Fleck "It's all on me"

Haze0010

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In the press conference, Fleck said the defensive failures all fall on him. He is 100% behind Robb, and that the defensive schemes all work, and the kids are in the correct positions before the snap.. PJ mentioned that Frost kept going after the same guys like a good coach would do. We have 9 upperclassman on Defense, why can't we scheme to protect the 2 kids that are being abused. I am a huge Fleck bobo, but this one bothers me...
 

1. Not much else he can say. Any coach that would ever come out post game and say "It's not on me, it's on X coach or Y player"... well the end result of that is so obvious it doesn't require further explanation.

2. I equate his vote of confidence of his coaches to be true, but I'm sure there is a small amount of doubt growing about Robb Smith. There has to be or PJ is hanging himself. If they finish this season allowing 35-40 points per game through the end of the season, bringing back Robb Smith would be a very visible decision.
 

In the press conference, Fleck said the defensive failures all fall on him. He is 100% behind Robb, and that the defensive schemes all work, and the kids are in the correct positions before the snap.. PJ mentioned that Frost kept going after the same guys like a good coach would do. We have 9 upperclassman on Defense, why can't we scheme to protect the 2 kids that are being abused. I am a huge Fleck bobo, but this one bothers me...

Part of being a head coach is taking the bullets in the post game after a loss. Kill did it as well, they all do. It is very very rare that a head coach will throw a fellow coach or player under the bus after a game, it happens but not very often.

Now behind closed doors I would bet there are some very different conversations taking place. Fleck knows he will get a pass this year in the W/L department but the window on that grace period goes away soon and the program will have to start winning so if he thinks Smith won't be able to get it done I will not be surprised one bit if a change happens in the off season. But for right now all he can do is be supportive and deflect as much of the criticism as possible on himself since he is the one making the big bucks (not that the coordinators are exactly hurting in that department).
 

Part of being a head coach is taking the bullets in the post game after a loss. Kill did it as well, they all do. It is very very rare that a head coach will throw a fellow coach or player under the bus after a game, it happens but not very often.

Now behind closed doors I would bet there are some very different conversations taking place. Fleck knows he will get a pass this year in the W/L department but the window on that grace period goes away soon and the program will have to start winning so if he thinks Smith won't be able to get it done I will not be surprised one bit if a change happens in the off season. But for right now all he can do is be supportive and deflect as much of the criticism as possible on himself since he is the one making the big bucks (not that the coordinators are exactly hurting in that department).

What bothered me was that he said Nebraska kept going after the same kids like a good coach should. To me that is calling out your coach and your players.. The "all on me" comment was completely disingenuous. That is why I am having issue with it. If during the game he can recognize what is taking place, its reasonable to think that we should make adjustments. That is 100% on him
 

What bothered me was that he said Nebraska kept going after the same kids like a good coach should. To me that is calling out your coach and your players.. The "all on me" comment was completely disingenuous. That is why I am having issue with it. If during the game he can recognize what is taking place, its reasonable to think that we should make adjustments. That is 100% on him

Don't join a debate team.
 


What bothered me was that he said Nebraska kept going after the same kids like a good coach should. To me that is calling out your coach and your players.. The "all on me" comment was completely disingenuous. That is why I am having issue with it. If during the game he can recognize what is taking place, its reasonable to think that we should make adjustments. That is 100% on him

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I get that the "all on me" comment is just to protect his coaches and players and means nothing but his statements don't line up with what he's saying. If the schemes work and the players are in the right places, it must be on the players. It has to be one or the other or possibly both. Working schemes don't allow certain players to get picked on.

If he does think the schemes work and that isn't just protecting Robb Smith, that's really concerning. Maybe they work in theory but we clearly saw that they didn't work in practice because players weren't talented enough to do what they were asked. Is Fleck's approach to come up with schemes that would work if he had the roster he wanted and hope they work with the roster he has? It sure looked like that when we gave up 28 points in a row in Lincoln and didn't score in the last 40 minutes in Ohio. So far it seems like they come up with 1 plan before the game and another at halftime and don't really adjust those during each half. If they work well (first half @ OSU), we're in good shape. If they don't (first half @ Nebraska), they won't make adjustments until halftime when it is already too late. What happens when he eventually gets the team he wants? Other teams will still study our schemes and find a way to beat them and unless Fleck and his staff starts adapting, they'll take advantage of us until halftime/for the rest of the game. Plus injuries will destroy us if Fleck can't adapt to having worse players on the field.
 

