I beat the drum as loudly as anyone for Rambo during his freshman year. Anyone with half a brain and a pair of eyes could see that as the season progressed, the defense played better with him on the field. With the departure of Martinez and the arrival of Grantham, I figured that Rambo was poised to have a breakout season last year.
Such was not the case, though. It’s not so much that Rambo was awful in 2010, as it was more a matter of inconsistency which led to overall mediocrity. Kind of like the team as a whole, when you think about it. As for Rambo, he often looked lost in pass coverage, largely because he was susceptible to play-action.
Fast forward to this year. Despite missing the Boise State game, he sits among the national leaders in interceptions. And that stat isn’t a false signal – when you watch him on the field, it’s clear that he plays with more awareness and confidence than he displayed last year. And what does he chalk his improvement up to? By now, you probably know the answer:
“I’ve started to study the game plan a little bit harder than I did last year,” Rambo said. “The way I was playing last year really didn’t help. I needed to change it up and put more work into it. It seems like everybody’s learned their stuff. When they know their stuff and I know mine, everything just seems to click together and I’m just lucky enough to be around a ball when they throw it to me. I have to say it’s all one the defense, not just me but the whole defense. I’m just lucky enough to be around the ball.”
Where did all these kids get the idea that all they had to do last year to win was show up on game day? It’s not like 2009 was some dominant season on Georgia’s part.
One good thing to consider: if Rambo is in fact a bellwether for the team, maybe things are looking up for this season.
Get The Picture 
Rambo lost his unborn child 2 days before the Ole Miss game. He is dedicating the season to his son. Condolences from the Bulldawg Nation.
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If you didn’t see it, Chip Towers had a nice follow up to his initial story on Rambo’s loss.
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+1
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You can see it with the whole team. A lot less wide open receivers running around then 2 years ago. Even the long pass for the TD (by Garcia), there were 2 bulldogs in the area. Unlike years past when he would have been wide open. Even the long pass against Ole Miss this last weekend, Commings was there, just a nice catch by the WR. Tip your hat and move on is all you can do.
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“Where did all these kids get the idea that all they had to do last year to win was show up on game day? ”
Uh, i think that is part of the problem that started in the sugar bowl against WVU. Its been going on a lot longer than last year.
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Martinez had a horrible game plan for that one. That wasn’t all on the players.
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So, like you and Willie spent a lot of time going over that I guess?
He must not have listened to you?
sorry man, could not resist
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I wish he had. I was yelling loudly enough during the game about it. 😉
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Certainly agree the game plan was horrible in that game and maybe that is not the best example. But it is hard to deny that the culture you cite about the players thinking that showing up translates to victory is part of the cultural problem we are seeing with our program and has been going on a lot longer than last year.
The difference between last year and prior years is that (i) the ball did not bounce our way as it has in years past and (ii) the talent and coaching gap that existed a few years ago has been closed considerably in the conference.
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The Offense was sucked it up too in the 1st half of that ball game. The entire team(by that I mean the coaching staff) was to blame for not showing up to play those first 2 qtrs.
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It was really just the first quarter and fifty seconds of the second quarter. During that time, WVU was up 28-0 and had gotten 200 of their 500 yards of offense. After that, Georgia had 450 yards of offense (outgaining the ‘Eers by 150) and outscored them 35-10. If not for a horrifically-defended fake punt, Georgia might have come back and won that game.
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Give Georgia 5 more minutes and Georgia wins that game imho.
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yeah, but that is why they play 60 minutes, not 65. Also why the first quarter counts and is not a warm up
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Maybe just a sophmore slump and maybe thank you Mr. Grantham for this new devotion to “study the game plan a little bit harder”. Also on that pass at Ole Miss, the one before the trick touchdown, it appeared to me to be one of those badly under-thrown balls that ends up only helping the WR catch it and the defender is there but really nothing he could do.
Also, unfortunately, I think you can count me as one of those who only has half a brain…but at least I got that pair of eyes!
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Some of Rambo’s lackadaisical attitude last year may have come from the fact that he was such a natural fit and ahead of the game his first year in the old system. He didn’t grasp the new system naturally. Not working hard to prepare is a pet peeve of mine, and I’d be up in arms over this quote, but… Rambo’s a hell of a player, and I can’t imagine the pain he’s going through with the loss of his son. I’m proud of the way he’s carrying on. GATA, Bacarri.
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A key to Rambo’s reemergence is the more consistently productive play from Williams at strong safety. Last year we had no one consistently able to play in the box, so Rambo was pushed in there. He’s not built for run-stopping as much as pass defense, where he is a natural ball-hawk. Once we get at least one more inside LB back and Williams is able to return full-time to strong safety, this secondary will be playing at an even higher level.
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Next to CR, Rambo is my favorite player, he’s been a ball hawk since he stepped on the field. He may get beat occasionally but he’s always around the action. And lets not forget, he played QB on our scout team his Redshirt Freshman year.
