota's going to go .500 this fall.
 

There really is just no other way to say it: we don't have players on defense, this year. Like, to a staggering degree, compared to what we've had the last couple years.
 

With the free eligibility this year, there literally is no reason not to try some new personnel. Definitely hope to see some new faces next week. I have an extremely hard time believing none of the other 2019 or 2020 recruits at LB or DE aren't faster or stronger. And missing Oliver is a far bigger hit than I ever imagined. I thought the CBs would be a strong suit, so that's been shocking as well.

Nothing to lose. See who else can make an impact at some of these spots!
 

Fair assessment of what has gone on through 2 games. And it lays out well the challenge it is going to be to fix it because there are issues at all 3 levels of the defense.

D-Line - Not getting pressure on the QB is nothing new around here but was really hoping we would see more out of the guys we have been bringing in over the past few years. So far the pass rush has continued to be a non-factor.

LB - I like MSM but he has not been good at all this year and unfortunately the other guys aren't bringing much to the table either. The loss of Oliver was clearly a big blow to the LB group and unfortunately Willis and Gordon have not been able to live up the hype Fleck has given them. Lindenberg needs to mature in a hurry but that is a big ask for a true freshman LB. I wonder if MSM is dealing with an injury of some kind because while he was never fast he seemed quicker last year.

DB - Nubin is only a sophomore and has been given the nearly impossible task of filling the shoes left by Winfield but he has been a disappointment so far this season. Too early to give up on him but he has to up his game. One of the posted video clips shows the awful angle he took on the one TD.

Right now it feels like nobody on defense wants to be the leader. Last year we had guys that while not the most individually skilled were great leaders who knew where to be and of course the D was anchored by a superstar in Winfield. I am still hopeful that the stars will emerge but right now it is tough to see them on D.

Said it in another thread, the biggest disappointment for me about the D last night was that we seemed to take a step backwards from week 1 to week 2 as opposed to getting better. Defensive coaches have their work cut out for them in finding the solutions but one thing is clear, the offense needs to go into games with the plan of keeping the foot on the gas for the entire game because right now there is no way we can rely on the defense at all. The shell the offense went into in the 4th quarter against Maryland can't happen again. They have to stay aggressive and keep moving the ball.
 

WriterGoph said:
With the free eligibility this year, there literally is no reason not to try some new personnel. Definitely hope to see some new faces next week. I have an extremely hard time believing none of the other 2019 or 2020 recruits at LB or DE aren't faster or stronger. And missing Oliver is a far bigger hit than I ever imagined. I thought the CBs would be a strong suit, so that's been shocking as well.

Nothing to lose. See who else can make an impact at some of these spots!
Click to expand...

Agree with your take in general however there is something to lose in that the guys on the bench may well be more athletic but if they don't understand the gameplan or what to do you could just make the already huge defensive problems even worse.

That said, everything should be on the table personnel wise at this point for the D. Hopefully the coaches can figure out the right mix of guys to add some spark back to the defense. They need to get some confidence and swagger but for that to happen they have to figure out a way to have some success on the field and through 2 weeks that has not happened.
 


I don't believe Willis or Gordon have even played yet. Are they out with COVID? They have to be better than what we've seen.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Agree with your take in general however there is something to lose in that the guys on the bench may well be more athletic but if they don't understand the gameplan or what to do you could just make the already huge defensive problems even worse.

That said, everything should be on the table personnel wise at this point for the D. Hopefully the coaches can figure out the right mix of guys to add some spark back to the defense. They need to get some confidence and swagger but for that to happen they have to figure out a way to have some success on the field and through 2 weeks that has not happened.
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while I get what you're saying, it hasn't appeared the LBers or secondary know what to do at all to this point either.
 






Rushing yards allowed: 268.5 yards per game with a 8.7 yards per carry average

- Passing yards allowed: 309.5 yards per game with 15.1 yards per completion

- Total yards allowed: 578 yards per game and 9.5 yards per play

Wow!
Knew it was bad, but damn.
Can't get any worse, can it?
 

They're probably playing on special teams. MSM is on special teams, as well.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Rushing yards allowed: 268.5 yards per game with a 8.7 yards per carry average

- Passing yards allowed: 309.5 yards per game with 15.1 yards per completion

- Total yards allowed: 578 yards per game and 9.5 yards per play

Wow!
Knew it was bad, but damn.
Can't get any worse, can it?
Click to expand...
just wait. it sure can
 



upnorthkid said:
just wait. it sure can
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Yep. They fumbled going into the end zone, dumb penalties by both Michigan and Maryland stopped drives, 4 missed field goals. Best defensive players for us are idiot offensive players for our opponents
 

The lack of defensive playmakers that are on this team, from the 2017 and 2018 classes, is really quite astounding.

