Negatives

[tankjeep]

i really disliked Brian Smith's play. i hope he's not trying to be this year's harrison smith.

hayseed didn't have that great of a game either, so he was his old self for a few plays. i don't know what it its, he can't read the play or at least see how it's going to develop. he was late on attacking the wr's.

 

[SoInIrishFan]

brian smith is a band aid,he's not going to play the rest of the yr. Kelly said we had to go to some guys. He meant smith.Fleming crampled the whole game.
Also, the kook aid on teo is funny.
Kelly singled him out totally.
"we missed a lot of tackles,and from our really key players,when we look at the film, we are going to agree that wasnt very good", and that's kelly being nice.
the defense is going to be avg at best,so crist is going to have to get dramatically better,fast.
he looked like he had "the deer in the headlight's" thing going on during most of the 2nd half. hopefully, its just first game jitters,but notre dame is going to give up a ton of pts this year and the offense needs to be dynamic. Other than dever,the off line played well. martin was awesome.robinson is a great run blocker.so, the oline is in pretty good shape.
It could be scary with our olb's chasing dennard robinson next week.Need to play wide open from the get go. Michigan's biggest weakness is still there secondary. Need to jump on them early.
special teams looked great.ruffer's 47 yr field goal with 45 seconds left in the first half was clutch. Especially,after crist's horrendous one hopper on a gimme third down ,missed first down. Crist needs to just play,and let it go. Kelly said that over and over again.
Crist is the key for notre dame, if he plays like he did yesterday, notre dame is in trouble.
This is his 3rd yr at nd, he shouldnt be so tentative,even if it is first real shot. I am praying this was mostly jitters,but I dont think kelly has a lot of confidence in him yet. That better change immediately.
game balls:
offense- floyd,martin
defens- gray
spec teams- ruffer, bennett jackson

looks like 8-4.

Keep pounding the recruiting trail for speed,speed,speed.

I don't think we watched the same game. Dever played an outstanding game against an AA DE. Sure #94 made a few plays, he's an AA for goodness sake, but overall he didn't take over the game. ND's O-line won the battle in the trenches.

Teo missed some tackles, but forced the play inside. I don't know if you played, but EVERYONE misses tackles from time to time. Nothing Teo did, hurt the Irish. Overall Teo's play was very much above par.

PU schemed for our OLB's. They ran a bunch of flat routes to pull the OLB's into coverage, then flooded, or checked to TB.

You do make a "decent" point about Crist. He played extremely well, but needs to be much quicker with his reads. He also needs to throw downfield more.

The OLB's need to get off those chops better. That was really the biggest thing. The second was the slow rotation of the ILB's. I think that'll definitely be easy to fix, now that they've seen this stuff in game.

Looks like you finally found a thread that fits you. Sorry, but this is what... your 5th post, and most are filled with nothing but venomous, unsubstantiated BS.

Hope you have a super Sunday, and attend mass to spread the joy you espouse.

Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I know that this is "negative" thread but we're WAY over the top on negatives in my opinion. Think of the larger perspective gang. We have a new coaching staff, new systems both sides of the ball, an untried [and apparently nervous] quarterback, a defense that everyone thought stunk last year, a freshman starting at wide receiver and several others getting in the game, an offensive line with three untried starters------sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. But what happened? We essentially controlled the game against a decent opponent, and without Floyd's fumble [which was a ball-handling accident on his part--i.e. relatively unforced] and a breakdown safety [people blocking the wrong folks--which led to 9 points], what would the score have been? Answer: 30-3. Sure, it's always possible to play "what if?' but ND's what-ifs are easy to spot and imagine going another way. I can't find much on Purdue's side to call genuine what-ifs. I'm more than pleased and Staff Kelly did great. Crist WILL have to relax and do a better job seeing his receivers for us to be really good, that's true; but we've got a chance. Happiness is the best policy [Snoopy].

 

[NDinL.A.]

I was very pleased with today's game b/c we looked tougher, more disciplined, we knew what we were supposed to be doing, and while last year's team would have won this game, it would have taken a game-winning drive by JC to do it or an INT in the last sec by KMac. This year, we did make it tougher than it could have been, but Floyd caught the key pass, and game over.

