Anger, Leadership, and Experience I have been out of touch with you guys for quite some time but I felt I had to take the time to post because of what is going on this year. From my perspective of just watching the games this year it seems there is a lot missing from this team as opposed to previous years. One is Anger I don’t see much anger and tenacity in this team, especially on defense. In the past few years if you scored on an LSU defense they got pissed off and would come back with some serious intensity on the next series and slap the offense back into their place. Anger and intensity and emotion play a big part on defense, especially a young defense. A lot of this type of attitude on a team comes from the DC. In years past guys like Saban and Muschamp and Pelini would scream bloody murder to get guys attention so that they would get their heads out of their butts and play ball. I love coach Miles and I think he has a good relationship with his players but I would absolutely love to see him get angry and get in some of his players faces from time to time. I also see a lot of arm tackling, diving and grabbing, usually from behind. This leads me to the next thing I see that is missing. Leadership I haven’t been as involved this season as in season’s past so maybe it’s lack of info but I have no idea who the leaders are on this team. It’s not apparent on the field which person is stepping up and trying to lead this team so I assume it’s left up to the coaches. Who is that vocal guy that gets in players faces and challenges them to play better. I haven’t seen any of that this season. Experience The obvious thing that is lacking in this team is experience. This is something that just cannot be taught. It accounts for a lot of what is going on this year. What I don’t see this year is a lack of effort. I don’t see anyone slacking off or not trying. If you say it’s not an effort issue then you have to assume there is a lack of athletic skill. Most if these guys were all highly recruited and you would have to assume they are athletically gifted individuals. So what is it? What’s the difference between years past and this year? The head coach is the same as last year, the OC is the same as last year. There are obviously different players but they are talented different players. The biggest difference I see is the Defensive Coordinator position. Even if you say that our players on defense aren’t as talented that still does not explain two games giving up over 50 points. Even though there were 2 pick 6’s, take those out and that’s still an LSU defense giving up 35 points. That’s a lot for a non overtime game. As a coach you must know your weaknesses on defense and adjust your game plan to cover those weaknesses. I’m still seeing a lot of man coverage. I don’t think we have the maturity and experience at DB to run a lot of man coverage. Man coverage is great if you get to the QB quickly. We aren’t doing that either. I would think that one 50 point game would teach you that. I know we have problems on offense obviously but I think I’m more surprised this year by our defensive play than anything else. One other thing that bothers me a little is the post game comments. I heard a lot of how the team was sick about the loss and how we need to fix things and how many mistakes there were. What I didn’t hear was that losses like this are unacceptable and shouldn’t be tolerated. Granted we have a young quarterback but you would like to hear your quarterback say that we cannot tolerate losses like this instead of saying “well, that’s football. You win some, you lose some”. Those that know me and my posts know that I have been and always will be a TIGER fan to the core. My point of this post is to say that I hope the leadership of this program does not “get used” to losing and starts to accept losing as part of the game. I won’t be able to return posts right away but I’ll check the thread later and see what everyone thinks. It’ll be good to hear from everyone again.
Well, I dont think it's all the players' faults, I think there was some bad defensive schemes called and this years athletes just aren't experienced enough to handle them yet. Most of them are young, and you have to think we dont have a LaRon Landry anymore or a ali highsmith who could always get back there and mess up the quarterback. This is a young football team and the teams we have lost to have been very good, veteran groups. Just give our defense some time and they will mature into a fine group of players. lefire:
Until the front 4 can prove they can control the line of scrimmage, much less pressure the QB and get after the RB, you're gonna keep seeing this since LBs have been otherwise very poor in coverage. It's disheartening to see a veteran group of D-linemen struggle this much against average O-lines (Florida) and even a makeshift line (UGA). Lee's freshman mistakes I can live with. Watching a veteran front 7 play like this has been frankly shocking. Yes, LSU has lost to two very good teams and there are issues with injuries and youth. But to see players constantly confused/out of position, and very few big defensive plays/turnovers through 7 games is disturbing. I really hope we see a dominating effort against Tulane, because we will need defense more than ever against Bama.
Wrong choice of words, I was thinking relative to the DBs, more along the lines of Beckwith, (who to be fair doesn't look 100%), Cutrera and Riley.
