Fleck on Rossi: “He’s one of the best football coaches that I have ever been around.”

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I'm not making excuses, the defense has been horrific. I also think last Friday was the worst coached game since the Brew era. That said, I like that Fleck went to bat for his guys. Rossi has been a big part of the turnaround and I simply don't believe he forgot how to coach.

We do need to be real here. This is a bizarre year and we lost pretty much every single leader on defense. Winfield is probably the best rookie in the NFL right now and was likely the best Gopher in my lifetime. We also lost our best 3 LBers (Martin, Barber, Oliver), our best pass rusher and another vital part of our secondary.

I think we will be okay in the future, but youth coupled with a bizarre season, I think it's a valid excuse. I am not a PJ apologist and I have high expectations, but this is a really weird year.
 

Some guy said:
It’s not an argument.

it is literally why you would go back to Rossi. Because the head coach wants to because he thinks it’s better


you asked the question. Who gets to decide? Fleck?

so you asked why he would go back. The answer is because he wants to and he makes the decision. Pretty simple
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Your response to "why would Fleck make that decision?" is "Fleck makes the decision."

Thank you, that's very deep.
 

You cannot make a silk purse out of a pig's ear.
Rossi is coaching Fleck's recruits.
 

hello-world said:
That was bad defense. Like easily the worst we've seen since Brewster (though Kill's D had some brutal games when he first got to MN).

Might have been an overreaction to call for Rossi's job, but it's his job to have his players ready. It's his job to develop the players he has. He had an entire off-season + 1 extra month to get the defense into shape, and they look bad.

I don't expect him to last as DC, but we'll see... if the Gophers lose to the Illini this weekend, not sure how he keeps his job. We might be looking at a 0-8 season if they don't turn it around rfn.
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Fire the DC during what amounts to an exhibition season of football in a raging pandemic when the athletic department is bankrupt?

Maybe not.
 


Block M said:
Fire the DC during what amounts to an exhibition season of football in a raging pandemic when the athletic department is bankrupt?

Maybe not.
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Fire? No. Just "demote" him to Co-DC.
 


Plato said:
You cannot make a silk purse out of a pig's ear.
Rossi is coaching Fleck's recruits.
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They are Rossi’s recruits too, pretty sure the DC has some involvement in recruiting.
 

I'll stand by him for now. Due to Covid, this was a terrible year for evaluating and developing talent. Rossi stuck by his lower talent known group. He needs to push the limits and throw out some 3 and 4 star guys and get them in the mix now that we know that 55, 8 and others are not ready now.
 



oak_street1981 said:
I'll stand by him for now. Due to Covid, this was a terrible year for evaluating and developing talent. Rossi stuck by his lower talent known group. He needs to push the limits and throw out some 3 and 4 star guys and get them in the mix now that we know that 55, 8 and others are not ready now.

I asked why #8 was not playing LB, based on my low information viewing, and I learned he was the "rush" end, like CC #45 was. I saw #8 chasing Tua at Maryland with a hitch in his stride and the look of a 4.9 40 time. He needs to regroup, and we need to get more 4 stars.

And #9 and #34 should be at DE 95 percent of all snaps.
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oak_street1981 said:
I'll stand by him for now. Due to Covid, this was a terrible year for evaluating and developing talent. Rossi stuck by his lower talent known group. He needs to push the limits and throw out some 3 and 4 star guys and get them in the mix now that we know that 55, 8 and others are not ready now.

I asked why #8 was not playing LB, based on my low information viewing, and I learned he was the "rush" end, like CC #45 was. I saw #8 chasing Tua at Maryland with a hitch in his stride and the look of a 4.9 40 time. He needs to regroup, and we need to get more 4 stars.

And #9 and #34 should be at DE 95 percent of all snaps.
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Yeah I'm not sure what the "Rush end" is supposed to be. It's actually coaches now as a separate group from DL and LBs, similar to how TE is a separate group. Wegner (the special teams coordinator) runs the group. Some kind of hybrid between a 40-front DE and a 30-front OLB.

Sometimes, I just think coaches outthink themselves. A lot of people don't understand why Rush (8) is playing more snaps than Mafe (34). Obviously coaches have their reasons and tried their best to evaluate. So that is one.

As for MSM (55), I just don't know yet. Maybe one of the younger, higher rated, faster recruits from 2019 has to be put back there?
 





MplsGopher said:
How many games did you need to see in 2018 to declare that Rossi was better than Robb Smith and should be the DC?
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This isn't the year to be making knee-jerk reactions on firing coaches. Let the season play out and decide in the offseason if changes need to be made.
 

