Sturm: Marnelli Report - Week 7 Giants

[speedkilz88]

Now why did you have to go and say that?

Both players are very instinctive but Lee prides himself on film study so he can be where he needs to be as a Mike given his limited abilities. McClain is instinctive and wills himself into plays. If I was a blocker, I would rather face Lee's finesse as opposed to McClain's raw power.

When you say Lee is the "cerebral" guy that knows where to be and that McClain does the same on "pure athletic ability", you intimate that.

 

[Stash]

The Giants were trying to bait Moore into a stop & go route for later in the game. Every time he showed over coverage they went to the stop route.

Randle had 70+ yards and they got several first downs doing that same thing. I'd like to see that tightened up a bit going forward.

 

[Crown Royal]

When you say Lee is the "cerebral" guy that knows where to be and that McClain does the same on "pure athletic ability", you intimate that.

Took the words out of my mouth.

 

[Crown Royal]

Randle had 70+ yards and they got several first downs doing that same thing. I'd like to see that tightened up a bit going forward.

Oh I agree, but I think the coaching staff is covering him up by not asking him to go trail technique man.

 

[tyke1doe]

The first thing we teach from day one in camp is that the name of the game is pursuit. You have to teach the defense to fly to the ball. That fact has not changed. On defense you must fly to the ball and gang tackle. You can talk about it all you want, but if you don’t practice it on the field, you won’t do this in the games. You have to coach this in practice every day. We do it at the pro level. Even though the pros are paid well, you have to work on this to get them to do it.” – Monte Kiffin, 1991
Kiffin hit on something there. Paychecks. The financial situation of many pro athletes is such that being yelled at to hustle harder is not always well-received. That is why it is vital for the Cowboys to find and develop the right types of players to play this system. If you are looking for possible reasons for the Cowboys looking like a better defense in year 2 of the scheme change that dig a little deeper than the absurd idea that Kiffin no longer understood defense, it would be that Dallas now has far more players who are willing to play that style than they did at this time in 2013. Rick Gosselin tackled this very topic in this very blog back in January of 2013: “Monte Kiffin is a great coach,” said Dungy, who had Kiffin as his defensive coordinator for six seasons (1996-2001) at Tampa Bay. “But if they want to go to this system, it will take a couple of years to get the right pieces to this puzzle. To get the 4-3 front personnel and the defensive backs tailored to play this system is going to take a few drafts.”

At the time I read that, I took it to mean the pieces of the 4-3 system from a size/weight/ability standpoint. The more I think about it, I wonder if Dungy was thinking about the mentality of players who fly to the ball and play through the whistle. The types of players who are gang tackling and then trying to pry the ball loose on every play. The types who are whipped into a frenzy and play “confrontational defense”, not this bend-but-don’t-break garbage that has been rolled out too often.

Also, it helps to have so many players who are trying to prove they are NFL players. As the great Bob Gainey, the respected GM for so many years of the Dallas Stars, “it is hard to be hungry when you are full.” Simply put, players who have been paid well, generally play differently. Again, these are generalities, but that is how teams have to think.

Success is easy, but success is hard. It's easy in the sense that there's no new formulas being created to achieve success. Hard work, knowledge and passion will take you far regardless of the discipline. But not everyone wants to do that. Yes, it sounds strange that all NFL players don't want to do that, but it's true. I can remember two comments that stressed this to me. One, I think, came from Michael Strahan who said guys on the Giants would "fake" illness because they didn't want to face Larry Allen. That was a powerful statement because it underscored 1.) Larry Allen was a bbbbaaaddd man, and 2.) Even in the NFL, not everyone wants it.
The second came from Michael Irvin when Jimmy Johnson came to Dallas. Irvin pulls out a sheet of paper of all the players not committed to winning. "He doesn't belong here. He doesn't want to win, etc." Of course, those of you who've seen America's Game remembers Irvin's comments.

Unfortunately, I believe there were players on this team who had become comfortable, and maybe some coaches too. They weren't committed to winning. They weren't commit to the recipe for success. And sometimes when that happens, you have to start weeding players out. We've got new players now. Hungry players who are out to prove themselves. They might not have all the talent, but unless you're Deion Sanders and you can just step on a football field and make things happen, hard work with a little talent and a lot of knowledge will beat out better talent with little work almost all the time.

Great article and another confirmation that if you do it the right way, good things will happen.

 

[Stash]

Oh I agree, but I think the coaching staff is covering him up by not asking him to go trail technique man.

Very likely, but I think it needs to be mixed in more than it was Sunday.

Sometimes it just looked too easy for the Giants.