But this is a negatives thread, so here goes:

Te'o missed A TON of tackles. I was shocked at how many he missed. Watch the game again if you think he only missed a couple. He was bad until late in the game. Too amped maybe? I think he'll improve big time though.

Crist needs to just throw the ball, not aim it. He's got a big time arm, but he was late a few times and was hesitant at other times. But he was better than I expected him to be in his first start.

Fumbles! Floyd, Allen, Wood all fumbled the ball. Not good.

Back-up D-linemen did nothing at all except for Cwynar being in on a couple of plays. They were really bad.

But hey, we got the win! We beat Purdue by the exact amount we were supposed to. On to Michigan!

 

[jason_h537]

hayseed didn't have that great of a game either, so he was his old self for a few plays. i don't know what it its, he can't read the play or at least see how it's going to develop. he was late on attacking the wr's.

Maybe i need to rewatch the game but why is everyone harping on Hayseed. I did not notice him at all in the game which mesans he didnt exactly make plays but he didnt blow any either. It seems like especially with guys like Hayseed and Brian Smith people are looking for them to make a mistake to bash them. Te'o had a bad game overall but everyone wants him to suceed so you look for positives. Its a new year. First game of the season, Mistakes were made, they will get better.

 

[ACamp1900]

I don't understand that either... Harrison was invisible, but that is a GOOD THING when you are talking about a safety after a win... the most talk this kid has gotten over the years is after some loss that shouldn't have been that he played a major part in... like Pitt two years ago and such...

anyway, one negative is that Anthony Vernaglia isn't in an Irish uniform anymore... he'd have broke/snapped Marve in half and sucked out his bone marrow in front of everyone....


yes, I went there twice in two posts...

 

[jason_h537]

There was one play where Hayseed was slow to react that Mayock called him on. I think that is what everyone is harping on.

 

[The Polish Irishman]

How about the Red ND Hats? Not a fan

 

[ACamp1900]

OH!! I meant to bring that up... the red was strange enough... but the hat itself was just bad.

 

[RDU Irish]

How about Mayock first game jitters? He screwed up a fair number of names, still not sure if he knows our entire D line is not made up of some abomination called Ian Ethan Williams Johnson. I did find his analysis and emotion a marked improvement over Hayden. I do give him credit for carrying the weight of the entire brodcast since Mrs. Doubtfire is a known worthless hack. It is obvious to me he wishes he had gone to ND instead of Boston College. He can stay in the closet for now, don't ask don't tell, Mike.

My list of negatives after a game is much shorter than I can remember for quite some time. There are few areas of our team which have me really worried. If a chain is only as strong as the weakest link then I like our chain.

 

[eNDzone]

One thing about the negatives for me from this game. In the postgame interviews Kelly addressed them and for some reason I get the feeling he will work hard on them. I don't expect to see the ball control problems we had and was impressed with no bad snaps in the shotgun.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Quit being so positive, please.... It's ruining the thread.

 

[ACamp1900]

Quit being so positive, please.... It's ruining the thread.

K...

1.) They didn't wear black uniforms which really sucks
2.) We're gonna get shit stomped two weeks in a row by the state of Michigan...





better?

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

K...

1.) They didn't wear black uniforms which really sucks
2.) We're gonna get shit stomped two weeks in a row by the state of Michigan...





better?

I wasn't talking to you but you watch your ass too!!!!

 

[phgreek]

I saw nothig I'd call an out and out weakness on D. I did see some potential issues that were intermittant.

At times, in pass coverage we let guys get behind us...nothing resulted in big plays, but I just don't want to see a repeat of Manningham and Lambert...that needs to get cleaned up.

There are still certain players who do not contain outside...and a couple who overpursue inside

Safety play is ok...will get better...those guys put the wood to some folks...lets just not get roasted looking for the kill shot. I think safeties should get yanked as soon as they shoulder tackle and fail to wrap...since that won't happen public humiliation on film day will have to do.

Our O...they were pretty good at times...someone needs to take that slot receiver spot and own it...dropped balls are just not something we can have.

