How is Blake Baker viewed among the players?

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The giving up of scores after taking the lead in the 4th quarter is what did it for me...

That’s what life is like when you’re on the high wire every week. If you have to be perfect every mistake is magnified.

Look at the Louisville game. They scored late and no one noticed because the offense did what it was supposed to do.
 
The giving up of scores after taking the lead in the 4th quarter is what did it for me...
The VT score at the end ****ed me off big time. Obviously Jarren spotted them 21 points and Perry threw a pick in the endzone in the first half. But your offense was rolling, the d made big stops to complete the comeback, but then you give them an easy *** drive at the end of the game. Yes they were probably tired but still.
 
That’s what life is like when you’re on the high wire every week. If you have to be perfect every mistake is magnified.

Look at the Louisville game. They scored late and no one noticed because the offense did what it was supposed to do.
So now we're a dog chasing our tail. If we're built on D. Those scores shouldn't of happened. Not allowing those scores was paramount in taking the next step. The blame on the offense goes without fault, though..
Enos f'd us with one of the legend's led lamp ******....
 
I'm not going to suggest Baker is perfect. He isn't. There were moments I was down on him and the defense. (Frankly, the defense got markedly better when Manny got more involved.) That said, for those of you critical of him, understand that defenses have changed drastically in the last 5-15 years. With more teams moving to wide-open, pass-happy, spread offenses, offenses are far more lethal than they were. And rules favor offenses now too. The measuring stick has changed drastically. Look at some of the scoring in the playoff games. Even Bama's D has been lit up and you likely won't find a team better coached and with more talent. I mean, you don't want to be Oklahoma either, but the days of defenses holding teams to under 14-17 is becoming more and more rare. Too many plays. Too many possessions.
 
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So you expect a lesser talented team to be perfect but a team full of first round draft picks gets a pass? Ok.

This is nonsense and there's no way to interpret that from what was quoted.

It's about the body of work and the "pattern". Even though 2002 was a team "full of first round draft picks" the expectation or bar was set higher for them. They were in the middle of a historic winning streak on the back of a national championship. Even then they took heat after a 25 point win against Rutgers because it wasn't up to "UM standards". But did they regularly show that they didn't play to the level of their talent, were consistently mentally weak, or show a pattern of failure in key situations (despite being saddled with Coker who provided no strategic direction).

Compare that to 2019. With the schedule we had, most here felt we had the talent to skip into the ACC championship with at least a 10-2 record. Why didn't we? We failed based on every conceivable metric that mattered.
 
I'm not going to suggest Baker is perfect. He isn't. There were moments I was down on him and the defense. (Frankly, the defense got markedly better when Manny got more involved.) That said, for those of you critical of him, understand that defenses have changed drastically in the last 5-15 years. With more teams moving to wide-open, pass-happy, spread offenses, offenses are far more lethal than they were. And rules favor offenses now too. The measuring stick has changed drastically. Look at some of the scoring in the playoff games. Even Bama's D has been lit up and you likely won't find a team better coached and with more talent. I mean, you don't want to be Oklahoma either, but the days of defenses holding teams to under 14-17 is becoming more and more rare. Too many plays. Too many possessions.

Thats why at end of day the type of defense Manny runs can be beneficial

Just try to cause as much havoc as possible

Never understood him wanting Enos, with Lashlee you can put up points and just pin your ears back and get the QB and cause more chaos

Imagine we had a high scoring offense in 2017, probably can add a few more INT and much more sacks
 
Thats why at end of day the type of defense Manny runs can be beneficial

Just try to cause as much havoc as possible

Never understood him wanting Enos, with Lashlee you can put up points and just pin your ears back and get the QB and cause more chaos

Imagine we had a high scoring offense in 2017, probably can add a few more INT and much more sacks

Our defense is going to look different (in a good way) once the offense puts up points. Imagine playing with a lead and having Rousseau, Roche, Phillips, and Harvey rotating in and taking their shot at the QB. This is opposed to playing in 20-17 dog fights week in and week out.

Side comment on Enos- I think that Enos pulled one over on Manny. Told him everything he wanted to hear to get a nice paycheck and get away from Saban. There's no way that abomination was what Manny actually wanted when he said "innovative". But that's a story for a different day.
 
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Respectfully disagree, prior to the recruits you mentioned Panda was batting .125 on the trail
I don't disagree there but I think he's earned himself a one year pass. If he didn't land both of those dudes then I'd want him gone too. My tone might change after this season tho.
 
So now we're a dog chasing our tail. If we're built on D. Those scores shouldn't of happened. Not allowing those scores was paramount in taking the next step. The blame on the offense goes without fault, though..
Enos f'd us with one of the legend's led lamp ******....


Even the best defenses are getting scored on at far higher rate these days. For three years ours in particular has had zero margin for error nearly every single week.
 
Thats why at end of day the type of defense Manny runs can be beneficial

Just try to cause as much havoc as possible

Never understood him wanting Enos, with Lashlee you can put up points and just pin your ears back and get the QB and cause more chaos

Imagine we had a high scoring offense in 2017, probably can add a few more INT and much more sacks

IMO, this defense has given up at times. But I don't think that's a culture thing, as much as it just has to be demoralizing to see an offense repeatedly sputter. That's why IMO the defense has faltered late down the season . . . historically, the defense knows what is going to happen because they've seen the offense struggle all year.

Consider a tie game late. The D knows if they give up a score, that's game. Imagine if they were confident that if they get the offense the ball back, the offense would score.
 
Even the best defenses are getting scored on at far higher rate these days. For three years ours in particular has had zero margin for error nearly every single week.
I won't deny that but what happened to big boy football? It's hard for me to let go of the notion that if you get the lead in the 4th quarter you don't give it up.
 
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IMO, this defense has given up at times. But I don't think that's a culture thing, as much as it just has to be demoralizing to see an offense repeatedly sputter. That's why IMO the defense has faltered late down the season . . . historically, the defense knows what is going to happen because they've seen the offense struggle all year.

Consider a tie game late. The D knows if they give up a score, that's game. Imagine if they were confident that if they get the offense the ball back, the offense would score.
The bowl game was a prime example...
 
I'm not going to suggest Baker is perfect. He isn't. There were moments I was down on him and the defense. (Frankly, the defense got markedly better when Manny got more involved.) That said, for those of you critical of him, understand that defenses have changed drastically in the last 5-15 years. With more teams moving to wide-open, pass-happy, spread offenses, offenses are far more lethal than they were. And rules favor offenses now too. The measuring stick has changed drastically. Look at some of the scoring in the playoff games. Even Bama's D has been lit up and you likely won't find a team better coached and with more talent. I mean, you don't want to be Oklahoma either, but the days of defenses holding teams to under 14-17 is becoming more and more rare. Too many plays. Too many possessions.
Thank you. I honestly think a lot of people here don't watch college football outside of Miami games and they have no idea what the game has become. Modern offenses and rule changes have made it an offensive game. Even the most talented teams have had to shift their focus from shutting opponents down to outscoring them. Nobody is holding opponents to single digit points anymore. Even the best defenses are surrendering between 14-20 points per game. It's become a game of possessions and often the more possessions you get, the better your chances of winning become. It's one of the reasons, I prefer the defensive scheme because it's based on making "splash" plays that impact the outcome like turnovers and negative plays. Getting stops is great but getting turnovers is game changing. Just look at our games against Virginia Tech and FIU. Miami outgained both those teams by a good margin but lost because they turned the ball over so much.
 
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