Post Game Observations.........

[IrishinSyria]

I'm pretty sure 99% of D-1 qbs could have won this game easily thanks to the running game.

And the 1% who couldn't was playing for Navy.

 

[meowmix]

I think the logic is that all we need to do is fair catch the ball and not rough the punter and our O will take care of the rest. Still, it's frustrating to see us not even attempt to set up a return.

I understand that but it makes it hard to even fair catch when you're surrounded by the other team.

 

[MacIrish75]

This game gave us proof that it doesn't matter who's returning punts if they're surrounded by members of the punting team when they catch the ball. I don't understand our punt return philosophy. We rush three but they just stop in front of the three blockers, not even trying to block the punt (the punt where the punter dropped the ball should have been easily blocked) and there is literally no blocking for the returner.

Punt Safe. Burn us once, shame on me. Burn us twice, shame on you. Combine that with the fact that besides Goodman (who has also muffed a couple), no one else seems capable of fielding a punt with any degree of certainty, what else do you do? Give me a fair catch over a fumble every day.

 

[kmoose]

Does that excuse the interception? And how long until Kelly realizes that the RBs can't run a decent swing pass route?

I fixed your post for you, but I doubt that that will stop your hating on Rees.

 

[kmoose]

Rees was pedestrian.... He still missed a ton of reads......

Considering his completion % was 72.7%, I think saying that he missed "a ton" of reads, is probably a bit of hyperbole.

 

[meowmix]

I fixed your post for you, but I doubt that that will stop your hating on Rees.

Fair enough. And you're right, that definitely won't stop me hating on Rees for being the limiting factor on this offense. What will make me stop hating him is when ND faces a team that limits our running game (not stop, even good QBs struggle when the running game isn't doing anything) and Rees steps up and wins the game. He'll have that opportunity vs. Stanford, assuming of course that the "gamer" wins the next few weeks.

 

[IrishinSyria]

I fixed your post for you, but I doubt that that will stop your hating on Rees.

eh, there's blame to go all the way around on those swing pass fumbles. Tommy needs to get back further or hold the ball a second longer and put the ball on the money. Cierre and Riddick need to get up the field quicker and make a play on poorly thrown but catchable balls. Kelly needs to seriously think about pulling the play out of the playbook until his team can execute it.

That being said, little passes like that are an excellent way to stretch the defense, thus negating the importance of having either a mobile QB or a legitimate deep passing game. We just need to make sure they stop turning into fumbles.

 

[kmoose]

Fair enough. And you're right, that definitely won't stop me hating on Rees for being the limiting factor on this offense. What will make me stop hating him is when ND faces a team that limits our running game (not stop, even good QBs struggle when the running game isn't doing anything) and Rees steps up and wins the game. He'll have that opportunity vs. Stanford, assuming of course that the "gamer" wins the next few weeks.

I'm assuming that you have blocked out the memory of the Pitt game, this year?

 

[phork]

Cierre kept tripping over the yard lines for some reason..

 

[MacIrish75]

Cierre kept tripping over the yard lines for some reason..

Wouldn't happen with field turf...

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

I fixed your post for you, but I doubt that that will stop your hating on Rees.

Careful, Moose, if you squeeze him too tight, you'll kill him...

 

[IrishinSyria]

I'm assuming that you have blocked out the memory of the Pitt game, this year?

We had 182 yards rushing against Pitt, including Jonas' long run. Tommy had one good drive that game (which he accomplished by letting Eiffert make great play after great play) and was brutal for the other 3 quarters so no, I don't think the Pitt game meets his criteria. Might be wrong though.

 

[meowmix]

I'm assuming that you have blocked out the memory of the Pitt game, this year?

Oh yeah, the one where Cierre rushed for 94 and Jonas got 85? Oh yes. He was stellar that game. Really showed how much of a "gamer" he is. All he does is win, until he loses.

 

[meowmix]

Wouldn't happen with field turf...

Exactly. The kind of grass we have in our stadium is not a tradition.

 

[Al H.]

1. I think the notion that the upperclassmen had quit on Brian Kelly should probably be put to bed, now!

2. Congrats to the defense! They played so much better against the option, this year, than in recent years. Navy ran for less than 200 yards, with a 3.9 ypc average. I think the biggest difference, from my untrained eyes, was that there seemed to almost always be two guys outside, on the option runs. In recent years, it seemed that it was always 2 on 1, forcing the defender to take either the QB or the pitchman. Today, it seemed like there was always 2 on 2 out there. THAT'S one huge key to defending the option: don't let them get numbers on the edge!

3. I'm really happy for the offense: finally hanging half a hundred on someone. Big step in the right direction! Jonas Gray and Cierre Wood with about a dozen carries each; very nice to see.

