Dez, News And Notes From Spring Practice No.3

[Carl Spackler]

Whatever.

A discussion lke this is where you clearly see the difference b/w those that have lived it vs. those that have only watched it.

I am not saying that to be condenscending, or to be aloof, or whatever.....can't think of a good word.

The concept that a college football player, never mind the position, would intentionally be waving themselves off the game field, for fatigue? It's simply dumbfounding and it's flat out wrong. Any player that takes themselves off the field - without permission -for anything but an injury, is going to have a permanent seat on the bench. This is not the pros.

Professional players, you get players that will check themselves out of games physically and mentally, and there's very little that can be done about it. THose kinds of players are disasters for a team.

I have never seen Jordan Todman take himself out of a game for anything but an injury. And he played through his injuries

Injured? Hurt and not sure? Get to the ground, or get yourself off the field. Otherwise get up and get back to the huddle, and get your signals and communication and personnel grouping right for the next play call.

Can a player earn the right to waive themselves off the field? Sure. Better luck finding a unicorn,than a college football player that can "tap out" off the game field b/c they're tired.

 

[CTHUSKY74]

I know I'm not very expert about football - but I feel that every team that has backup players for every position that are almost as good as the starters and uses them to spell the starters or change the look, has an advantage over other teams that just go with the starters. Not saying that will always win the game for you, but rather it can be an effective way to give your starters a break and keep their legs fresh for the fourth quarter. If you have Donald Brown and he's getting you 5 yds a carry why switch, but even then we worked in JT for some carries. I don't understand the mentality of having one guy win the job and letting other guys stand on the sidelines and just watch. With this group of RB's I hope we can find at least two guys who stand out and will get significant minutes in every game. If different guys have strengths to exploit weaknesses of the opponent on a game to game basis - so be it. Let that guy get the carries that game. I love what Lyle did for us last year. He was superb in what was a very mediocre offense. I just don't want this year's offense to depend on his production quite as much. I want the same or more from the run and a productive passing game. We certrainly tried to be balanced last year, but unfortunately the passing game didn't work for all the reasons that have been discussed ad nauseum. This year I want the same approach but better results. QB not taking sacks, finding open receivers and rb's for screen passes, and being able to get yardage when plays break down. I'd really like our rb's to add the element of pass catching to help the offense be less predictable. I don't know if the offensive line will be better or worse than last year, but I'd like to think at least some of their problems resulted from the QB not being mobile and not being able to find open receivers in many cases. If our starter is better at these elements as well as being a good passer, there is a chance we might think they look better because we are completing offensive plays. Just my two cents...

 

[businesslawyer]

Carl is lagging behind the stump of a Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail who at least had the willingness to say "Right, shall we call it a draw."

 

[Carl Spackler]

I know I'm not very expert about football - but I feel that every team that has backup players for every position that are almost as good as the starters and uses them to spell the starters or change the look, has an advantage over other teams that just go with the starters. Not saying that will always win the game for you, but rather it can be an effective way to give your starters a break and keep their legs fresh for the fourth quarter. If you have Donald Brown and he's getting you 5 yds a carry why switch, but even then we worked in JT for some carries. I don't understand the mentality of having one guy win the job and letting other guys stand on the sidelines and just watch. With this group of RB's I hope we can find at least two guys who stand out and will get significant minutes in every game. If different guys have strengths to exploit weaknesses of the opponent on a game to game basis - so be it. Let that guy get the carries that game. I love what Lyle did for us last year. He was superb in what was a very mediocre offense. I just don't want this year's offense to depend on his production quite as much. I want the same or more from the run and a productive passing game. We certrainly tried to be balanced last year, but unfortunately the passing game didn't work for all the reasons that have been discussed ad nauseum. This year I want the same approach but better results. QB not taking sacks, finding open receivers and rb's for screen passes, and being able to get yardage when plays break down. I'd really like our rb's to add the element of pass catching to help the offense be less predictable. I don't know if the offensive line will be better or worse than last year, but I'd like to think at least some of their problems resulted from the QB not being mobile and not being able to find open receivers in many cases. If our starter is better at these elements as well as being a good passer, there is a chance we might think they look better because we are completing offensive plays. Just my two cents...