Word said:
This isn't the year to be making knee-jerk reactions on firing coaches. Let the season play out and decide in the offseason if changes need to be made.
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Yeah that's fine.

Again -- no one is saying fire. We can't afford to fire Rossi. Figuratively and literally.

I was only proposing some kind of "demotion", more than nothing. Like, maybe Rossi still has final sign-off on the gameplan ... but the actual play calls go to Harasymiak. Or a team call, with Fleck having final veto or general direction, like "I want a blitz on 3rd down here, if they don't get within 5".
 

MplsGopher said:
How many games did you need to see in 2018 to declare that Rossi was better than Robb Smith and should be the DC?
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I didn’t have an option to decide. They fired Smith and Rossi started performing. You want to make a change assuming the replacement will be better. But in this case you know the guy you are firing has had success here. Robb Smith never had that. But you also thought maxing out recruiting classes every year was a good idea, and we are seeing already how that hurts experience.
 

btowngopher said:
I didn’t have an option to decide. They fired Smith and Rossi started performing. You want to make a change assuming the replacement will be better. But in this case you know the guy you are firing has had success here. Robb Smith never had that. But you also thought maxing out recruiting classes every year was a good idea, and we are seeing already how that hurts experience.
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See post #76. Not firing.

Please explain last sentence.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I'm not making excuses, the defense has been horrific. I also think last Friday was the worst coached game since the Brew era. That said, I like that Fleck went to bat for his guys. Rossi has been a big part of the turnaround and I simply don't believe he forgot how to coach.

We do need to be real here. This is a bizarre year and we lost pretty much every single leader on defense. Winfield is probably the best rookie in the NFL right now and was likely the best Gopher in my lifetime. We also lost our best 3 LBers (Martin, Barber, Oliver), our best pass rusher and another vital part of our secondary.

I think we will be okay in the future, but youth coupled with a bizarre season, I think it's a valid excuse. I am not a PJ apologist and I have high expectations, but this is a really weird year.
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You think a 1 point loss to what turns out to be a decent team is the worst loss in the last 15 years?

Did you miss flecks first year?
Did you miss 55-0 to Iowa?
Did you miss losing to South Dakota?
 

Some guy said:
You think a 1 point loss to what turns out to be a decent team is the worst loss in the last 15 years?

Did you miss flecks first year?
Did you miss 55-0 to Iowa?
Did you miss losing to South Dakota?
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Where did I say it was the worst loss in the last 15 years?
 


Some guy said:
You said worst coaching since Brewster era?
What year is it?
I guess maybe 12-13 years?
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I think there is an enormous difference between the worst loss and the worst coached game.

I like PJ & Co (my entire post was defending them), but I think the decisions we made last week were the worst in-game decisions I've seen since the Brew era.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think there is an enormous difference between the worst loss and the worst coached game.

I like PJ & Co (my entire post was defending them), but I think the decisions we made last week were the worst in-game decisions I've seen since the Brew era.
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I think he made some decisions that were much worse in his time here.
I don’t think that game is in the top 10 worst coaches games of the last 10 years.

I did strongly disagree with a couple of things. But they made some adjustments as the game went on. They lost by a point to a decent team. No way that’s the worst coaches game of the last 3 years let alone 10
 

Some guy said:
I think he made some decisions that were much worse in his time here.
I don’t think that game is in the top 10 worst coaches games of the last 10 years.

I did strongly disagree with a couple of things. But they made some adjustments as the game went on. They lost by a point to a decent team. No way that’s the worst coaches game of the last 3 years let alone 10
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You keep going to this like it's the only thing that matters. It's fine, there were tons of threads last week on how we felt about the play calls. This is sort of a Batman vs. Superman argument..

The point of my entire post is that I am not going to judge Rossi harshly on this season because of its unique peculiarities.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
You keep going to this like it's the only thing that matters. It's fine, there were tons of threads last week on how we felt about the play calls. This is sort of a Batman vs. Superman argument..

The point of my entire post is that I am not going to judge Rossi harshly on this season because of its unique peculiarities.
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You shouldn’t speak in so much hyperbole
Saying it is the worst coaching performance since 2012 or earlier is kind of like when you call someone who wants people accused of sexual assault to be suspended fascist

Just doesn’t jive with reality
 

Well folks ... what do you think? Coincidence? Or is there something to it?

