Faalele Injury

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OldBob53 said:
Those 400 lbs put extra strain on vulnerable knee joints, assuming its a knee issue.
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For Daniel’s sake I’d like to see him closer to 325 or 350 than 400, seems that would put far less stress on the joints.
 

Big Dan was kicked in the lower outside part of his left leg by Spann-Ford , as Spann-Ford was attempting to kick out the defensive player across the formation on the play. The defender slanted in hard at a low angle and changed Spann-Ford's attack point, leading to the problem.

Dan immediately grabbed for the lower part of leg left after he went to the ground. Just an unfortunate play. Hoping for the best for the big fella.
 

cncmin said:
For Daniel’s sake I’d like to see him closer to 325 or 350 than 400, seems that would put far less stress on the joints.
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He will never be 325, he is 6 10 and thick muscled packed guy, not fat. If he could get leaner say 380 to 375 that would help his quickness and agillity. He moves well for a very large man.
 





KILL HATES IOWA said:
Broken fibula. 4-6 weeks in soft cast.
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That’s great news (or much better than some alternatives). Smaller of the shin bones. Should be no long term issue. I could tell he was pointing to his shin or upper ankle but everyone seemed to think knee so I was nervous.
 


I feel sorry for DF on missing out playing in a bowl game. This is one more reason to develop and utilize more than six OL. We need the backup to develop quickly. This also points to the importance of recruiting 2 or 3 OL every class. We've lost Norton and York which points out that there will be attrition with OL. Iowa has 21 on the roster for that reason. Wisconsin is more better established with 16 OLs, but they have a healthy mix in each class. They may only have 16, but they are high caliber for the most part.

For the Gophers to take the next step, they have to develop good OL depth.
 



So...……….. Can the trainers find a big enough "Soft Cast" suitable for playing in the bowl game for him? Should be good to go for the bowl game!!!!
Seriously though, tough news for him and he'll be back.
Does Dickson get forced into action?
 

Panthadad2 said:
Agreed. The fact that the Gophs had access to their 6-man "heavy" OL options in the PSU game win and not Wiscy or Iowa losses might have more significance than many recognize .

The fact that the Gophs even need to use an unconventional 6-man line, and thus giving up an extra receiving/running option, speaks to the OL's need to improve.
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Seattle uses the 6-man OL package more than anyone in the NFL and yet is one of the best teams in the league. It's just a new trend in offensive philosophy.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Seattle uses the 6-man OL package more than anyone in the NFL and yet is one of the best teams in the league. It's just a new trend in offensive philosophy.
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Yeah. I saw that and it was pretty interesting. Regardless, when one is running a spread offense out of the pistol etc., it's all about mismatches and numbers advantage. It would be nice to have the extra pass catching option. I can see why the Gophs (and Seattle) run it though. They both want to run the ball and protect the QB but had issues with both against good defenses. The proliferation of extremely athletic defensive end types and sophisticated blitzing has blown up scores of offensive lines.

On a side note, I'm guessing Paulson's injury vs Nebraska probably had some impact too. He's big and a very good blocker.
 

Huge bummer that will negatively impact the team in their bowl game. No doubt about that. Hopefully with 15 practices the coaches can stabilize the starting 5, get Paulson back, and work in another OL for the 6 man package (Dickson and Guedet seem likely candidates and wouldn't lose a RS).
 



BTChamp said:
So...……….. Can the trainers find a big enough "Soft Cast" suitable for playing in the bowl game for him? Should be good to go for the bowl game!!!!
Seriously though, tough news for him and he'll be back.
Does Dickson get forced into action?
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I remember the old story about some Viking DL who broke his hand and found his cast was pretty handy for quietly throwing punches at OL guys. So he subsequently broke his hand every year until the NFL told him to stop that ;)
 

MplsGopher said:
Fleck downplayed this, but it is a fact that we just have to live with: few defenses run a base 3-4, and Wisconsin is one of them, and it's hard to block. It was designed like that, to stop the veer option.

When you're used to seeing 40 fronts for the most of the season, then in comes Wisc, it just takes an adjustment.
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This use to be a much bigger issue. Lineman are used to blocking a variety of fronts in today's game. Every team changes it up, this wasn't the first time we've seen it. The WI DL simply won the LOS against our OL.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
This use to be a much bigger issue. Lineman are used to blocking a variety of fronts in today's game. Every team changes it up, this wasn't the first time we've seen it. The WI DL simply won the LOS against our OL.
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Yep, Nebraska ran a 3-4 and we ran it all over them.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
This use to be a much bigger issue. Lineman are used to blocking a variety of fronts in today's game. Every team changes it up, this wasn't the first time we've seen it. The WI DL simply won the LOS against our OL.
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I would be surprised if a 40 front team went to a 30 front for anything other than a prevent defense trying to stop an obvious long pass. But not saying it doesn't happen.

