Chip: Fleck called it the "best" defensive line he's had as a head coach.

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per Chip:


Fleck called it the "best" defensive line he's had as a head coach.

"The talent, the skill, how connected they are and the depth — that has to be the best," he said. "That's what you strive for."

Football teams strive for the formula the Gophers rode to a third consecutive Big Ten victory. Overpower them in the trenches. Works every time.

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Go Gophers!!
 



BleedGopher said:
Per Chip:


Fleck called it the "best" defensive line he's had as a head coach.

"The talent, the skill, how connected they are and the depth — that has to be the best," he said. "That's what you strive for."

Football teams strive for the formula the Gophers rode to a third consecutive Big Ten victory. Overpower them in the trenches. Works every time.

m.startribune.com

Star Tribune

Your source for Minnesota news today. Read articles, view photos or watch videos about news in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, St. Cloud, Rochester, and beyond.
m.startribune.com m.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
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I love that Chip challenged PJ on the lack of aggressive play calling just before the end of the half. PJ firmly believes in his risk v reward game theory and how he plays the percentages. The problem is, from an optics standpoint he doesn’t seem to always make the best decisions on when to go for it (own 29 yard line v BG) and when not to (Maryland‘s 16 yard line today).
 
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bamor5229 said:
I love that Chip challenged PJ on the lack of aggressive play calling just before the end of the half. PJ firmly believes in his risk v reward game theory and how he plays the percentages. The problem is, from an optics standpoint he doesn’t seem to always make the best decisions on when to go for it (own 29 yard line v BG) and when not to (Maryland‘s 16 yard line today).
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Optics aren’t percentages. If he is playing percentages then optics don’t matter.
 



If Fleck felt the safeties/linebackers were lined up in a way that would allow for the RB to pop a run, there are pass plays that can exploit the same thing. You call the pass play because if you are wrong you get an incompletion and the clock stops and you get another play. The percentages demand a pass on that down because of the clock. PJ and co (whom I love as coaches) are telling there players they don't trust them to not make mistakes.

PS. D-Line is amazing and best I have ever seen wear the Gophers uniforms together.
 

gophernut1 said:
If Fleck felt the safeties/linebackers were lined up in a way that would allow for the RB to pop a run, there are pass plays that can exploit the same thing. You call the pass play because if you are wrong you get an incompletion and the clock stops and you get another play. The percentages demand a pass on that down because of the clock. PJ and co (whom I love as coaches) are telling there players they don't trust them to not make mistakes.

PS. D-Line is amazing and best I have ever seen wear the Gophers uniforms together.
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Do you think the players believe Fleck doesn't trust them?
 
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I know it's a D-line thread, but did anyone catch Fleck say something about Andries possibly coming back next year to challenge Connor Olsons most games started. How nice would that be.
 



gophernut1 said:
If Fleck felt the safeties/linebackers were lined up in a way that would allow for the RB to pop a run, there are pass plays that can exploit the same thing. You call the pass play because if you are wrong you get an incompletion and the clock stops and you get another play. The percentages demand a pass on that down because of the clock. PJ and co (whom I love as coaches) are telling there players they don't trust them to not make mistakes.

PS. D-Line is amazing and best I have ever seen wear the Gophers uniforms together.
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It didn't matter what Maryland an explosive team with Tagovailoa did.

The Gopher Defense maintained discipline and the strength of their depth is showing.

You don't want to make a mistake against Maryland.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Optics aren’t percentages. If he is playing percentages then optics don’t matter.
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Tell that to all the Gopher fans booing the play calling just before half yesterday. Agree or disagree with his approach, you are right optics don’t matter. Wins matter and when you can attribute a failure on the field to play aggressive to a missed opportunity for a W, then you will have to answer the inevitable questions.
 

bamor5229 said:
Tell that to all the Gopher fans booing the play calling just before half yesterday. Agree or disagree with his approach, you are right optics don’t matter. Wins matter and when you can attribute a failure on the field to play aggressive to a missed opportunity for a W, then you will have to answer the inevitable questions.
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Sure. But if they play conservative and that leads to a win the booing fans don’t matter. No one judges a team based on the last drive of the first half. When I left up 34-10, I didn’t care.
 

despite defending fleck I don’t agree with that drive. But I’m not on the staff and they don’t care what I think. They won 34-16 against a big ten opponent. I’ll take it
 



I did care (after leaving the game) because it raises questions in my mind that the OC can make the right call. The reason people boo’d at the game is because that call is so uncharacteristic of what we are accustomed to seeing across football land and how we believes plays should be called. I really like Fleck but chalking this up to percentages is b.s. That was not a call based on statistical analysis, it was a bad call. In some close games, it would be a game defining series. Agree w the comments above - a pass play would be the correct call.
 

The thing I like about the dline is how deep the talent is. Fleck has recruited so much better at the position compared to what we have seen in the past. I loved the discipline of the defense on the fourth and one play where they stuck to their assignments and forced a more difficult throw down field to the tight end who couldn’t make the play.
 

The Billds did not boo.

Haven't rewatched the game but recollect we lost 4-5 yards on the 3rd down "run."

Still was in the middle of the field, but also believe that series started with 2 minutes left. Playing a team like Maryland...which like Nebbie the week before was getting some chunk plays in the air...seems like some aggressiveness was warranted.

Back to the boos...there were a lot of "one game a year folks" there yesterday. Invested in winning for sure but not so much in the team, including the coaches.

