Football Articles
Texas OU thoughts
Posted by HenryJames on October 18th, 2009 under Football
If you had told me before the game that we would force five turnovers, I would have thought we would have won by 21. Instead we won by 3. Guh. The first half of this game felt like 2005 all over again. Logically I didn’t see how Texas could lose, but ever since two fifty point loses I’m never as confident as I should be about this game. Because we still have Greg Davis.
I’ve finally figured out of whom or what Davis reminds me. Greg Davis is Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. He sits up in his antiseptic coaches box away from the action on the field where he prevents any divergence from his gameplan (most likely written in Pascal or some shit).
“What are you doing, Colt?”
“I’m going to call an audible.”
[Pause]
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”
He has no feel for a game, and he calls plays with no concern for down and distance. His performance in the first half was one of his worst. Our first play from scrimmage was just the type of misdirection run that gives OU trouble. We pick up 16 yards and…don’t run it again. Miami destroyed them on a similar play, and we never ran it again. Our second drive we pick up 9 yards on two runs so on 3rd and 1 we go four wide, keep a back in to block and throw it . OU rushes three and sits eight in coverage. Incomplete. Fozzy Whitaker runs the ball twice on our next five drives. OU is blitzing the shit out of us, and we finally call a screen pass to John Chiles. On 3rd and 18.
The Sooners nailed our tendencies, and as usual it took us at least two quarters to do anything about it. They know what routes our receivers will run on 3rd and short. They knew as soon as McCoy lined up under center with Fozzy in the backfield that we were going to run option. Watch Keenan Clayton run up to the line of scrimmage before the snap. Marquise Goodwin was open on his touchdown reception because the Sooners ran a zone blitz and put three guys on Shipley. They almost got two touchdowns by jumping our short throws. Tendencies.
OU has less talent than we do on offense, but you can at least see what they were trying to do. They’re at least doing things to help their players succeed. The random insertion of the Little Bighorn? Just horrible.
Colt is struggling because he’s out of his comfort zone and trying to do too much. McCoy is best at knowing where he wants to throw the ball before the snap. Confuse him, give him doubt, and he’s not as good. And he’s not getting much help from his offensive line or wide receivers. He averaged 3.2 yards per pass and turned it over three times. And he’s our best player on offense.
The offensive line was terrible in the first half. OU confused them with blitzes and pre-snap movement, and we confused them with our inability to call running plays or use any misdirection. If you don’t give a defender any hesitation, it’s that much harder to pass block. Six or seven penalties didn’t help their cause any.
There needs to be some changes at wide receiver. John Chiles apparently is only capable of receiving the ball on one play, the screen. Which is the absolute worst way to get him the ball. James Kirkendoll is giving us nothing at this point except drops, unbroken tackles and personal fouls. Malcolm Williams continues to bust his ass on special teams and make acrobatic catches when the ball is thrown in a somewhat vertical fashion. But Marquise Goodwin needs to play more. He’s still young and learning, but he can play. And most importantly it looks like Colt trusts him enough to actually throw to him.
The defense won the game for us. Again. With no little or no help from our offense. Again. We’re an SEC team at this point, but I’m okay with that. Defense and special teams will keep us in every game this year, and ours are good enough to win every game outright.
If you can take away the OU quarterbacks’ first option, you’ll be successful. At least that’s what ChrisApplewhite tells me. We did that for the most part. Landry Jones had to look for his second receiver too many times, and he didn’t have enough time or experience to do it. We basically gave up two big plays because we failed to tackle. That was it. OU’s only hope was to get their running backs on our linebackers, and they did a pretty good job of it for the most part. But Keenan Robinson got better as the game went on and was nails in the second half.
There were some individual standouts. Earl Thomas is first team All American. He’s ridiculously good, a complete player. PBUs, TFLs, interception, forced fumble. I can’t say enough about him. Sergio Kindle had four TFLs and the important pressure that caused Landry Jones to throw the interception. Aaron Williams shook off a bad play on the touchdown (left his feet on the tackle, didn’t use the sideline) to make the great interception. He also knocked out Sam Bradford on a sack and forced a holding penalty on a running play.
Offensive players of the game: Goodwin and Whitaker
Defensive player of the game: Thomas
Special teams players of the game: Hunter Lawrence and Antwan Cobb
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Did Rick Barnes use a plant last night to distract KU players? ago
Wholesome goodness. Thanks for posting.