 

[honyock]

I'm curious about the play where Mincey gave up contain and Eli ran for the 1st down. It seems that sometimes it's OK for the DE to crash inside and sometimes it's not. The LBs and the DEs have to be in sync on it. I don't know if it's part of the defensive play call or if they somehow have to read the situation. They gave up a couple of big runs against Houston when the LB stayed inside and the RDE (Jack Crawford) crashed down inside. Normally, there is a LB in place to keep outside contain when the DE is crashing down inside, but when they're not on the same page they have proble

Another thing I've noticed is that the DEs tend to go in a straight line towards the QB instead of looping wide and around the OT. This seems to result in consistent but limited pressure; whereas, the wide looping pass rusher sometimes has no effect on the play when the OT just pushes him wide, but probably gets more sacks when things do go right.

Marinelli was screaming at Mincey on the sideline after that play. So I'm guessing that Mincey freelanced on that inside move and didn't keep contain like he was supposed to.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

When you say Lee is the "cerebral" guy that knows where to be and that McClain does the same on "pure athletic ability", you intimate that.

No, not really.

 

[gimmesix]

The comment about Lee, while may not be popular, is true. RoMac deciphers plays quickly and attacks with great ferocity.

No, it's not.

I'm not sure why there seems to be a need to compare McClain and Lee because both are Pro Bowl-caliber players with different styles who just get it done. It's a lot like trying to debate which is better a Golden Delicious Apple or a Red Delicious Apple.

 

[speedkilz88]

No, not really.

I don't mean to pick on you man. But that's how that statement comes across. I thought your following post gave McClain more credit to his cerebral/instinces. So I think you were just trying to put Lee on another level.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

I don't mean to pick on you man. But that's how that statement comes across. I thought your following post gave McClain more credit to his cerebral/instinces. So I think you were just trying to put Lee on another level.

It's all good. Nothing negative inferred. Both are darn good football players!

 

[Crown Royal]

No, it's not.

I'm not sure why there seems to be a need to compare McClain and Lee because both are Pro Bowl-caliber players with different styles who just get it done. It's a lot like trying to debate which is better a Golden Delicious Apple or a Red Delicious Apple.

Terrible comparison.

Gala and Fuji are both superior. All the Delicious Apples are far from Pro Bowlers.

 

[Plumfool]

No, it's not.

I'm not sure why there seems to be a need to compare McClain and Lee because both are Pro Bowl-caliber players with different styles who just get it done. It's a lot like trying to debate which is better a Golden Delicious Apple or a Red Delicious Apple.

There's no "need" to compare. Just an observation. RoMac attacks with bad intentions.

 

[percyhoward]

Every week, I get a report sent to me that has roughly 300 different team stats which certainly make one eligible for “paralysis by analysis”.

Look for the drive stats, and you can basically ignore the rest. The ones with the highest win correlations are points per drive and drive success rate.

TOP per drive is interesting too, not for its win correlation, but for finding out how much of a game's TOP is attributable to the offense or defense.

 

[ConstantReboot]

Agree. Lee, the cerebral Mike LB, knows where to be. McClain, on the other hand, gets to where he needs to be on pure athletic ability.

McClain is just as smart and knows how to play the Mike just as well. Don't be fooled by his athletic ability.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

Terrible comparison.

Gala and Fuji are both superior. All the Delicious Apples are far from Pro Bowlers.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

McClain is just as smart and knows how to play the Mike just as well. Don't be fooled by his athletic ability.

Once again, where is it implied/stated that McClain is impaired mentally? Also, how would one be "fooled" concerning McClain's athletic ability?

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

Thanks Bob. Another really nice piece.

Two thoughts:

1. You didn't make heavy weather of it but the play you chose to highlight in which Ro snuffs out the pitch out "with authority" (very apt description, btw) also serves as a nice example of the D flying to the ball and gang-tackling, as emphasized earlier in the piece. There are 4 guys in on the tackle by the time Ro finally slams the ball carrier to the ground.

2. You can always "index" splash plays in the case of CBs, dividing their splash plays by the number of targets they face, in order to address the concern you raise in the piece.

Thanks again. Always look forward to these.

 

[skinsscalper]

Lee is more instinctive. McClain is a better athlete all around.

That's a pretty fair assessment, Risen. I think Lee's instincts are a product of his film study, though. I think with Lee, Ro, and Carter in the same meeting room and occupying the same field will produce some very positive results next season. I'm sure Lee is doing all he can to help those guys prepare but it's going to make a big difference when they can ALL combine their film study and field work to a psotive end. By this time next year we could have the best LB corp in the entire league.

 

[ConstantReboot]

Once again, where is it implied/stated that McClain is impaired mentally? Also, how would one be "fooled" concerning McClain's athletic ability?

Don't be fooled - just because he has tremendous athletic ability that he is "NOT THAT SMART" and that he gets by using his athleticism. That is what I was trying to imply.