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Minnesota Vikings/Philadelphia Eagles
Posted on 01/16/2005 9:02:03 AM PST by CounterCounterCulture
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Didn't they beat Florida the year after Manning left?
He should and hopefully he's learned his lesson. He does seem like a pretty good guy. What makes it worse though, is that the rookie kicker had already missed a game winning field goal from just 5 yard further out minutes before. Another ten yards would have really calmed his nerves.
Another thing I never understand is when coaches go into a prevent defense with the game on the line. At least when the patriots put in a prevent, it has some teeth to it. Atlanta did that at the end of the first half against the Rams it cost them a field goal.
You don't go conservative on setting up for a field goal until your offense is at least inside your opponent's 15 yard line.
And I think the other big mistake is outside blitzes, they cause the offensive line to block wide which opens what I call the scramble gap in the middle. Lots of scrambling QBs make lots of yards through the scramble gap. Blitz him inside, force the line to block in, make him start his scramble by running parallel to the line, it gives your linebackers more time to adjust and get him.
What makes it worse is that he repeated the same mistake that Schottenheimer made last week that basically kept his team's season alive. I like Edwards a lot but he's made some decisions over the years that make me just scratch my head.
Tampa has had his number because their defensive linemen create a nice a wall around Vick.
I'm really not a fan of walking off and asking the kicker to win it for you. Bills fans notwithstanding, I find it hard to put blame on Norwood for missing a 47(?) yard FG under that kind of pressure.
The offense has to do their part to squeeze as much yardage as they can, then they've done their part of the deal and they can turn it over to the keeker.
Remember the 49ers-Giants game a few years back? Shocking that an NFL team had to sign a snapper the week before. Special teams cost Jim Fassel a number of games, and that's ironic because his son kicked a game-winning field goal against Notre Dame at BC.
Yeah, and they kept doing it after that on a regular basis. They didn't beat Florida before Manning either though. UT also had a stable of running backs that was probably the best ever Jamall Lewis, Travis Henry and Travis Stephens.
Ask any true Tennessee fan and they'll tell you what impact that Manning had on UT. It gave them such noteriety and brought their future recruiting into the stratosphere. QB's from all across the nation now make a beeline to UT to be the next Petyon Manning.
I think Lombardi once said that you can have the best offense and defense but if your special teams stink you won't win.
I think some coaches need a "in game strategy" coach to help them with things like this. I think a lot of coaches are coaches because they are good leaders and players respect them. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're good strategists though.
I hope that Jim Mora Jr doesn't fall under this category.
As I recall they lost the games against Florida with Manning in shoot outs but after he left they tried a more ball controlled approach that worked much better.
Was that as far as the Bills could move the ball or did they just settle for a 47 yarder? I can't remember.
I agree with your assessment - especially since many salary cap strategies dictate that a team go with a cheap young kicker. The Cowboys in the 90s used to do that - sign a rookie, coach him up and then replace him with another rookie when the kicker wanted more money.
Much as a hate him even Jerry Jones understands that. Jones is actually the guy I heard the scoring percentages by drive starting point from, that was his reasoning for picking up Sanders for kick returns, every 5 extra yards you get on a punt or kickoff return improves your chances of scoring on that drive by like 6 or 8% (I've forgotten most of the numbers now). A strong kick return team is your offense's best friend, a strong kick cover team does nothing but favors for your defense.
We'll find out. He's already ahead of his father in terms of playoff accomplishments. Granted I think even his father would have beaten Mike Martz but you have to play the hand your dealt and the Falcons did what they had to do.
They lost a lot of great players from 1997, but they came back with a better team.
They lost a lot of great players from 1997, but they came back with a better team.
As I recall there was seven seconds left and they were out of timeouts. They could have tried another quick throw to the sidelines to get closer but the Giants would have been all over those routs.
I think some coaches just need to think, too many guys use those stupid cards. Coaching salaries have skyrocketed in recent years, I don't think anybody getting paid a million or more bucks should be basing decisions off of some Football for Dummies insert they laminated. I think the card says that late in the game get your kicker "in range", center the ball, eat the clock, then kick; apparently there's not enough room on the card to say don't give up on the drive until you must and make your kicker's life as easy as possible by shortening the distance he needs to kick the ball.
I couldn't believe that "kickoff" by Vanderjerk at the start of the second half. Pathetic.
Exactly, once teams realized that Florida teams weren't that physical, teams started going right after them with smash mouth football.
I do think that high scoring offenses that are pass driven are a recipe for disaster. The redskins of the late 80s were high scoring but they had a very good running game and an overpowering offensive line.
I do think that Manning is get too much of the blame where I think its the system that is to blame. Remember Manning is playing for Dungy who has a history or making teams really good but not good enough to get over the hump. Tampa Bay won the superbowl the year after he left.
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