Hoping to see TEs stabbing the middle between backers and safeties...crossing stuff is nice and all, but we are all done being conservative I hope.

not a fan of how long some of the running plays take to develop. If the back is that deep, why not just line him up next to the QB and snap it right to him now and again...for instance if we do that on the safety play, Allen isn't tethered to the path of the QB exchange, and avoids the safety.

Also not a fan of letting an AA come untouched because we are running away from him...again when a play takes that long to develop, I could crash down and catch it...think we could put a hat on the guy? Even if all you do is have the QB get in his way a little...gotta do something there.

I thought we did a real good job in all phases but thats my wish list for fixin'.

 

[eNDzone]

Quit being so positive, please.... It's ruining the thread.

NO .

How's that or being negative.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

NO .

How's that or being negative.

Haha.... Very good then.

 

[tankjeep]

Maybe i need to rewatch the game but why is everyone harping on Hayseed. I did not notice him at all in the game which mesans he didnt exactly make plays but he didnt blow any either. It seems like especially with guys like Hayseed and Brian Smith people are looking for them to make a mistake to bash them. Te'o had a bad game overall but everyone wants him to suceed so you look for positives. Its a new year. First game of the season, Mistakes were made, they will get better.

i overreacted in my guinness drunken stupor. forgive me. but i do remember him coming into a couple plays late where he was slow to read what the offense was doing.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

I don't know what it is, everytime a guy caught the ball wide open you would see B.Smith trotting behind him.

i honestly like B.Smith for some reason and would love to see him succeed, but i don't know what it is, maybe he should be a DE not a LB

I wholeheartedly agree. Both T. Forcier and Marve looked like the bribed the guy to let them walk into the endzone.

His one strength is that he's pretty great taking on lead blockers (fullbacks). It's the guy with the ball he can't seem to hit.

 

[irishtrain]

TURNOVERS!!!!!
D line depth was an issue in the second half
Pass protection is still shaky
Timing in passing game was very bad

Good stuff jason and I dont disagree but pass protection,timing of the pass,and turnovers should be the things that live action brings the improvment from week 1-2 that Kelly was talking about. I think the key (repeating myself) is the QB being loose and free to let it rip as he gets used to running this thing. Say what you will the most pressure on any position in the country is the QB at Notre Dame. You are either the personality of Clausen/Theisman ( likes the stage ) or you are Huarte/Rice ( steady servant/leader ). Either way there is NO room for the faint of heart. Crist can do this and if he cant Kelly will find someone who can. I dont want to sound like any other cold blooded guy spouting off and see Crist as the man- but centerfield at Yankee Stadium, middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears and the quarterback at Notre Dame are in the eye of the storm.

 

[Praytorian]

Well one good thing one bad.
The good is that the defense starts off faster than the offense so our offense should get much better.
The bad is that the defense starts off faster than the offense so ............

 

[TDHeysus]

I thought the pressure from the D-line was pretty good.

4 sacks by the 3 D-lineman.

-agreed. there is alot of room for improvment but i noticed systemic changes that made me feel like the defense is at least headed in the right direction. the fact that both middle linebackers were the leading tacklers in the game(along with a great individual effort by GGray) indicates to me that the defensive structure/gameplan is working as intended. I think there is room for improved execution, but I was encouraged from what I saw defensively. Some things cant be changed until there is the correct personnel

-while Crist's numbers may have looked good, his execution did not. he looked jittery in the pocket, he seemed to be on the virge of 'happy feet' quite a few times. He missed some key passes to open receivers for first downs(either didnt see the open rec, or just a bad throw; i was more conerned with the bad throws on plays that ND has to have; i.e. 3rd and under10's). Hopefully all he needs is more playing time, the game needs to slow down for him. Even when JC was getting sacked 68 times, he always looked like he was in control, and the game never looked like it was too fast for him.

-the 'muddled' defensive setup - I would be ok if I never saw that again. seemed 'gimmicky' to me, plus it gave up big run yards.

