Blaming the players

[TheProf]

Should we be blaming Mallory for being a terrible blocker after his 19th year of college, or should we question why we ever run anything that depends on him to be a good blocker?

My answer? Both. You have a job, work on it and get better. Is he in the gym working on similar movements? Is he hitting the sleds after practice? Is he working on technique during his own time or playing video games? I honestly don't know. Mallory is not a great blocker but when he whiffs on DBs, it's not acceptable. He's a big guy, he needs to do better if he wants a future in this sport or wants to keep his snap share.

On the flipside, coaches should be using him in way to maximize his strengths and not necessarily expose his weaknesses. So more flex formations with seams, wheel routes, etc to use his size and straight line speed. You need to mix it up and use him in blocking plays but it seems we continually put guys in position they do not excel in. Mallory is not the only one.

Fair take, but I'm sitting on the side where I believe the kid is just limited and will never be a good blocker. He just doesn't have that ability just like I will never have the ability to be the next Michael Jordan. Everyone has limitations and at this point in Mallory's career it's clear what his are and I think he has reached his ceiling or near it as a blocker. Sure, we could say a guy with his size and athleticism should be a better blocker, there is no way he is this bad at it, but at that point we're just acting like the coaches that continue to ask him to do something he clearly is not capable of doing.

The guy has shown what he can and cannot do. Continuing to ask him to do what he can't do is not his fault. I personally just don't think you can place the blame on him at this point anymore because he isn't the one putting himself out there to attempt something he can't.

Let's simplify it. Let's say next week vs UNC we go out there and we get stopped on 3rd down on our own 45 yard line. Mario sends out the FG team and Borregales kicks the 72 yarder short. Are we going to blame him for not having the ability to hit that, or are we going to say that was a dumb coaching decision to put him in a situation that he likely was going to fail in? It really is this simple at every position, people just like to complicate it.

 

[No_Fly_Zone]

Agree 100%. But at this point all we can do is hope Ponce and the analysts help Gattis develop a better plan that allows some flexibility based on coverage instead of taking a minute for check with me.

But that's not as important as chicken pesto pasta. I'm thinking bowties with 50-50 pesto/heavy cream.

I'm not a huge pesto sauce guy... I think I only like it with a small percentage of pesto, since I'm more an alfredo guy. I suspect our guy @SWFLHurricane has some excellent recipes for both.

 

[305_separatist]

Losing to MTSU was Mario’s fault

That doesn’t even really need explained

But everyone drops the ball from time to time. Not calling for his head, but that loss is on him. He’s the boss.

Why is this so hard for so many to grasp on this board lol

 

[PSU Cane]

Fair take, but I'm sitting on the side where I believe the kid is just limited and will never be a good blocker. He just doesn't have that ability just like I will never have the ability to be the next Michael Jordan. Everyone has limitations and at this point in Mallory's career it's clear what his are and I think he has reached his ceiling or near it as a blocker. Sure, we could say a guy with his size and athleticism should be a better blocker, there is no way he is this bad at it, but at that point we're just acting like the coaches that continue to ask him to do something he clearly is not capable of doing.

The guy has shown what he can and cannot do. Continuing to ask him to do what he can't do is not his fault. I personally just don't think you can place the blame on him at this point anymore because he isn't the one putting himself out there to attempt something he can't.

Let's simplify it. Let's say next week vs UNC we go out there and we get stopped on 3rd down on our own 45 yard line. Mario sends out the FG team and Borregales kicks the 72 yarder short. Are we going to blame him for not having the ability to hit that, or are we going to say that was a dumb coaching decision to put him in a situation that he likely was going to fail in? It really is this simple at every position, people just like to complicate it.

I get that, but using that theory, we should just say WRs should be asked to block bc they are bad at it. I mean honestly, the blocking i've seen from our WRs this year, particularly on screens, has been nothing short of awful.

WRs need to block and put as much effort into it as they expect the OL will when they are running patterns. They should block as hard for their fellow WR on a screen as they would want. Just bc you aren't good at something doesn't mean you shouldn't be expected to do it. It just means good coaches shouldn't expect you to do it (or well) ALL the time. But to be a contributing member of the team, you have to keep the defense honest. If they know Mallory will never be asked to block, they know the play call the moment he lines up. It doesn't mean you put him in-line to block on goal line situations.

 

[ItsAUThing.com]

If you blame the players, just stop, you need help.

Yeah, so much more logical to blame a coaching staff four games into taking over a program that has averaged 7-5 every year the past 16 seasons (went into season 118-85 since the 2005 Peach Bowl, 28-24 since Richt's 10-0 start in 2017 and 21-15 under Diaz—which could've easily been 11-25 if King and Van Dyke didn't play out of their minds; beat NCST, Pitt and GT by combined 8 points last year—beat UVA, Pitt and V-Tech by combined 9 points in '21.)

