No magic bullet

[lo country]

Here is some words of wisdom. Not from a player or taking head, but a former member of the US Army SFOD. He is talking about shooting skills, but his sports analogies are spot on.

 

 

Gunfighter Moment – Mike Pannone

October 17th, 2015

 

Magic and the Easy Button

 

The firearms and tactical training trade is rife with people “selling magic”. By that I mean being a vocal advocate for the newest “great idea” that hasn’t really been vetted but looks good on YouTube. It’s always amusing to see these new ‘groundbreaking’ techniques that are either poorly thought out or have been preceded by better techniques years and sometimes decades prior seem to get overnight popularity.

 

One I have addressed previous is the Temple Index and the inherent flaws of it. Another example of selling magic is the widespread use of vehicles as a prop for a shooting class. This is done in complete contrast to vehicles being a useful training aid for teaching sound tactics associated with open air conflicts around vehicles. The point is missed completely because many are trying to entertain more so than teach.

 

When I played lacrosse in college, my coach Bill Tierney (probably the most successful lacrosse coach in history) rode us hard on the simple things. He reminded us that controlling the ball and consistently working hard on offense as well as defense would win over a more talented but less disciplined team that made mistakes on simple things like catching and throwing. We spent lots of time on ball drills because if you can’t scoop a ball, pass and catch then the rest was a waste of time. The principle was what Brian Searcy from Tiger Swan (also my first TL at JSOC) called “brilliance in the basics”. Greatness is the basics done flawlessly and on demand.

 

On the shooting side I have often been asked what special techniques SFOD uses or favors. I find that a bit amusing since there are no secret techniques nor any secret tactics. There is only one principle that guides the best units or sports teams or for that matter anyone to repeated success. That is a mastery of the basics and the ability to replicate them on demand precisely and consistently. In life and in training there is no Staples “Easy button”, there is only hard precise work.

So in the end, the magic is…that there is no magic.

– Mike Pannone

 

The bolded highlights some great points IMO. NU, for years, has been plagued by the basics. Penalties, clock management, tackling, dropped passes etc......Until we can "master the basics", it won't mater what type of scheme we use, the recruits or the talent we have.....

 

I will say Riley has seemed to improved our basics in some areas i.e. tackling and it shows on the field in the score. We have a long way to go with penalties, clock management etc... Catching had improved, but seems to be regressing....

 

Block, tackle, catch.... the basics

 

[Lux]

Great advice

[NUance]

Agreed. +1. The thing is, we are close, so close. But, like most things, close doesn't count for diddly squat.

 

Good point about the tackling. It does seems like we've improved. And that's encouraging. One other thing we need to improve on is pass defense. That's the most glaring weakness I've seen these past six weeks.

[lo country]

Agreed. +1. The thing is, we are close, so close. But, like most things, close doesn't count for diddly squat.

 

Good point about the tackling. It does seems like we've improved. And that's encouraging. One other thing we need to improve on is pass defense. That's the most glaring weakness I've seen these past six weeks.

 

As much as I bash this staff, there are more "improvements" than less. We have traded a good run D for a sieve in the secondary, but tackling has improved. As have, to date, the blowout losses.

 

My expectations of this season were significantly higher than how we are. I expected the run game to be the gas that fueled the machine, better in game adjustments, less basic mistakes, but those were all present ( and still) under Bo. Maybe just in different areas.

 

Still hoping to get bowl eligible. If, not that will be a huge disappointment. Not just the fans, but the seniors especially. Maybe today, the coach speak turns to results and the team totes the rock for 40+, TA throws on roll outs and off PA and the pass D finally realizes sh!t happens, BUT it should never happen behind you!

[84HuskerLaw]

Yes, no magic bullet really but three or four great players in key positions would turn our 2-4 record into at least 5-1 and maybe 6-0. A great place kicker alone might be worth 2 more wins this year so far. 4-2 would look much better than 2-4.

 

Special teams have enough talent if we get DPE returning the ball with some good blocking and strategy moves.

 

Tommy A has enough arm and legs to win games but is not a great player. But we are recruiting some guys with good pedigree and HS stats that suggest ability to get us much more results.

 

We need two GREAT running backs. Maybe Stevenson has talent but we haven't seen him at all. Not yet really in shape. He burned redshirt so time to see him carry the ball at least a dozen times.

 

We need two stud LBs and two stud rush ends. Two more DBs also needed. I believe 3 wide outs is god's plenty as we have lots of talent and WRs are a dime a dozen out there in this type of offense. It is easy to recruit decent speed, average size receivers. Lots of 6-1 180 pound guys who can run 4.6. Of course, O linemen are always target. Never have too many of those big guys.

[Kernal]

Nebraska football cannot afford to neglect the basics and fundamentals. We are not going to win the championships we desire simply by out-talenting the teams on our schedules. When Nebraska was great, it was a very, very disciplined team that was outstanding in the fundamentals of football.

 

I hope that Riley's 40 years of experience have taught him lesson as well.

[MichiganDad3]

I always thought Bo was poor with discipline and precision rewarding the basics. This is something that can be taught, but if it is not in your nature to work hard at perfecting minor details, it is difficult to do. When Riley was hired one of the first things I did was look at his penalties for his CFB career. The results made me sad.