Sure, and I've seen that also. But my philosophy is if I don't see it in practice then you won't have a chance to show me in the game and the players understand that. A player always has an opportunity to compete and if there is a position they want then they have to earn it in practice. The problem with stepping it up in games is that as long as things are going well for your team it works, but in times of adversity and stress, the body's natural reaction is to revert back to "training."
I don't have the time or care to go back and check but I believe we were scoring an average of 30 points with Lee. Take away 6 and that still leave 24 points. How many points is Jefferson netting?
We're averaging nearly 30 now without spotting the opposition 7 points. I realize the defense is responsible for a lot of the points but if they go on the scoreboard I don't care how they get there. Our average margin of victory is 15 points. That gives you a "relax factor" that an 8 point differential would not.
defense and specials teams aren't going to always put points on the board though. What happens when teams realize they shouldn't kick the ball to number 7?
I'll worry about that when it happens. Tolliver won't always let a pass in the red zone go through his hands for in int. This defense and this special teams is pretty damn good and will help us in every game we play. If they have an off game and the offense sucks, we'll probably lose. How is that different from every other team in the universe?