WMD's Armchair QB - Mixed Improvement Edition

War Machine Dawg

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Oct 14, 2007
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1. We played hard all night. Yeah, we wound up losing by 20, but the pick-6 at the end made it look worse than it was. The fact is, we jumped out early and took their crowd out of it. Then we did the stupid stuff we do against LSU and the result was our annual L to those coonass bastards. Apparently the law of averages will never apply to this series.

2. I really liked our first offensive drive. We got RoJo & Malcolm involved right off the bat. It had me excited thinking we'd see more of them this week. Wrong.

3. Nick Griffin ran hard. We're starting to see from him what we all thought we'd see over the summer. It appears the light has finally gone off and he's resolved whatever mental issues he was having with his knee. He's earned more PT. Plus, he's also great in pass pro. He made a really nice chip block on the first drive to give TR a little extra time to throw.

4. Our overall offensive gameplan was better. We finally re-introduced the deep shots and it opened up the field for us tremendously. My only complaint is forgetting our Johnsons. We've got to get those guys involved more, because they're real matchup problems.

5. OL was outstanding. I won't fault them for the last drive. LSU knew we had to pass and those elite rush DEs were able to get in a sprinter's stance and take off. Until that point, we handled them about as well as you could've asked.

6. TR was absolutely dialed in last night. He made several big time throws. My only beef is taking the sack on 3rd down on the final drive. He once aGAIN held the ball too long and took the sack instead of getting rid of it. The play-action on 4th down was the second worst call of the night. The worst was the TR sneak on 3rd and 3. That call was the official end of the game.

7. Derek Milton: I hope you run until you puke up a lung. Catching the toss on a sweep should be a given. It was the turning point of the game. We had all the momentum up to that point, then we were fighting uphill the rest of the night. I've said all season I thought this guy was overrated and didn't get the man crush so many had on him. Griffin & JR are better backs right now.

8. We miss LDP in the passing game. Gotta get him involved. Anyone know if "Perkins hip" is the new "Moultrie knee?" First we'd heard of Perk being banged up was last night.

9. Special teams was solid last night. Nice to see Bell hit the bomb on the road. Swedenburg and the punt unit continue to be our most consistent group. However, I'm still of the opinion Mullen needs to give up STs and take over O. That's his real passion and it would improve our team to get a more knowledgeable ST coach while Mullen gets to focus on O and call plays.

10. Chris Wilson: I hope you had to walk back to Starkville and your office was boxed up waiting on you when you got there. He's managed to make our defense soft in less than 2 seasons. We're no longer the physical, aggressive D we're known for. This bend-but-don't-break **** sucks. It's ****** Big 12 schemes with SEC athletes. And it's taken all the aggression and physicality out of our D. If you don't get teams off the field in the SEC, you wear down. Giving up drives to SEC OLs is asking for trouble. And I guarantee that if I had Banks & Slay as my CBs, it would be the rare occasion I played zone, much less dropped 8 into coverage. JLD knew what to do with 2 lockdown CBs. Wilson doesn't.

11. For the second week in a row, an opposing offense made Nickoe their *****. He may be 100% of what he'll be, but he's not 100% of what he was. He's a very average player now. And he takes absolutely terrible angles to the ball.

12. Our DL play was better, but still bad. I know we've beaten the horse to death, then drawn and quartered the horse, but how Cherrington gets to play so much makes no sense. He should be a garbage time guy at most, not starting. Jones, Virges, and Quay should all start and play more than him. I like Ryan Brown as a rush DE. It should also be pointed out that this group is coached directly by Wilson. Can we please bring David Turner back? He's looking for a job now. With the talent of this group, there's really no excuse for how ****** we've been up front.

13. Banks missed 2 picks. You wanna beat an LSU, you gotta have at least one of those. Slay's move to break up the TD was great. 80 killed us all night. But that's on Wilson. Can't let one guy take over like that.

14. Overall, I was pleased with the improvements I saw on offense, despite the loss. Defensively, I won't be happy until we fire Wilson. It's inexcusable how soft he's made our D. This is a big test for Mullen. Changes are needed, but can he see it and will he do it?

15. We're still on track for 9-3. Getting Arkansas at home is big. Need a big crowd to show up, despite the early kickoff.

As usual comments, additions, whatever welcome.

In Mullen We Trust,

WMD
 

CadaverDawg

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Dec 5, 2011
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I agree with pretty much everything WMD...especially about our soft defense. I'm sick of Mullen saying we're a physical team in his presses and interviews, because we're not. We're a soft, *****, Big 12 team now that plays a finesse offense and weak *** soft defense. Our defense is embarrassing, and Wilson makes no adjustments. When we got heat on Mettenberger in their first few drives, he was incapable of completing a pass....so what do we do? Quit bringing pressure until late in the game when they caught us with a screen and scored. I worry about our ability to stop Arkansas because if we're in that soft zone, Wilson and his receivers will pick us apart Troy style. Good read.
 

jwhdawg

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Aug 22, 2012
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Agree with it all and 100% for No. 10 and 14. Mullen has to see that Wilson will not change and will not play SEC style physical defense. Were loseing games caused by Wilson alone,it's there to see..
 

