A recent thread asked us what new contributors excited you and I avoided stating my opinion in fear of hijacking the thread. It had good dialog but nothing that tripped my trigger. The truth of the matter is I can't get anymore excited about new contributors this year than I could the last three years when from a team perspective they have all been inadequate to affect our quality of play. I suspect this year will be no different unless "something else" changes.
This "something else" that I'm referring to is our number 1 underlying problem. Lack of fundamentally sound football. I can't remember the specific quotes by Frost but he has alluded to re-focusing their efforts towards getting back to the basics. Sound blocking skills, running correct routes, quality tackling and following your assignments. I don't think any amount of new exciting recruits or transfers will ever overcome our lack of sound fundamentals we have seen in the last 6 years. I think SF started his career here with a high level of concentration of installing "scheme's" and largely underestimated the basic individual skills. I hated the idea of fast, fast, fast we will correct mistakes in the film room practice attitude.
Now in saying that I'll go out on a limb in regards to our defense last year. I was preaching to many on here how poor our tackling had been through the riley years and into the first two years of Chin. Part of that could have been due to the number of tackling technique changes. However I saw marked improvements last year. We probably reduced our "hit em down" tackling attempts rather than wrapping them up by half and it showed in our defensive success last year.
Now onto the offense. Our number 1 problem in my humble opinion is blocking. Both in technique and assignments. I have never seen such a pattern of blown assignments, half ass attempts of whiff blocking and just general poor line play. I'm sick of watching the guard and tackle both take on the same defensive lineman while a d-lineman right in front of the tackle walks through untouched to disrupt QB play or our running back in the middle. While you aren't exchanging field position, these missed blocks are just as bad as a turnover in that they more often lead to drive killers. Our biggest issues on offense last year were moving the ball and then all of a sudden get bogged down by a play in the backfield and almost always due to a blown blocking assignment.
So in saying all that, I'm excited to see if this staff can make the adjustments in development that they seem to be referring too. If so, I think 9 wins....even this year.......are attainable.
This "something else" that I'm referring to is our number 1 underlying problem. Lack of fundamentally sound football. I can't remember the specific quotes by Frost but he has alluded to re-focusing their efforts towards getting back to the basics. Sound blocking skills, running correct routes, quality tackling and following your assignments. I don't think any amount of new exciting recruits or transfers will ever overcome our lack of sound fundamentals we have seen in the last 6 years. I think SF started his career here with a high level of concentration of installing "scheme's" and largely underestimated the basic individual skills. I hated the idea of fast, fast, fast we will correct mistakes in the film room practice attitude.
Now in saying that I'll go out on a limb in regards to our defense last year. I was preaching to many on here how poor our tackling had been through the riley years and into the first two years of Chin. Part of that could have been due to the number of tackling technique changes. However I saw marked improvements last year. We probably reduced our "hit em down" tackling attempts rather than wrapping them up by half and it showed in our defensive success last year.
Now onto the offense. Our number 1 problem in my humble opinion is blocking. Both in technique and assignments. I have never seen such a pattern of blown assignments, half ass attempts of whiff blocking and just general poor line play. I'm sick of watching the guard and tackle both take on the same defensive lineman while a d-lineman right in front of the tackle walks through untouched to disrupt QB play or our running back in the middle. While you aren't exchanging field position, these missed blocks are just as bad as a turnover in that they more often lead to drive killers. Our biggest issues on offense last year were moving the ball and then all of a sudden get bogged down by a play in the backfield and almost always due to a blown blocking assignment.
So in saying all that, I'm excited to see if this staff can make the adjustments in development that they seem to be referring too. If so, I think 9 wins....even this year.......are attainable.