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Ag_in_TX wrote a new blog post: Did Rick Barnes use a plant last night to distract KU players? 9 minutes ago
If you watched the game, and if you have one drop of testosterone in your bloodstream, you couldn’t have missed her. The redhead with huge tracts of land – right behind the KU bench – who stood for every time out and stared at the KU players.
She stuck out like a sore thumb. Never
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Darius Pourceau commented on the blog post Recruiting the Trenches 11 minutes ago
Welcome to the site guys! Aaron Rodgers is the man.
http://bornhogwild.fantake.com/
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Art Vandelay commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 13 minutes ago
Bob, essentially what you are saying is that we are not a well coached basketball team. I agree.
Jordan Hamilton is a selfish and lazy player. He is a terrible fit to play for Barnes. Not sure if either one will be around next season at this rate.
We went scoreless for 10:54 during
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Trips Right commented on the blog post 2011 Texas Football Recruiting 23 minutes ago
Well done. The Barney Frank line blindsided me like a strain of juarez clap. Funny stuff.
I’d like for us to go out of state for a QB and at least 1 maybe two CB’s. Is Quandre tall enough to play corner or angry enough to play safety?
Rumor around the campfire is
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skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 36 minutes ago
I feel our pain…
Was Barnes wearing a helmet last night. I did not notice as I was in awe of the blood being spilled
on the floor for almost 11 minutes without a point.
Coach Knight was reading this blogs out loud for TV.
The most insightful was that Barnes needs to go to the 7-8 -
James commented on the blog post 2011 Texas Football Recruiting 38 minutes ago
Barney Frank and Mormon quips in the same post. My Tuesday is complete.
Texas HS football is going through a phase (era?) where the best athlete talent is being put on offense. DBs aren’t being developed in vast quantities. Why wouldn’t you go after a couple OOS DBs?
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 41 minutes ago
ponderos, shouldn’t you be supersizing something somewhere?
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 42 minutes ago
Gillispie’s a mid-major clown because of his off the court indiscretions. Seriously, The University of Texas is much too high profile to risk its brand and image with this moron. And anyone that mentions Augie Garrido should be permabanned the intertubes. The situations aren’t remotely similar.
If you want to go down the
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 49 minutes ago
Leonidas, none of those points came against Dex. Boxscores aren’t reality, they’re like porn movies. If porn was real everyone would be a plummer.
As for Pittman on offense, Aldrich wasn’t playing him straight up, he was getting a double virtually everytime down. That’s not Aldrich’s fault but it’s reality.
Pittman rarely
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Mister Mike commented on the blog post Nebraska Fits the Profile of the 2010 National Champion 55 minutes ago
Good line. What is the thinking on his ability vs. the injury?
It’s funny you should ask. I’m working on putting something together right now that will be discussing this very topic. I know you’re waiting with bated breath for it too. Admit it.
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Bob in Houston commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 1 hour, 17 minutes ago
Should be “complementary” scorers. Oh well.
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Bob in Houston commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 1 hour, 20 minutes ago
OK, I was there. Not the best seat in the house, but not a bad one either.
Trips hit part of what struck me over and over. KU had offensive options/outlets when Texas forced them into trouble (which happened quite a bit, as the stats showed that Texas did bring defense last night), and the
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Mister Mike wrote a new blog post: ”Bo Made Me Cry.” 1 hour, 59 minutes ago
At least, that’s the line I would expect to hear from Rivals or Scouts if they were in a relationship with Bo Pelini and ended up going to Dr. Phil to try and work out their differences. Of course, that would never happen because Bo would’ve just laughed, packed her shit up, and thrown it
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HenryJames commented on the blog post Scholarship Numbers & Junior Days 2 hours, 12 minutes ago
CTJ,
Rivals doesn’t think there are any elite players in Texas this year. Do you think we’ll have to go out of state to compensate?
Thanks!
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D W commented on the blog post Another night, another would-be hero 3 hours, 4 minutes ago
Hamilton is so stupid on the court it makes my teeth hurt.
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Top 8 Teams in College Hoops 5 hours, 55 minutes ago
Yeah, I think we can scratch Texas out of there. Who takes place 8?
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Looking at Texas 6 hours, 8 minutes ago
You guys have a basketball team. Is it Indianapolis this year?
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Scipio Tex wrote a new blog post: 2011 Texas Football Recruiting 6 hours, 15 minutes ago
Junior Days are right around the corner, so I thought we’d break down needs, talk recruits, and find a ray of gridiron sunshine in the long and cursed offseason.
