people are too down on TD | Page 7 | Syracusefan.com

people are too down on TD

And in your opinion, would this be his decision based on his unhappiness with the program, or the program's unhappiness with him?
The expectations placed on TD have been unfair...especially from his inner circle. When TD didn't make the 2-deep as a true frosh, I vividly remember his father coming on here complaining that "this isn't what we signed-up for" and "grass won't grow under our feet". Basically, he threatened that TD would transfer because he was evaluated unfairly.

In TD's defense, he appears to be a wonderful young man and a great team mate. Hopefully, my opinion will be moot because he turns it around in a big way starting this week.
 
The expectations placed on TD have been unfair...especially from his inner circle. When TD didn't make the 2-deep as a true frosh, I vividly remember his father coming on here complaining that "this isn't what we signed-up for" and "grass won't grow under our feet". Basically, he threatened that TD would transfer because he was evaluated unfairly.

In TD's defense, he appears to be a wonderful young man and a great team mate. Hopefully, my opinion will be moot because he turns it around in a big way starting this week.

I'm with ya.

I would also argue this has been part of the reason our staff has had difficulty recruiting some competition at the position.
 
I'm with ya.

I would also argue this has been part of the reason our staff has had difficulty recruiting some competition at the position.
That's why he didn't play Welch last year. Had he played Welch, they would have made a bowl and recruiting a QB or any other position would have improved.
 
That's why he didn't play Welch last year. Had he played Welch, they would have made a bowl and recruiting a QB or any other position would have improved.

lol. no - the only benefit Welch brought was he was bigger and healthy. TD was hurt and couldn't run and our OL was bad enough the staff needed to protect him.
 
lol. no - the only benefit Welch brought was he was bigger and healthy. TD was hurt and couldn't run and our OL was bad enough the staff needed to protect him.
BS. Welch was tall and had a quick release with a strong arm and could run the quick out/ slant offense. He also could run pretty good and threw a decent deep ball. TD was injured and struggling but still got all the starts until Wake. That sent a clear signal out to recruits that there was no open competition for the job. This is a problem.
 
BS. Welch was tall and had a quick release with a strong arm and could run the quick out/ slant offense. He also could run pretty good and threw a decent deep ball. TD was injured and struggling but still got all the starts until Wake. That sent a clear signal out to recruits that there was no open competition for the job. This is a problem.

Sigh.

So your take is Dino played the 2nd best QB? And for some reason is afraid to pull Tommy?

You realize he pulled the 4th year starter who won vs #2 Clemson in his senior year, right? I mean c'mon.
 
The expectations placed on TD have been unfair...especially from his inner circle. When TD didn't make the 2-deep as a true frosh, I vividly remember his father coming on here complaining that "this isn't what we signed-up for" and "grass won't grow under our feet". Basically, he threatened that TD would transfer because he was evaluated unfairly.

In TD's defense, he appears to be a wonderful young man and a great team mate. Hopefully, my opinion will be moot because he turns it around in a big way starting this week.
Tommy is a good QB, but Syracuse is a bad fit. To me Tommy is a great conducter, who can make glorious music with an orchestra. But what we need is a great painter, who can take a blank canvas, and create a masterpiece.
 
Sigh.

So your take is Dino played the 2nd best QB? And for some reason is afraid to pull Tommy?

You realize he pulled the 4th year starter who won vs #2 Clemson in his senior year, right? I mean c'mon.
You don't see the irony?
 
We’ve had one game. Our defense looked damn promising, in many ways flashing more potential than any time in the HCDB era. And it should continue to get better.
I trust Coach Justin Lustig, one of the best special teams coaches in football, to get that group shining again. Nykiem could be a brilliant kick returner. Andre will settle into being Andre, which is to say a fantastically accurate kicker.
So, it’s up to the offense. TD has suffered more criticism than most of us get in a lifetime. Imagine if this was your son. It’s painful to read some of these comments. Carlos and Sharod Johnson have also been vilified. I get it. You play college football at the highest level and it comes with territory.
All of us have every reason to be pissed about how the offense played, because it cost us a very good chance to beat North Carolina. I’m sure, as smart a man as he is, HCDB would admit that everyone had responsibility for that poor performance, including the coaches who drew up the game plan and who called the plays.
The only question now is: How will we respond? Is the UNC game really what our offense looks like, or are we better than that?
I want to be believe we are better than that. But how the hell do I know, or do you know or even how does HCDB know?
I’m not giving up on our quarterback, our center, our slot receiver and our play callers after one game in an 11-game season, Starting at noon Saturday in Pittsburgh, all of them can change this narrative. Until then, I’m going to embrace one of HCDB’s favorite sayings about having belief without evidence, and believe we will see a different offense this Saturday.
 
