Taylor's Presser (post-game, Ohio State)

zoogs

zoogs

Assistant Coach
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I know Taylor isn't too comfortable with the media and we don't really care about that. Still, I have to say there was a lot of stuff here that was just disconcerting.

After a tough loss, team smacked down hard, you trot your starting QB out there to field a presser...he's setting the tone out there, for the team most importantly, and the fans. Yikes.

Q: Can you explain the 3 interceptions which we saw?

A: The corner on the first one, he made a good...he just jumped the route. The second one, he pushed Kenny, totally to the side, somehow they didn't call PI. The third one was our receiver was fighting with the DB, and I just tried to lob it up there so he could come under it. Somehow that backside safety came under it.

Q: How would you describe the offensive performance?

A: Well, we scored 38 points, so, I think it was pretty good.

Q: Was there a sense at any point that this was going to be a shootout, that you guys were going to have to score whenever possible to keep up?

A: Yeah I think at halftime, we kinda sensed that. We came down and we scored, and ... I don't know. I'm not really sure. (laughs)

Q: I know you don't play defense, but, is it frustrating to have to know you guys have to score every time you get the ball?

A: It's a team game, a team sport, so, whatever helps the team. (clicking sound effects)

Q: You're a third year starter and this team has a lot of seniors. Are you surprised that you guys continue to have these self inflicted errors, the penalties, the turnovers...

A: Kind of, yeah, just 'cause we return so many people on the offense. It's hard to go from 1st & 10 to 1st & 20. It's just penalties, it just keeps killing us and pushing us back.

Q: Why do you think you guys continue to struggle with those (mistakes)?

A: I'm not really sure. Couldn't answer it.

Lastly, while I appreciate Taylor is trying to say the team has their heads up and knows they can still fight for the Big Ten championship, it was disconcerting (to say the least) that at two different points in the interview he said "This game didn't really matter..." When asked about it, he said Bo told it to the team "exactly like that."

This team needs to rally around leadership right now. And the leaders of the team have to set an example of determination, admitting and working on mistakes, and so on. How they do it is up to them, but avoiding taking blame at every turn and acting like you didn't want to be there at all is, yikes.



I'll just close with this, a now well-known presser given by Tim Tebow after this 31-30 loss to Ole Miss in late September of their 2008 national championship season. The Gators offense gained over 440 yards that day, and Tebow went 24/38 for 319 yards, 1 TD, and 0 INTs.

It's the kind of fire I really hope our team has stowed away, even if they do not show it.

 
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Martinez delivered the standard responses in a hostile atmosphere to questions aimed at getting him to finger the defense.

It may not have been a Tebow performance, but it's how a majority of college and pro quarterbacks would have answered.

I did note that he bit on the penalty problem, while avoiding the fumble/interception problem.

Taylor could stand to sack up a bit.

 
The older I get, the bigger fan I become of Tebow.

Granted 5 years ago, I couldn't stand to look at him.

 
For all the people that have been upset about Bo's presser and Taylor's presser, I gotta say - I don't get it. What are they supposed to say differently?

And what is disconcerting about those answers? He didn't brush off the question about interceptions, he answered it. He might be able to answer it better today, based on reviewing the film, but he wouldn't have reviewed the film right after the game, when he answered that question.

The offensive performance WAS pretty good - 38 points against Ohio State @ Ohio State is extremely good. If you're angry that Taylor didn't mention the turnovers (right after he was asked about them), then why don't you ask yourself why you need an apology from a 21 year old kid who just had a bad game. Taylor doesn't owe the press or the fans an apology for having a bad game - he owes his teammates an apology for the turnovers, but no one else.

When they say this game didn't matter, all they mean is that it doesn't make or break their season. They still control their own destiny in the Big Ten. That's all. Anybody who thinks the coaches and players don't care that they lost is crazy, and anybody who expects them to say something different is also insane. They have to move on from the loss, refocus on their goals, and the sooner they do that, the better.

Anyways, I'm not going to go through every one of these. The thing that is most disconcerting to me is the fact that clearly Taylor feels like the offense has to score on every possession in order to win games. You don't want your offensive players to feel like that, and it's not a coincidence that Taylor's only 4 interceptions on the season have come against UCLA and Ohio State, two games where the defensive performance was so poor that the offense started forcing things trying to keep up.

 
Because the team looks to their QB and their coach (as do the fans, but we matter less here) in setting the tone in these pressers.