4. Is it me, or have sportscasters in general, and Hammond and Mayock in particular, developed a really annoying habit of talking through plays? It's as if they are so eager to show how smart they are, that they forget what the hell they are there for in the first place: TO COVER WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE GAME!!!! Especially late in the game, when the reserves were in, it was a little harder to see who was making tackles, etc. And these jackrags are blowing hot air about recruiting, while failing to tell us who made the tackle.

5. Ishaq Williams made some very nice plays. Granted it was Navy, but Ishaq is a true freshman, so I would call that a push!

6. Though many may disagree, I was glad to see Crist get in the game. This kid has been a model teammate, and deserves every break life can send his way. I know that getting Hendrix more experience would probably have been smarter. But I think that Kelly was sending a message that, if you truly exhibit a "team first" attitude, then good things will happen for you. Even if you are not a starter.

It's not just you. I like Hammond and Mayock's ok for a B.C. guy, but...... they're going the Joe Buck route of blather = content. I was working in Miami on a commercial shoot back in 1990, as I jumped into the elevator in my Hotel I was dumbfounded to find myself alone in it with Joe Garagiola (sp.?). As we rode to the lobby I expressed my admiration for him as a player and as one of the all time greatest commentators on baseball and that holds to this day. He smiled politely and thanked me of course. My last rebuke of t.v. commentators before exiting the elevator was that most of the current crop had what I called ` a firm grasp of the obvious'. That was a new quip at that time, Mr. Garogiola burst out laughing and as we left the elevator I knew my insight had special meaning for him. He seemed touched and grateful to hear it (he had recently been pushed out for whatever reasons, corporate, personal). We NEED his ilk back in the booths across game day America. Again, I'm ok with Tom Hammond, relatively harmless. Yet, I long for a Pat Summerall and John Madden combo. I know people had issues with one or both of them, but they just had the pizazz/ factual elements covered between them. Less yak--more insight, thank you.

Lastly, at Notre Dame as a player you `play' for Notre Dame; as a coach, you `coach' for Notre Dame. And that's it! Period. End of the sentence. GO IRISH!

 

[Al H.]

Both Navy scores came off turnovers.


Biggest gripe today:
The rock music was blasting over the band while they played the victory march after a touchdown.
They need to figure out when it's time to play that crap and still keep the band involved.

Great catch. Absolutely correct. Were you in the stadium? I didn't catch it on the tube.

 

[BeatSC]

Fair enough. And you're right, that definitely won't stop me hating on Rees for being the limiting factor on this offense. What will make me stop hating him is when ND faces a team that limits our running game (not stop, even good QBs struggle when the running game isn't doing anything) and Rees steps up and wins the game. He'll have that opportunity vs. Stanford, assuming of course that the "gamer" wins the next few weeks.

Totally agree with MEomix. Many near miss ints without any real prssure on him. Watching Dayne escape the rush and make a few moves and run for a first down is another example of what Tommy does not bring to this team. When we play any real teams he will continue to be exposed as he locks on the his target and throw the ball without enough velocity. 56 points is great but Tommy will lose another game for us if we let him. I hate those swings passes and Kelly needs to get rid of them. I don't know why Kelly didn;t platoon Crist and Hendrix the enire second half. Also don't know why he doesn't run the wildcat. The transition to 2012 needs to start now. Tommy is not the future and really shouldn't be the present either. He is a solid backup and that is where he sould be right now. Appreciate the games were he has managed the offense and not lost the games for us but he is a turnover waiting to happen. Luke Massa could have won that game for us today.

 

[kmoose]

Oh yeah, the one where Cierre rushed for 94 and Jonas got 85? Oh yes. He was stellar that game. Really showed how much of a "gamer" he is. All he does is win, until he loses.

You did say "limit", not stop. Cierre had a decent game(4.1 ypc). Jonas got almost all of his yards one carry of 75 yards. Take away that one big run, and he had two carries for 9 yards.

And Rees led the team down the field for a TD (85 yards in 11 plays) going 8-8 for 74 yards and a TD pass, in the second half of the 4th quarter.

 

[IrishinSyria]

You know who has scored fewer points against Pitt this season than the Irish? Nobody. Pointing to that last drive as the reason Tommy should be above criticism is like pointing to Tebow's performance against the Dolphins. Makes for a great story, and definitely does say something about their character and resiliency, but at the end of the day Tebow and Rees put themselves in that position.

 

[IrishMoore1]

The gold helmets looked sooooo good. My goodness. You could see the reflection of the sun, stadium, and the grass off those beautiful things. U could see the contrast too because Navy's helmet color is what ND's used to be.

 

[kmoose]

You know who has scored fewer points against Pitt this season than the Irish? Nobody. Pointing to that last drive as the reason Tommy should be above criticism is like pointing to Tebow's performance against the Dolphins. Makes for a great story, and definitely does say something about their character and resiliency, but at the end of the day Tebow and Rees put themselves in that position.