C'mom now. Program three years removed from losing to FIU, getting beat at Duke by double-digits and shut out in bowl game by Louisiana Tech. Players are still posting images on social media from individual plays in lopsided losses; wearing jewelry while Alabama, Clemson and North Carolina were kicking they teeth in.

This program has been loaded with lazy, entitled clowns for years—and you get these two quotes after losing to Middle Tennessee State last week:

“We… I say we, everybody, because we’re all in this together. We looked at that team ‘Oh, we’re gonna win this game’,” said offensive lineman Jalen Rivers postgame. “So we came in obviously unmotivated, kinda slow and we had to ramp things back up when we got punched in the mouth.”

There was also center Jakai Clark, who stated, “We weren’t as locked in as we should have been pregame. During the week we had a good week of practice, but pregame…me personally, I feel as though we weren’t as locked in as we should have been,” while also calling his team’s attitude “lethargic”.

You have Stevenson blogging about having zero clue why Miami lost or where it went wrong, telling the head coach:

“I talked with coach Cristobal on Sunday before a team meeting, he just ran into me. He just asked me, `What happened? What do you think happened?’ I said I don’t know, you just have to get back to the drawing board and see the holes that we’re missing and we just have to start plugging them in with the right players and the right mindset. He thought I had an answer, but the answer is `I don’t know, coach, we just have to get back to work, figure out what went wrong, where the holes are and keep working and try to improve in those areas.’”

You think the coaching staff wasn't up their asses to be on guard against MTSU after the aTm loss—yet Clark and Rivers still talking about not being ready to play?

Did coaches throw two interceptions (including a pick-six) to start the game, followed by a fumble on the next drive? Are coaches out there staring down receivers and not going through progressions? Throwing balls behind receivers who can't get open against a scrub defenders?

Coaches are to blame for the defense giving up 507 yards and getting beat on deep touchdown of 69, 71 and 98 yards—and an 89-yarder that led to a score?

These coaches are hardly knocking the cover off the ball, but ridiculous to say players don't deserve their share of the blame—especially in an NIL era where they're now taking a check for services rendered.

A lot of blame to spread around and these players need to have more heart and pride than was shown last week.

Coaches shouldn't have to "motivate" these donkeys to merely "show up" to play a MTSU team rolling in looking for an upset. The entitled mindset amongst these players is cancerous and has been for almost two decades now.

 

[AUcane]

Yeah, so much more logical to blame a coaching staff four games into taking over a program that has averaged 7-5 every year the past 16 seasons (went into season 118-85 since the 2005 Peach Bowl, 28-24 since Richt's 10-0 start in 2017 and 21-15 under Diaz—which could've easily been 11-25 if King and Van Dyke didn't play out of their minds; beat NCST, Pitt and GT by combined 8 points last year—beat UVA, Pitt and V-Tech by combined 9 points in '21.)

Program three years removed from losing to FIU, getting beat at Duke by double-digits and shut out in bowl game by Louisiana Tech.

Players posting images on social media from individual plays in lopsided losses; wearing jewelry while Alabama, Clemson and North Carolina were kicking they teeth in.

This program has been loaded with lazy, entitled clowns for years—and you get these two quotes after losing to Middle Tennessee State last week:

“We… I say we, everybody, because we’re all in this together. We looked at that team ‘Oh, we’re gonna win this game’,” said offensive lineman Jalen Rivers postgame. “So we came in obviously unmotivated, kinda slow and we had to ramp things back up when we got punched in the mouth.”

There was also center Jakai Clark, who stated, “We weren’t as locked in as we should have been pregame. During the week we had a good week of practice, but pregame…me personally, I feel as though we weren’t as locked in as we should have been,” while also calling his team’s attitude “lethargic”.

You have Stevenson blogging about having zero clue why Miami lost or where it went wrong, telling the head coach:

“I talked with coach Cristobal on Sunday before a team meeting, he just ran into me. He just asked me, `What happened? What do you think happened?’ I said I don’t know, you just have to get back to the drawing board and see the holes that we’re missing and we just have to start plugging them in with the right players and the right mindset. He thought I had an answer, but the answer is `I don’t know, coach, we just have to get back to work, figure out what went wrong, where the holes are and keep working and try to improve in those areas.’”

You think the coaching staff wasn't up their asses to be on guard against MTSU after the aTm loss—yet Clark and Rivers still talking about not being ready to play?
Did coaches throw two interceptions (including a pick-six) to start the game, followed by a fumble on the next drive? Are coaches out there staring down receivers and not going through progressions? Throwing balls behind receivers who can't get open against a scrub defenders?

Coaches are to blame for the defense giving up 507 yards and getting beat on deep touchdown of 69, 71 and 98 yards—and an 89-yarder that led to a score?

