Coach Hazell Reveals Purdue Needs to Learn to Block and Tackle
Looking like a hobo, John Shoop talked after practice on Tuesday.
Hear what offensive coordinator John Shoop had to say after today's practice. #BoilerUp #BeatWis http://t.co/VFKkdcpcDp
— Purdue Football (@BoilerFootball) October 13, 2015
Am I the only one who is a bit distressed watching Coach Shoop talking? He sort of rambles and, honestly, reminds me a bit of Coach Hope. He seems like he really has absolutely no answers. When you continue to say things about not getting productivity they needed and how they practice really hard but it’s not translating to wins…. Well, that just sounds to me like a man who is out of ideas. Some quotes from Shoop’s conversation with the media yesterday:
“This outfit really practices well…. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.”
When it was pointed out that over eleven drives in the second half, the Boilers netted around seventy yards: “Yeah, it wasn’t… it, it, uh, you know it’s never any one thing and we want it pointed out we watched a lot of film as a group.”
What?
“We just didn’t have the productivity we needed.”
Well, yes, that is true.
“We have to play really hard this week.”
You have to play hard every week, coach. Every, single week. Your team needs to play harder, better and smarter than their opposition. You know what happens when you don’t? You get your brains beat in on your home field by a very beatable, hobbled, one-dimensional Minnesota team.
Coach Hazell spoke to the media as well both in an official press conference yesterday and then from the field after practice today.
Some highlights from the presser:
“You gotta finish blocks offensively… and you gotta tackle. Those are the two fundamental things.”
So by their own coach’s admission, his team doesn’t block or tackle well enough to win. That’s encouraging.
They’ve skinnied down the playbook so as to be more efficient. I don’t know whether to be optimistic about that or not.
“We have to be simplistic against their (Wisconsin’s) defense because of how good they are.”
Now, I’m no football coach, but this doesn’t totally make sense to me. But hey, I’m sure it’ll all be clear on Saturday!
Then today, he spoke after practice:
Head coach Darrell Hazell talked about shrinking the playbook and more. Hear what he had to say. #BoilerUp #BeatWis http://t.co/9a4q9s3TvO
— Purdue Football (@BoilerFootball) October 14, 2015
“We just have to execute at a high level.”
Isn’t this always the case? And isn’t this something his teams have yet to do at Purdue?
Hazell also talked about “technique and execution” a lot. So it leads me to ask… what happens when the guys aren’t executing? Do you consider benching them? Running harder practices? Nothing?
He also talked to the leadership council and about how the guys confirmed that the first drive after halftime can do a lot to your level of energy if you’re not executing. So they’re perhaps putting all their eggs into one basket after halftime? Huh, weird. Wonder where they got that approach.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to see some distress on the normally stoic coach’s face. I don’t suspect Coach Hazell is a guy you see a lot of emotion change from, but what I’m seeing is the look of a man who is also running out of answers. And he’s in the role where you always need to have the next answer.
Where does Purdue go from here? Well, it’s hard to imagine things getting better at Madison, so buckle up.