Todd4State

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Mar 3, 2008
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The only thing I would add

about Wilson was the TD we gave up before the half- that can't happen if we're going to beat LSU, Bama, etc. on the road. We played soft and gave them a free TD before the half. That series took us out of the game. We did the same against UT with about five minutes left and it almost cost us the game. Tyler's checking to that sneak on third and three was bad because we got no point out of that drive. He probably learned his lesson. Milton fumbling the ball was a freshman mistake, but I agree- keep Griffin in back there instead of bringing in a cold freshman RB. I think we maybe should think about moving Nikoe to LB next year. I think we could bulk him up enough where he could handle it. Make him almost a hybrid OLB/SS type of player. I think that would take advantage of his strengths- something Wilson apparently has no interest in taking advantage of with anyone on our defense.
 

kired

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Aug 22, 2008
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#7 - Milton has been getting love because up until that fumble, he had the highest ypc of our four backs. Now granted, most of that has been in our easiest games. But he's looked promising.

But after that fumble I don't care if he's benched for the rest of this year.
 

maroonmania

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Feb 23, 2008
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Agree with it all and 100% for No. 10 and 14. Mullen has to see that Wilson will not change and will not play SEC style physical defense. Were loseing games caused by Wilson alone,it's there to see..

Seriously, I know Manny's D has had its own issues at Texas but it definitely seems like we were much more aggressive when Manny was here. Diaz and Wilson supposedly schemed our defense together but it definitely seems Wilson is MUCH more risk averse than Manny was. I'm really starting to miss Manny playing air guitar on the sideline and dialing up pressure. Is our talent that much less now that Wilson doesn't feel like he can take any chances? Seems our defense dies a slow death every week now.
 

Koldfire

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Sep 15, 2012
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Our defense gives because we don't have the horses on the Line, period. If you don't have a pocket- bursting lineman (which we don't) and a quick, disruptive DE (which we don't have), no corners in the world can cover good WRs. We don't have a stud LB (Cam is not a NFL LB). Teams don't have to attack us at our strength (CB), cause we are weak at LB and safety. JLD didn't just have lock down corners, he had killers on the line and at LB. No DC can field a great defense with our current players. Maybe some of you should just stick with coaching your little girls soccer team.
 

CadaverDawg

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Our defense gives because we don't have the horses on the Line, period. If you don't have a pocket- bursting lineman (which we don't) and a quick, disruptive DE (which we don't have), no corners in the world can cover good WRs. We don't have a stud LB (Cam is not a NFL LB). Teams don't have to attack us at our strength (CB), cause we are weak at LB and safety. JLD didn't just have lock down corners, he had killers on the line and at LB. No DC can field a great defense with our current players. Maybe some of you should just stick with coaching your little girls soccer team.

********. The way you get pressure is by bringing more than just your D-Line. We have more than enough talent on defense to be well above average. If you bring your LBs then the QB doesn't have time to wait on your corners to break down, that's the thing.....if your d-line sucks at getting pressure, the answer is not to just drop everybody but the D-line into coverage and hope we can stop the pass when it comes. The answer is to bring more guys than they have blockers and force the ball out sooner against your good CB's.

ETA: I've seen far less talented teams play better defense than we do, so it pisses me off that you would say that. In fact, we have had far less talented MSU defenses that have played better than the **** we've seen this year. And one more thing since you made the smartass girls soccer team remark....why don't you tell Chris Wilson that there are two talented DLinemen on his bench that are better than one of his starters. You wanna talk talent, well Wilson isn't even playing our best players. Quay, James, or Dawgstudent are better than Cherrington, so your talent comment is ******** Mrs. Wilson.
 
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Koldfire

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********. The way you get pressure is by bringing more than just your D-Line. We have more than enough talent on defense to be well above average. If you bring your LBs then the QB doesn't have time to wait on your corners to break down, that's the thing.....if your d-line sucks at getting pressure, the answer is not to just drop everybody but the D-line into coverage and hope we can stop the pass when it comes. The answer is to bring more guys than they have blockers and force the ball out sooner against your good CB's.