These coaches are hardly knocking the cover off the ball, but ridiculous to say players don't deserve their share of the blame—especially in an NIL era where they're now taking a check for services rendered.

A lot of blame to spread around and these players need to have more heart and pride than was shown last week. Coaches shouldn't have to "motivate" these donkeys to merely "show up" to play a MTSU team rolling in looking for an upset.

Absolutely it’s going to take some time to root out the bad habits developed over the last 15-20 years. But, this team is - in many ways - WORSE than last year.

Name me another first year staff with such high regard struggle so much in its first year.

 

[TheProf]

I get that, but using that theory, we should just say WRs should be asked to block bc they are bad at it. I mean honestly, the blocking i've seen from our WRs this year, particularly on screens, has been nothing short of awful.

WRs need to block and put as much effort into it as they expect the OL will when they are running patterns. They should block as hard for their fellow WR on a screen as they would want. Just bc you aren't good at something doesn't mean you shouldn't be expected to do it. It just means good coaches shouldn't expect you to do it (or well) ALL the time. But to be a contributing member of the team, you have to keep the defense honest. If they know Mallory will never be asked to block, they know the play call the moment he lines up. It doesn't mean you put him in-line to block on goal line situations.

I'm not saying to never ever have the players do something they struggle with, like you said, you need to keep the defense honest. My issues with our performances to this point, and why I am not blaming the players, is that we're CONSTANTLY asking the players to do things they don't do well. That's why I've said we need to split Mallory out 90+% of the time. If you have him come in every now and then and you run and pass with him in along the line, and he misses 2 blocks all game, that's fine. We know he has his limitations.

When we have him inside 90% of the time, try and run behind him, and it fails the majority of the time, we shouldn't sit there with the shocked Pikachu face. That's when you begin blaming the coaching.

I understand that it isn't a perfect world where every play we call will fit the strengths of the team perfectly, but you do have to adjust your systems and your play calling to what your team's strengths and weaknesses are. We have not done that at all so far this year. We're literally just constantly do the same things over and over as if we're trying to force our players to believe in the "tough and physical" playstyle we want. We're purposefully running things we aren't good at to prove a point it seems.

That's simply not good coaching. Now, if Mallory was a decent blocker and was just lazy half the time and pulling moves on the field like Albert Haynesworth, I'd be blaming him a lot more, but to me, I don't think he is out there being lazy or not going hard. He's legitimately trying to block and catch balls in traffic, he just isn't good at those things. He's reached his ceiling, so we should probably stop trying to force him to be that type of player.

I also hate that Mallory has become the example in this thread, but it is what it is. The kid does some things very well, unfortunately we don't ask him to do those things very often.

 

[nycane]

the problem is many of you guys dont realize this team is toxic in many ways. we have kids who arent that strong and are cancers. I blame things on the staff like playing mallory and ivy who come off as ringers lol but this team in not that talented and the kids have a ton of bad habits. 23 and 24 will have to be strong class. we have some special kids in 2022, 2023 is looking strong but this roster needs a purge.

 

[BoxingRobes]

Absolutely it’s going to take some time to root out the bad habits developed over the last 15-20 years. But, this team is - in many ways - WORSE than last year.

Name me another first year staff with such high regard struggle so much in its first year.

I mean, the low hanging fruit answer is Saban. 6-5 at Michigan State first year. 8-4 first year at LSU...starting 2-2, btw with a loss to UAB during homecoming. 7-6 first year at Alabama with a loss to ULM.

Like, it happens.

 

[TOcane]

Absolutely it’s going to take some time to root out the bad habits developed over the last 15-20 years. But, this team is - in many ways - WORSE than last year.

Name me another first year staff with such high regard struggle so much in its first year.

You’re seeing it right now with Oklahoma.

 

[pacusmc]

Oklahoma getting beat bad by tcu.
Fire Venables!!!!

 

[nycane]

Absolutely it’s going to take some time to root out the bad habits developed over the last 15-20 years. But, this team is - in many ways - WORSE than last year.

Name me another first year staff with such high regard struggle so much in its first year.

I blame them for playing certain players too much. Ivy and Mallory single handily cost us games. Flagg needs to be replaced by wes. Justice should not play alot. I dont might Jaden getting beat step for step with a wr. I cant watch ANOTHER DJ Ivy play where hes more than 5 years behind a wr and gives up instead of trying his hardest to run the kid down.

 

[AboutTheU05]

If you're still an individual that blames the players, you need to stop posting here. Instead, download some brain training apps, or start reading more, just do anything to improve your cognitive ability.

The fact that we are in 2022 and people still blame the players and make excuses for staff members is just baffling.

