Not Cosgrove

[MNSpaniel]

I think if you went back and looked at the game you would see many, many missed tackles. The DBs play the player and not the ball. So they let the receiver catch the ball and then tackle instead of knocking the ball down. You can look to correcting this in practice and the individual coaches who are responsible but they are not on the field during the game.

The defense has been the bright spot of this team and the coaches for the most part have made good half-time adjustments. The O-line did a decent job on pass blocking but it wouldn't matter if we had two five star running backs they couldn't get any yards with our run blocking.

 

[cncmin]

I think if you went back and looked at the game you would see many, many missed tackles. The DBs play the player and not the ball. So they let the receiver catch the ball and then tackle instead of knocking the ball down. You can look to correcting this in practice and the individual coaches who are responsible but they are not on the field during the game.

The defense has been the bright spot of this team and the coaches for the most part have made good half-time adjustments. The O-line did a decent job on pass blocking but it wouldn't matter if we had two five star running backs they couldn't get any yards with our run blocking.

You make two very good points about (1) the badly missed tackles and (2) the poor mechanics of some of our d-backs (there needs to be more playing the ball instead of the receiver - but is that possibly a coaching fault?)...

But as for the O-line and the RBs, way too many times this year have I seen our RBs have a cutback opportunity for big gains, but failed to see it and just kept running right into a pile. Our running backs seem to have relatively poor vision and poor patience. Whaley seems to have a bit more of each, and the improved results with him running the ball seem to prove that. My take is that the RBs have been as much to blame for the running game as the line - while the O-line is not exactly dominating, I believe Adrian Peterson would still get over 100 yards per game running behind these guys.

 

[littlebigboy]

Yes,the D back problem is coaching! You can teach HS players to read the QB, and break on the throwing motion. There was one time yesterday we had 3 players around the reciever, and not one was looking at the ball all were looking at the man. TERRIBLE!

 

[MNSpaniel]

agree

I agree that the running backs could help out the line. My high school son was just talking about how his coaches were telling the backs that they need better vision. The same can be said for ours at times. What we could use is one of those big brutes to carry the load. I can't remember the last time we had a big tailback that was hard to bring down. I do like Whaley's attitude when he runs.

On the defensive side those things can be corrected. Play the ball and tackle better. Hopefully they will practice these before next week.

 

[cncmin]

Yes,the D back problem is coaching! You can teach HS players to read the QB, and break on the throwing motion. There was one time yesterday we had 3 players around the reciever, and not one was looking at the ball all were looking at the man. TERRIBLE!

Well, some people just have a better sense of the game, too. Many a physically gifted athlete has been done in by their inability to learn simple concepts.

 

[MNSpaniel]

Gophers no monoply on bad tackling = Vikings

Just watched the Viking game. I guess the Gophers are not the only ones who need to practice tackling.