CTJ gives us his thoughts too. Had I realized, I might have saved myself the typing.
Unlike last year where DFW held an
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admin commented on the blog post Making a Case for a 1 Seed: Villanova Tops the ’Neers 6 hours, 28 minutes ago
Enjoyed watching these guys tonight. I was blown away to see Huggy was 5X coach of the year. He seems like a tourney flame out more often than not. That Kenyon Marting leg break didn’t do him any favors.
How do you see them progresing in the tourney?
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admin commented on the blog post Making a Case for a 1 Seed: Villanova Tops the ’Neers 6 hours, 28 minutes ago
Enjoyed watching these guys tonight. I was blown away to see Huggy was 5X coach of the year. He seems like a tourney flame out more often than not. That Kenyon Martin leg break didn’t do him any favors.
How do you see them progresing in the tourney?
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admin commented on the blog post Duke Basketball: The Devil You Know? 6 hours, 30 minutes ago
Avery Bradley, who shot 77% from the foul line in high school and is now shooting 47% at Texas would probably be shooting closer to his high school average if he played at Duke.
Sweet Jesus that’s ridonkulous.
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admin commented on the blog post Duke Basketball: The Devil You Know? 6 hours, 30 minutes ago
Avery Bradley, who shot 77% from the foul line in high school and is now shooting 47% at Texas would probably be shooting closer to his high school average if he played at Duke.
Sweet Jesus that’s ridonkulous.
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Jeff Julian wrote a new blog post: Recruiting the Trenches 7 hours, 6 minutes ago
Importance of Recruiting Rankings by Position.
Now that the recruiting season is over and most Cal fans are waxing poetic (along with some Texas fans) about how great these 17-18 year olds will be, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at recruiting rankings as a potential measurement for future success.
For the purposes
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admin wrote a new blog post: Welcome 7 hours, 10 minutes ago
HenryJames will soon be here to captivate you with his wit and extensive knowledge of the most storied franchise in professional sports history, the New York Yankees.
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admin commented on the blog post Nebraska Fits the Profile of the 2010 National Champion 7 hours, 23 minutes ago
Interesting but call me skeptical now. We’ve got experience at QB but not positive experience.
Good line. What is the thinking on his ability vs. the injury?
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admin commented on the blog post Nebraska Fits the Profile of the 2010 National Champion 7 hours, 23 minutes ago
Interesting but call me skeptical now. We’ve got experience at QB but not positive experience.
Good line. What is the thinking on his ability vs. the injury?
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bigdukesix commented on the blog post Scholarship Numbers & Junior Days 7 hours, 35 minutes ago
I really don’t want to repeat the horrid situation of the past few years where we starved for depth and talent at DT. It’s critical not to let defensive line recruiting slip. That said, if we bring in two tackles and two ends this year that would be 21 scholarships used on the
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Arthur Goddamn Fenstemaker commented on the blog post Weekly Stats Update 7 hours, 37 minutes ago
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bigdukesix commented on the blog post Scholarship Numbers & Junior Days 7 hours, 43 minutes ago
It appears as though the dude is committed to raiding the SEC and ignoring the West Coast.
It’s understandable, with the way that recruiting is generally territory based. Isaiah Crowell, the RB we’ve been linked to, goes to Columbus Carver. That’s an Auburn pipeline school. Still, I can’t imagine that recruitment lasting much
JP said:
October 18th, 2009 at 9:58 am
“The random insertion of the Little Bighorn? Just horrible.”
Finally, an apt description of the Chiles-Clothes-Hanger-Abortion-Formation that doesn’t start with ‘Fucking’. I don’t know who you stole it from, but I’m stealing it from you…
texoz said:
October 18th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Watching our offense against a good defense (and defensive coordinator) is like having a tooth pulled without anesthesia.
Chiles has yet to throw from the Wild Horn package. ZERO PASSES. You would think that would be part of the package. Otherwise, teams will only defend the run when Chiles is in.
When you consider that Chiles has 7 rushes for 29 yards, which inlcudes one run for 34 yards, logic dictates that he needs to make a few pass attempts or opposing teams will fart in our general direction when the Wild Horn trots out onto the field.
Davis should be embarrassed about that stat.
