For weeks we have all been saying that this team needs to find it's identity. Well the truth of the matter is they have found it, yet they fail to maintain it. This team has so many aspects that have split personalities. 1. Jamarcus Russell, When allowed to play his game has proven that he doesn't miss, but when offensive playcalling goes numb, makes huge mistakes. 2. Coaching, Just about every week we all get excited about the first quarter playcalling, we get a lead and here comes the halfback dive until we are down or the game gets close. 3. Receivers, one minute they're dropping 10 yard curls, the next they're making diving catches in the endzone to win ball games. 4. Joe Addai, one of my all time favorite tigers. Has turned ball games around single handedly, yet even he has fumbleitis when playcalling gets vanilla. 5. Offensive line, More pancakes than the IHOP when offense is rolling, forget to block the damn tackles when we go vanilla. 6. Defense, first two games were horrible, last three look like best defense in the league. This seems to be corrected for good, unless something changes, Pelini has become our best asset on the coaching staff. I was ready to snipe his ass from the west upper deck after the first two games, but he has made a complete turnaround. It is pretty apparent to me that when one of the above problems happens, it is like a snowball effect. But in every game we have fixed the problems in the 4th quarter by doing one thing..... Coaches go back to letting the guys play. Like Saban used to say, "we're going to play the same game the entire 60 minutes, no matter what the score." I think if we get back to that, this team will not lose again this season, and it will clear up the turnovers and penalties.
Ch0sn0ne - you are putting WAY too much blame on play calling. These mistakes aren't the result of bland play calling - bland play calling is the result of these bad plays.
When I see the mistakes happen before we go vanilla, I'll agree with you. Until then I am blaming the interuption in rhythm for at least 60% of the mental mistakes.
You can easily blame playcalling for interceptions... Its up to the coaches to put the QB in the best situation for completing passes... yeah, the qb makes a bad decision, but when you are in 2 tight I on first and second down, then have to go shotgun on third down because its 3rd and 10, the coaches arent putting the qb in a favorable position, are they?
