Lots of good debate going on at Warchant these days. A little too antagonistic for my taste but good conversation none the less. I'd like to offer my view point on the state of our coaching to this point in the year.
First off, I love Jimbo, proud that he's our coach, and wouldn't trade him for anyone. That said, I think he (like all coaches) have ups and downs and are not always at their best. Posters on this board often like to site Jimbo's extraordinary prior success as reason to not be critical of his current coaching habits. I think it ok for a fan to critique the coach of his team. It is possible to be critical and supportive at the same time. It's also ok (in my opinion) for somebody who knows far less about football than the coach, to have and state an opinion on what could be done differently and better. That's part of the joy in being a fan for many, including myself.
My opinion is that Jimbo has not been at his best so far this year. And when I say Jimbo, I'm also referring to the staff that reports up to him. Ultimately, he's responsible. I do believe the coaching has been too conservative this year and is causing the team to find itself in uncomfortably close games. But I don't think this conservative nature (or lack of killer instinct) is simply found in the play calling at the end of halfs or end of games. Moreso, its how the game flow is managed throughout the entire game. If we truely have superior talent as compared to the majority of our opponents (which I believe we do), we can afford to be more aggressive and take more chances. The defensive side of the ball is where this is most evident. Our defense has been highly effective at limiting our opponents scoring, but it has not been effective at getting our opponents off the field. We are limiting big plays, but we are not creating negative plays and turnovers. If we played a more attacking style defense, one would think we could create those situations. Sure, we'd probably get burned for some big plays (and maybe even give up more points along the way) but the trade off is well worth it. Getting our defense off the field quicker equates to more offensive possessions and more offensive plays. We had 9 offensive possessions and 50 offensive plays against Wake. Those are woefully low numbers and are huge limiting factors in offensive production.
Long story short, Id like to see us overload the line of scrimmage, bring the house on nearly every play, ultimately limiting the run and making life miserable on the opposing QB. We have the secondary to handle being isolated for short periods of time. We do this and we'll start creating turnovers, getting more tackles for loss, creating long third down situations, and ultimately providing our offense with more opportunities. More offensive opportunity will create more points squarely placing more pressure on the opposing team's offense to keep up. It creates a cycle that the less talented team can't deal with, and before you know it, we're blowing these teams off the field. This is the killer instinct we need - relentlessly attacking our inferior opponents into submission. Attitude of domination. Seek and destroy. Let's go!
First off, I love Jimbo, proud that he's our coach, and wouldn't trade him for anyone. That said, I think he (like all coaches) have ups and downs and are not always at their best. Posters on this board often like to site Jimbo's extraordinary prior success as reason to not be critical of his current coaching habits. I think it ok for a fan to critique the coach of his team. It is possible to be critical and supportive at the same time. It's also ok (in my opinion) for somebody who knows far less about football than the coach, to have and state an opinion on what could be done differently and better. That's part of the joy in being a fan for many, including myself.
My opinion is that Jimbo has not been at his best so far this year. And when I say Jimbo, I'm also referring to the staff that reports up to him. Ultimately, he's responsible. I do believe the coaching has been too conservative this year and is causing the team to find itself in uncomfortably close games. But I don't think this conservative nature (or lack of killer instinct) is simply found in the play calling at the end of halfs or end of games. Moreso, its how the game flow is managed throughout the entire game. If we truely have superior talent as compared to the majority of our opponents (which I believe we do), we can afford to be more aggressive and take more chances. The defensive side of the ball is where this is most evident. Our defense has been highly effective at limiting our opponents scoring, but it has not been effective at getting our opponents off the field. We are limiting big plays, but we are not creating negative plays and turnovers. If we played a more attacking style defense, one would think we could create those situations. Sure, we'd probably get burned for some big plays (and maybe even give up more points along the way) but the trade off is well worth it. Getting our defense off the field quicker equates to more offensive possessions and more offensive plays. We had 9 offensive possessions and 50 offensive plays against Wake. Those are woefully low numbers and are huge limiting factors in offensive production.
Long story short, Id like to see us overload the line of scrimmage, bring the house on nearly every play, ultimately limiting the run and making life miserable on the opposing QB. We have the secondary to handle being isolated for short periods of time. We do this and we'll start creating turnovers, getting more tackles for loss, creating long third down situations, and ultimately providing our offense with more opportunities. More offensive opportunity will create more points squarely placing more pressure on the opposing team's offense to keep up. It creates a cycle that the less talented team can't deal with, and before you know it, we're blowing these teams off the field. This is the killer instinct we need - relentlessly attacking our inferior opponents into submission. Attitude of domination. Seek and destroy. Let's go!