Chiles stats for the OU, two receptions for 1 yard. I respect Chiles for biting the bullet and moving to WR. I have no respect for GD for not putting him in position to succeed. Chiles is no superstar, but he has enough talent to make our offense better than it has been.
parlin said:
October 18th, 2009 at 10:17 am
“John Chiles apparently is only capable of receiving the ball on one play, the screen. Which is the absolute worst way to get him the ball.”
I’m sorry you feel the way you do, Dave. If you’d like to check my service record, you’ll see it’s completely without error.
haydenhorn said:
October 18th, 2009 at 10:35 am
there was one play i specifically recall colt scrambling around, looking for receiver help and he was predictably being pursued by ou defensive linemen, and he was gently rolling toward chiles’s sideline, and the man was just STANDING THERE, watching, with a defender 5 yards off, waving his arms as though to say “pass it to me, and i’ll get tackled for a loss instead!”
he is not a wide receiver in any sense of the word.
nordberg said:
October 18th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Remember last year, how much success we had with three step drops? It was pretty much automatic, hitting Cosby or Shipley. Yeah that was awesome.
haydenhorn said:
October 18th, 2009 at 10:57 am
well, nordberg, let’s be honest. it worked, so why replicate it?
Levander Williams said:
October 18th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Something about this win just left me with a hollow sense of dissatisfaction. I suppose I should be happy about the win, which I am; but there’s still the lingering pall of unrealized capabilities of the offense. For better or worse, we’re stuck with Davis. Recite the ‘Serenity Prayer’ and keep moving forward.
The comment about Texas being an SEC team is spot on. Both Florida and Alabama have plenty of fits and starts with their offenses, though they both know how to run the ball. Our defense is every bit as good.
edsp said:
October 18th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Good stuff, Henry J.
I’d add Malcolm on special teams — he is to that unit what Sergio and Earl are to the defense. I don’t see how Houston could play any better than he did Saturday — my fear was OU would run at our smallish ends and the depth-shy tackle positions, but No. 33 stepped up (and came back after getting hurt).
Totally agree about WR and our predictability on pass routes. Coaches need to bite the bullet and get Williams more involved, keep using Goodwin and maybe play a double tight end (flexing Buckner). EBS showed his hands are OK and most teams won’t be able to slow Buckner the way OU did. With a double-tight, there might even be enough blocking to ignite the ground game.
HenryJames said:
October 18th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Malcolm is hustling on special teams. If you watch the replay on the fumble he scooped up, he was knocked down out of bounds, got up and ran down to get the ball. Just a great hustle play.
HenryJames said:
October 18th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Hayden,
No, he’s hot. And yet we continue to get him the ball on a play that requires a lot of execution by pulling linemen and good blocking from our receivers. Small margin of error.
nordberg,
And that’s exactly what McCoy does well. It’s his strength.
mojave_reject said:
October 18th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I’m getting the feeling that Venables has pictures of Greg Davis fucking a dead girl or a live boy because every year he does his level best to get Venables a head coaching job.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Why are the problems this year so obvious to the fan base and the solutions to the problems not coming from our overpaid offensive coaching staff?
Give me a tenth of what GD earns and I will let Major call the offense. It’s the plan anyway.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Hell just pay Major instead.
Scipio Tex said:
October 18th, 2009 at 11:59 am
We watched the same game, HJ. Nicely done.
quigley said:
October 18th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
First off, UT is an excellent team. The best OU has or will faced. OU saved a lot defensively and some offensively for them. Love this site for the writing and observation, but attacks on Brent Venables as a defense coordinator are misplaced. OU’s coaches understand the value of this game and scheme for it. Lord knows what else the offense had in store if Bradford hadn’t been knocked out (no excuse, just saying that OU’s offense likely had more tricks too but that Landry hadn’t had practice time with them).
Also agree that, per player, both on offense and defense, UT has more ability than OU . Greg Davis has been a great friend to OU, no doubt. That said, I think he tried to exploit OU with the pass on 1st down (16 run, 18 pass), something that Miami did with great success, mostly versus Reynolds with multiple different routes. OU did a much better job defensing it, sometimes because Reynolds was off the field even on first down.
The kicking game, OU deficiency and UT’s competence, determined the outcome. The steadiest kicker for the Sooners, Way the punter, had a bad day. 36 yds/punt taking away one boomer. The fumbles are obvious and provide the margin of victory alone and momentum to boot, but Stevens failure on the 45 yarder wasawful too. Most D-I teams can consistently hit from that distance but OU hasn’t for 2 years, and it’s cost them. A long field goal would have won the BYU game too.
