Mike West: "I Saw Improvement from Cristobal this Year"

[Charles Fischer]

Mike West has been a favorite poster of mine for years, and when time permitted for him...he was an analyst for FishDuck. Now I am biased because in the process of creating many analysis articles--he and I became acquainted and like so many of you--are now Duck-Buddies.

 

(My wife overhead me one day and asked, WHAT kind of buddies?  I told her, "DUCK Buddies...with a "D"!)

 

But he brought up an interesting point in a recent post; what improvement have YOU seen from Mario this year?  I agree with Mike, that he has improved, but I also agree with another Duck-Buddy, Jon Joseph, who believes Mario has a long way to go.

 

I think he has grown in many areas, and I think the vociferous negative crowd engagement at the Cal game gave him the nudge.  As I reported yesterday--Cristobal has yielded to Coach Moorhead on how to attack the "A" gaps and now both sides are happy--along with the fans!

 

What improvements did YOU see?

 

[30Duck]

First, the opinions of Mike and Jon are not mutually exclusive, they actually are linear. Mario has improved this season, but still has a way to go. The recruiting hasn't dropped off while Mario has shown growth in other area's His offense will never be a blur, but this season, with a limited QB, has been less of a Grind it out, than previously. 

[Washington Waddler]

     While you can’t compare Herbert’s and Brown’s passing talent, you can compare their running ability, and capacity for taking a hit. Both have the height and  weight to neutralize an lb and run over safeties and corners. 

     

     You could argue that MC correctly preserved JH for the passing game while utilizing AB in the run because of his passing deficiency, but it felt like a waste of Justin’s (until the last two games) Senior year.  Whatever the reason, it’s nice to see this change in how MC is using his QB.

[McDuck]

On 11/30/2021 at 11:53 AM, Washington Waddler said:

       You could argue that MC correctly preserved JH for the passing game while utilizing AB in the run because of his passing deficiency, but it felt like a waste of Justin’s (until the last two games) Senior year.  Whatever the reason, it’s nice to see this change in how MC is using his QB.

 

 

 

     

Cristobal quote from a 247 article.  Seems to have worked for all involved.

 

“We didn’t run him all year because we thought it was the right thing to do,” Cristobal said. “He came back as a senior and we didn’t want him running around and getting banged up, we wanted to keep him upright for the whole season. But if we got into championship play he was gonna run it, and he did against two unbelievable defenses. He showed his athleticism, his wiggle, his shake, his explosiveness, aside from all the other attributes he has as a quarterback.”

[shawnski]

Improvements:

1) playing younger players, and then actually letting them touch the ball

 

2) end game clock management. Beaver game was the best so far, actually getting the play clock down to 2 or 3 seconds

 

3) ditching the pistol

 

[David Marsh]

On 11/30/2021 at 1:17 PM, shawnski said:

ditching the pistol

 

This is the biggest thing... Now I am not opposed with coaches trying something and if they are going to try something they need to give it an honest try. However, the pistol was used and used enough to determine how effective it was... the result.. not very. 

 

I will say I am super excited by some of these young players. Cardwell is going to be GOOD and I think he probably would have redshirted if Verdell wasn't injured. These receivers are going to be GOOD once we get a quarterback who can get them the ball. We saw them get behind their defenders fairly often this year, so the speed is there, but Brown just can't get them the ball at that point. 

[Charles Fischer]

On 11/30/2021 at 1:17 PM, shawnski said:

Improvements:

1) playing younger players, and then actually letting them touch the ball

 

2) end game clock management. Beaver game was the best so far, actually getting the play clock down to 2 or 3 seconds

 

3) ditching the pistol

 

 

shawnski....another moderator and I have noticed your posts, as we enjoy the insight...and not just because I agree with you!

[Mike West]

What impresses me most about Jon's take on MC is it is clear MC isn't a complete coach yet.  

 

The little things are hindering the ultimate goal. 

 

There's this frustrating " reversion to the mean" thing going on.

 

Yet I see fingers emerging from the grave he's dug for himself....

[Charles Fischer]

On 11/30/2021 at 2:43 PM, Mike West said:

Yet I see fingers emerging from the grave he's dug for himself....

 

What a great post with such a superb visual created at the end.  And it is true.

[30Duck]

On 11/30/2021 at 2:43 PM, Mike West said:

Yet I see fingers emerging from the grave he's dug for himself...

 

[Grandpa Duck]

I certainly enjoy the analyses of Mike and Jon, and others here who know far more than I about football coaching.  Yes Mario is not a complete coach, evident in the special teams failures of the Utah punt return, actually the punt placement itself as well, and the OS onside kick.  I am certain there are several other indications of his incomplete development.

 

However, I have some substantial expertise in human character character analysis, and there, Mario is about as completely developed a coach as I have observed.  Just look in the quote above in this thread where he says, in effect, "We didn't use Herbert to run the ball because it was the right thing to do."

 

We had a coach not too long ago who got us into NCAA probation and himself suspended for two years because of payment to a recruiting scout.  I don't want to see that kind of thing happen again to OBD, and I am about as certain as I can be that things like that will not happen under the current head coach.  Having that confidence is worth a lot of special team errors.