 

[tankjeep]

-agreed. there is alot of room for improvment but i noticed systemic changes that made me feel like the defense is at least headed in the right direction. the fact that both middle linebackers were the leading tacklers in the game(along with a great individual effort by GGray) indicates to me that the defensive structure/gameplan is working as intended. I think there is room for improved execution, but I was encouraged from what I saw defensively. Some things cant be changed until there is the correct personnel

-while Crist's numbers may have looked good, his execution did not. he looked jittery in the pocket, he seemed to be on the virge of 'happy feet' quite a few times. He missed some key passes to open receivers for first downs(either didnt see the open rec, or just a bad throw; i was more conerned with the bad throws on plays that ND has to have; i.e. 3rd and under10's). Hopefully all he needs is more playing time, the game needs to slow down for him. Even when JC was getting sacked 68 times, he always looked like he was in control, and the game never looked like it was too fast for him.

-the 'muddled' defensive setup - I would be ok if I never saw that again. seemed 'gimmicky' to me, plus it gave up big run yards.

good point. didn't like that too much either.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ACamp1900
not one time all game did we get pressure from the middle... we got some from the ends... but for the most part it was a repeat of the past two seasons... zero penetration from the down linemen...

when we DID pressure him it was off the edge and it was because Marve rolled right into it...

not knocking our boys... just something we need to work on... still

I thought the pressure from the D-line was pretty good.

4 sacks by the 3 D-lineman.

It's not easy making plays when the QB is rolling out 85% of the time.

Out of the few times Marve stayed in the pocket he had pressure in his face.

Ian Williams was singled out twice in the broadcast for collapsing the pocket. Did you see the push he got when he was free to intercept the tipped ball? Watch that again. With Diaco's 3-4, Ian's job is to keep the offense off the ILB, just like the edge (for lack of a better term) funnels things down with contain to a kill zone for those LB's. I think Purdue's offensive and defensive lines were very good and highly under rated. Time will tell but I bet both units will rate near the top of Big Ten this year. PS about that: weren't there two d-linemen that ND didn't grab that started for Purdue?

I still say B Smith got confused going back and forth from dog to cat, and he probably was tired. They were three linebackers and one safety down by that point, (not including the two that they new wouldn’t be available). And in this defense, unlike last year, where safeties were the first line of defense, safeties are like offensive linemen; it is bad when you hear their name too much.

I cannot disagree with anyone’s point; I will go on record saying that things are a lot closer to being outstanding that it looks. Like for instance. The safety we gave up; that same check-down, (or whatever they call it, where each linemen had to block one man to the outside), worked twice during the game. The failure was nearly catastrophic, but it was a momentary lapse, not a consistent shortcoming. And that safety, with the fumble going in earlier, swung the game from a potential 34-3 to a 23-12, outcome. And with that, ND was still never out of control, like last year!

Here is a recap:
NBC Sports - College Football - Inside the Irish

 

[ACamp1900]

I agree that things looked better... and I remember the Ian plays... but I stand by the fact that if what we saw on Saturday satisfies you guys as consistent pressure from the downlinemen then we are never gonna see a BCS title type Defense because we have mountains to climb in that regard... and it was STILL clear on saturday.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I would say if you're looking for negatives about the defense it was that there WERE guys cramping up and otherwise unavailable in the fourth quarter. Elsewise, I thought that [like bogtrotter] the scheme was working---when over the last decade were the safeties not the leading tacklers? And, given the burden on the D-linemen to absorb the other team's bigs as a primary duty, their 4 sacks were rather astonishing. AND it was the first game. Purdue's lines are not exactly unheralded this year either; they've been applauded on O on the side that Plue plays, and basically all across the D line. So, Coach, get the guys' electrolytes correct and off we'll go for four quarters of good line play. .

 

[ACamp1900]

I would say if you're looking for negatives about the defense it was that there WERE guys cramping up and otherwise unavailable in the fourth quarter. Elsewise, I thought that [like bogtrotter] the scheme was working---when over the last decade were the safeties not the leading tacklers? And, given the burden on the D-linemen to absorb the other team's bigs as a primary duty, their 4 sacks were rather astonishing. AND it was the first game. Purdue's lines are not exactly unheralded this year either; they've been applauded on O on the side that Plue plays, and basically all across the D line. So, Coach, get the guys' electrolytes correct and off we'll go for four quarters of good line play. .

yeah the overall positioning and play from the outside was leaps ahead of where it had been...