I have to give the AJ-C’s Chip Towers credit for getting answers on some nuts and bolts questions about what Georgia’s been doing recently. He’s got a post up today that is inspired by questions from his readers, some of whom are disgruntled enough to ask him to pose some irrational questions (I can just see Richt’s reaction to Towers asking him“why don’t you fire Willie Martinez?”), but in the main, there are some informative answers there, maybe a little frustrating to read, maybe a little scary but at least in one case, comical.
In response to a question about why Georgia plays a soft defense, here’s what a coach (presumably the still employed Martinez) had to say in part:
… Georgia rarely “sells the ranch” and blitzes a lot of players at once. But it sends at least one player or sometimes two more often than you think, usually the boundary corner a safety or a middle linebacker. The problem has been they aren’t getting there as much.
As for red zone problems, Bobo’s response was to point to issues with execution.
… Bobo’s real careful not to throw his players under the bus but he said they’ve have some real ugly plays at times because of major assignment breakdowns…
Richt says that kickoff coverage has suffered recently because “frankly we quit blocking as well”, which is a bit troubling to read.
You can see there’s a pretty common thread throughout this – execution. At least that’s something that can be addressed, unlike, say, talent.
The part that made me laugh out loud was this response on why Georgia wasn’t getting any pressure from the defensive ends to help out with the pass defense.
… I’ve asked CWM about this several times the last few weeks. Bottom line answer has been players there haven’t gotten it done. Injuries haven’t helped. Jeremy Lomax has been playing all season with real bad turf toe and Rod Battle (neck) just came back this week. Jarius Wynn has been good but not great and Demarcus Dobbs has been occasionally great but not consistently good. They like the athleticism of freshman Justin Houston but he gets out of position too much. Martinez categorically has said that they’re not interested in moving any of the linebackers there, which is mainly a depth issue there. Georgia’s strong in all aspects of defense except against the pass… [Emphasis added.]
Heh. And other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?
Get The Picture 
Excellent stuff Senator.
It seems when our coaches are asked what could be termed as “tough questions” – they always point to execution as the main cause for the item. That answer brings both hope for correction as well as minor frustration as when I read that same response over and over again – I wonder “who is responsible for making sure the players execute” and invariably the answer gets back to the person being asked the question: the coaches.
It seems like, IMHO, that there is an extra follow-up question missing when we hear the execution excuse.
Coach Bobo – if players are making continually making “major” assignment errors in the red zone – what are you doing to correct it?
Coach WM – if we have problems getting to the QB in our blitz packages (where one or two people extra are coming) – what are we doing to correct it?
CMR – the kickoff team has not been performing to what you’d like – what are we doing to correct it?
We are over half way through the 2008 season – at some point (and we’ll find out in the next two weeks) – execution errors are just who we are as a team.
I will have faith, like last year, that we can correct the errors and play a complete game.
Go Dawgs!
LikeLike
With that assessment of our defense, I’m hoping we avoid Texas Tech in bowl season.
LikeLike
With the teams remaining on their schedule, I’m hoping we avoid Texas Tech in bowl season.
LikeLike
Christian +1
We’re loaded with talent, even despite the injuries, so why are there still so many problems with execution half-way through the season?
That seems more of a problem with inadequate coaching rather than inadequate players.
LikeLike
Stephen- many thanks.
I’m willing to admit that I might be too sensitive about this subject, but I prefer my coaches to take all the blame and none of the credit.
I think that this goes to the transparency that CMR and the staff have with us the fans at times. CMR isn’t afraid to say that he screwed up and he isn’t afraid to say that the players did – which is what he’s saying when he uses execution as the reason for an error (which in essence means that we had them in the right place and they didn’t follow their instructions). You want the truth from CMR – here it is.
Go Dawgs!
LikeLike