Also thinking the majority of Big Ten (and college) teams are running 40 fronts. Wisconsin is one of those few that have stuck with a 30 front. Same with the NFL, there are a few DC who love that defense and stick with it, but most prefer 40 fronts.
 

die hard gopher said:
Yep, Nebraska ran a 3-4 and we ran it all over them.
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You're right, they did

I stand by what I said, that a 30 front can be problematic for an OL to adjust to. But what you've pointed out pretty much nullifies that for this season.
 

MplsGopher said:
You're right, they did

I stand by what I said, that a 30 front can be problematic for an OL to adjust to. But what you've pointed out pretty much nullifies that for this season.
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I haven't gathered the gumption yet to go back and watch the Wiscy game to figure out what didn't work and why, but in person it seemed like the plays that worked all year over and over simply weren't executed. A lot of the issue seemed to be a return to the OL's non-conference issues with blocking stunts and blitzes (along with dropped balls, bad passes, etc.). Maybe I'll get the gumption to watch this weekend.
 

MGGopher said:
Huge bummer that will negatively impact the team in their bowl game. No doubt about that. Hopefully with 15 practices the coaches can stabilize the starting 5, get Paulson back, and work in another OL for the 6 man package (Dickson and Guedet seem likely candidates and wouldn't lose a RS).
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The upside is that the staff has plenty of time to adjust to not having DF in there for the bowl game. Plenty of practice time to get someone else ready to join the rotation along the line if need be and reopen the ability to go with 6 lineman if we want to.

Also may open the ability for one of the other guys to prove what they can do to the coaches with the added first team reps.
 

Panthadad2 said:
I haven't gathered the gumption yet to go back and watch the Wiscy game to figure out what didn't work and why, but in person it seemed like the plays that worked all year over and over simply weren't executed. A lot of the issue seemed to be a return to the OL's non-conference issues with blocking stunts and blitzes (along with dropped balls, bad passes, etc.). Maybe I'll get the gumption to watch this weekend.
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I haven't watched it either, but it was obvious watching live that Wisconsin was totally selling out to stop the run. Almost every play there was a safety flying down into the box or an OLB flying off the edge on the backside to get a +1 in the box and/or stop cutback runs. Coupled with the loss of Faalele and Morgan's inability, unwillingness, or instructions not to keep on some of these zone running plays, Wisc just had very little trouble stopping run.

When that's the case, you'd think MN would have more success throwing, right? Well, the weather sucked, Wisc played extremely physical press coverage (bordering several times on what I'd call illegal...but if it's not flagged it's not illegal), and Wisc brought a ton of inside pressure on passing downs which rattled Morgan. Again, coupled with the shuffled OL, these things made passing more dififcult than normal.
 

MplsGopher said:
Fleck downplayed this, but it is a fact that we just have to live with: few defenses run a base 3-4, and Wisconsin is one of them, and it's hard to block. It was designed like that, to stop the veer option.

When you're used to seeing 40 fronts for the most of the season, then in comes Wisc, it just takes an adjustment.
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They didn't run a 3-4 on more than a handful of plays. They were in a 2-4-5 (with their NT sitting) most of the game.
 

Wisconsin's gameplan was that we couldn't give Morgan enough time to throw the ball deep.

I believe the weather factored into the gameplan, and into our struggles.

And without Paulson and Falelle, it was a great strategy.
 


Studwell55 said:
Wisconsin's gameplan was that we couldn't give Morgan enough time to throw the ball deep.

I believe the weather factored into the gameplan, and into our struggles.

And without Paulson and Falelle, it was a great strategy.
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This is really it. WI sold out on the run and they have a good front 7. They got to Morgan and we couldn't burn them deep.

We were close on a couple of plays and I think the weather also impacted our game a bit.
 


Maybe I am the exception, but I thought the line play was pretty dreadful all year - in the run and pass games. I think the big reason why we won a lot of games is not a complete team turn around - I think the Gophers always had decent talent at the skill positions - for me, it is Tanner Morgan. That is the missing link the Gophers have had for ages - and I think it bears out how bad this team is if Tanner is not playing at an elite level. I don't think we can still manage time outs or in game adjustments. I don't think we game plan well in the week prior to a big game - Iowa and WI being examples where we had ZERO new wrinkles. What makes this team work is Morgan - to the point where the pass sets up the run. I hope we can continue to improve on the line as if that actually starts to click, this team will be very good post-Morgan.
 

GhostofBronko said:
They didn't run a 3-4 on more than a handful of plays. They were in a 2-4-5 (with their NT sitting) most of the game.
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So they had the Ends lined up on our guards? I’ll have to go back and check that out.
 

Interesting that a broken leg is now good news. Certainly much better than an Achiles or an ACL for healing. Good news!
 

MplsGopher said:
So they had the Ends lined up on our guards? I’ll have to go back and check that out.
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This was their typical alignment. 2 DEs, flanked by LBs. Typically rushed 2 LBs, but never knew exactly which 2 were coming. Mostly off the edge but plenty up the middle, stunts, etc.c2.JPG
This is the TD to Bateman, and they brought 6, and just barely missed getting to Morgan. Too late!
 

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