Rez

Derek was a running back and linebacker.

Good point - I totally forgot that. Glad they are living up to that expectation.

Right - - in all fairness to the new DC, I'm rooting for him, and hope he is able to pull it together next year. No one starts out as great as they will be. So hopefully they'll figure things out. It does seem all the size goes to the offensive line though. And someone needs to teach PNG how to open-field tackle. I even went back watched the video from PNG vs. Stephenville in the 1999 state championship and the open-field tackling with that (great) defense was abysmal (setting aside that Stephenville's QB was an athletic freak) in that game. A lot of feet planted and hand grabbing. We tackled the same against Crosby. I acknowledge that defense is harder than offense, and everyone from the pros down to peewee is struggling with containing modern offenses. But at a minimum I'd like to see clean, one-on-one open field tackles when a player has that opportunity.

Since I'm thinking about it again, I think last week's game requires some perspective. In 2013, PNG had an "ok" team that I think finished 2nd in a particularly weak district. That year, Crosby went to the semifinals. PNG played Crosby in the first round of the playoffs and, though we were a mostly normal team and Crosby had its best team ever, PNG still managed to keep the score at 28-49. This year PNG was "supposed" to have one of the best teams in the state, and Crosby is technically still rebuilding from the financial implosion of two years ago and is only in its second year with the coach, and PNG barely managed 14 points and got embarrassed on defense, with what is supposedly the best offense in the district, with what is actually the best QB in the area. The point in making the comparison: even Crosby's best team ever didn't blow us out the way we got blown out last week (Leaving aside the unanswered question as to where this year's Crosby team will rank -- If Crosby goes on to win state, I'll feel a lot better about this). Something is not being done right. I'll avoid saying what should be done, because I don't know exactly what must be done to make a defense good. But will say that whatever should be done isn't being done, whatever that is.

Crosby and PAM would be a good game, and Crosby is a step above most of the competition PAM has faced. I'd have trouble predicting the winner.

So PNG is playing cupcakes for the next two weeks. I don't have the math in front of me, but theoretically if PNG runs up the score two weeks in a row, they might be able to affect their seeding? I'd like to see what numbers they would need.

Yep. Just tackle better. That’s all.

I think it's because if Nederland wins out the seeding situation won't have any question marks.

haha that makes more sense.

Good luck to Crosby in the playoffs! Congratulations on the win.

So with Crosby still undefeated, Nederland having one loss to PNG, PNG having two losses, and BH having two losses, where does that put us in seeding? Right now, its Crosby, Nederland, BH, and PNG (in that order). But if everyone wins out and Crosby beats Nederland, we'd have the next three behind Crosby having two losses each, and having each lost to one of the other runner-up teams (Nederland's losses would be to PNG and Crosby, BH's to Nederland and Crosby, and PNG's to BH and Crosby). How does second place get decided in that case? (Of course, Nederland could beat Crosby, but in that case the seeding is perfectly straightforward so I'm not asking about that situation).

Another thought is I've observed teams who just insert a two-way player in certain situations - Like the way Crosby did tonight, or Nederland (which, if I'm not mistaken, uses Fuselier both ways sometimes). Just to plug in a little extra skill in key moments.

Yeah, it's not always ideal. But even without playing kids both ways, there are so many ways PNG could improve its tackling. It's not an effort problem. The PNG players literally do not know how to tackle. They seem to be planting their feet and hoping to just hold on, which is why there are so many broken tackles - You don't tackle with your fingers, you tackle with a your body and with legs that don't stop driving. The PNG defense is playing flat-footed.

Are you scrutinizing the concept of players going both ways? Crosby had players going both ways tonight. I'm not saying teams should absolutely always have two-way players, but only that the team should play the person in the position that most makes them able to win. And PNG doesn't appear interested in that concept at all.

I meant because of ya'll's decent defense.

Well, overall there needs to be improvement. And even with only 7 points on our end, we could at least hold the other team to 7 points. That would make a big difference. Remember last year when ya'll won by like 5 because of a decent defense?

I blame coaching. I'm a massive Faircloth fan, but this is a complete breakdown of fundamental football. PNG has got to start playing the best players both ways, and get back to a tough style of aggressive, disciplined football. There is no reason we can't be excellent at offense and at least competent on defense.

lol is right

TexanLive score shows Crosby 97, PNG 7. I can't tell if they're mocking us.

I think it's safe to say PNG coaching staff don't even care about defense. Not even a little bit.

30-7 Crosby at half. Crosby kicker has 3 field goals.

It wasn’t lost on me haha

Huge defensive stop by PNG

This defense isn’t even something to be mad about. It’s just sad.

Figure I'll drop a prediction. I HATE to say this, but in the spirit of objectivity, it doesn't look good for PNG. I honestly know nothing about Crosby, other than watching them against Barbers Hill, and that game is a bad sample since BH played like eagles with clipped wings or some other bad trouble that eagles can get themselves into. I don't know a lot about eagles, so I'm already regretting that joke. In any case, you don't need to know anything at all about Crosby to predict this game. PNG has been the most consistent team in the area in one aspect: An absolutely mortifying inability to make plays at the line or make open field tackles. This weakness has been particularly clear against running QBs. Every team we've played, no matter how good or bad, has been able to take advantage of it. So if Crosby is AT ALL competent at running faster than a dead snail on the bottom of a broken wheelchair, PNG is going to struggle all night. I HATE predicting a PNG loss against the Mecca. I'm hoping Faircloth got the ipad I placed in the mail this week because we are going to need all the help we can get. That being said, I in no way think Crosby is unbeatable. Crosby is solid. I think (again, based solely on what I observed against BH) they are a third-round team with a high seed, 2nd round with a low seed. PNG can win this game. I don't look at PNG as a bad team at all. They have played well in every game, and the only truly bad performance, even with the bad defense, was the implosion against BH. PNG has shown flashes of real potential and talent all season, and there is nothing to say it won't come together tonight. Remember the 2010 season, when Central marched into the Reservation for the last game of the season, one game away from an undefeated district championship -- In that season PNG had an awful defense and an incredible offense (that was a year, I should add, PNG dominated Crosby in the pre-season). PNG crushed Central and went to the third round, only to lose by 10 points against Manvel. So we could surprise people tonight, is my only point. We still have the best QB in the area, and a full stable of dangerous runningbacks and receivers. GO Indians.