Soft Meechigan players
"We've got to get a little tougher." - Rich Rod.
A little my arse. As for playing soft vs. being soft. Are you kidding?
Bucky
I didn't say you brought it up. Don't misrepresent what I said. I question why you feel it is incumbent of you to put a religious spin on such simple statements made by others. Good grief, TC wasn't making a "viewpoint", he just repeated what he tells the kids he is helping. He wasn't challenging you, nor was he trying to be profound about it.
I made my point. Out.
Ham
With all due respect, I obviously did not bring this up. He gave his viewpoint which I totally disagreed with, and so I shared mine. That is what this forum has been and always will be about. I don't feel I did anything wrong.
Kevin Newsome
Murmurs have started.... He is showing interest in OSU.
It is widely believed he will end up at VaTech, though.
All we have in this life is each other
I agree with TC 100%.
Bucky, with all due respect, I wonder why you feel it is incumbent of you to bring religion into the simplest of statements. Take it to the Faith Forum and we can discuss it.
Michigan Football
Guys (& Gals),
RR didn't call the Michigan players soft. He said they played soft. There is a difference. Playing soft can be corrected.
None of you are more dissappointed with the team's performance than I am. That said, I think it's totally unfair and premature to assess RR's coaching acumen this soon and under these circumstances. In the interest of balance, not blind RR loyalty (he hasn't earned my loyalty yet)a few facts must be considered.
Number one, we have last years third string QB starting (and no one better on the roster). He's a first year player (redshirt freshman) playing in one of the biggest fishbowls on the planet, subjected to insane expectations from grown men (me too) that should be more understanding. The kid is erratic. This may or may not get resolved. This may have been the primary reason he was third string last year. He has the physical tools, but needs to mature in a hurry. We were spoiled with Chad Henne. He was a very rare bird. A freshman able to handle the pressures inherent at UofM and to possess leadership ability and calm in the heat of the moment is not normal for a young man under 20. Pryor is cut from the same pattern. Rare birds.
Now, to compound the situation, THREE potential starting O linemen leave the team. Your two most experienced (available) backs have fumble baggage going back to their being backups for that very reason. You have one pure corner (Warren) and one converted receiver (Trent). Neither of which is a ferocious hitter or shutdown corner (yet). Your safeties are not pure safeties. They're smallish and do not seem to be naturals at the position. Safeties have to be instinctive and cerebral and love to hit. Your linebacking crew is breaking in two new starters. You have a new Defensive Coordinator; a staff learning the Big Ten, their players, the fan base, the media etc. You're starting or playing up to 10 freshmen. As if that's not enough, the injuries have not been kind.
In spite of all this, this team is an attitude change away from competing with every team they play and beating most of them. Scheme is not a large factor, when they execute, they look pretty good. If this team learns to use hitting as an intimidation factor (thus making receivers and backs think about protecting themselves more than playing fast/reacting), and if Threet can channel his energy into efficient, consistent performances, this team can be good. Granted, those are huge IFs.
RR realizes that these players don't all understand or embrace/love the art of hitting. If I were him, I would make the team watch film of the '97 defensive team regularly.
Going forward, he has to recruit players that understand how to become Tasmanian devils when they step on the field.
Excellent angle, pointing out how this is a management case study.....
Johnny
Since they lost to Appalachian St, I think double A batteries are more appropriate. Of course, you will find it more difficult when leaving the stadium I bet.
KKB/johnnyg
KKB, I wasn't suggesting that one should settle for "generally pretty good". Nor that RR isn't a good hire. My point was just that when you are "generally pretty good", it's a more costly and a higher risk move to completely revamp in an effort to get that extra bit more (i.e., hire a coach with a completely different system requiring different kinds of players) than it is to hire someone to adapt and build on the system in place to get that extra bit more. That's all.
johnny, see if you can get those multi-colored marshmallows, would ya? And, fair warning, I'm still having some problems controlling the range on this new flamethrower I purchased.
Mike Hurt, NFL RB
"Oh wait, that's right. He is busy PLAYING IN THE NFL right now! Right red? LOL.-Winged-
One carry in 5 games at garbage time of a flogging. He is IN THE NFL but he isn't that busy PLAYING. Nor will he be anytime soon. But go ahead and start the parade. We know how you guys get.
Green team can't wait to get to the Wolverines
I'll be throwing marshmellows at Morgan Trent Lott. It's gonna be fun!
Maybe one or two at Buff Blue too.
PANTS PEEING BUCKEYE
"Can you imagine being the defensive end seeing Pryor and Wells heading your way? Talk about peeing your pants."
Buckeye let me describe it from the view point of an OLD two way lineman. RR talks about that switch, well in those days we were lucky in the line. Teams played either a five man or six man defense so we had a man head on to us either side of the ball. I morphed (a word that did not exist then) the face of who ever I was most P*SSED at that day. Teacher, coach, room mate, did not matter, it was my opportunity to legally beat the living sh*t out of him, to relieve ALL of what ever frustrations I felt!
