:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/38580482/454814024.0.jpg)
Here are the highlights from this afternoon's presser (video coming later):
--We've had a tragedy in our family today, as Reggie Bonnafon's father, Wallace, has passed away. Please keep Reggie and his family in your thoughts and prayers.
--Obviously we're very disappointed in Saturday's game. When you don't execute, you keep seeing the same things go wrong play after play, and we definitely didn't execute like we should have. The offense was especially disappointing, and consistently put the defense in bad spots. We also lost the special teams battle, which means we lost in two of the three phases of the game.
--We have to finish our blocks in order to avoid the batted down passes. Max Valles was spying Will Gardner, and Will was staring down his targets, which made knocking down the passes very easy. Will also has a habit of staying crouched when he throws, which makes him a lot shorter than 6'5 when he's releasing the ball.
--We didn't have the same intensity or focus that we had before the Miami game. We need to open up some competition at all positions to get some of that fire back. The offensive line in particular needs to compete this week.
--I talked to our offensive coaches multiple times last week saying that I didn't like where we were. We had really bad practices on Tuesday and Wednesday, although Thursday was a little better, but we just didn't have anywhere near the focus or intensity we needed to have.
--Michaelee is back there as the second guy to block and field a bad punt if needed. He made a great block on the return before. He saw that kick and thought it was way over his head, so he went to block and took his eye off the ball, and wound up running into James when James was trying to make the fair catch. Michaelee needs to attack his block and not wait for the guy to come to him, If he attacks, then James doesn't run into him.
--James is getting better and better. Having him back there to return punts was obviously big in the second half. He was open on a lot of those passes that were batted down, and made plays when he did have a chance to make a play on the ball. He continues to work hard and get better in practice.
--We felt like we had an edge on Virginia in depth, and so we really needed to keep getting first downs and keep their defense on the field. That didn't happen at all in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, which was really disappointing.
--We're not going to panic. We're going to keep doing the things that we know will work, we're just going to do them better.
--The biggest thing you're looking for this week is leadership.
--Lorenzo is a huge leader for us on defense. He's extremely vocal all the time, and really gets the rest of his guys fired up. As far as on offense, he didn't have a great game, but Will provided a lot of leadership and energy when he came back into the game in the 4th quarter. Normally we get a lot of leadership from Eli Rogers and Michaelee Harris, but we didn't get them involved enough in the game for them to lead, and that's on me.
--When Will went back on the field, he played with poise and confidence, and he really competed. That was a huge positive to come out of the game. He could have kept his head down, but he stayed positive and wound up getting us in a position to win the game.
--Will has to keep his eyes downfield and not look for the rush. Lots of quarterbacks go through this. Mark Brunell, who is one of the best quarterbacks to play, went through this. He just really needs to focus.