Especially when you consider the talent we do have from those classes on the offensive side.


Fleck's defenses feasted in later 2018 and in 2019 using Kill/Claeys defensive recruits. Don't forget about guys like Cashman in 2018.

No other truth can be found.


And yes, obviously the 2016 class was a special thing.
 

Obviously some misses in recruiting. Like it or not, the previous staff knew how to identify defensive talent. This staff was able to coach that talent a year ago, so I don't think the defensive coordinator has lost that. However, it's one thing to coach the talent in front of you, it's another thing to find and recruit the talent you want and need. The last staff did that real well on defense. This one seems to do that better offensively. Wish we could merge that.
 

MplsGopher said:
https://247sports.com/college/minne...pins-PJ-Fleck-five-takeaways-recap-153900751/

Just six days ago against Northwestern, Maryland's offense struggled to do anything. They put up three points, ran the ball for 64 yards on 3.0 yards per carry and lost by 40 points. Tonight against the Gophers, they put up 45 points. Their running back Jake Funk ran for a career-high 221 yards on 21 attempts (10.5 ypc!!) and quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa assisted with nearly 70 yards of his own and two touchdowns.

- Taulia Tagovailoa went 14/25 for 94 yards and three interceptions against Northwestern last Saturday.

- Taulia Tagovailoa went 26/35 (74%) for 394 yards (15 yards per completion) with three touchdowns and one interception tonight.

Maryland's offense put up 675 yards of offense tonight. Averaged over 10 yards per play on 66 total plays.

However you want to frame it for Minnesota's defense, it was absolutely sad on all three levels of the defense.


Seriously, watch this play above. The Maryland wide receiver starts slowing down at the 25 to look back the Gopher defenders.


Or this touchdown where Maryland just runs to the right and Funk is untouched into the end zone. #45 true freshman linebacker Cody Lindenberg eats the puller and can't get off him, #55 Mariano Sori-Marin is late scraping around Lindenberg and can't make the play because of it. #27 Tyler Nubin as the off-play safety takes a horrendous angle to the ball carrier and doesn't make the play because of it and the Howden and St-Juste don't make the play as well for another touchdown.

---

It's really any of level of the Gopher defense, because it's all been bad. The defensive line is struggling to set an edge, make a play on the ball carrier, maintain their gaps and also generate anything resembling pressure. Minnesota finished the night with ONE tackle for loss and ONE sack on 66 offensive plays for Maryland. If the Gophers are going to continue to play Thomas Rush over Boye Mafe at defensive end, they're going to need to get a lot more out of him. Esezi Otomewo at the other defensive end spot played essentially the entire game and finished with one total tackle.

I also know that Joe Rossi had high expectations for #55 linebacker Mariano Sori-Marin coming into the season, saying in October that, "my expectation is that he's going to be one of the best linebackers in the league." And that's great to have those lofty expectations, but those thoughts aren't the reality of the way he's playing so far in his young Gopher career. I understand that he filled in last year when Barber and Kamal missed time and it was very hit-or-miss then, but in full-time action this fall, Sori-Marin has been a step slow too often. It's tough for me to knock Cody Lindenberg too much as he's a true freshmen with no spring ball and an accelerated fall camp, but he's really struggling to diagnose plays and he's also a step slow. If there's not a long, hard look at making some personnel changes at linebacker with other young guys like James Gordon, Donald Willis, Josh Aune and Jaqwondis Burns waiting their turn. I just don't know what else to think. The two starters are struggling to make plays and tackles. There's got to be some solutions found soon.

And in the secondary, it was far too easy for Maryland to complete some of these balls. Minnesota played a ton of "off-coverage" tonight when the Gopher corners were giving eight to ten yard cushions. That allowed some very easy completions, but St-Juste and Durr need to be better. Terell Smith got some work after St-Juste appeared to be benched for a stretch, and his problems from last year still remain. He needs to be more physical in the run game and needs to make open field tackles, and in coverage, he's not turning his head and looking for the ball. I suppose the safeties looked better, but that group still needs to improve immensely.

---

Joe Rossi and his entire defensive staff need to figure something out this weekend because through two games, here are the stats for Minnesota.

