Penalties, Mental errors, and discipline.

[Jim Johnson]

Look, we all know the problem here -- and CJL admits it.

He also said that all the running in practice hasn't helped.

I have a solution: bench them.  For a play, a series, a quarter, or a game.

Royals had a bad mental problem he took his helmet off, gave USM another 11 yards -- and coach left him in there!!  Royals should have sat down - for the rest of the game for that dumb mistake.

When one offensive lineman commits two holding penalties, he should be benched.  Sit him down and make him think about why he is sitting.

Believe me, any player that starts the game - or plays on a regular basis - will learn VERY quickly not to make such dumb mistakes if he doesn't get the chance to play.

If we had an employee that made a mistake that could cost us $$, we would suspend or fire him/her immediately.  However, Jim Leavitt bitches, moans, makes 'em run in practice, then lets them play anyway.

Which is worse? A first string player who has mental breakdowns or a second string player with less ability??

C'mon Coach - take 'em out and really punish them!

[lotsofbull99]

We will never be able to beat the top teams in any conference we play in unless we get the penalty issue under control.  We are not Florida, FSU, or Miami we can't have 100+ yards of penalties and hope to win against the better teams.

[jfcohio]

The players are on the field "doing" the stupid penalties, but the coach has to find a way to stop them.

Benching - whatever - but, it's up to JL to figure it out.

[BigShoop]

Good point Jim.

[Jake_Ryan]

I agree - the penalties need to stop, especially from the upperclassmen.  If you play freshmen and sophs, you have to expect mistakes, but the seniors should not be committing dumb penalties.

Taking away playing time is the way to get the players attention.

[BULLheaded]

well, during the thread about how sloppy we look with our jersyes hanging all out a few of us talked about how part of the problem could be that just a punishment isn't the solution. Maybe the coaches need to start instilling a sense of discipline and attention to detail in all facets. If the kids are hounded to be meticulous in everything they do and corrected continuously then we might see this sloppiness end. To bench them or make them run because of gameday mistakes without really instilling the discipline through practice or even into the personal life probably isn't ever going to be very effective.

[smazza]

all good points

[Ricky the Bull]

well, during the thread about how sloppy we look with our jersyes hanging all out a few of us talked about how part of the problem could be that just a punishment isn't the solution. Maybe the coaches need to start instilling a sense of discipline and attention to detail in all facets. If the kids are hounded to be meticulous in everything they do and corrected continuously then we might see this sloppiness end. To bench them or make them run because of gameday mistakes without really instilling the discipline through practice or even into the personal life probably isn't ever going to be very effective.

Someone brought up the shirttail issue on the post game call-in show, stating that he thought that discipline starts with attention to detail.  

I tend to agree with that and also Jim's point about benching.  Yes, it may hurt the team, but what do the penalties do?

[ETKbull]

... and Army may be just the team to start benching players.  I'm sure these guys are making the same penalities in practice, but are they getting called for them?

[CyberBull]

Let's not go overboard with bencing starters especially on the offensive line. While our OL second team is talented it is very young. If we bench our starters we have no chance to win. Until these guys are ready to play I would rather take my chances with the penalties and still stay in the game.

While I too am frustrated with the penalties nobody is more frustrated than Jim Leavitt.  If he had answer I don't think he would need us armchair QBs to point it out to him.