Quote:We did not hope for "average" defense - our hopes were above average.
The "top 5 defense" stuff is crap. It is based on numbers, not what we see during games.
Caldwell and Bradley decided during the interview they would focus on rebuilding offense first. That is why it took so long for the defense to get much better.
Bradley is not completely at fault, but he is responsible for Blake's regression this season.
I actually agree. Although you can easily see that our defense is bottom 10 in PPG and T/O which matter a lot more than yards (which is where the "top 5" nonsense comes from). You dont give up a lot of yards when your special teams and offense is always giving your opponents great field position.
Quote:Gus wasn't the real problem?
:teehee:
Blake has had a bad year but Gus most definitely WAS the problem. Lack of discipline, offense goes from what it did last year (with no run game) to this year where we lead the league in drops and Blake can't hit the broad side of a barn...yes, that's on Gus and the coaching staff.
I'd love to see someone like Chris Carter come in and coach the receivers. Dude would demand excellence.
There's two sides to every coin. I don't think he's saying motivation is the problem right now with this football team. I think he's alluding more so to the fact that maybe Bradley's relaxed nature may have made the team complacent overall in the literal scheme and approach of things.
We know it can be done by two different natures. You could be the eye of the storm like Parcells or Coughlin. Or you could be the calm after the storm like Dungy, Walsh or Landry. It doesn't matter to me personally just as long as we win football games.
So I think that's what he's really getting at. It's not the demeanor of this team or the next coach that matters. It's the overall approach with the game plan. With the X's and O's. Can the next coach properly put our Jimmy's and Joe's in the right place to succeed on offense and defense? That's the key.
Quote:I'd love to see someone like Chris Carter come in and coach the receivers. Dude would demand excellence.
At least we'd never have to worry about our recievers getting in off the field trouble. The one thing I'm sure he'd demand is that they all have a "fall guy"
Quote:I actually agree. Although you can easily see that our defense is bottom 10 in PPG and T/O which matter a lot more than yards (which is where the "top 5" nonsense comes from). You dont give up a lot of yards when your special teams and offense is always giving your opponents great field position.
Our defense is not bottom 10 in PPG. Our TEAM is bottom 10 in PPG. The PPG stat you refer to is for all points allowed, and it includes the pick sixes, the punt returns, and everything, some of which occur when the defense is not on the field.
As for your assertion "You dont give up a lot of yards when your special teams and offense is always giving your opponents great field position." Then look at the yards per play. We're #5 in yards per play.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we're one of the 5 best defenses. I'm just saying, you're misinterpreting one stat, PPG, and ignoring another stat, yards given up per play.
Quote:He also said this.
"Gus got fired. The train doesn't stop for anybody. We've got to keep rolling and go out here and win some games or Khan's going to fire one of us, too."
<a class="bbc_url" href='https://twitter.com/APMarkLong/status/811314692610256896?s=09'>https://twitter.com/APMarkLong/status/811314692610256896?s=09</a>
Full quote from that:
"It sucks from being a player and understanding how this business works, but the train stops for no one," defensive tackle Malik Jackson said. "We can't sit here and pout and be upset, because we have a game Saturday.
"It was the same [today]. Guys were ready to go to work. This has been a lot of talk for a while now. It sucks, but when JO [defensive end Jared Odrick] got injured, we didn't sit here and mope around for JO, you know? It is what it is. The train doesn't stop for anybody. Gus got fired. We've got to keep rolling and go out here and win some games, or Khan's going to fire one of us, too."
Quote:I think it's a fairly typical response from a player that respects a "less than institutional" atmosphere in the meeting rooms and practice field.
Still - I find it impossible to think that a coach with a bit more edge won't be able to cut down on the stupid mistakes made by this team so regularly.
I don't take his comment as such. I think what he's saying is that Gus wasn't the problem, that the culture wasn't necessarily the problem. That something else was the issue. Would a hard coach cut down on the penalties? Maybe. But keep in mind that up until this year, Gus' team has really not been bad when it comes to penalties (which is why this season was surprising).
Quote:Combo of all three.
Been well known he has a shoulder injury for a while. Not sure how long, but you see him cringe when he gets hit with that shoulder.
This coaching staff is terrible. They didn't seem to give a crap about his mechanics which obviously have had a very large negative effect on him. I'm fairly sure I read an article early on in this pathetic season where he has said he doesn't care about QB mechanics (crazy for an OC to say...). The fact they allowed him to get to this point is partly on Blake sure, but the coaching staff watching him every day letting it happen? It's their job to fix this stuff. He has shown he is capable of fixing it as he showed last year. But you need proper coaching and teacher to keep improving and keep it up.