- Rushing yards allowed: 268.5 yards per game with a 8.7 yards per carry average

- Passing yards allowed: 309.5 yards per game with 15.1 yards per completion

- Total yards allowed: 578 yards per game and 9.5 yards per play

---

Essentially, opponents are gaining a first down per play on this 2020 Gopher defense right now. I don't know what the answer is to what ails this Minnesota defense, but something or multiple somethings need to change soon if Minnesota's going to go .500 this fall.
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We have far to much Peter play happening on defense, meaning all cock and balls and not thinking and reacting. A severe lack of discipline in assignments. We are not playing together at all. Maryland saw our bad alignment up front on the touchdown and took the easiest gap to the endzone Gophers are running themselves out of plays and playing freelance defense because of the failure and not maintaining gap integrity up front. On that Funk touchdown, it was simple geometry, the alignment of the front four was bad from the get go. # 9 the left defensive end Otomewo is lined up on the inside shoulder of the right tackle and way to far inside at the line of scrimmage, he needs to be on the outside shoulder and engage that tackle if he reads run. Then he runs free inside and completely vacates his gap allowing the Mayland offensive line to freely attack our linebackers .If I'm not mistaken we had corner at will linebacker on that play that runs way to far up the field giving up inside contain. #16, it's hard to see on tv copy, If he doesn't run himself out of the play that is a completely different play. #9 His job on that play isn't to crash inside, his job is to steer his blocker in front of the running back and to try and pin the tackle in front of the back. If he does that, #55 still has time to get there, or # 45 has time to scrape off the block, instead of struggling to get off his block. #27 drifts way inside instead of staying on his side of the field. We are not playing together on defense at all, it is the lack of working together, communication, and maintaining your own assignment that is leading to all of the scoring and out of the gate plays. The breakdowns are because everyone is trying to do way to much on their own. I'm frankly tired of seeing good athletes waste their god given speed and athletic ability because of over pursuit and bad tackling, and lack of understanding of what the offense is trying to do to them. This defense needs a leader and it needs a lot of film study. Frankly they really needed the non-conference games and repetitions to learn to play together and COVID19 robbed them of that chance. The lack of experience and time as a unit is shining through. We do not lack athletes or talent we lack experience, and are creating our own problems on defense.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
We have far to much Peter play happening on defense, meaning all cock and balls and not thinking and reacting. A severe lack of discipline in assignments. We are not playing together at all. Maryland saw our bad alignment up front on the touchdown and took the easiest gap to the endzone Gophers are running themselves out of plays and playing freelance defense because of the failure and not maintaining gap integrity up front. On that Funk touchdown, it was simple geometry, the alignment of the front four was bad from the get go. # 9 the left defensive end Otomewo is lined up on the inside shoulder of the right tackle and way to far inside at the line of scrimmage, he needs to be on the outside shoulder and engage that tackle if he reads run. Then he runs free inside and completely vacates his gap allowing the Mayland offensive line to freely attack our linebackers .If I'm not mistaken we had corner at will linebacker on that play that runs way to far up the field giving up inside contain. #16, it's hard to see on tv copy, If he doesn't run himself out of the play that is a completely different play. #9 His job on that play isn't to crash inside, his job is to steer his blocker in front of the running back and to try and pin the tackle in front of the back. If he does that, #55 still has time to get there, or # 45 has time to scrape off the block, instead of struggling to get off his block. #27 drifts way inside instead of staying on his side of the field. We are not playing together on defense at all, it is the lack of working together, communication, and maintaining your own assignment that is leading to all of the scoring and out of the gate plays. The breakdowns are because everyone is trying to do way to much on their own. I'm frankly tired of seeing good athletes waste their god given speed and athletic ability because of over pursuit and bad tackling, and lack of understanding of what the offense is trying to do to them. This defense needs a leader and it needs a lot of film study. Frankly they really needed the non-conference games and repetitions to learn to play together and COVID19 robbed them of that chance. The lack of experience and time as a unit is shining through. We do not lack athletes or talent we lack experience, and are creating our own problems on defense.
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Thanks for your assessment.
You know a lot more about defense than I do.
What you said about the running play makes sense.

Watching it live, I'm confused by it just wondering how it looks like we are playing 3 men short on defense. It appears it doesn't help if guys are running out of the play exposing others.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
We have far to much Peter play happening on defense, meaning all cock and balls and not thinking and reacting. A severe lack of discipline in assignments. We are not playing together at all. Maryland saw our bad alignment...
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Yup. You can't skip fundamentals.
 

PJ has been calling this a devolopmental program for awhile now. That rings hollow (right now) when we're not seeing growth either from the new starters on defense or the returning guys. The perplexing thing is we rotated a lot last year on defense so guys like Schad, Otomewo, Mafe, and Sori-Marin saw real snaps for a top 10 team last year. We are missing Teague (opt out) and Oliver (injury) as guys who also got playing time on defense last year. I thought the corners would continue to be a major strength of this defense as they were last year but St. Juste has been flat out bad at times and Durr has been closer to acceptable than good to this point. Howden has also not played as well as last year, though part of that can certainly be explained by being paired with a first time starter in Nubin as opposed to a current NFL starter in Winfield Jr.

