Comments from the Line bring more questions, not answers

[alexhortdog95]

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?

 

He is his father's son....

[JJ Husker]

I,....I .....I just don't know what to say after reading that. Football is hard (in my really dumb, hairlip guy voice).

 

I simply have never heard a player sound so clueless. Poor OL, they gotta figure out who to block, pick up blitz's, and keep the snap count straight.... Oh my the difficulty. You would think they never practice. You would think other teams don't have the same level of difficulty. We need to get this thing into the off season and make some CHANGES, and I mean significant changes. The mental state of this team might be the place to start. Wow!

[sd'sker]

I,....I .....I just don't know what to say after reading that. Football is hard (in my really dumb, hairlip guy voice).

 

I simply have never heard a player sound so clueless. Poor OL, they gotta figure out who to block, pick up blitz's, and keep the snap count straight.... Oh my the difficulty. You would think they never practice. You would think other teams don't have the same level of difficulty. We need to get this thing into the off season and make some CHANGES, and I mean significant changes. The mental state of this team might be the place to start. Wow!

i think this team could be exponentially better with just a coach that could instill some confidence and fundamentals. it is crazy the potential bo has wasted on these teams.

[NUpolo8]

I,....I .....I just don't know what to say after reading that. Football is hard (in my really dumb, hairlip guy voice).

 

I simply have never heard a player sound so clueless. Poor OL, they gotta figure out who to block, pick up blitz's, and keep the snap count straight.... Oh my the difficulty. You would think they never practice. You would think other teams don't have the same level of difficulty. We need to get this thing into the off season and make some CHANGES, and I mean significant changes. The mental state of this team might be the place to start. Wow!

Football isn't only hard, it's complicated.

 

[zoogs]

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.

Well, it's hard to argue that, but what I mean is it just seems like a sort of culture/mentality thing that comes from the top (Head Coach).

 

Almost all of us can understand losing a few games a year and especially to a ranked opponent like Wisconsin. But getting wiped off the field and putting up a performance like that? That would appear to be the Bo Brand.

 

Couldn't have imagined this in 2009.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

My head literally hurts after reading that, just.....................wow...........

[dergibog]

I read the whole article at ljs. Price mentioned the defensive shifts, and the blitzing from different angles.

 

It made me think of an idea --- Huddle, call a play, come to the line and snap the ball. Don't stand there moving the back to the right or left, waiting for the OC to read the D, waggle in a new play only to see the D shift into something different as the play clock ticks down.

 

Just sayin'...

[tschu]

I am so tired of the entire Cotton family. None of them can figure the mental side of the game out.

[billdozer15]

I would say his comments are unbelievable.......but they're not. This is a classic example of being to worried about mechanics and not letting your instincts take over. You practice mechanics in practice and drills not during the game. In the game you line up and you hit the S.O.B on the other side of the line as hard as you can and then you ear hole the LB as you move into the secondary. These guys are too worried about whether their ass is high enough in the air as opposed to knocking someone else on their ass. This is so far beyond unacceptable........there aren't words that can even describe my frustration at this point.

[Guy Chamberlin]

It's not complicated.

 

I do not see Nebraska playing the game with any more sophistication or any bigger playbook than any other team.

 

It also doesn't wash, since whatever they're doing works well enough to win and often dominate 8 or 9 games a year.

 

It's not on Cotton or the offensive line if players at every position turn confused and helpless at the same time.

 

I'm not sure how revealing any of the player's quotes can be because they'd honestly rather not answer the question.

 

Or answer it honestly.

 

More questions indeed....

[HUSKER FREAK]

Kinda funny. Did anyone notice that the Badger RB's ran to how the Oline was blocking on that play. I mean every play is suppose to go a certain way but it doesn't always work out that way. That doesn't mean that you just don't block or lose focus you go out hit somebody the first one coming up. WTH I always laugh when he is up for an interview and say that he is the player that gives football players a bad rap.

[Hoosker]

happy trails, captain.

[Husker_x]

I read the whole article at ljs. Price mentioned the defensive shifts, and the blitzing from different angles.

 

It made me think of an idea --- Huddle, call a play, come to the line and snap the ball. Don't stand there moving the back to the right or left, waiting for the OC to read the D, waggle in a new play only to see the D shift into something different as the play clock ticks down.

 

Just sayin'...

 

This, this, and more this.

 

The guy who makes ~3/4 of a million dollars every single year to field this garbage cannot for whatever reason understand the beautiful simplicity of this idea. The offense knows where they're going before the ball is snapped. It's the element of surprise, and it's a huge advantage. What we do––apparently––is forfeit this so we can run a no-huddle clock-draining offense that can barely get set before the ball is snapped. If we execute the snap without dropping it twice in a game, or without drawing a procedure penalty, that is our new benchmark for success.

 

Meanwhile on defense, how many games do we have to watch guys looking around and flapping their hands literally as the ball is being snapped? I'm not a football expert, but if David Santos is looking sideways at Trevor Roach, or backward at Corey Cooper, I can imagine how this might lead to him getting out of position.

[ColoNoCoHusker]

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.

 

I think you hit on the head. Bo/Beck seem to deconstruct every aspect to the point of causing over-thinking. Perfect technique/play/series/game is great goal. Does perfect technique in every aspect grade out higher than putting the D player on his a**? At some point, doing "good enough" at instant reaction speed will get it done...

[Guy Chamberlin]

I read the whole article at ljs. Price mentioned the defensive shifts, and the blitzing from different angles.

 

It made me think of an idea --- Huddle, call a play, come to the line and snap the ball. Don't stand there moving the back to the right or left, waiting for the OC to read the D, waggle in a new play only to see the D shift into something different as the play clock ticks down.

 

Just sayin'...

 

I've been wondering about this myself.

 

I realize this is the "new huddle" and understand the strategic rationale, but it always looks like a team that isn't sure what to do with itself, and a coach that doesn't trust them to do the right thing.

 

When the entire offensive line gets out of its stance, stands up and looks over at the sideline......I don't know. It's just a bad look.