What's on him is supporting a defensive scheme and system that doesn't work with the personnel he has and then wanting a pass on that because the kids aren't ready. A good coach could design a scheme his defense could execute now and refine it to something else when better personnel become available. What Fleck is doing is equivalent to the Cavaliers continuing to run isolations for Lebron after he has already left for the Lakers and then saying "The system works, we just don't have the personnel in place to make it work."

Kill had put his stamp on the gopher defense by this time in the progression, I guess you could argue we are seeing PJ's stamp on the offense so far, but this defense is in shambles right now. Really no choice but to give it another year and see where it goes.
 

I get that the "all on me" comment is just to protect his coaches and players and means nothing but his statements don't line up with what he's saying. If the schemes work and the players are in the right places, it must be on the players. It has to be one or the other or possibly both. Working schemes don't allow certain players to get picked on.

If he does think the schemes work and that isn't just protecting Robb Smith, that's really concerning. Maybe they work in theory but we clearly saw that they didn't work in practice because players weren't talented enough to do what they were asked. Is Fleck's approach to come up with schemes that would work if he had the roster he wanted and hope they work with the roster he has? It sure looked like that when we gave up 28 points in a row in Lincoln and didn't score in the last 40 minutes in Ohio. So far it seems like they come up with 1 plan before the game and another at halftime and don't really adjust those during each half. If they work well (first half @ OSU), we're in good shape. If they don't (first half @ Nebraska), they won't make adjustments until halftime when it is already too late. What happens when he eventually gets the team he wants? Other teams will still study our schemes and find a way to beat them and unless Fleck and his staff starts adapting, they'll take advantage of us until halftime/for the rest of the game. Plus injuries will destroy us if Fleck can't adapt to having worse players on the field.

Are there really still fans out there that don't understand coach speak? Since when has any coach ever been totally honest with their assessment of their players or coaches? Assistant coaches get fired all the time but you will rarely see the head coach blasting them publicly before it happens, same with players getting benched.

Now in regards to game plan and adjustments.....this one is pretty basic. Coaches from both teams spend countless hours studying film of both their team and their opponent for the week. They break down every little detail they can and both sides come up with a game plan they think will be able to exploit the weaknesses on the other team. They then practice that gameplan with the players for the week and enter the game on Saturday with a plan in place that they hope will be effective.

Then the game starts, and teams make tweaks and adjustments as the game progresses but it is really hard to make major adjustments on the fly because there just isn't time. That is why you see teams make major adjustments at half time when they actually have some time to take a look at things and make some decisions.

As for any team or staff adapting to having worse players on the field due to injuries and what not, there really only is so much you can during a game and between games college teams are limited by the fact that your roster is your roster and you can't go sign players the way the pros can to try and fill holes on their team.

All that said, opponents seem to be finding the soft spots in Smith's defense so it will be on him to figure out how to correct for this with new schemes and the players he has at his disposal. If he is unable to do that over the remainder of the season then there is a good chance we will have a new DC next year. But leading up to that I would bet you won't hear Fleck take a shot at Smith or any of his other coaches in the media.
 




Are there really still fans out there that don't understand coach speak? Since when has any coach ever been totally honest with their assessment of their players or coaches? Assistant coaches get fired all the time but you will rarely see the head coach blasting them publicly before it happens, same with players getting benched.

Now in regards to game plan and adjustments.....this one is pretty basic. Coaches from both teams spend countless hours studying film of both their team and their opponent for the week. They break down every little detail they can and both sides come up with a game plan they think will be able to exploit the weaknesses on the other team. They then practice that gameplan with the players for the week and enter the game on Saturday with a plan in place that they hope will be effective.

Then the game starts, and teams make tweaks and adjustments as the game progresses but it is really hard to make major adjustments on the fly because there just isn't time. That is why you see teams make major adjustments at half time when they actually have some time to take a look at things and make some decisions.