We’ve had one game. Our defense looked damn promising, in many ways flashing more potential than any time in the HCDB era. And it should continue to get better.
I trust Coach Justin Lustig, one of the best special teams coaches in football, to get that group shining again. Nykiem could be a brilliant kick returner. Andre will settle into being Andre, which is to say a fantastically accurate kicker.
So, it’s up to the offense. TD has suffered more criticism than most of us get in a lifetime. Imagine if this was your son. It’s painful to read some of these comments. Carlos and Sharod Johnson have also been vilified. I get it. You play college football at the highest level and it comes with territory.
All of us have every reason to be pissed about how the offense played, because it cost us a very good chance to beat North Carolina. I’m sure, as smart a man as he is, HCDB would admit that everyone had responsibility for that poor performance, including the coaches who drew up the game plan and who called the plays.
The only question now is: How will we respond? Is the UNC game really what our offense looks like, or are we better than that?
I want to be believe we are better than that. But how the hell do I know, or do you know or even how does HCDB know?
I’m not giving up on our quarterback, our center, our slot receiver and our play callers after one game in an 11-game season, Starting at noon Saturday in Pittsburgh, all of them can change this narrative. Until then, I’m going to embrace one of HCDB’s favorite sayings about having belief without evidence, and believe we will see a different offense this Saturday.
I believe that I didn't see any evidence of a competent offense last Saturday. I actually saw a bad offense so there is some evidence of that. Kind of redundant I guess but whatever.

What I can do is hope that changes on Saturday against Pitt.
 
The game was on again tonight.. so i watched it..slowed it down.. payed attention to the details i could see.. things like TD's eyes and where he was looking and his primary read... I watched the WR's and OL Play with detail. I have come to a different conclusion tonight... I see play calling that appears dis-jointed at times... But the thing i am seeing the most is we are rarely going 2 or 3 plays in a row with no mistakes on O from the 3 Offensive position groups... Its either a WR... an OL or a QB/RB mistake and we are not playing clean gentlemen... we are playing poor football as an offense in general... I am in the camp that this offense has been different since Sean Lewis departure.. and it has been but after rewatching this last game against UNC.. Play calling could have been much better... but We are just not playing solid football within the 3 offensive position groups consistently.. and its bad.. like 1 of every 3 plays a mistake is being made in one of the levels negatively affecting the outcome bad.. It actually does give me hope moving forward believe it or not.. I do see fixable issues..and most are not talent related IMO... I think it will slowly get better from here
 
Last edited:
The game was on again tonight.. . But the thing i am seeing the most is we are rarely going 2 or 3 plays in a row with no mistakes on O from the 3 Offensive position groups... Its either a WR... an OL or a QB/RB mistake and we are not playing clean gentlemen... we are playing poor football as an offense in general... but We are just not playing solid football within the 3 offensive position groups consistently.. and its bad.. like 1 of every 3 plays a mistake is being made in one of the levels negatively affecting the outcome bad.. It actually does give me hope moving forward believe it or not.. I do see fixable issues..and most are not talent related IMO... I think it will slowly get better from here
My impression is different. North Carolina was bigger and stronger in positions where power matters. They stuffed our OL and forced mistakes, and their line wore us out by the fourth quarter. Sure we made mistakes on our own, and did not capitalize on opportunities. But also note that NC took away what we tried to do. We could not get a running attack going (look at the stats). It is hard to play solid football when your guys are losing the majority of physical battles and your skills guys are rather average.
Moving forward, how do we match up physically against Pitt and other opponents?
 
My impression is different. North Carolina was bigger and stronger in positions where power matters. They stuffed our OL and forced mistakes, and their line wore us out by the fourth quarter. Sure we made mistakes on our own, and did not capitalize on opportunities. But also note that NC took away what we tried to do. We could not get a running attack going (look at the stats). It is hard to play solid football when your guys are losing the majority of physical battles and your skills guys are rather average.
Moving forward, how do we match up physically against Pitt and other opponents?
We match up pretty well on the D side. Terribly on the O side. We are weak at every position on O.
Oline: C-
QB: C
WR: C
Rbs: C-

Granted its only one game but we didn't have one offensive unit play any better than a C grade which obviously isnt going to win many games. Hopefully the guys and the coaches improve.
 
We match up pretty well on the D side. Terribly on the O side. We are weak at every position on O. . . .

Granted its only one game but we didn't have one offensive unit play any better than a C grade which obviously isnt going to win many games. Hopefully the guys and the coaches improve.
I don’t disagree with your grades, though my comment was primarily about size and strength not the coaching or skill elements or how well they played in a game. Our defense got two interceptions to stop drives, but NC was able to run the ball and get into favorable down/distance situations, and they wore us down. We aren’t a physical team. Hard to change that in the course of a season.
 