I don't care if Bo comes out steaming mad and comes off a bit rough, or if Bo roasts his team for poor execution in all phases of the game, or if Bo just comes out humble and disappointed. Taylor has to take responsibility and blame for his errors while going out of his way to not criticize the defense, though. This means: you lose the game, don't talk about how good the offense did. That question was set up just so he could say, "I'm disappointed. We could have done more when we needed to, and we didn't get it done." He owes his team, especially his defense that just got walloped, this.

Similar to the interceptions question. That was set up just for Taylor to say, "I made bad decisions. I have to keep working to get better at that, because this can't keep happening." And not to blame it on uncalled DPI, or "somehow the safety got under there." This is what got me more than anything. When things are down, and a team needs to rally around each other, it isn't good to have anybody, much less the starting QB, playing the "Don't blame me" game.

And the turnovers. That was set up just so Taylor could talk about some of the ball security issues the team had been having and say that he needs to get better and everyone needs to get better and it's going to be something they are going to really work on during the bye.

All of these questions were softly lobbed ones that were meant to enable Taylor to succeed in answering them. I'm OK with points not getting across the right way "it didn't matter either way" was a gaffe, a significant one, but I don't think it necessarily reflects anything troubling. The no blame thing, this has been just ongoing through Taylor's entire career of pressers, and that is troubling.

 
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Hercules said:
The offensive performance WAS pretty good - 38 points against Ohio State @ Ohio State is extremely good. If you're angry that Taylor didn't mention the turnovers (right after he was asked about them), then why don't you ask yourself why you need an apology from a 21 year old kid who just had a bad game. Taylor doesn't owe the press or the fans an apology for having a bad game - he owes his teammates an apology for the turnovers, but no one else.
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Maybe not an apology, but aren't the fans entitled to something? We support this team by paying money for tickets, parking, gear, etc. Sure, I know the players play for their team, for the love of the sport, for themselves, some for education, and some for NFL prospects - and they should do all those things. But they also play for us. It would be nice to see a little more fire and passion from him. Some conviction.

 
Karawithasmile said:
Hercules said:
The offensive performance WAS pretty good - 38 points against Ohio State @ Ohio State is extremely good. If you're angry that Taylor didn't mention the turnovers (right after he was asked about them), then why don't you ask yourself why you need an apology from a 21 year old kid who just had a bad game. Taylor doesn't owe the press or the fans an apology for having a bad game - he owes his teammates an apology for the turnovers, but no one else.
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Maybe not an apology, but aren't the fans entitled to something? We support this team by paying money for tickets, parking, gear, etc. Sure, I know the players play for their team, for the love of the sport, for themselves, some for education, and some for NFL prospects - and they should do all those things. But they also play for us. It would be nice to see a little more fire and passion from him. Some conviction.
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If you want to see fire and passion from him, watch the game. He plays to the whistle, and he plays 60 minutes. He makes mistakes, he's not perfect every play, but he plays with fire. He doesn't quit.

What he says in the press room means squat compared to that.

 
zoogies said:
Link

Q: Can you explain the 3 interceptions which we saw?

A: The corner on the first one, he made a good...he just jumped the route. The second one, he pushed Kenny, totally to the side, somehow they didn't call PI. The third one was our receiver was fighting with the DB, and I just tried to lob it up there so he could come under it. Somehow that backside safety came under it.

He "explained" it. In detail; impressive for Taylor.

Q: How would you describe the offensive performance?

A: Well, we scored 38 points, so, I think it was pretty good.

Was he wrong?

Q: Was there a sense at any point that this was going to be a shootout, that you guys were going to have to score whenever possible to keep up?

A: Yeah I think at halftime, we kinda sensed that. We came down and we scored, and ... I don't know. I'm not really sure. (laughs)

He answered honestly, then realized (BEFORE) he doesn't want to bash the defense. Gives the "normal" Taylor nervous laugh.

Q: I know you don't play defense, but, is it frustrating to have to know you guys have to score every time you get the ball?

A: It's a team game, a team sport, so, whatever helps the team. (clicking sound effects)

Perfect answer!

Q: You're a third year starter and this team has a lot of seniors. Are you surprised that you guys continue to have these self inflicted errors, the penalties, the turnovers...

A: Kind of, yeah, just 'cause we return so many people on the offense. It's hard to go from 1st & 10 to 1st & 20. It's just penalties, it just keeps killing us and pushing us back.

What did you want to hear here? Again, was he wrong or a bad teammate?

Q: Why do you think you guys continue to struggle with those (mistakes)?

A: I'm not really sure. Couldn't answer it.