I've seen far too many people all season pointing fingers at players saying they're terrible, excusing coaches constantly. Your posts would be more productive if you just typed in "I'm an idiot" and copied and pasted it 1,000 times. I'd rather scroll a little longer each page due to that than see some of you all compete to see who has an IQ closest to room temperature.

If you blame the players, just stop, you need help.

If the player is getting paid to perform now…….(hint, hint NIL) then this is complete bull****. I’m fine with players getting paid and felt it should have happened a while ago but there is a trade off once it become legitimate business and the bottom line is results. Same thing obviously goes for the coaching staff.

 

[JimmyJohnsonsHair]

What about defense… it wasn’t 0-10 lost. The final score was 31-45. It was a failure from top to bottom.

Agreed but I think some of us are generally a little more forgiving with the defensive staff because the defense was garbage last year. The offense was humming at the end of last season. We hung 38 points on the ACC champs. While the defense at least showed some promise against aTm, the offense has regressed badly under Mario/Gattis and it’s largely due to the scheme/philosophy.

 

[TheProf]

the problem is many of you guys dont realize this team is toxic in many ways. we have kids who arent that strong and are cancers. I blame things on the staff like playing mallory and ivy who come off as ringers lol but this team in not that talented and the kids have a ton of bad habits. 23 and 24 will have to be strong class. we have some special kids in 2022, 2023 is looking strong but this roster needs a purge.

Do we have culture issues? Yes. Is a kid running to social media after a loss to post a clip an issue? Yes.

Is the culture the reason we're continuously asking players to do things they don't do well? No. Is culture the reason Steele left Ivey on an island to get burned repeatedly even though we have years of film saying that's a bad idea? No. Is culture the reason why our route combinations have terrible spacing? No.

Yes, we have culture issues that need to be fixed. Our coaching issues are a bigger issue because if you don't fix those, you have zero chance of those coaches fixing the culture. Kids are not going to buy into a staff that is not helping them excel on the field. Do you think a single WR is going to buy into a system that puts them in position to fail constantly? No, they won't.

 

[1mg of Epi]

Mainly TVDs fault. Gattis has called plays that would work and receivers have been open. Van Winkle throws to the wrong guy or can't throw accurate at all

TVD and Garcia both threw to the same covered players when they ran the same plays. That likely means the QB is told where to throw the ball each play. So says coach Hayes, and coach hayes is CIS approved. So lock thread.

 

[1mg of Epi]

Do we have culture issues? Yes. Is a kid running to social media after a loss to post a clip an issue? Yes.

Is the culture the reason we're continuously asking players to do things they don't do well? No. Is culture the reason Steele left Ivey on an island to get burned repeatedly even though we have years of film saying that's a bad idea? No. Is culture the reason why our route combinations have terrible spacing? No.

Yes, we have culture issues that need to be fixed. Our coaching issues are a bigger issue because if you don't fix those, you have zero chance of those coaches fixing the culture. Kids are not going to buy into a staff that is not helping them excel on the field. Do you think a single WR is going to buy into a system that puts them in position to fail constantly? No, they won't.

Upvote for correct loss/lost usage. Obviously a professor IRL.

 

[TheProf]

Agreed but I think some of us are generally a little more forgiving with the defensive staff because the defense was garbage last year. The offense was humming at the end of last season. We hung 38 points on the ACC champs. While the defense at least showed some promise against aTm, the offense has regressed badly under Mario/Gattis and it’s largely due to the scheme/philosophy.

Right. Last year against the conference the defense gave up 30 points/game and overall against the P5 it was over 30 points/game.

Against the conference the offense averaged just under 36 points/game amd just under 32 vs all P5 teams faced.

The defense does lack talent and nobody is disputing that. They aren't really playing any worse than they did prior to the staffs arrival, and you can argue some units have played better overall, though not significantly. Our run fits have been much better. At the same time, we're asking our slow secondary to do things they shouldn't be trying to do all that often.

However, on offense we're clearly seeing plenty of regression. That's why the offensive staff is catching so much more fire. They're misusing TVD so bad. They're doing the WR's no favors. They've analyzed what Mallory can and cannot do and are making sure they only ask him to do the things he cannot do well. It's been pitiful so far.

 

[jw410]

i dont think our players are terrible
i just think most are jags
which by definition just means your an avg d1 player
there is nothing wrong with that
statistically speaking most players will be just avg hence jags
so when you have mostly jags you get a jag record of anywhere from 7-5 to 5-7
and thats kind of where we are at right now
where every game is realistically a toss up
we just need better players bc the jag ratio is too high

but what about blue chip ratio
Why are our blue chips not developing?

 

[TheProf]

Upvote for correct loss/lost usage. Obviously a professor IRL.

You couldn't pay me enough money to ever work as a professor. Me and modern college campuses are not a good mixture.