Emily's Game Wrap from the Field

[huskymedic]

I give GD, SP and OM credit for stopping to talk...

EmilyNoonan 12:48pm via Web
Game Wrap from @UConnFootball's tough loss in the home opener featuring Shakim Phillips, Geremy Davis, Obi Melifonwu

 

[minidarren]

Emily is hot.

 

[HuskyOfLeisure]

Not sure if it's a good or a bad thing, but judging from the comments and demeanor in the interviews, it doesn't seem as though the players understand how devastating this loss really was..

 

[UConnDan97]

Not sure if it's a good or a bad thing, but judging from the comments and demeanor in the interviews, it doesn't seem as though the players understand how devastating this loss really was..

We need the team to have short memories. We really do. If they have memories as long as we do on the Boneyard, we'll go 0-12 for sure...

 

[TRest]

Not sure if it's a good or a bad thing, but judging from the comments and demeanor in the interviews, it doesn't seem as though the players understand how devastating this loss really was..

The players don't have to read all the other team's message boards dogging UConn football. Why I do is something I plan on changing.

 

[Dooley]

Yeah, I really don't like the way the players interviewed either. They seemed too upbeat for my liking. On the flip side, my group of friends left the game sometime in the 3rd quarter leaving me along in our seats. As my section emptied out with each timeout or bad play, I stayed. I simmered. I stewed. I'm sure alot of you did too. I got a little excited when Shak scored his second TD and the defense finally got a 3 and out but went right back into quiet stew mode once a burned redshirt fumbled the punt and our D softened to let them run up the score. When I got back to car, my friends had resumed drinking and eating and tried to joke around but they knew it was no use, I was too pissed and frustrated to talk. I just wanted to go home and go to bed. I take losses hard. Real hard. And I take losses to bad teams or teams that I think we should beat the hardest. So to see some chipper talk about working on technique and taking a "ah well, nothing you can" approach, I'm convinced the players all feel that they are strapped in for a loooong 0-12 season just like the fans.

 

[uconnkelly]

Saw the post-game wrap up with Emily and Steve Greene's interview on NBC 30. The players' "it's behind us", "start focusing on Maryland," state of mind seemed refreshing and concerning at the same time.

I found it refreshing that they were already moving on while I was still stewing, fuming, tooth-gnashing, Tweeting, Boneyard-ing, firing coaches, etc. I need to move on, too.

I found it concerning that some thought they played well, just needed a few tweaks of technique, effort was there. I didn't see that. Perhaps that's just "team speak", cliches to use to avoid throwing teammates under the bus. Instead, they sounded like their season was 0-1: the same as Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and half of the rest of the teams that play this weekend.

Hopefully the game will light a fire under the team so they can avoid handing two ex-coaches wins to start our season at 0-2.

 

[hthusky74]

I just had the sense that even though we were getting the beat out of us, that no one on the team seemed to be getting pissed. I have visions of Ray Nitschke, Jack Lambert, Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus and others exhorting their teams very emotionally to let's get it done, but saw nothing like that here. I hope that we don't have a team devoid of emotion. I think of another great linebacker, Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds who would become extremely violent if he and his team weren't making the plays. When I went to UT for graduate school I heard the story about the day they lost a big game and Reynolds disappearance for the rest of the weekend. Turns out he was across the river from campus on Cherokee Bluffs with a pack of a dozen hacksaw blades coming to terms with it in a way that precluded him doing harm to anyone and that ultimately earned him his nickname:
"Reynolds earned his nickname in 1969 by cutting an abandoned 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air in half with ahacksaw after his previously unbeaten University of Tennessee team returned from an embarrassing 38-0 road loss to Ole Miss. "I came back to school and I was very upset," Reynolds said. "I had to do something to relieve my frustration."

 

[uconnflyer88]

Not sure if it's a good or a bad thing, but judging from the comments and demeanor in the interviews, it doesn't seem as though the players understand how devastating this loss really was..

Or maybe they're the ones providing the adult and rational perspective that its a 12 game season and you're not doomed after the first game telling us to go back to our playpens and suck on our thumbs

 

[RioDog]

Emily IS hot. Sorry to say but the white helmets looked worse than the way we played. At first glance I thought I was watching tape of a different game. If we can't immediatley lose the coaching staff could we at least do away wth those abominable white helmets?! I 'm ambivalent to the players' reactions. Different people react in different ways(see the Hacksaw Reynolds post above). Who am I to say which is right?

 

[BlueDogs]

Interesting two references to "technique" and "timing".. These guys are getting hamstrung in an overly complex system that is literally leaving them unsure, unable to executec, and unaggressive on the field.

This is all on PP and GDL.