As for any team or staff adapting to having worse players on the field due to injuries and what not, there really only is so much you can during a game and between games college teams are limited by the fact that your roster is your roster and you can't go sign players the way the pros can to try and fill holes on their team.

All that said, opponents seem to be finding the soft spots in Smith's defense so it will be on him to figure out how to correct for this with new schemes and the players he has at his disposal. If he is unable to do that over the remainder of the season then there is a good chance we will have a new DC next year. But leading up to that I would bet you won't hear Fleck take a shot at Smith or any of his other coaches in the media.

I get coach speak but usually they don't contradict themselves that quickly.

Our biggest problem in the first half was pretty clearly having guys over-commit on runs when they weren't athletic enough which allowed their athletic players to make a few moves and then have a clear path to the endzone. It shouldn't have taken that long to have a safety playing less aggressive to pick up anyone who slips past the linebackers or to have our less athletic guys funnel the guy with the ball into other defensive players rather than going straight in and hoping for the best. Not to mention with backups and young players playing, we should have had a plan for them getting beat all along.

Coaches will be able to make better adjustments at halftime but that's not an excuse for making poor adjustments before halftime. After we got touchdowns on consecutive drives a week ago, OSU made changes and kept us off the scoreboard for the rest of the half and game. We only made Nebraska punt twice and fumble once all game. I don't expect adjustments between drives to be perfect but I also don't think it's acceptable for them to be as horrible as they were.
 

"Its all on me" always seems to come right before he explains why he thinks none of it is his fault.
 

"Its all on me" always seems to come right before he explains why he thinks none of it is his fault.

Again, what do you want him to say?
Just say "It's all on me" and not give any other details?

I think that's worse and would make for an awkward yet short press conference.
 



In the press conference, Fleck said the defensive failures all fall on him. He is 100% behind Robb, and that the defensive schemes all work, and the kids are in the correct positions before the snap.. PJ mentioned that Frost kept going after the same guys like a good coach would do. We have 9 upperclassman on Defense, why can't we scheme to protect the 2 kids that are being abused. I am a huge Fleck bobo, but this one bothers me...
Well one of the guys being abused is a senior so there is that.
Honestly it is the same depth issue we had last year at the same position. Wish we recruited 2-3 impact guys like we did at WR
 

700 yards of offense it is on anyone and everyone associated with the Defense. A good 9 man football team wouldn't give up that many yards against them. Christ, that's a 3-4 game stretch worth of offense for some teams. It's embarrassing to be honest. If the kids had stood there and just let Nebraska run into them I don't think they would have given up that many yards. Figure it out coaches. If it's the gameplan, fix it. If they players aren't doing their job, bench them and put someone else in there.
 

In the press conference, Fleck said the defensive failures all fall on him. He is 100% behind Robb, and that the defensive schemes all work, and the kids are in the correct positions before the snap.. PJ mentioned that Frost kept going after the same guys like a good coach would do. We have 9 upperclassman on Defense, why can't we scheme to protect the 2 kids that are being abused. I am a huge Fleck bobo, but this one bothers me...
Are you assuming the kids being picked on are the 2 underclassmen? On several of the big TD runs, it was the "upperclassmen" who wound up out of position and/ or missed tackles.


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to be fair, I think that "it's all on me" is more a statement that Fleck is the head coach, so everything is ultimately his responsibility - even though there are coordinators and assistant coaches who handle most of the day-to-day coaching, call the plays, and work the X's and O's. I don't think Fleck is saying that he's directly responsible for players being out of position, or missing tackles.

And, it's hard to tell who's at fault without being at practice. For all we know, the coaches are telling the players over and over again that, "against this formation, your read is X, and your responsibility is Y," and the players just aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. it could be mental mistakes. it could be physical mistakes - it could be lack of physical ability.

And it's hard to know - without being in the locker room - what adjustments are being made. All we can do is watch the game, and it looks like the same players making the same mistakes. So, either no adjustments are being made, or they are making adjustments, and the players are simply incapable of executing what needs to happen.

