Yakuza Rich
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- One of the things I’m feeling positive about this team is that in the past I felt the organization had what my dad would call ‘C-Plussers.’ My dad referred to certain baseball players he coached as ‘C-Plussers’ as players who would do just enough to get by. He used the term because back in the day where I am from NY, the general rule was if you were an athlete playing a school sport…you had to carry at least a C+ average in every class or you couldn’t play (my, how times have changed).. Thus, you would get a lot of athletes that were smart enough to carry good grades in school, but would wind up with C+ averages…just enough to get by.
In baseball, my ole man wasn’t afraid to needle a player and challenge them and had no problems ‘getting on a player’ every single practice if he felt he had to. No, ‘C-Plussers’ didn’t last long on his teams.
I felt we had a lot of those players on this team over the years. Some players were really good, too. But, they had a propensity to do just enough to get the critics and the fans off their back. Then once we got off their back, it was the same ole stuff from them. The problem is that any team is bound to have C-Plussers on the team at one point or another. I think it’s up to the coach to figure out how to coach that mentality out of them and the ones they can’t coach it out of…tell them to hit the bricks.
Yes, we’ve seen some sloppy play. But, I see a team that plays with much more sense of urgency, intensity and doesn’t seem to be letting it go to their head.
Now, I’m now ready to say that this team is rid of the ‘C-Plussers’. And I probably cannot truthfully say that until 2012 at the earliest. But, I can’t but help get the feeling that we are pointed in the right direction as far as getting rid of that type of attitude from the team.
- People talk about the sloppy play, but re-watching the Skins game I basically saw two sloppy players…Costa and Ogletree. Let me say this, re-watching the game you can see a lot of downs where the Commanders players, particularly Bowen, were yelling out the cadence. So that’s why I’m more bothered by Ogletree who has been on the team for 3 years and still doesn’t get the playcalling right.
- There’s still a big step to be made here for this team. Last week was great in the sense that the defense showed up. In the past we would have big letdowns after good performances on the road. Now we need to sustain the level of play from the defense.
- But the other part is that Garrett needs to find a way to get these players to know the offense. I don’t necessarily put all of the blame on Garrett, but as the HC…come hell or high water…you need to get your players to know the system because nobody cares how many injuries you have had.
- I’ve always been conflicted on my feelings toward Belichick. I think he’s a very smart coach, but I also think he’s a mediocre person. I think NFLN doing ‘A Football Life’ with him is a travesty because he’s a guy that put a big ole dent into the integrity of the game and then, along with Robert Kraft and Scott Pioli, threatened to ruin the livelihood of the Matt Walsh…the one guy who told the truth. It’s a shame that people forget that.
But that being said, I see a lot of unique things that Belichick does that work quite well. One of them is that we always hear ‘he tried to take away the one thing you like to do.’ In other words, most coaches attack the opposing team’s weaknesses. Belichick, on defense, tries to attack the opposing offense’s strengths and force them into doing things they are not comfortable at doing.
I think Ryan employs that strategy as well…that and he attacks the QB like a mutha. I think in this game we’ll try and keep Megatron from going crazy on us. I also think we’ll try to keep Pettigrew and the tailbacks from catching passes under wraps. How we’ll do it and if we can do it, we can only guess.
- While I think people want Bruce Carter on the field, I don’t see him helping us much this season. And I think Bradie is playing better than we think…he’s just doing the grunt work to free up Sean Lee some more. However, Brooking is just done with. Too bad, because I still like the guy. While many didn’t like it, I did like the fact that he took umbrage with Favre and the Vikings running up the score instead of the team just taking it like a bunch of saps.
- The fact is that Felix Jones ran far better in the Commanders game with Fiammetta than he did in the first two games without Fiammetta. I think that and the fact he gives us another formidable personnel grouping to use means we should use him more often.
- I liked what I saw out of Laurent Robinson. He’s shown to me that he has the athleticism and burst to play, now it’s just a question if he can stay healthy and learn the playbook.
- Obviously, anytime you get a win it’s a real feather in the team’s cap. But, if we could come away with a win and no major injuries, now this team can really turn the corner. They would be 3-1 going into the bye week with the 1 loss being a game we should’ve won. Romo, Felix, Dez, Miles and Tyron would all be healthier. We would likely get Hatcher and have our top 3 corners all back into the fold. I also think with Fiametta, we can now be effective in 12, 11 and 21 personnel and anytime you can be effective out of more personnel groups, I think the better. So we have a real shot of not only going 3-1, but start to hit our stride (although the Patriots game will be tough).