I doubt our scheme changed much. And it was mostly the same players, with a couple exceptions:
- no Schad, who backups the starter (rs freshman Carter). But that didn't seem to matter too much. Seemed like Cheney (another rs freshman) played decently.
- no Aune. I think he's been benched, because I'm pretty sure I saw him on the sideline fully dressed. But, it's possibly they could be in covid protocol? But then why would they travel with the team?


It actually looked like Gordon has been promoted to the #1 OLB. And in situations when 3 LBs are on the field, is when true freshman Lindenberg comes on. I saw Gordon (#13) on the field more than I saw Lindenberg, and often when there were only two LBs (with MSM on the field all the time).

Did also see #20 Willis out there at times. Never saw Aune (#29).


Seemed like everyone else was the same. Howden and Nubin safeties. Nubin had a couple noticeable mistakes. That one TD throw was his fault, really poor angle/reaction and not making the play. Also, there was a play looked like he blitzed and didn't get home, they handed off and the guy ran right over where he would've been otherwise for a big gain.

Occasionally saw T Smith. Maybe as a Dime Corner? He got burned once.



So ... I dunno. Would it have been the same under Rossi? 🤷‍♂️
 
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Bob_Loblaw said:
I think there is an enormous difference between the worst loss and the worst coached game.

I like PJ & Co (my entire post was defending them), but I think the decisions we made last week were the worst in-game decisions I've seen since the Brew era.
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I still go back to 2017...some pretty bad coaching decisions throughout the year.
 

MplsGopher said:
Well folks ... what do you think? Coincidence? Or is there something to it?

I doubt our scheme changed much. And it was mostly the same players, with a couple exceptions:
- no Schad, who backups the starter (rs freshman Carter). But that didn't seem to matter too much. Seemed like Cheney (another rs freshman) played decently.
- no Aune. I think he's been benched, because I'm pretty sure I saw him on the sideline fully dressed. But, it's possibly they could be in covid protocol? But then why would they travel with the team?


It actually looked like Gordon has been promoted to the #1 OLB. And in situations when 3 LBs are on the field, is when true freshman Lindenberg comes on. I saw Gordon (#13) on the field more than I saw Lindenberg, and often when there were only two LBs (with MSM on the field all the time).

Did also see #20 Willis out there at times. Never saw Aune (#29).


Seemed like everyone else was the same. Howden and Nubin safeties. Nubin had a couple noticeable mistakes. That one TD throw was his fault, really poor angle/reaction and not making the play. Also, there was a play looked like he blitzed and didn't get home, they handed off and the guy ran right over where he would've been otherwise for a big gain.

Occasionally saw T Smith. Maybe as a Dime Corner? He got burned once.



So ... I dunno. Would it have been the same under Rossi? 🤷‍♂️
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Great observations. I also closely watched defense, both personnel and scheme. You're right that Gordon was out there a lot and Willis was sprinkled in. I'm THRILLED to see this. Those two are the future at LB, along with Oliver, so they need as many reps as possible.

Safeties were MUCH more aggressive in run support. Having a 4th string QB out there was a big part of this, but it was clear Rossi & Co told Howden and Nubin to get downhill quicker. They're both still liabilities, but I hope the slight improvement helps their confidence. You're right that Nubin was horrible on the long TD pass. They were in Cover 2 and there was no receiving threat near the hash -- in fact, only one eligible receiver on his side of the field. He needs to FLY over the top there and he was slow in doing so for some reason.

Mafe played a LOT more. Smart decision by the staff. He needs to take 80% of snaps moving forward. Not sure why he wasn't in the first two weeks.
 

MGGopher said:
Great observations. I also closely watched defense, both personnel and scheme. You're right that Gordon was out there a lot and Willis was sprinkled in. I'm THRILLED to see this. Those two are the future at LB, along with Oliver, so they need as many reps as possible.

Safeties were MUCH more aggressive in run support. Having a 4th string QB out there was a big part of this, but it was clear Rossi & Co told Howden and Nubin to get downhill quicker. They're both still liabilities, but I hope the slight improvement helps their confidence. You're right that Nubin was horrible on the long TD pass. They were in Cover 2 and there was no receiving threat near the hash -- in fact, only one eligible receiver on his side of the field. He needs to FLY over the top there and he was slow in doing so for some reason.

Mafe played a LOT more. Smart decision by the staff. He needs to take 80% of snaps moving forward. Not sure why he wasn't in the first two weeks.
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Ah yes, forgot to mention that. Saw Mafe a lot, only saw Rush out there a little bit.

Both Mafe and Oto answered the call.

Unless it's a short-yardage thing, or he needs a break, I just can't see why Mafe wouldn't be out there all the time.
 

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