Good luck the rest of the season. I think both teams will be in SoCal for the winter holidays. Anyone who has been to both knows that San Diego is much better than Pasadena.
ransomstoddard said:
October 18th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Actually I think its Chiles who has compromising pictures of Greg Davis. There is no other rational explanation for him seeing the field. Ever.
Woody Bombay said:
October 18th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
“Logically I didn’t see how Texas could lose, but ever since two fifty point loses I’m never as confident as I should be about this game. Because we still have Greg Davis.”
I hate that I feel exactly the same way.
ghostofagroundgame said:
October 18th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
ransom –
I think you hit the nail on the head.
Look, it’s not hard to scheme for this Texas offense. You can just imagine —
“Double cover Shipley, he’s got hands. Don’t worry about anyone else — the other receivers don’t run routes and aren’t explosive. Two times a game DJ Monroe will come in — spy him with a safety because he’s getting the ball. When Cody Johnson comes in run-blitz. When Tre Newton comes in look for a short pass to him. Ends — hold your gaps and we’ll stop that stretch zone play. Linebackers — you’ll have nothing to do but blitz, so enjoy it. Corners — jump that horizontal pass he’ll throw five times, one of them will go for 6. Safeties play shallow and give run support because they leave their best receivers on the bench and don’t throw deep. Everyone watch Colt’s eyes as he always throws where he first looks”
charley varrick said:
October 18th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Quig.- Good luck in San Diego but I prefer Pasadena.
ransomstoddard said:
October 18th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Brent Venables should be fired for giving up 16 points to this train wreck
Horncasting said:
October 18th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Malcolm Williams is doing EVERYTHING the coaches supposedly value and reward (blocking, special teams, etc.) but is actually getting less touches as the season goes on. The fact that Kirkendoll started the next series after his idiotic personal foul shows the offensive side of the ball has zero accountability. If Williams had done that (or run the wrong route like Goodwin on the INT) we’d probably never hear from him again.
Goodwin is outplaying Kirk and deserves the start over him. Chiles has done nothing for 3 games, while Williams wastes away on the bench.
Horncasting said:
October 18th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Also, did I see it wrong or did we actually run the Wildhorn with Colt, Monroe and Whittaker a few times?
tree said:
October 18th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Lamar Houston lived in the sooner backfield.
huge said:
October 18th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
why would we try to do what worked so well last year?
i was screaming all day to go voer the middle or at least throw a slant. TD goodwin. never tried that again either. come on
Macanudo said:
October 18th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
huge, I wonder how much of that was on Colt. The INT in the 4th was because Goodwin broke to the inside and Colt tried that stupid ass out route throw that OU had been jumping all game. If Colt makes the throw on the slant, Goodwin had a fighting chance. If he broke outside like Colt thought he would, it still gets picked.
sizzlechest said:
October 18th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Goodwin missed the read on that, Mac. Freshman mistake. If he makes the right read, he has a good shot at the catch and a no or one yard gain.
HenryJames said:
October 18th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Horncasting,
Sort of. We actually gave the Sooner defense some misdirection.
tree,
As did Kheeston Randall.
JamesKirkendoll said:
October 18th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Give “nothing at this point except drops, unbroken tackles and personal fouls”???
I’m offended that my halfhearted, largely ineffective blocking went unnoticed.
NorthDallasSooner said:
October 18th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Quig.- Good luck in San Diego but I prefer Pasadena.
I hate to be morbid, but I doubt San Diego is OU’s destination in December. More likely San Antonio, and possibly even Shreveport.
Homesick Alien said:
October 19th, 2009 at 8:07 am
The only thing in the world to prevent a defense from blitzing you back into your mother’s womb is the fear of getting beat deep. We are allergically averse to even the thought of throwing deep, so…pretty much blitz away!
lurkerinthedark said:
October 19th, 2009 at 8:31 am
I’m getting the feeling that Venables has pictures of Greg Davis fucking a dead girl or a live boy because every year he does his level best to get Venables a head coaching job.
Actually, Davis raped Venables last year.
Venables returned the experience this year.
I, too, am wondering about our usage of personnel on offense.
Most teams will use their most physically talented guys and stick with them, understanding that there will be growing pains, but that they will improve. Alternatively, they end up going with the guys that ACTUALLY PRODUCE IN GAMES.
Is it that we have no consistency in games to make those decisions or what?
Last year I felt we maximized our available talent. What’s going on this year?