Still Mad

I'm still mad about the football game yesterday.  I think I'm embarrassed more than anything.  It's one thing to put it all out there and lose.  It's another thing to have a game woefully mismanaged.  Our athletes kept us in the game in spite of our coaching staff.  But the coaches were able to wrestle defeat from the grasp of victory.

There is quite a bit of buzz online today about the game.  This pretty much sums it up for me.   WBRZ had this video about the final seconds.  There is speculation that Miles wasn't calling for a spike but signaling that Toliver was down after the catch.  Even if that IS the case, saying you don't know what's going on with your team, your coaches, your sideline at the end of the game is INEXCUSABLE as a head coach.

So not only is the mismanagement of the final minutes an issue for me, I heard Gary Daniels and Vern Lundquist say something that REALLY bothered me.  They were talking about Patrick Peterson and what a great player he is.  He is definitely one of our standouts.  What bothers me is what they said he told them about Julio Jones and the Alabama game.  Supposedly Peterson said, "He didn't catch anything against me."

It is a true statement, but the complete opposite direction I think this team should be taking.  It couldn't be any farther removed from the "I play for the name on the front of my jersey, not the back" statement made under the Saban regime.  Last time I checked, football is a TEAM sport.  And it doesn't matter that Peterson shut Jones down.  What matters is that Jones did score.. and our TEAM lost.  He scored because our top corner (Peterson) is out with cramps.  Why are players still having cramps in November?  Is conditioning so poor?

To me it's a sign of internal problems that disturb me.  The confusion, the lack of discipline and woeful game mismanagement are problems of the coaching staff.  We have the talent... the question is for how long?  Top kids aren't going to want to play for The Ass in the Hat.