 

[jdb50]

Interesting two references to "technique" and "timing".. These guys are getting hamstrung in an overly complex system that is literally leaving them unsure, unable to executec, and unaggressive on the field.

This is all on PP and GDL.

Reminds me of the story of the Cops who had been trained to pick up their brass at the shooting range and then involved in a real shootout were shot while stopping to pick up their brass.

 

[BoatShow]

Interesting two references to "technique" and "timing".. These guys are getting hamstrung in an overly complex system that is literally leaving them unsure, unable to executec, and unaggressive on the field.

This is all on PP and GDL.

 

[huskymedic]

Interesting two references to "technique" and "timing".. These guys are getting hamstrung in an overly complex system that is literally leaving them unsure, unable to executec, and unaggressive on the field.

This is all on PP and GDL.

I would agree if they were linemen or linebackers talking...

When you have wide receivers referencing timing and technique it has little to do with a overly complex system in my mind. My sense was that they were talking about route running and separation - things that will get better with more repetitions. TJW's impact there was visible. The WR were the highlight of the game despite a few drops of catchable balls.

 

[BoatShow]

If you listen to just Obi you would almost think we won.

 

[BlueDogs]

I would agree if they were linemen or linebackers talking...

When you have wide receivers referencing timing and technique it has little to do with a overly complex system in my mind. My sense was that they were talking about route running and separation - things that will get better with more repetitions. TJW's impact there was visible. The WR were the highlight of the game despite a few drops of catchable balls.

Yeah, true. My sense was they were referring to the overall O. Maybe reading too much into it.

 

[RedSoloCup]

I think folks are reading too much into it. there was acceptance of the loss and the readiness to get back to work. I heard guys that understand there needs to be more.

 

[junglehusky]

Maybe we're reading too much... but for me hearing Shak talk about technique, technique - where does that soundbyte come from? From the coaches. It might be PP, it might be TJW. But... yeah can't really blame the players for whatever soundbytes they come up with, they're worried on their own responsibilities and can't say anything about the O-line or QB play.

 

[BlueDogs]

Maybe we're reading too much... but for me hearing Shak talk about technique, technique - where does that soundbyte come from? From the coaches. It might be PP, it might be TJW. But... yeah can't really blame the players for whatever soundbytes they come up with, they're worried on their own responsibilities and can't say anything about the O-line or QB play.

I think we can agree that this technique mantra is coming from the wallpaper gang. In wsr fighting there is a basic concept called "task overload". If you encumber the fighter with too many higher order thinking tasks (I.e., impose complex technology or systems requiring mental cycles) overall performance degrades rapidly. Reaction time degrades, hesitation results, and the execution of primary task functions (I.e. aiming and shooting) degrade in performance level. Reps solve some of this, but not if they keep layering progressive complexity and nuance. I AM 100% certain this is the case for UCONN. This is PP and GDL.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

I think we can agree that this technique mantra is coming from the wallpaper gang. In wsr fighting there is a basic concept called "task overload". If you encumber the fighter with too many higher order thinking tasks (I.e., impose complex technology or systems requiring mental cycles) overall performance degrades rapidly. Reaction time degrades, hesitation results, and the execution of primary task functions (I.e. aiming and shooting) degrade in performance level. Reps solve some of this, but not if they keep layering progressive complexity and nuance. I AM 100% certain this is the case for UCONN. This is PP and GDL.

I remember coaching T-ball and witnessing other teams' coaches spending time trying to teach their infielders how to turn the double play. They actually had the league's best talent but they weren't champions. I didn't have a phrase for why they failed then. I knew why, though, and now I have a name for it. (Of course I may experience task overload trying to remember it).

 

[RedSoloCup]

Maybe we're reading too much... but for me hearing Shak talk about technique, technique - where does that soundbyte come from? From the coaches. It might be PP, it might be TJW. But... yeah can't really blame the players for whatever soundbytes they come up with, they're worried on their own responsibilities and can't say anything about the O-line or QB play.

I watched TJW working with the WRs at the last open practice. Technique is his mantra during drills.

I cannot disagree with him driving points home. The point was made, reinforced, practiced, and then when correcting a reason why was given. That is coaching. Position level for sure, but that type of energy is needed.

I felt like our WR group did a better job hanging on when the ball got there.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

From what little I've seen, TJ is already the best WR coach we've had here. The jury is still out as far as OC is concerned.

 

[RedSoloCup]

From what little I've seen, TJ is already the best WR coach we've had here. The jury is still out as far as OC is concerned.

agreed...

 

[Jimdish255]

Does anybody here think maybe it's time we stop making gratuitous creepy posts about Ms Noonan? She's one of ours last time I checked.