UGA blog finds new home
Morning all. As I’ve said a couple of times this week, we’re converting this blog over to a WordPress platform and it will be a permanent move the first of next week.
Those of you who are regulars probably know that I’m not what you’d call techno-wizard when it comes to these things. But from what I understand the technology offered in this new format should make the blogging and commenting experience better for all. Of course, I’ll be learning as we go along, too. But I’m hoping to provide more pictures and video and things like that which should bring the blog more to life.
Of course, this blog is nothing without all you guys so I want to heartily invite (read: beg) you to come over to the new site by CLICKING HERE ON THE NEW ADDRESS and save it in your browsers. As of Monday, Feb. 23rd, this will be the permanent home of the UGA blog you so love or, in the case of some of you, love to loathe. If you’d prefer to copy and paste or just memorize, the new address is: http://blogs.ajc.com/uga-sports-blog/.
See at the new place!
AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2008 > November > 10
Monday, November 10, 2008
Richt defends defense, Martinez
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OK, I get it. I’ve heard your constant complaints about Georgia’s defense. I’ve heard your incessant cries that coach Mark Richt fire defensive coordinator Willie Martinez.
Here’s a news flash: It’s not going to happen.
Never mind that Richt isn’t the firing type or that Martinez is his friend. The bottom line is Richt sincerely does not believe that Martinez is doing a bad job.
Richt’s not delusional about the defense. He’s aware of the dwindling performance this season. He knows that opponents’ points and yards are up and that takeaways are down. He knows SEC teams thus far are averaging 28.7 points a game against his Bulldogs. He just doesn’t believe Martinez is the problem. After all, Martinez is coaching the defense the way Richt wants it coached.
Richt spoke extensively on the subject of the defense — probably because he was asked about it so much — during his Sunday night teleconference with beat reporters. I’ll share most of it here:
Q: The defense has given up 125 points in the last three games. Don’t you have to get your opponents’ point totals down?
Richt: “Well we do but it does have to do with everybody. We’ve got some special teams issues that have put these guys in a bind. We’ve had turnover issues that have put these guys in a bind. It is a team game and it’s going to take the entire team to get the point total down. That’s the bottom line. It’s not just the defense.”
Would you say the poor defense this season has to do with scheme or execution?
Richt: “The bottom line is we’ve got to, the coaches have to, put the players in position to make plays and the players have got to make the play once that happens. Here’s the whole thing for me: We are a team and we’re not going to point fingers, certainly not in the media. We will always go back and look at the things we’ve got to do to make things better, whether it’s a coaching decision or whether it’s a player-execution situation. That’s just how we handle it.”
Q: Is it fair to say that it is, in fact, your defense, that Willie is only employing the tactics that you want him to? Couldn’t you direct him at any moment to be more aggressive, to “turn the defense loose” as so many fans are calling for and try to make some things happen?
Richt: “People don’t get it. People think they know but they don’t. I mean, if people really knew football, they’d know that we’ve been blitzing; they’d know that we’ve been playing zero coverage; they’d know we’ve been playing cover one; they’d know that we’ve been playing robber (coverage); we’ve been go fire-zone with cover three behind it; fire-zones with cover two behind it. So if they really knew football they wouldn’t be saying the things they say. But they don’t.
“It’s the same basic defensive scheme that we’ve had since we got here. You know, it’s not like a kind of philosophical issue. I mean, the philosophy of our defense hasn’t really changed hardly at all in eight years. And we’ve not been in this spot in the past. So that’s not the problem.”
Q: But there’s no denying the poor production. Are you surprised about that given the supposed high-pedigree of the personnel?
Richt: “Like I said, it takes the entire team to play good defense. It takes the offense, it takes lack of turnovers, it takes our special teams to play well, it takes our defense to play well. It takes us to not have penalties that, when you stop a drive, allows the drive keep going. It takes all those things. Like I said its a team game, buddy.”
So there you go. As you can tell, Richt is pretty, ah, defensive about his defense and his defensive coordinator. And the reality is this staff just won its 80th game in eight seasons with three more games to go. That’s an average of 10 wins per season.
I think what neither Richt nor Martinez is saying is some of their players simply aren’t as good as advertised or just not playing well for whatever the reason.
Rather than “curse the wind,” as my father always told me, let’s take a more constructive approach. Tell me what you would you have the Bulldogs do on defense? Would you flip around some personnel? Would you bench someone in favor of someone else? Would you just throw caution to the wind and all-out blitz every down?
Because what’s NOT going to happen is Martinez getting fired.
And remember, it’s Monday, so give me your questions for this week.
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