So, Fleck is in a bind. he can't say "we told Cornerback X what to do 27 times, and he still did the wrong thing." Even if it's true, you can't do that as a Coach. And he can't say "my coaches can't make adjustments," even if it's true.

sometimes, the best thing to say is, "the other team was better today," and just leave it at that.
 

to be fair, I think that "it's all on me" is more a statement that Fleck is the head coach, so everything is ultimately his responsibility - even though there are coordinators and assistant coaches who handle most of the day-to-day coaching, call the plays, and work the X's and O's. I don't think Fleck is saying that he's directly responsible for players being out of position, or missing tackles.

And, it's hard to tell who's at fault without being at practice. For all we know, the coaches are telling the players over and over again that, "against this formation, your read is X, and your responsibility is Y," and the players just aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. it could be mental mistakes. it could be physical mistakes - it could be lack of physical ability.

And it's hard to know - without being in the locker room - what adjustments are being made. All we can do is watch the game, and it looks like the same players making the same mistakes. So, either no adjustments are being made, or they are making adjustments, and the players are simply incapable of executing what needs to happen.

So, Fleck is in a bind. he can't say "we told Cornerback X what to do 27 times, and he still did the wrong thing." Even if it's true, you can't do that as a Coach. And he can't say "my coaches can't make adjustments," even if it's true.

sometimes, the best thing to say is, "the other team was better today," and just leave it at that.

In your scenario, it is exactly his and his defensive coordinator's fault. Part of coaching is making sure the whole team knows their assignments. If you have a few times in a row where a player isn't doing their job and it is because they are in the wrong place, or any other type of "mental" mistake, you have to take them out and put someone else in there. Period.

The "oh, we've told them where to be, but they didn't execute" doesn't fly with me. If they don't execute to the tune of 650 yards, yank em and put in someone else, even if they are less talented. You can't let guys makes tons of mistakes over and over with no consequence.
 

In your scenario, it is exactly his and his defensive coordinator's fault. Part of coaching is making sure the whole team knows their assignments. If you have a few times in a row where a player isn't doing their job and it is because they are in the wrong place, or any other type of "mental" mistake, you have to take them out and put someone else in there. Period.

The "oh, we've told them where to be, but they didn't execute" doesn't fly with me. If they don't execute to the tune of 650 yards, yank em and put in someone else, even if they are less talented. You can't let guys makes tons of mistakes over and over with no consequence.

But it isn't that cut and dried. Fans always want to think the next guy in line is going to be better than the starter, the reality of course is that the coaches spend hours and hours and hours with these players, they know what they can and can't do. So when you take a starter out and replace him with a less prepared, less talented player why do fans make the assumption that magically things are going to get better?

The defense played horrible Saturday and they have not been good the last few weeks. I guarantee the defensive coaches are doing everything they can to figure out the fix, if they can't then they will almost certainly be looking for work in the offseason.
 

Again, what do you want him to say?
Just say "It's all on me" and not give any other details?

I think that's worse and would make for an awkward yet short press conference.

When his performance is as bad as it's been, there isn't much he could say to make me happy. I just don't want him to get credit for taking responsibility when he spends the rest of the conference whining about how his players are too young.

He could also take responsibility for some specific mistakes he made.
 

When his performance is as bad as it's been, there isn't much he could say to make me happy. I just don't want him to get credit for taking responsibility when he spends the rest of the conference whining about how his players are too young.

He could also take responsibility for some specific mistakes he made.
What is wrong with the truth? They are too young. Next man up will be a true freshman. He's trying to preserve RS on as many as possible. So sticking another guy in isn't really an option at this point. Perhaps you will get your wish in the last 4 weeks and see if the new guys show any promise.

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Are you assuming the kids being picked on are the 2 underclassmen? On several of the big TD runs, it was the "upperclassmen" who wound up out of position and/ or missed tackles.


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No, that part of the problem of blaming youth for the mistakes. We have no depth at Safety. We went into the season with Huff and Winfield. Winfield got hurt and our options are a walk-on Freshman and a Senior CB who is doing the best he can. Kamal is never where he's supposed to be. So I would guess Kamal, and the Shenault/Howard combo is what PJ is referring to.
 