We didnt' have players that could "spell" our RB on the depth chart last year. We had injured players behind him, and we had rookies that didn' t know the offense. McCombs was having trouble with protections through the first month of the season too.

When these coaches game plan, I guarantee they are very specific about how often, and when, they want that pig in a specific players hands, from the QB, a pass route runner, or a backfield player.

Game planning such that RB's get breaks during the game, is a normal thing. We'll be able to do it this year. Last year, losing Hyppolite, Frey, Wylie, Shoemate........having freshmen to replace them.

A mess. McCombs, was hands down, the MVP of this team last season. Without him,we would have been in big trouble.

When you look at the offense this year, compared to last - I"d still like to have another TB in the mix, but we're looking better. The QB's and WR's, are all ramped up in competition and experience.

Unbelieveable the meaning that some people take out of the context of Pasqualoni's Jaguar comments.

I thought it was a great analogy and a great way to send a message to the team.

You don't win championships when you're licking all your little hurts in the training room rather than getting in more work somewhere else.

I'm sure the players get it.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Carl is lagging behind the stump of a Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail who at least had the willingness to say "Right, shall we call it a draw."

Just a flesh wound. Exactly.

 

[SAMCRO]

A discussion lke this is where you clearly see the difference b/w those that have lived it vs. those that have only watched it.

Friggin' hillarious. Define "living it". Be careful though, because you already gave us your history on TOS a couple years ago - after a poster asked you if you played b/c your posts were alluding to the fact that you did, without actually stating that you did - so many of us already know you haven't really "lived it" to the degree you obviously want people to think you did.

 

[UconnFamily]

I'm sorry Carl, but to say McCombs was the MVP of the team last year is a little extreme to say. I believe the reason why McCombs got the yards he did was because the offensive line opened holes. Did the team have better offensive lines in the past? of course they did, but you know McCombs did not get a 1000 + yards all by himself. The kid is 5'7 166 lbs that would get hit as soon as he got touched he received his yards by open holes not breaking tackles... Lol a RB who breaks tackles and earns his yards you can say is MVP but not a guy who falls as soon as he gets touched the kid doesn't have the speed to blow by defenders either. I personally liked Jonathan Jean-Louis much better the kid is 6'0 207 lbs and every time I would watch him play I was wondering why he wasn't starting. The kid was breaking tackles and earning his yards! To me the freshman all-american Yawin Smallwood was MVP of the team.

 

[businesslawyer]

I'm sorry Carl, but to say McCombs was the MVP of the team last year is a little extreme to say. I believe the reason why McCombs got the yards he did was because the offensive line opened holes. Did the team have better offensive lines in the past? of course they did, but you know McCombs did not get a 1000 + yards all by himself. The kid is 5'7 166 lbs that would get hit as soon as he got touched he received his yards by open holes not breaking tackles... Lol a RB who breaks tackles and earns his yards you can say is MVP but not a guy who falls as soon as he gets touched the kid doesn't have the speed to blow by defenders either. I personally liked Jonathan Jean-Louis much better the kid is 6'0 207 lbs and every time I would watch him play I was wondering why he wasn't starting. The kid was breaking tackles and earning his yards! To me the freshman all-american Yawin Smallwood was MVP of the team.

I honestly can't imagine anyone thinking Smallwood was the MVP of last year. I thought he did a very good job against the run, but looked like a freshman playing against the pass.

 

[mattp]

Whatever.

A discussion lke this is where you clearly see the difference b/w those that have lived it vs. those that have only watched it.

I am not saying that to be condenscending, or to be aloof, or whatever.....can't think of a good word.

you're saying it for the same reason kids used to say Hulk Hogan was their Dad on the bus ride to elementary school. talking out of your derriere is compulsive for you

 

[UconnFamily]

I honestly can't imagine anyone thinking Smallwood was the MVP of last year. I thought he did a very good job against the run, but looked like a freshman playing against the pass.

He's a LB, there's not a lot of LB's that are good against the pass! but I still would not give McCombs all the credit for his yards!