Now then, if I saw the QB running towards me with the ball, he was NOT a QB!! He was legally a RB and thus subject to what ever came his way! If he pitched the ball out, tough sh*t, he was MINE!!! A FREE SHOT!!! And NO ref EVER called me on it, no roughing the passer sh*t, no late hit sh*t, of course I would always mention to the ref after the play, dang he sure fooled me, I thought he still had it! Pee my pants? Heck I sweated so much I did not have enough left to do that. But heart pumping with joy at that FREE SHOT? YOU betcha! I did not give a rotten SH*T if he pitched, lateral, handed off, what ever he was MINE!! And funny thing, quite often by the end of the game he was in a big fat hurry to get rid of that dang ball! And I STILL hit the SOB!!!! Head on the center? You wound up and hit that sucker with every thing you could muster into that forearm shiver! T-formation you wanted to drive him back into the QB and make the QB start to pull away before he had full control of the ball. Single wing (today it would be spread) you wanted to hit that sucker BEFORE he got his head back up! Let him KNOW what was coming! Make him think so much about the pain that was waiting that he did not concentrate on the snap! Once in a while you got lucky and found a center who would tighten his grip just before the snap. Alert the ref and then when the poor sucker tightened, start swinging!
The name of the game was INTIMIDATION!!! Since we only had those single bars on the helmet it was pretty easy to draw blood. You WANTED some of his blood on your uniform! You WANTED to show it to him! You WANTED him to KNOW it was only beginning!
Oh, and with someone as good as Pryor you might not get a FULL shot and might only get an ankle. You grabbed that ankle with BOTH hands if you could, and ROLLED!!!
Different era, different game today. And THAT is too bad!
Wing
"Trent said being called out once for being soft should provide motivation enough for the Wolverines to make lasting changes."
Thanks for supporting my argument, which was Rich called the guys soft. Come on Wing.
Anyways. I've posted too much already. Time to find a couch downstairs. Catch you dudes later.
speaking of NOT soft
Yeah, I don't think that it is smart to say that you are going to try to take somebody out of a game. The refs are likely to call everything even if it is borderline. But who though football players were smart anyway?
SOFT BUCKEYE
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/ncaa/10/06/rodriguez.ap/index.html?eref=fannation
"When you play like we played (against Illinois), you expect that to happen," said senior cornerback Morgan Trent. "(Soft) is never a word you want to hear on defense. You want to be an extremely tough defense. We take pride in that here."
"We've all played before and so there's no excuse," Trent said. "I don't know what the problem was, but it's something that I promise we will get fixed. It's not an individual thing.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/sports-2/1223390411156530.xml&coll=2
"It's a collective thing, and we're going to hold each other accountable."The film never lies,' Michigan senior cornerback Morgan Trent said. "You'll get an honest assessment of what's going on. It's blatant on the film to see who's doing what, and who's not doing what.'
Trent said being called out once for being soft should provide motivation enough for the Wolverines to make lasting changes.
"It's a word you hope never comes up,' he said. "Of course we're disappointed to hear that. We have to continue to get better.
"You should never be soft. It's something we can control all the time. That shouldn't come up again.'
Added backup defensive end Ryan Van Bergen: "After watching film, (Rodriguez) was right. It's a horrible insult to call your team soft; I mean, that's the only way you could describe it Saturday.'
http://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081007/SPORTS/810070302/-1/NEWSFRONT2
It's never a word you want to hear on defense," said fifth-year senior cornerback Morgan Trent of Brighton about the team playing soft. "You want to be an extremely tough defense and we take pride in that here. To be tough, to hit hard, to go every play. To hear that is disappointing.
"There's no excuse. I don't know what the problem was, but it's something that I promise we'll get fixed. It's not something I've got to do personally, it's something we've got to do collectively as a team. It's been put out there, so we're all going to hold each other accountable."
"It was intense," Trent said. "He usually is, which he should have been. We expected and deserved what we got yesterday.
"I think (the coaches) should be frustrated because we're better than what we show. We have a good week and a bad week and a good week and it's extremely frustrating. So for them to be content and not be frustrated, I'd be worried."
OR YOU HAVE:
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081007/SPORTS17/810070398
It should've been," Trent said. "We expected and deserved what we got [Sunday]. It's going to do nothing but help us."
But is what Rodriguez said true?
"Of course you want to say [it's not true]. If someone calls you soft, you want to say 'no I'm not,'"" Trent said. "But what's on the film is reality."
Does that settle THAT question Buckeye, or do you need more?
talk about not soft
TC. I remember TC reminding us about that one guy calling him light in the loafers, or something like that. Truth be told, if I'm not mistaken, I think TC has a black belt and could whip about three of us at the same time. Make that 5 if you are just counting guys in here that are over 50. Little did that guy know who he was tangling with.
TC and I have our different points of view, but I know his intentions are good.