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“Where did all these kids get the idea that all they had to do last year to win was show up on game day?”
Answer – From the coaching staff, from the HC all the way down to S&C, who also thought all they had to do to win was show up.
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I’d like to believe everything you say, but will reserve judgment on this team and the players until we beat a decent opponent, which I consider MSU to be.
There is no way MSU has more talent than us. We should win this game. If we don’t, all this talk about the defense means nothing.
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Agreed. I wish they’d cut out the talk about how we’ve fixed this and that, or we’re getting better. Jeez, we won two games against two crappy teams after getting beat by the two good teams we’ve played. Until we win the next 4, and yes that includes beating Florida, we’re still the 5-7 team from last year. Win the next 4 and we’ll believe you.
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I said the same thing two weeks ago BEFORE we won the gimmies. At that point, and still at this point, I wish CMR would shut the players and coaches off from the media. He’s fighting for his job. Nothing good will come from players rehashing last year. Not for the player, the fans, or any of the coaches. It can’t be a feel good story until you’re doing a pregame interview for the SEC Championship game.
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Stafford/Moreno “led” teams with tons of talent. This is where we see the most glaring examples of the just show up and win attitude. As for the Defense last year, CTG’s new system must have been a lot to absorb, and hard to do…work too many were clearly not willing to put in. At least Rambo admits it. Others just relied on talent and moved on (Curran, Houston, etc.)
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I always thought Curran was a DGD. Not sure about his current legal problems though.
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Didn’t mean to imply Rennie was not a DGD, but he had so much talent, hard to tell if he bought into Grantham’s new program or not. He made plays regardless of the scheme.
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If nothing else, I’d say he’s definitely backed up his claim that he would’ve made an impact in the Boise game. Doesn’t change anything, of course. But there’s that.
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Yes, Rambo WAS terrible last year. There wasn’t anything to screw up that he didn’t screw up. He loafed way too much. Plus, he got called out, for just standing by and refusing to engage a RB who was scoring, TWICE on national TV, once by the broadcast team and again on ESPN by Holtz/May.
Nobody is happier than me that Rambo has improved. But I’m not ready to jump on the Rambo bandwagon yet. Both of the Ole Miss interceptions were gifts. Credit him for being where he was supposed to be and for not dropping them (which he is known for). And he had several breakdowns in the game, the kind that can get you beat over the top.
If Rambo is as good as everybody seems to think, then he’ll end the year with a NCAA interception record and named All-SEC and All-America. And I hope it happens, because we need him. We really don’t have anybody else ready to play the position.
If that happens, I’ll gush over him too. Until then, he still has something to prove. And he still has a ways to go to be one of the better SEC safeties, much less an All Star.
~~~
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AusDawg, Stafford and Moreno didn’t lead crap an I was glad to see both of them go. Maybe that’s what you meant with the quotation marks.
Yes, they were two very talented individuals. Maybe they just had a coaching problem.
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They went 21-5 with not much of a defense, so on behalf of both of them I will kindly ask you to shut the fuck up.
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Truth.
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Thank you for your kind request, but…
You saw a 21-5 record. I saw a team that jumped on Vanderbilt’s V after a 3 point win. I saw an entire team run on to the field against FU ( which I loved at the time) and then get decimated 49-10 the next year. I saw Moreno do the whole “call me” when he scored against ‘Bama and we were still about 20 points down. And let’s not forget the 22 minutes of Hell. (Google it)
So yes, they may have been arguably two of the top players ever to grace the Gridiron, but as leaders of a team, they left A LOT to be desired. And I belive are they are one reason the team had that “show up and win attitude.”
You have your opinion, I have mine.
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Senator –
Thought you might enjoy this:
http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/308930-nfl-teams-eyeing-les-miles?xid=cnnbin&hpt=hp_bn10
From Hot Seat to Hot Commodity in 12 Easy Months: The Les Miles Story
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Rambo was never the same after that big hit against Auburn. Maybe he has found his sea legs now. I am really bummed out by staying up to watch the Braves lose last night so let’s keep negative posts to a minimum please. Then there is the economy. I don’t know if I will ever collect any of the social security I am paying in. Man, life sucks. Think I’ll have a beer.
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I think the change is beyond Rambo. Seems the coaching staff has decided to stop using the seniority system and move to a merit system to decide who plays. Unlike Willie, who played less talented players because of seniority, Grantham seems intent on playing the guys who practice and show skills at the highest level. Guys have learned to compete for playing time. Those who don’t want that seem to transfer. I love it.
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Would someone tell Weiszer that Rambo is from Donaldsonville, not Donaldson. That makes 3 times I’ve seen that mistake recently. Does that mean that journalists are copying the same mistake from each other’s columns?
Rambo is a mixed bag and I hope the best foot comes forward when we play Tenn and he gets to fulfill his challenge to Da’Rick.
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