ETA: I've seen far less talented teams play better defense than we do, so it pisses me off that you would say that. In fact, we have had far less talented MSU defenses that have played better than the **** we've seen this year. And one more thing since you made the smartass girls soccer team remark....why don't you tell Chris Wilson that there are two talented DLinemen on his bench that are better than one of his starters. You wanna talk talent, well Wilson isn't even playing our best players. Quay, James, or Dawgstudent are better than Cherrington, so your talent comment is ******** Mrs. Wilson.


Im not telling Wilson shat! You tell him. Or better yet, tell his boss. You have to be nuts to think that the guys on the bench are our best players. Do you think Mullen and Wilson are saving them for a bowl-game surprise? Your answer to good defense is to bring the house every time. Do it and your *** will get shredded. Ask JLD how that works without four badasses in the box. You can do it occasionally with good success with the right players. Hell we don't have a LB that can get by a blocking RB. Bring everybody, force a hot read and a decent Qb and OC will kill us. But if it makes you feel better to say that our coaches don't know talent and don't know how to scheme, then....
 

War Machine Dawg

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Oct 14, 2007
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Spot on.....

********. The way you get pressure is by bringing more than just your D-Line. We have more than enough talent on defense to be well above average. If you bring your LBs then the QB doesn't have time to wait on your corners to break down, that's the thing.....if your d-line sucks at getting pressure, the answer is not to just drop everybody but the D-line into coverage and hope we can stop the pass when it comes. The answer is to bring more guys than they have blockers and force the ball out sooner against your good CB's.

ETA: I've seen far less talented teams play better defense than we do, so it pisses me off that you would say that. In fact, we have had far less talented MSU defenses that have played better than the **** we've seen this year. And one more thing since you made the smartass girls soccer team remark....why don't you tell Chris Wilson that there are two talented DLinemen on his bench that are better than one of his starters. You wanna talk talent, well Wilson isn't even playing our best players. Quay, James, or Dawgstudent are better than Cherrington, so your talent comment is ******** Mrs. Wilson.

The lack of talent argument is absolute ********. This D has enough players that we should be a Top 15 D, maybe better. As I pointed out previously, PJ Jones, Virges, and Quay should all be starting ahead of Cherrington. James is also more talented, but he doesn't have the conditioning to play for any extended period of time.

Our LBs are as good as any in the SEC. McKinney will be freshman all-SEC. And he's done nothing but improve as the season has progressed. He looks and moves like the LBs you see for Bama, LSU, etc. Cam is probably one of the smartest players on D in the league. He's very rarely out of position and does all the little things right. He may not be the most talented, but he gets the most out of what he has. He's also the leader of the D, not Banks, imo. Skinner is a physical beast. He'd start for most of the other SEC schools. He's a guy I think should get some situational pass rush opportunities at DE. Wells is boom or bust, but he's got the talent to be a very good SEC LB.

And you're absolutely correct about bringing extra guys to help mask the lack of pass rush from your DL. Every DC on every level does that when their DL isn't great at getting pressure. But apparently Wilson has never learned that or is too scared of giving up the big play. He'd rather drop 8, give up the first down, and let SEC OLinemen lean on his DLinemen even longer. You want better DL play? Get them off the field quicker so the physical OLinemen in this league don't wear on them for extra plays. Bend-but-don't-break is a recipe for failure in this league.
 

CadaverDawg

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Im not telling Wilson shat! You tell him. Or better yet, tell his boss. You have to be nuts to think that the guys on the bench are our best players. Do you think Mullen and Wilson are saving them for a bowl-game surprise? Your answer to good defense is to bring the house every time. Do it and your *** will get shredded. Ask JLD how that works without four badasses in the box. You can do it occasionally with good success with the right players. Hell we don't have a LB that can get by a blocking RB. Bring everybody, force a hot read and a decent Qb and OC will kill us. But if it makes you feel better to say that our coaches don't know talent and don't know how to scheme, then....

You're an idiot for several reasons....1. I never said "bring the house every time". You have to scheme and design different blitzes so they can't "shred" you every time by being predictable.
2. "A decent QB will kill us"......so we're not currently getting killed by EVERY QB? Wake the 17 up. Your comments are trash, bc you're obviously not realizing that our D isn't working against Great, Good, Average, or even some Bad QBs. We're wayyyy more talented than the product we've put on the field defensively this season. It is undeniable.

ETA: and I didn't say "the guys on our bench are our best players". If you would learn to read and quit twisting my words, you might get a clue what's wrong. There is zero doubt that Quay Evans and several other D-Linemen are better than Cherrington. Wilson is not the DC to get the Seniors in the game, he's the DC to get the best players in the game. He is starting a 17ing walk on when we have several stud d-linemen on the bench. That is concerning.
Read WMD's last post because he sums it up nicely.
 