Reports said he worked with teammates more last offseason instead of focusing on mechanics like the previous off-season. Still went there for a couple weeks, but not quite as much time/focusing on it I'd imagine.
I can see it being a combination of the above.
I know he hurt his shoulder in midseason, and I know I saw him cringe on several occasions since. But I am suspecting he hurt his shoulder (or some other area that is affecting his passing) initially in preseason and just played through it, neither he nor the team telling the general public. He has been off most of the year and did not look like the same QB.
I don't recall reading anything like that, and I'm glad, because I am nauseated at the thought. I'm not even sure if I want to look for a link to that.
Quote:I can see it being a combination of the above.
I know he hurt his shoulder in midseason, and I know I saw him cringe on several occasions since. But I am suspecting he hurt his shoulder initially in preseason and just played through it, neither he nor the team telling the general public. He has been off most of the year and did not look like the same QB.
I don't recall reading anything like that, and I'm glad, because I am nauseated at the thought. I'm not even sure if I want to look for a link to that.
Honestly, I hope it is an injury (that won't cause long term damage)
That would explain so much, and if so, makes it much more correctable than just him forgetting how to throw.
I would be willing to bet BB5's shoulder injury has been the overwhelming factor in his poor accuracy issues and exaggerated wind up. That does not explain his poor skills at reading defenses, his less than average ability to find open receivers and his locking on to his primary target.
The odds have been stacked against the dude and will only be exasperated by another change in coaching and system. It very well may have been to much for a raw prospect to overcome. I still hold out hope he flourishes here but it's hard to imagine at this point.
edit: Dang, my post don't have a damn thing to do with the thread topic. Why did y'all let me do that? I blame coaching. :verymad:
Quote:You know it is the GM's job to bring in competition, right? All a coach can do is work with the QB, not sign him.
Dave said he's not going to force any player on a coach, including Bortles. If a coach comes in a tells Dave to get a new QB, Dave will see what he can do. So yeah, it's on the coach.
Quote:I would be willing to bet BB5's shoulder injury has been the overwhelming factor in his poor accuracy issues and exaggerated wind up. That does not explain his poor skills at reading defenses, his less than average ability to find open receivers and his locking on to his primary target.
The odds have been stacked against the dude and will only be exasperated by another change in coaching and system. It very well may have been to much for a raw prospect to overcome. I still hold out hope he flourishes here but it's hard to imagine at this point.
edit: Dang, my post don't have a damn thing to do with the thread topic. Why did y'all let me do that? I blame coaching. :verymad:
Thing is, I don't know for certain how long the shoulder has been an issue. I am only speculating regarding some sort of preseason injury that has lingered throughout the year. As I indicated, I know he hurt his shoulder sometime in midseason, but I don't know if that is the same injury I am speculating about I am guessing he might have suffered in preseason.
As for the diversion of the thread, I am as guilty as anyone in this instance. Perhaps it is coaching. Maybe we need a posters only meeting to clear the air! :teehee:
Quote:
As for the diversion of the thread, I am as guilty as anyone in this instance. Perhaps it is coaching. Maybe we need a posters only meeting to clear the air! :teehee:
We will meet with the thread moderators present as well. And then we will all do what we want afterward in embarrassing fashion.
Quote:We will meet with the thread moderators present as well. And then we will all do what we want afterward in embarrassing fashion.
And trash any fans that dare criticize us for not meeting expectations.
I already got my signing bonus. What-evs.
I'm meeting Aaron Ross for drinks later tonight in Vegas.
Quote:Tough to pin down the "why."
Lots of theories. Injury, coaching, work ethic, no track record of solid fundamentals, etc. Etc.
I personally have a hunch that between Fisch, Scelfo, Olson, Hackett, and House -- he's just had too many cooks in the kitchen and his technique suffered from over-thinking.
If the kid can get a concentrated routine going this offseason to the point where the footwork and throwing motion are second nature in September - then he's got a chance.
I think it's easy to blame all these guys, but at some point you have to come back to...Blake isn't good. Let's get something straight, Blake was a project. It was a big reason why I was so against taking him at 3. I watched him at UCF and I saw enough ducks that I didn't get enamored with him. What good is a 6'5, 240 lb QB if he doesn't have a canon arm?
Then, I saw his Pro-day coverage. His footwork looked good, his mechanics looked good, and I saw zip on his throws that I never saw at UCF. The Bortles hype train started rolling. Still, I was fully on the TB train, because I still saw Blake as a project. Then, OTAs rolled around and again, the ducks returned. Right before mini-camp, he took time off and work on his mechanics. He comes back and through preseason we saw the guy with good mechanics. Then he was thrusted into play because Henne was bad and gradually throughout the season his mechanics regressed and once again throwing ducks (including that huge wind up motion coming back). And back and forth he went with his mechanics.