YR
In baseball, my ole man wasn’t afraid to needle a player and challenge them and had no problems ‘getting on a player’ every single practice if he felt he had to. No, ‘C-Plussers’ didn’t last long on his teams.
I felt we had a lot of those players on this team over the years. Some players were really good, too. But, they had a propensity to do just enough to get the critics and the fans off their back. Then once we got off their back, it was the same ole stuff from them. The problem is that any team is bound to have C-Plussers on the team at one point or another. I think it’s up to the coach to figure out how to coach that mentality out of them and the ones they can’t coach it out of…tell them to hit the bricks.
Yes, we’ve seen some sloppy play. But, I see a team that plays with much more sense of urgency, intensity and doesn’t seem to be letting it go to their head.
Now, I’m now ready to say that this team is rid of the ‘C-Plussers’. And I probably cannot truthfully say that until 2012 at the earliest. But, I can’t but help get the feeling that we are pointed in the right direction as far as getting rid of that type of attitude from the team.
- People talk about the sloppy play, but re-watching the Skins game I basically saw two sloppy players…Costa and Ogletree. Let me say this, re-watching the game you can see a lot of downs where the Commanders players, particularly Bowen, were yelling out the cadence. So that’s why I’m more bothered by Ogletree who has been on the team for 3 years and still doesn’t get the playcalling right.
- There’s still a big step to be made here for this team. Last week was great in the sense that the defense showed up. In the past we would have big letdowns after good performances on the road. Now we need to sustain the level of play from the defense.
- But the other part is that Garrett needs to find a way to get these players to know the offense. I don’t necessarily put all of the blame on Garrett, but as the HC…come hell or high water…you need to get your players to know the system because nobody cares how many injuries you have had.
- I’ve always been conflicted on my feelings toward Belichick. I think he’s a very smart coach, but I also think he’s a mediocre person. I think NFLN doing ‘A Football Life’ with him is a travesty because he’s a guy that put a big ole dent into the integrity of the game and then, along with Robert Kraft and Scott Pioli, threatened to ruin the livelihood of the Matt Walsh…the one guy who told the truth. It’s a shame that people forget that.
But that being said, I see a lot of unique things that Belichick does that work quite well. One of them is that we always hear ‘he tried to take away the one thing you like to do.’ In other words, most coaches attack the opposing team’s weaknesses. Belichick, on defense, tries to attack the opposing offense’s strengths and force them into doing things they are not comfortable at doing.
I think Ryan employs that strategy as well…that and he attacks the QB like a mutha. I think in this game we’ll try and keep Megatron from going crazy on us. I also think we’ll try to keep Pettigrew and the tailbacks from catching passes under wraps. How we’ll do it and if we can do it, we can only guess.
- While I think people want Bruce Carter on the field, I don’t see him helping us much this season. And I think Bradie is playing better than we think…he’s just doing the grunt work to free up Sean Lee some more. However, Brooking is just done with. Too bad, because I still like the guy. While many didn’t like it, I did like the fact that he took umbrage with Favre and the Vikings running up the score instead of the team just taking it like a bunch of saps.
- The fact is that Felix Jones ran far better in the Commanders game with Fiammetta than he did in the first two games without Fiammetta. I think that and the fact he gives us another formidable personnel grouping to use means we should use him more often.
- I liked what I saw out of Laurent Robinson. He’s shown to me that he has the athleticism and burst to play, now it’s just a question if he can stay healthy and learn the playbook.
- Obviously, anytime you get a win it’s a real feather in the team’s cap. But, if we could come away with a win and no major injuries, now this team can really turn the corner. They would be 3-1 going into the bye week with the 1 loss being a game we should’ve won. Romo, Felix, Dez, Miles and Tyron would all be healthier. We would likely get Hatcher and have our top 3 corners all back into the fold. I also think with Fiametta, we can now be effective in 12, 11 and 21 personnel and anytime you can be effective out of more personnel groups, I think the better. So we have a real shot of not only going 3-1, but start to hit our stride (although the Patriots game will be tough).
YR