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DerHntr

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Sep 18, 2007
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about Wilson was the TD we gave up before the half- that can't happen if we're going to beat LSU, Bama, etc. on the road. We played soft and gave them a free TD before the half. That series took us out of the game. We did the same against UT with about five minutes left and it almost cost us the game. Tyler's checking to that sneak on third and three was bad because we got no point out of that drive. He probably learned his lesson. Milton fumbling the ball was a freshman mistake, but I agree- keep Griffin in back there instead of bringing in a cold freshman RB. I think we maybe should think about moving Nikoe to LB next year. I think we could bulk him up enough where he could handle it. Make him almost a hybrid OLB/SS type of player. I think that would take advantage of his strengths- something Wilson apparently has no interest in taking advantage of with anyone on our defense.

We didnt just go soft on D. We went soft offensively by not calling a 17ing timeout to get a good play dialed up. Mullen showed he was not confident we could score and he wanted to burn the clock since he thought LSU would get the ball when we didn't score. It is ******** and the team reacts accordingly. Either he believes in the damn offense or not.

So Miles gets the ball and does everything possible to score in the time left. He takes the chance while we cower away. It sucks.
 

CadaverDawg

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We didnt just go soft on D. We went soft offensively by not calling a 17ing timeout to get a good play dialed up. Mullen showed he was not confident we could score and he wanted to burn the clock since he thought LSU would get the ball when we didn't score. It is ******** and the team reacts accordingly. Either he believes in the damn offense or not.

So Miles gets the ball and does everything possible to score in the time left. He takes the chance while we cower away. It sucks.

You are exactly right.
 

Koldfire

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Sep 15, 2012
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You're an idiot for several reasons....1. I never said "bring the house every time". You have to scheme and design different blitzes so they can't "shred" you every time by being predictable.
2. "A decent QB will kill us"......so we're not currently getting killed by EVERY QB? Wake the 17 up. Your comments are trash, bc you're obviously not realizing that our D isn't working against Great, Good, Average, or even some Bad QBs. We're wayyyy more talented than the product we've put on the field defensively this season. It is undeniable.

ETA: and I didn't say "the guys on our bench are our best players". If you would learn to read and quit twisting my words, you might get a clue what's wrong. There is zero doubt that Quay Evans and several other D-Linemen are better than Cherrington. Wilson is not the DC to get the Seniors in the game, he's the DC to get the best players in the game. He is starting a 17ing walk on when we have several stud d-linemen on the bench. That is concerning.
Read WMD's last post because he sums it up nicely.

I am sorry, Sir. I don't have a clue about coaching a defense. I have never played a down of football. Maybe the coaches are leaving the D-line studs on the bench. Bet Mullen probably doesn't know that Wilson is doing this junk. I won't be surprised if the dumb pro scouts misses the fact that we have great LBs. Fans can always see things that the coaches don't. You can say that player X is better than player Y. But you are not in practice where X screws up 9 times out of 10. Our entire coaching staff may be blooming idiots (just like me). But I would wager that they know the players and their abilities better than you and I. I would also wager that they are putting those players in the best possible position to make plays. Remember this ... Quarter horses are fast, but they don't win the derby. We got to get more thoroughbreds. Just love my bulldogs
 

CadaverDawg

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I am sorry, Sir. I don't have a clue about coaching a defense. I have never played a down of football. Maybe the coaches are leaving the D-line studs on the bench. Bet Mullen probably doesn't know that Wilson is doing this junk. I won't be surprised if the dumb pro scouts misses the fact that we have great LBs. Fans can always see things that the coaches don't. You can say that player X is better than player Y. But you are not in practice where X screws up 9 times out of 10. Our entire coaching staff may be blooming idiots (just like me). But I would wager that they know the players and their abilities better than you and I. I would also wager that they are putting those players in the best possible position to make plays. Remember this ... Quarter horses are fast, but they don't win the derby. We got to get more thoroughbreds. Just love my bulldogs

No I'm not, but I AM watching player X(Cherrington) play terrible and bring nothing to the defense while player Y(Evans) causes disruption every time he's on the field but he's on the bench instead. And Quay isn't even the only guy that plays far better than Cherrington while in the game. And one other thing....if you "would wager" that Chris Wilson is putting us in the best position to win like you say, then you would lose a lot of money.
 

UIUCDog

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Aug 22, 2012
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So what you're saying is...

...that you, dpalm, and a few others might want to mosey on over to Jean's flock where you will fit in better.
 

jwhdawg

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Aug 22, 2012
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Mullen needs to show that cocky way he had his second year in games and his players will see that and play harder. It's like in some games now,he know he's out-coached. He needs to keep his chest out in all games..
 

dpalm

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Nov 11, 2012
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...that you, dpalm, and a few others might want to mosey on over to Jean's flock where you will fit in better.

Since you know so 17n much about coaching, take your *** out there and coach! Otherwise shut the 17 up!