Comments from the Line bring more questions, not answers

[knapplc]

Alex Lantz from the Lincoln JournalStar has a piece up today wherein an offensive lineman comments on why things went so wrong in Madison:

 

Jake Cotton paused before answering the question.

 

It was a complex inquiry, one about Nebraska's alarming habit of committing unforced errors... in high-profile games, specifically on the road.

 

When he finally responded, Cotton offered a fair point about what the offensive line faces in games such as Nebraska's 59-24 loss at Wisconsin last Saturday.

 

"You're just so dialed-in to what you're going to do during the play," he said of Nebraska's five false-start penalties. "You gotta take this footwork, you gotta do this, you gotta do that. And so I think when you're thinking about all that stuff, you kind of get tunnel vision, and that's when it hurts you.

 

"The lack of concentration isn't that we were just thinking about class or girls or anything like that. It's that we were thinking about the play and should have been more dialed-in to the snap count."

 

 

I'd like to have some kind of insightful commentary on what actually is wrong, and how to fix it... but this is just so depressing to read, I've got nothing. It's almost as if the article, and by his comments Cotton himself, is saying the O Line deals with things that other teams don't.

 

But that isn't the case. Forget the fans complaining, forget the twitter and the message boards and Biff the Blogger's comments. That's just white noise that should have no impact on this team, and it's nothing that other teams don't deal with.

 

Fact is, every O Line has to do what Cotton describes. Every play, every game. And for the most part, they don't seem to have too much trouble doing it - at least not the teams who should be Nebraska's peers, top-15 teams with a miles-long pedigree.

 

With apologies to the JournalStar, I took the liberty of bringing the photo accompanying Lantz' article to this post. I can't imagine a sadder picture for the O Line. And we've seen it for years.

 

[Dr. Mantis Toboggan]

Well, it is hard blocking the opposing defense, focusing on the play and fighting a gentle breeze for cotton. It is hard to focus with so many variables.

[Count 'Bility]

This is what I was referring to in my status. Apparently I'm the only one in the world that cant use google. Ive been looking for it for 45 minutes. LOL.

[Count 'Bility]

This is a 5th year senior captain.

 

That is all.

[zoogs]

Like most positions in football, technique is pretty damn important for an offensive lineman. Take the wrong assignment, play gets blown up. Don't have good footwork, can't reach or beat your guy and the play gets blown up.

 

Definitely more questions than answers going on here.

 

I'd point to the coaching on the line if it didn't seem to be such a team-pervasive problem. Whatever this funk is, it's got everybody all caught up in it.

[Danny Bateman]

That picture perfectly encapsulates Cotton's contribution to the OL this year. Literally turned around watching his RB get blown up while blocking no one.

 

Oy...

[BigRedBuster]

That picture perfectly encapsulates Cotton's contribution to the OL this year. Literally turned around watching his RB get blown up while blocking no one.

 

Oy...

Ummm....he's not the one that missed his block not that play. That defender came from the right side and sacked Armstrong.

[NUpolo8]

This has been a problem that has been discussed by knapp and others for years now. I'm quite sure knapp and I talked about I'm person once: these kids love everything about being Huskers, they just think they're the Huskers of old and don't put in a fraction of what the Huskers of old did.

 

They think it just happens, that the N on the helmets beat the teams. That when they get up say, 17-3, that the other team is simply going to pack it in, because they're the big scary Cornhuskers.

 

And when things go badly? Hey man, this is -hard-. And besides, what you're getting is good enough. You're not a part of this anyway.

 

This is why new assistants will not fix this. This is an engrained message sent from the glass office overlooking the weight room. And it's not going to change with new players (they're going to be told the same thing), new assistants (they ain't getting hired unless they tow the company line), or a new "look how funny and normal he is!" PR campaign over the offseason ("ZOMG YOU GUYS! He's holding a cat and the CAT IS WEARING A RED SPORTCOAT! How does he keep it so fresh?). Because at the end of the day there is a true belief of us vs them and this is good enough from the leader.

[sd'sker]

if bo showed up to his post game presser on saturday with a cat in a matching red sport coat, i would have given everything i own to keep him here at nebraska.

[Danny Bateman]

This has been a problem that has been discussed by knapp and others for years now. I'm quite sure knapp and I talked about I'm person once: these kids love everything about being Huskers, they just think they're the Huskers of old and don't put in a fraction of what the Huskers of old did.