A couple things stood out to me while watching the game. There were very similar catches made over the middle first by a Maryland WR and then by Autman-Bell. The Maryland guy beat his man (I believe St. Juste) who actually started to trip trying to make the tackle and the Maryland WR just flew by our defense for a long TD. When Autman-Bell made his similar catch, it appeared like he had a chance to take it the distance for a brief second (his defender didn't trip), but Maryland had 2-3 guys closing on him fast that held his YAC down and it was such a stark contrast to the Gophers chasing the previous play. This play along with Tagovailoa's TD run against Rush/Sori-Marin and their RB's last TD run to tie the game in regulation really made our defense look incredibly slow. Are they that slow? Or are they just playing slow because they are unsure of what to do? Part of me hopes we just didn't practice as hard as other teams during COVID-19 because that could be corrected while you cannot do much about simply not having the athletes. Maryland was a lot younger than us and looked a lot better on both sides of the ball.

Another frustraing play for me was at about the 10 minute mark of the 4th quarter. Maryland had a 3rd and 6 and Mafe was home free for a sack on Tagovailoa, but he takes a ridiculous angle that allows Tagovailoa to get outside of him and to the sideline where he completes a pass down field for a big gain and a first down. As bad as the defense was, if Mafe literally takes a normal angle to the QB the Gophers wins the game.

For those asking about Gordon and Willis, one of them had been out (I believe with COVID-19) and Burns said on his podcast last week that he was still working back to game shape. I am not sure how much personnel changes can/will fix what is going on right now. The backup defensive lineman are all Freshman (redshirt or true) with the exception of Thomas Rush. At linebacker, you'd certainly hope we could upgrade both spots but those will be inexperienced players as well. Maybe putting a veteran like Swenson in at safety could help things in the short term?
 

I thought St-Juste would progress this year and have a shot at playing at the next level as he has great size and length, but he has been horrid.

On that last QB TD he was still getting blocked down field by the MD WR and couldn't hand fight to get off the block - looked extremely lazy as does the whole D - there's no energy on that side of the ball, like there was last year.

As it's a free year and you might as well play a ton of people and figure out what you have for players for next year at this point and where we don't have what we need -

Can help us our recruiting so we can address those weak spots via the portal or JUCO route.
Build depth
Wake everyone the heck up, that playing time needs to be earned on a continual basis and isn't something you're entitled to.
 

EG#9 said:
PJ has been calling this a devolopmental program for awhile now. That rings hollow (right now) when we're not seeing growth either from the new starters on defense or the returning guys. The perplexing thing is we rotated a lot last year on defense so guys like Schad, Otomewo, Mafe, and Sori-Marin saw real snaps for a top 10 team last year. We are missing Teague (opt out) and Oliver (injury) as guys who also got playing time on defense last year. I thought the corners would continue to be a major strength of this defense as they were last year but St. Juste has been flat out bad at times and Durr has been closer to acceptable than good to this point. Howden has also not played as well as last year, though part of that can certainly be explained by being paired with a first time starter in Nubin as opposed to a current NFL starter in Winfield Jr.

A couple things stood out to me while watching the game. There were very similar catches made over the middle first by a Maryland WR and then by Autman-Bell. The Maryland guy beat his man (I believe St. Juste) who actually started to trip trying to make the tackle and the Maryland WR just flew by our defense for a long TD. When Autman-Bell made his similar catch, it appeared like he had a chance to take it the distance for a brief second (his defender didn't trip), but Maryland had 2-3 guys closing on him fast that held his YAC down and it was such a stark contrast to the Gophers chasing the previous play. This play along with Tagovailoa's TD run against Rush/Sori-Marin and their RB's last TD run to tie the game in regulation really made our defense look incredibly slow. Are they that slow? Or are they just playing slow because they are unsure of what to do? Part of me hopes we just didn't practice as hard as other teams during COVID-19 because that could be corrected while you cannot do much about simply not having the athletes. Maryland was a lot younger than us and looked a lot better on both sides of the ball.

Another frustraing play for me was at about the 10 minute mark of the 4th quarter. Maryland had a 3rd and 6 and Mafe was home free for a sack on Tagovailoa, but he takes a ridiculous angle that allows Tagovailoa to get outside of him and to the sideline where he completes a pass down field for a big gain and a first down. As bad as the defense was, if Mafe literally takes a normal angle to the QB the Gophers wins the game.