The game was on again tonight.. so i watched it..slowed it down.. payed attention to the details i could see.. things like TD's eyes and where he was looking and his primary read... I watched the WR's and OL Play with detail. I have come to a different conclusion tonight... I see play calling that appears dis-jointed at times... But the thing i am seeing the most is we are rarely going 2 or 3 plays in a row with no mistakes on O from the 3 Offensive position groups... Its either a WR... an OL or a QB/RB mistake and we are not playing clean gentlemen... we are playing poor football as an offense in general... I am in the camp that this offense has been different since Sean Lewis departure.. and it has been but after rewatching this last game against UNC.. Play calling could have been much better... but We are just not playing solid football within the 3 offensive position groups consistently.. and its bad.. like 1 of every 3 plays a mistake is being made in one of the levels negatively affecting the outcome bad.. It actually does give me hope moving forward believe it or not.. I do see fixable issues..and most are not talent related IMO... I think it will slowly get better from here
its why I think you need to watch the game and actually watch the plays.. you see a play get blown up and think bad things.. then you watch it again and you see some simple mistakes. a missed block , communication, bad read. All fixable. We did not get blown up on the oline as much as you think. If you are pulling and the LB attacks but you miss him thats correctable.. The Center was the only one I saw get blown up multiple times and that is really the one issue that concerns me
 
its why I think you need to watch the game and actually watch the plays.. you see a play get blown up and think bad things.. then you watch it again and you see some simple mistakes. a missed block , communication, bad read. All fixable. We did not get blown up on the oline as much as you think. If you are pulling and the LB attacks but you miss him thats correctable.. The Center was the only one I saw get blown up multiple times and that is really the one issue that concerns me

Things become less and less "fixable" when the same mistakes are repeated over and over again. At some point you need to just accept that they are no longer fixable. A freshman making a mistake is one thing. A senior making the same mistake over and over again isn't likely to all of a sudden stop making those mistakes. A mistake can be turned into a teaching moment. When you are teaching the same lessons to the same students over 13 games, the chances of it sticking are slimmer.
 
Things become less and less "fixable" when the same mistakes are repeated over and over again. At some point you need to just accept that they are no longer fixable. A freshman making a mistake is one thing. A senior making the same mistake over and over again isn't likely to all of a sudden stop making those mistakes. A mistake can be turned into a teaching moment. When you are teaching the same lessons to the same students over 13 games, the chances of it sticking are slimmer.

No - it's always fixable. It's more unlikely, but not stuck at zero % chance of improvement.

Speed, instinct, strength are variables that are hard to shift quickly. Mental stuff is the easiest to rectify.
 
Things become less and less "fixable" when the same mistakes are repeated over and over again. At some point you need to just accept that they are no longer fixable. A freshman making a mistake is one thing. A senior making the same mistake over and over again isn't likely to all of a sudden stop making those mistakes. A mistake can be turned into a teaching moment. When you are teaching the same lessons to the same students over 13 games, the chances of it sticking are slimmer.
so the kid playing oline for the first time since HS is now a lost cause? olines need to work together.. they had really no practice as a unit to work on these things under game pressure.. if its game 4-5-6 yeah its probably not fixable without new bodies.. Game 2 against a good dline might be an issue 2.
 
so the kid playing oline for the first time since HS is now a lost cause? olines need to work together.. they had really no practice as a unit to work on these things under game pressure.. if its game 4-5-6 yeah its probably not fixable without new bodies.. Game 2 against a good dline might be an issue 2.

Where did I say or imply that? And why are we talking just OL? BTW unless Babers was just blowing smoke, said player graded out the best on the OL.
 
its why I think you need to watch the game and actually watch the plays.. you see a play get blown up and think bad things.. then you watch it again and you see some simple mistakes. a missed block , communication, bad read. All fixable. We did not get blown up on the oline as much as you think. If you are pulling and the LB attacks but you miss him thats correctable.. The Center was the only one I saw get blown up multiple times and that is really the one issue that concerns me
That's fair. But did you see members of the OL getting a strong push, or opening running lanes? The bare minimum is not getting blown up more than the odd time in pass blocking. Next, can they hold the pocket. Next, can they get a push.
 
we are a very finese rushing team for sure. Some of the pulling plays were well designed but it doesnt matter if you dont make the blocks or handoff the wrong time.
 
A good coach needs to scheme according to his players strengths. Running an RPO with a QB who is a pocket passer, a patch work OL and an RB who weighs 185 dripping wet against a solid Dline and LB crew isnt using your head.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
167,142
Messages
4,682,922
Members
5,901
Latest member
CarlsbergMD

Online statistics

Members online
51
Guests online
921
Total visitors
972


Top Bottom