Still, winning is better. We won.
 

btowngopher said:
The thing I like about the dline is how deep the talent is. Fleck has recruited so much better at the position compared to what we have seen in the past. I loved the discipline of the defense on the fourth and one play where they stuck to their assignments and forced a more difficult throw down field to the tight end who couldn’t make the play.
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Yes. We have guys that I believe can contribute that can't see the field. It's been years (maybe Schlect/Karon Riley?) since we had anything remotely similar to this DL. We have 4 DEs who really make significant plays, I think we could genuinely play 5-6 DTs. By "play", I mean could be legit starters most years.
 

bamor5229 said:
I love that Chip challenged PJ on the lack of aggressive play calling just before the end of the half. PJ firmly believes in his risk v reward game theory and how he plays the percentages. The problem is, from an optics standpoint he doesn’t seem to always make the best decisions on when to go for it (own 29 yard line v BG) and when not to (Maryland‘s 16 yard line today).
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PJ has gone back on this and called the BG his worst coaching job ever, and by far.

Going for it against BG was the #1 bad decision of his coaching career, and it cost him the game and he knows it.

Why did he do it?
I have my thoughts.
 

Face The Facts said:
PJ has gone back on this and called the BG his worst coaching job ever, and by far.

Going for it against BG was the #1 bad decision of his coaching career, and it cost him the game and he knows it.

Why did he do it?
I have my thoughts.
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The BG loss did not come down to a single decision.

It was the awful offensive game plan.
 

The previous times we had strong defensive lines we didn't have this depth. If we lost a player on those previous lines, we'd be majorly concerned. With this line, we have more depth in case that happens where our defense can still be sound with the next few guys up.
 

MplsGopher said:
The BG loss did not come down to a single decision.

It was the awful offensive game plan.
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I agree and disagree.
If they punt there, I don't think BG ever wins the game. No chance.
We win that game.

But when you lose there are other opportunities to win, and MN's game plan was so conservative and played into BG's plan that we handcuffed ourselves.
 

Face The Facts said:
I agree and disagree.
If they punt there, I don't think BG ever wins the game. No chance.
We win that game.

But when you lose there are other opportunities to win, and MN's game plan was so conservative and played into BG's plan that we handcuffed ourselves.
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Hopefully pj alters his non conference approach
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Last few games DL has been so strong.

Old gopher teams if a guys missed a sack ... that was it, no sack.

On this team one or two other dudes are right behind the first.
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They have done a great job of late with contain and staying in their lanes, which allows others to scrape off their defenders and assist on the play. It lets the LB's read and clean up anything that pops through. Our LB's have been rock solid. The Gibbens pickup was a huge boost. Young man can flat out play and rarely misses a tackle.

We just need to clean up a little bit on some of the long seam routes in coverage, but I would also argue with less mobile QB's, they probably don't have the time to improvise those throws.
 

Face The Facts said:
PJ has gone back on this and called the BG his worst coaching job ever, and by far.

Going for it against BG was the #1 bad decision of his coaching career, and it cost him the game and he knows it.

Why did he do it?
I have my thoughts.
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My take is that our play calling had been crap, which had Tanner Morgan frustrated because he knew we could move the ball against Bowling Green. Then when it was 4th and short Morgan refused to leave the field and implored Fleck to go for it. This was shown on the live broadcast and the fans at the game may have nit noticed it.

Fleck relents to Morgan and they quicky line up for the snap. Bowling green does seem confused. Then Fleck calls a time out just as the ball was snapped. The movement if the players looked like we had a chance to make a first down.
The timeout allowed Bowling Green to prepare for the short yardage play, which they stuffed.

To me the real errors were calling the time out, and then once called, not punting, because then BG new what could be coming.
 

RememberMurray said:
Do you think the players believe Fleck doesn't trust them?
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In PJ's culture players trust coaches' decisions without question. That is a good thing and leaves responsibility to improve their best squarely with Coach.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
despite defending fleck I don’t agree with that drive. But I’m not on the staff and they don’t care what I think. They won 34-16 against a big ten opponent. I’ll take it
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It's not about yesterday. It's about a game in the future when we really need the points. Do we have a plan to score with 4 minutes? Two minutes? Do we practice that? Game experience?

Georgia and Ohio State could win most weeks with limited pass game. They elect to run balanced attack against everyone. The years Whisky had great lines and All American backs they still mixed in passing.
 



MplsGopher said:
The BG loss did not come down to a single decision.

It was the awful offensive game plan.
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Completely agree. They played like they were playing a high school team. Overconfident and bad/boring play calling. I don't like to keep bringing up the past, but if they don't change their best then history will repeat itself.

Edit:

They have changed their best the last couple weeks. Looking like a damn good team now.
 

Dakota2 said:
It's not about yesterday. It's about a game in the future when we really need the points. Do we have a plan to score with 4 minutes? Two minutes? Do we practice that? Game experience?

Georgia and Ohio State could win most weeks with limited pass game. They elect to run balanced attack against everyone. The years Whisky had great lines and All American backs they still mixed in passing.
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We’ve seen the gophers run a proper two minute. They obviously practice it—you’re being intentionally dense.

I didn’t agree with what they did at the end of the half. But fleck rarely asks me my opinion. Getting super angry on a message board won’t change what they do. Either will booing the team.

No one is complaining about the 23 straight runs that iced the game while expanding the lead
 

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