Then, let's look on the mental aspect.
We start with Fisch, and when he was fired one of the quotes was that they wanted the offense simplified. When Olson was let go, again the buzz word was that we needed to simplify the offense. Now, we're seeing Hackett go and while the turnovers are down, what we now see is an incredibly simple game plan that really limits the mistake a QB makes.
In 3 years, we have gone through oscillation on his mechanics and continued attempts to simplify the offense. At some point, the blame needs to go to the QB.
Quote:I would be willing to bet BB5's shoulder injury has been the overwhelming factor in his poor accuracy issues and exaggerated wind up. That does not explain his poor skills at reading defenses, his less than average ability to find open receivers and his locking on to his primary target.
The odds have been stacked against the dude and will only be exasperated by another change in coaching and system. It very well may have been to much for a raw prospect to overcome. I still hold out hope he flourishes here but it's hard to imagine at this point.
edit: Dang, my post don't have a damn thing to do with the thread topic. Why did y'all let me do that? I blame coaching. :verymad:
Thing is, his mechanics looks better *after* he had that shoulder injury since it prevented him from doing his whacked out windmill throw.
Quote:I think it's easy to blame all these guys, but at some point you have to come back to...Blake isn't good. Let's get something straight, Blake was a project. It was a big reason why I was so against taking him at 3. I watched him at UCF and I saw enough ducks that I didn't get enamored with him. What good is a 6'5, 240 lb QB if he doesn't have a canon arm?
Then, I saw his Pro-day coverage. His footwork looked good, his mechanics looked good, and I saw zip on his throws that I never saw at UCF. The Bortles hype train started rolling. Still, I was fully on the TB train, because I still saw Blake as a project. Then, OTAs rolled around and again, the ducks returned. Right before mini-camp, he took time off and work on his mechanics. He comes back and through preseason we saw the guy with good mechanics. Then he was thrusted into play because Henne was bad and gradually throughout the season his mechanics regressed and once again throwing ducks (including that huge wind up motion coming back). And back and forth he went with his mechanics.
Then, let's look on the mental aspect.
We start with Fisch, and when he was fired one of the quotes was that they wanted the offense simplified. When Olson was let go, again the buzz word was that we needed to simplify the offense. Now, we're seeing Hackett go and while the turnovers are down, what we now see is an incredibly simple game plan that really limits the mistake a QB makes.
In 3 years, we have gone through oscillation on his mechanics and continued attempts to simplify the offense. At some point, the blame needs to go to the QB.
(fingers firmly in ears)
"Lalalalalalalalalalala!!!! I am not listening to SpeedyG, but he's still talking!"
(Never underestimate the power of denial!)
Quote:I think it's easy to blame all these guys, but at some point you have to come back to...Blake isn't good. Let's get something straight, Blake was a project. It was a big reason why I was so against taking him at 3. I watched him at UCF and I saw enough ducks that I didn't get enamored with him. What good is a 6'5, 240 lb QB if he doesn't have a canon arm?
Then, I saw his Pro-day coverage. His footwork looked good, his mechanics looked good, and I saw zip on his throws that I never saw at UCF. The Bortles hype train started rolling. Still, I was fully on the TB train, because I still saw Blake as a project. Then, OTAs rolled around and again, the ducks returned. Right before mini-camp, he took time off and work on his mechanics. He comes back and through preseason we saw the guy with good mechanics. Then he was thrusted into play because Henne was bad and gradually throughout the season his mechanics regressed and once again throwing ducks (including that huge wind up motion coming back). And back and forth he went with his mechanics.
Then, let's look on the mental aspect.
We start with Fisch, and when he was fired one of the quotes was that they wanted the offense simplified. When Olson was let go, again the buzz word was that we needed to simplify the offense. Now, we're seeing Hackett go and while the turnovers are down, what we now see is an incredibly simple game plan that really limits the mistake a QB makes.
In 3 years, we have gone through oscillation on his mechanics and continued attempts to simplify the offense. At some point, the blame needs to go to the QB.
Yeah. You are misconstruing my intent.
I'm not "blaming all these guys." I merely speculated yet another theory that may have contributed to his issues. I used the word "hunch." LOL.
I've been openly critical of his fundamental shortcomings, skeptical of his mental game, and expressed concern he'll never be fixed.
Not sure how much more you want me to agree with you?
My job involves performing on an instrument for large audiences and in recording studios under deadlines. I had to hone a craft to become successful in my field. I actually did have 4 different teachers over 6 years that had varying methods. It set me back years in my development compared to colleagues of mine who had one really good teacher that helped them organize a concise technique. Talent is a big part of the equation too, but a clear methodology aids in the fundamentals. I question him having that.