After watching the threads all week, and not throwing in my two bits, I need to vent.
I've been a season ticket holder for 15 years, and a Gator fan since birth. In all that time, I've never seen as poor of an offensive performance as I did last week. We were inept in every facet of our offensive game.
That said, the main problems weren't with the playcalling, so much as they were with the poor snaps, the pathetic blocking by both the OL and WRs, and the general lack of focus/ execution by all offensive players. Sure the coaches are to blame for that lack of focus, but it's pathetic to see how our spoiled fan base has turned Addazio into a scapegoat.
Most of Addazio's detractors point to last season's dip in scoring, when compared to '08, as the first sign of his ineptitude, but frankly, when you lose players like Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy, it's not so easy to come by the big plays that we relied on in '08. They also say that Addazio somehow held Tebow back from his greatest season ever, when truly Tebow had a sub- par year, mostly as a result of his indecisiveness in the pocket, especially after the concussion. Even with Tebow's sub- par play and without the number of play makers from the previous season, our team yardage totals were virtually identical to '08, we just lacked the big plays and sometimes struggled in redzone situations. Regardless, WE HAD THE ONLY UNDEFEATED REGULAR SEASON IN FLORIDA HISTORY. Had our players, on both sides of the ball, showed up for the Bama game, we would not be having this discussion at all. So throw out the argument that Addazio somehow is responsible for last year's offensive woes ( if you can even call them that).
So, if we throw out those arguments, the only negative against Addazio is the Miami game, which I admit, was called somewhat conservatively. Although, if you watch the tape, Miami was playing two (safeties) deep most of the game, regardless of what you think you remember. That's why you saw so many short yardage plays involving the running backs. Had our blocking, especially on the perimeter, been effective, you'd have seen those plays turn into much larger gains than they were. One example was the Rainey fumble, which was directly caused by a blown block by DT. That type of poor blocking was evident throughout the game, and without good blocking all around, the spread does not work. Most of these detractors seem to forget that many of Percy's big plays were short yardage passes, which, thanks to good blocking by the likes of Cooper & Murphy, turned into long touchdowns.
Also, imagine if DT hadn't dropped that pass in the end zone. I don't care what you all say, it was a drop. If you get two hands on a ball, you're supposed to catch it. Imagine if Brantley had been a little more patient and not overthrown Moore on that deep post. Both of those calls were wide open plays and perfect calls for the situation, just poorly executed. If both of those high percentage plays (1 on 1 coverage) had been executed properly, I don't think anyone would be complaining about the lack of downfield passing. When the opportunities were there, we took them.
I could really go on for pages, but I'll stop here. Just two more things: 1) Remember that our game plans are done by committee, so any blame you place on Addazio needs to be placed equally on Urban and the rest of the offensive coaches.
2) Realize that the '08 offense was incredible, one of the most dominant in history, and seasons like that don't happen regularly, especially not in this modern- day SEC, with its NFL caliber defenses.
So, quit booing. Quit your chicken little/sky is falling routine. Grow up and support your Gators. ( I can dream, right?)
unk:
