Jinks Presser

Coach Jinks addressed the media yesterday.  Nothing terribly newsworthy was revealed...I would watch for injury reports from The Blade tomorrow, because we got pretty dinged up Saturday.  Anyway, beyond that I have to say that Coach is a pretty stand-up guy, direct and honest.  I suspect his easygoing demeanor will throw some fans--as it did with Louis Orr--into thinking he isn't intense, which I believe he is.

Anyway, he feels that we are a couple plays away.  He just sees that if we could execute a couple plays differently. the whole thing would be better.  I get his point.  Football is a different game...if you make an extra yard for a first down and keep a drive going and then you score on that drive it effects the next drive....etc.

His specific example is a play where BG caught a pass near the stick, could have just plowed forward for a first down but cut back, lost yardage and had to punt.  "If we make that first down, they're tired and we probably score," he says.

And while I get that it was a big play, Coach spent much of the rest of the day talking about BG's poor execution...so, even if we make that first down, we still have to execute our way down the field and that is far from a sure thing.

So, I guess I don't think we're just a play away.  But, some plays do matter more than other plays.

He was asked often about the QB.  He's going to keep Knapke as the starter.  Has "all the confidence in the world in him."  Says he sat out all of last year and this is a somewhat new offense.  On the other hand, talks about all the reads the QB has to make in the offense and seems to indicate he was messing them up---in other words, he's making more mistakes than it looks like he's making.

And, he gave Morgan a shot and we saw what happened.

Finally, he shared the fan's frustration with that last drive.  He says that while he feels like they should have opened it up a little bit, he also told the OL coach that with the line we have, he should be able to make 10 yards in 3 plays to win a game.

Which is correct.  Also correct is that the OL coach was coaching his second game ever.