What is wrong with the truth? They are too young. Next man up will be a true freshman. He's trying to preserve RS on as many as possible. So sticking another guy in isn't really an option at this point. Perhaps you will get your wish in the last 4 weeks and see if the new guys show any promise.

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I agree with your take but it will be really interesting to see which redshirt players see some action in the final few games of the season. Could be almost like September call-ups in baseball when you get a peak at some of the younger players who will hopefully make an impact down the line. Will be curious to see how coaches use this new rule above and beyond what has been done so far.
 

What is wrong with the truth? They are too young. Next man up will be a true freshman. He's trying to preserve RS on as many as possible. So sticking another guy in isn't really an option at this point. Perhaps you will get your wish in the last 4 weeks and see if the new guys show any promise.

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The biggest problem among many has been at safety. Benny Sapp was a recruit we had high hopes for, and he's been playing on special teams. His redshirt has been burned, so there's a guy we could try.

I'm sure he's not playing because the coaches don't believe he's ready, but at this point how much worse can it get? At least get him in there once in a while so we don't have to hear next year that he has no experience.

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But it isn't that cut and dried. Fans always want to think the next guy in line is going to be better than the starter, the reality of course is that the coaches spend hours and hours and hours with these players, they know what they can and can't do. So when you take a starter out and replace him with a less prepared, less talented player why do fans make the assumption that magically things are going to get better?

The defense played horrible Saturday and they have not been good the last few weeks. I guarantee the defensive coaches are doing everything they can to figure out the fix, if they can't then they will almost certainly be looking for work in the offseason.


659 yards though. They got just smoked over and over and over on outside runs. Take the easy path, get sealed up. It happened time and again. Any dumb**** can stand there and turn the plays inside, it takes no skill only brainpower. Bench em. Outside linebackers, Defensive ends, cornerbacks. All played terrible against the run and even watching in live motion about anyone could tell what was going on. It just looks to me like they don't even understand simple defensive flow.
 

Also, I just watched a little tape and #23 has alot of work to do.
 

Well one of the guys being abused is a senior so there is that.
Honestly it is the same depth issue we had last year at the same position. <b>Wish we recruited 2-3 impact guys like we did at WR</b>

You mean like Adam Beck and KHH? Where are Ray Estes and Justus Harris? Not all these terrible lack-of-depth issues can be pinned on the previous staff.


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What's on him is supporting a defensive scheme and system that doesn't work with the personnel he has and then wanting a pass on that because the kids aren't ready. A good coach could design a scheme his defense could execute now and refine it to something else when better personnel become available. What Fleck is doing is equivalent to the Cavaliers continuing to run isolations for Lebron after he has already left for the Lakers and then saying "The system works, we just don't have the personnel in place to make it work."

Kill had put his stamp on the gopher defense by this time in the progression, I guess you could argue we are seeing PJ's stamp on the offense so far, but this defense is in shambles right now. Really no choice but to give it another year and see where it goes.

Great post. Hit it right on the head.
 

Teams learned quickly to exploit the Gophers weaknesses on defense. They know one blown coverage can end quickly in a long scoring affair.

Yes, PJ Fleck is hanging his hat on offense, but the defense would be business as usual. Wrong.

Jerry Kill on the other hand build the defense brick by brick and he did not have A QB on another level. Jerry Kill and Tracy Claeys make the adjustments in the second half to keep the game at least competitive. This year's Gopher D is embarrassing injuries or not.
 

Teams learned quickly to exploit the Gophers weaknesses on defense. They know one blown coverage can end quickly in a long scoring affair.

Yes, PJ Fleck is hanging his hat on offense, but the defense would be business as usual. Wrong.

Jerry Kill on the other hand build the defense brick by brick and he did not have A QB on another level. Jerry Kill and Tracy Claeys make the adjustments in the second half to keep the game at least competitive. This year's Gopher D is embarrassing injuries or not.

Speaking of injuries, Fleck used to say how their strength and conditioning program and the way they run practices was going to really help with keeping the players healthy. Seems to be a rough year for injuries.
 




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