The head coach couldn't answer the same question.
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The "Oh well, we'll get 'em next game" type of response is not what you're looking for in players that are N. These kids won't die for the program like they used to--and it shows in their interviews as well as their play. Until we get that back, we'll continue being frustrated as fans.

 
zoogies said:
Because the team looks to their QB and their coach (as do the fans, but we matter less here) in setting the tone in these pressers.

I don't care if Bo comes out steaming mad and comes off a bit rough, or if Bo roasts his team for poor execution in all phases of the game, or if Bo just comes out humble and disappointed. Taylor has to take responsibility and blame for his errors while going out of his way to not criticize the defense, though. This means: you lose the game, don't talk about how good the offense did. That question was set up just so he could say, "I'm disappointed. We could have done more when we needed to, and we didn't get it done." He owes his team, especially his defense that just got walloped, this.

Similar to the interceptions question. That was set up just for Taylor to say, "I made bad decisions. I have to keep working to get better at that, because this can't keep happening." And not to blame it on uncalled DPI, or "somehow the safety got under there." This is what got me more than anything. When things are down, and a team needs to rally around each other, it isn't good to have anybody, much less the starting QB, playing the "Don't blame me" game.

And the turnovers. That was set up just so Taylor could talk about some of the ball security issues the team had been having and say that he needs to get better and everyone needs to get better and it's going to be something they are going to really work on during the bye.

All of these questions were softly lobbed ones that were meant to enable Taylor to succeed in answering them. I'm OK with points not getting across the right way "it didn't matter either way" was a gaffe, a significant one, but I don't think it necessarily reflects anything troubling. The no blame thing, this has been just ongoing through Taylor's entire career of pressers, and that is troubling.
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I don't think this team needs Taylor to get up in the press room and send a message to his teammates through the press. They don't need him shouldering the blame. If the other players on the team didn't trust him, than maybe that would help build that trust - but I don't think there are any trust issues with Taylor right now, like there might have been during his freshman year. His teammates trust him, and they know that he's worked his butt off through the offseason and during the season, and that doesn't change because of one game.

This team sure as hell needs leadership, but they don't need it in the press room. They don't need Taylor taking the fall in front of a bunch of reporters, just because it would make a couple fans feel better. They need Taylor to throw a bomb to Kenny Bell in scrimmage only to have Taylor rip into the safety that blew his assignment. They need Rex to target the same linebacker in practice, play after play, until that linebacker actually makes the tackle. They need Will Compton to get in his defensive lineman's ear about actually getting off their block and making a play.

That's what the team needs in terms of leadership. Nebraska's championship teams didn't have anybody like Tebow, they didn't have anybody who would give a pep talk through the media. They did it in the locker room and in practice, and it showed on the field, where it's supposed to.

 
Whenever he gets up to the press room, however he answers the questions, setting the tone is what he is doing. He is answering those questions as Nebraska's starting quarterback.

And yes, if Taylor is going to spend time talking about how those 5-and-10 yard penalties he doesn't commit keeps setting the offense back, he ought to also be talking about how his turnovers. This team can't adopt a mentality of shirking blame on the field, which is exactly what Taylor is doing by not acknowledging an ounce of responsibility on any of his interceptions.

What is concerning is not that Taylor needs to "answer to me, Nebraska Fan, personally" - it's these questions are reflective of attitudes and right now, they have reason to give us concern that all that stuff you are talking about in the second paragraph isn't happening. When someone messes up in practice, they ought to own up to it and work on it, but here they have the example of a starting QB who doesn't cop up to his interceptions, and so on.

 
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Never get tired of watching that Tebow presser. I don't care if the guy can throw a lick in the NFL, he's one hell of a human being!

 
I agree with what's been said about wanting that win or die type attitude, however, they aren't lying when they say this game "didn't matter." I psychologically prepared myself for a loss so that is why you can't find one post about me ranting after the game, i wanted to win badly, because it would have been a great win, but once the game drifted i wasn't as pissed as usual, this game did not matter, if we win our division games, we win the leaders, and that was our team goal, and win the B1G championship game, which would be doable against most likely Wisconsin again...NW will tell us a lot, we have 2 weeks to prepare, and if they put up more than 30 on us, ill be concerned, im expecting a shootout, something like 45-35 Nebraska, but i hope our defense can get there sh#t together before D rob comes to town.

 
I would ove for him to say, Man i dont know what is ging on with our speacial teams on Kick off return!!!!! They keep giving me 88 yard of field to drive down and score whn the could ust let the ball go out the back of the end zone and give it to me at the 25.

 
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