I'm certainly not saying that Rees should be above criticism! But I'm tired of hearing about what a weak arm he has, and how he can't hit the broad side of a barn. I've seen plenty of QBs like that, and NONE of them completed closer to 70% of their passes than 60%. And now he's never stepped up and won a game, when the running game wasn't clicking? The running game was pretty pedestrian against Pitt, and Rees stepped up in the 4th Quarter and led them on a scoring drive that won the game for ND. I'm not against people being critical of Rees. I'm just tired of them making sh!t up, to criticize him.

 

[koonja]

Post game observations - Crist looked solid throwing the ball, as he did vs. USC. Good to see.

 

[salveamicus]

I really liked the victory today but thought it was a really bad day for Tommy. He made many inaccurate throws (to receivers' feet or behind them or over their heads) and his throws down field for the most part left much to be desired. He's accurate when making short passes (though some today were not very good) but that's pretty much all I've seen that is good.

He has a good completion percentage, but personally I believe that says more about our receivers than Tommy. Floyd made some great catches today that could have easily flown right by. Since this game was basically won on the ground today, I wish that Andrew Hendrix had a lot of playing time. He could have probably moved the ball very well.

Tommy's a cool kid, but just not what we need. Dayne's couple passes were crisp and looked great compared to Tommy's.

I wondered a lot about why Hendrix didn't come in... especially some time in the second half (I know Kelly said it was because Dayne was 2nd in line, but let's face it, he skirts around the truth sometimes like a politician). Hopefully it's because he knows of another QB who is more likely to start next year than Hendrix, so he doesn't feel the need to get him as much PT.

 

[jmurphy75]

Good showing, but that's what we need to in the games that we are expected to win. Kendal Moore's hit (although a flag) was what I was looking for as far as intensity from that group.

 

[IrishinSyria]

I'm certainly not saying that Rees should be above criticism! But I'm tired of hearing about what a weak arm he has, and how he can't hit the broad side of a barn. I've seen plenty of QBs like that, and NONE of them completed closer to 70% of their passes than 60%. And now he's never stepped up and won a game, when the running game wasn't clicking? The running game was pretty pedestrian against Pitt, and Rees stepped up in the 4th Quarter and led them on a scoring drive that won the game for ND. I'm not against people being critical of Rees. I'm just tired of them making sh!t up, to criticize him.

Fair enough. Tommy has a lot going for him, and even though I'm one of the very few who feels like we have our best QB riding the pine, I'll be the first to give him credit for what he does well, which is a lot.

I guess the Pitt game is a bit of a Rorschach test. If you like Rees, you look at it and see a QB whose offense was struggling and who stepped up and came up huge on the last drive and won the game for the team. If you don't like Rees, you see a QB who had no answer when Pitt managed to take away Floyd, until the last drive when he decided to zero in on Eifert instead. There are strong elements of truth to both versions.

 

[kmoose]

Fair enough. Tommy has a lot going for him, and even though I'm one of the very few who feels like we have our best QB riding the pine, I'll be the first to give him credit for what he does well, which is a lot.

I guess the Pitt game is a bit of a Rorschach test. If you like Rees, you look at it and see a QB whose offense was struggling and who stepped up and came up huge on the last drive and won the game for the team. If you don't like Rees, you see a QB who had no answer when Pitt managed to take away Floyd, until the last drive when he decided to zero in on Eifert instead. There are strong elements of truth to both versions.

That's reasonable......... and probably more accurate than either side would want to admit to.

 

[koonja]

Fair enough. Tommy has a lot going for him, and even though I'm one of the very few who feels like we have our best QB riding the pine, I'll be the first to give him credit for what he does well, which is a lot.

I guess the Pitt game is a bit of a Rorschach test. If you like Rees, you look at it and see a QB whose offense was struggling and who stepped up and came up huge on the last drive and won the game for the team. If you don't like Rees, you see a QB who had no answer when Pitt managed to take away Floyd, until the last drive when he decided to zero in on Eifert instead. There are strong elements of truth to both versions.

If there's room aboard, I'd be obliged to co-conduct the Crist train with ya.

 

[Irish Man3]

I thought we won today.

 

[CarrollVermin]

Great catch. Absolutely correct. Were you in the stadium? I didn't catch it on the tube.

The touchdown that you are talking about was with about 2 minutes or so left in the half. The band had left their post for the halftime show, hence no Victory March.

This happened last week for the FG against USC at the end of the first half. Now that we have music going, they should add the Victory March for situations just like this.

 

[irishff1014]

He was 16/22 passing and never should've been on the field for his interception.

DId you actually watch any of his passes? 2/3's of them we either later of just terrilbe throws.
The WR's helped him out greatly today.