 

They think it just happens, that the N on the helmets beat the teams. That when they get up say, 17-3, that the other team is simply going to pack it in, because they're the big scary Cornhuskers.

 

And when things go badly? Hey man, this is -hard-. And besides, what you're getting is good enough. You're not a part of this anyway.

 

This is why new assistants will not fix this. This is an engrained message sent from the glass office overlooking the weight room. And it's not going to change with new players (they're going to be told the same thing), new assistants (they ain't getting hired unless they tow the company line), or a new "look how funny and normal he is!" PR campaign over the offseason ("ZOMG YOU GUYS! He's holding a cat and the CAT IS WEARING A RED SPORTCOAT! How does he keep it so fresh?). Because at the end of the day there is a true belief of us vs them and this is good enough from the leader.

 

[True2tRA]

Just another aspect of this team that is over-complicated. I think almost all of us suspect an issue like this in every facet of what we do. It's why I don't, and will continue to not hoard blame on these players.

 

There is too much lost in translation between the vision in Bo and Becks mind, the abilities of Bo or Beck to teach that vision, the abilities of their assistants to coach this vision, and the players abilities to execute that vision. I'm sure Garrison and Cotton are just experts on the zone blocking schemes Beck wants to use.

 

Opposing defenses are just toying with us at this point and the staff doesn't even see it. You don't think they get a kick out of us looking at them, then Armstrong looking at the sideline, us adjusting, them adjusting, then them stuffing the play when all along all they were gonna do is blitz the hell out of us anyway. They just think its cute to watch us try to get the perfect play call instead of huddling up, calling a play and running it. Hell, maybe even calling a play that we know we can run really well? Have we found that play yet? That screen pass looked nice. We've ran it once all year as teams continue to blitz. How about that option Tommy ran for 30 yards a few weeks ago? Better put that one on the shelf, it worked far too well.

 

We bitch about the offensive line and the linebackers the most around here but what is this staff doing to help these guys succeed? Serious question.

 

We have beaten every one of these topics to death and there is nothing I could say that I haven't said in previous seasons. The most disappointing thing is that I bought into the coaches and the things they said this offseason.

 

We are not good and it's because of the approach by these coaches. If they would let these kids play ball for once, I think you'd see an immediate improvement. Let the offensive line put the guy across from them on their ass and go from there. Let the defense attack somebody for once for Christs sake. Instead of watching every opponent do it to us.

 

At what point to we start dictating to people instead of being dictated to on both sides of the ball.

 

Hell, everything we do takes so damn long to develop I don't blame these kids on this offensive line for not being able to hold their blocks that long. Every team is throwing 8 guys at us, right up on the line, while Ameer is ten yards deep behind the line of scrimmage with Tommy, running a zone read. By the time Ameer gets to the line of scrimmage the okay is over.

 

So sick of this fundamental insanity.

[irafreak]

Well you do have to have sharp players to handle all the responsibilities. This is magnified in the NFL where ultra talented guys flame out because they can't "put it all together." Either you find a way to simplify things or you recruit/start smarter players. Now I'm not attacking Cotton here I'm just stating the case because I don't know how complex the offensive scheme is or how often the snap count is altered

 

Also keep in mind wee went from doing the clap all season to changing it to silent hand motion by the qb so that might have something to do with some of last Saturday (though it's been an issue all season...)

[alexhortdog95]

This is a 5th year senior captain.

 

That is all.

 

[Touchdown Tommie]

Turn in your gear Cotton....seriously, how long have you been playing football?!?

 

The fact that this has been going all year and for his career is baffling to me. How in the hell can he sit there and make these comments?

[JJ Husker]

Like most positions in football, technique is pretty damn important for an offensive lineman. Take the wrong assignment, play gets blown up. Don't have good footwork, can't reach or beat your guy and the play gets blown up.

 

Definitely more questions than answers going on here.

 

I'd point to the coaching on the line if it didn't seem to be such a team-pervasive problem. Whatever this funk is, it's got everybody all caught up in it.

But zoogs, THAT is exactly why the coaching is the first thing to look at. It's not 1 or 2 or 3 players, it's the whole unit. That is coaching, scheme, and prep, and not individual effort.