For those asking about Gordon and Willis, one of them had been out (I believe with COVID-19) and Burns said on his podcast last week that he was still working back to game shape. I am not sure how much personnel changes can/will fix what is going on right now. The backup defensive lineman are all Freshman (redshirt or true) with the exception of Thomas Rush. At linebacker, you'd certainly hope we could upgrade both spots but those will be inexperienced players as well. Maybe putting a veteran like Swenson in at safety could help things in the short term?
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This post is the first I've read anything about Teague. Damn, that is a another blow. And another blown job by the media in not covering the team. Indeed, he does not appear in the participation reports so far: https://gophersports.com/sports/football/stats/2020/michigan/boxscore/13218 https://gophersports.com/sports/football/stats/2020/maryland/boxscore/15005

Rush has "started" both games at the stand-up DE position. I don't know how many snaps he gets vs. Mafe, if it's the majority and Mafe only comes in on obvious passing downs, or what the deal is. But as Burns says, coaches maybe need to look at a change there.

But again .... didn't they do that evaluation in the preseason already?? And their assessment then was that Rush should play. Why hasn't that worked out? And could the same failed assessment apply to other positions on the defense? The answer might have to be yes ....
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
On that last QB TD he was still getting blocked down field by the MD WR and couldn't hand fight to get off the block - looked extremely lazy as does the whole D - there's no energy on that side of the ball, like there was last year.

As it's a free year and you might as well play a ton of people and figure out what you have for players for next year at this point and where we don't have what we need -

Can help us our recruiting so we can address those weak spots via the portal or JUCO route.
Build depth
Wake everyone the heck up, that playing time needs to be earned on a continual basis and isn't something you're entitled to.
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Bolded: watch the second video in the OP (which is from Burns's post). The last two guys don't even look like they bothered to try to tackle him!! I believe that is St-Juste and Howden. Don't you at least want to put a hit on him, as he crosses into the endzone, or do you just want to let him waltz in??
 

MplsGopher said:
Bolded: watch the second video in the OP (which is from Burns's post). The last two guys don't even look like they bothered to try to tackle him!! I believe that is St-Juste and Howden. Don't you at least want to put a hit on him, as he crosses into the endzone, or do you just want to let him waltz in??
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Yup that's what I was referring to - Fortunately I've grown past throwing objets at my TV.

In HS, we played a team we should have beat and got smoked - the next day after that horrid film session from hell (yes they were so pissed they made us come in to watch on a Saturday morning) our D Coach had all the starters stay back and fired us and showed the new depth chart where we were all backups and had to earn our spots back that week -he was a great batshit crazy guy and he meant it and handful of guys never started again. We had a great week of practice and flew to the ball in the next game.

Grab their attention and the way to do that is playing time - give them millennials an azz kickin'
 

Good takes by everyone posting so far. I do know what we are seeing can be fixed. Remember how bad it was with Smith and a lot of folks were saying he doesn’t have the right guys, needs recruit guys to fit his scheme, etc. Rossi comes in and they look fantastic with the same guys and then uses most of those same guys to turn that defense into one of the best I’ve ever seen with the Gophers. Now, it’s the same coach and the same scheme but man alive do those guys get out of position. You see talent but you see terrible instincts. You see athleticism but then you see that they can’t do the fundamentals that are expected and that athleticism is wasted. I’m most disappointed in the line play and safety play...linebacker is getting beat up a lot because the line play has been poor. No push by the line which is surprising because Dew Treadway looked great last year, Schad looked like a player with good push and aggressiveness, not so this year. Big O can’t get off of blocks, he’s a big guy with length so he needs to use it. Rush I can see some potential but he’s not setting the edge at all. Mafe should be out there more as he has shown more. Carter has been about as expected for a young guy and will get better. Other guys rotating in I have seen zero from. Safety has been really bad. Constantly out of position, slow in pass coverage, non existent in run support. Granted Winfield was one of the best ever but geez Howden and Nubin haven’t even been ok, just bad angles and missed play after missed play. I’m confident the D can get turned around with the coaches we have but man it better be sooner than later.
 

I wonder if Rossi, Fleck, etc. have fallen into a trap of selecting athletic ability over football instincts.

I'm sure the starters are all extremely gifted in the weight room, on the track, doing agility drills, power measures, etc.

But sometimes a guy with great football instincts can still beat those types of guys, because he knows where to go and what the play is doing as soon as they snap the ball.


Just throwing you know what against the wall. I'm sure both matter.
 

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