John Mabry: Give Smith some slack
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
Jay Moore made a ton of big plays for the Husker defense Saturday, but the biggest stop eluded him. “I wish I’d tackled him or something,” Moore said.
Besides the fact it would have looked a little strange, it just wouldn’t have been cool for Moore to grab Le Kevin Smith on the ill-fated interception return that allowed Texas Tech to keep the ball in the final minutes.
Smith fumbled, Tech regained possession, and second-guessers from here to Macon, Ga., will be wondering how things could have been different if Smith had hit the turf as soon as he caught the ball.
“It’s hard to say what anybody would do in that situation,” Moore said.
It’s hard to say what Smith was thinking in that situation because he chose not to do post-game interviews.
Because it happened at such a crucial point in the game, Smith is going to take a lot of heat for this one.
But when a team has five turnovers, it’s hard to heap it all on just one. And the negative attention is a shame, because Smith has been one of the unsung heroes of a stellar defensive unit.
“He’s occupying blockers and getting a good push,” said defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove.
Smith has to do a lot of the dirty work inside to free up the sack patrol.
“He is a dominant force up front,” Moore said. “A lot of people don’t see him making huge plays, but he’s taking on double-teams, and Corey (McKeon) and Bo (Ruud) and Stew (Bradley) and Adam (Ickes) and those guys are just roaming free back there. He’s our engine on that front four.”
Cosgrove said he talked to Smith and the rest of the Blackshirts about putting it in the past in a hurry.
“I know how he feels ... well, I don’t know how he feels,” Cosgrove said. “I know he’s very upset. I’ll do the best job I can to help him move on.
“I’m proud of the (defense) It could have been a great win, but it wasn’t. We have to move on.”
v v v
Zac Taylor made more costly mistakes than Smith on Saturday, but the quarterback is likely to come out unscathed in the public opinion polls.
Turnovers aside — and those mistakes shouldn’t be discarded with nonchalance — Taylor is showing a lot of improvement.
The fade pass to Terrence Nunn for the go-ahead touchdown was nice, but I was more impressed with his poise and patience on a 15-yarder to Nunn in the third quarter.
Taylor went through his reads before finding Nunn on a crossing pattern for the TD.
Offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said Taylor is finally on the same wavelength with the play-callers — Norvell and Bill Callahan.
“He’s starting to think like we do,” Norvell said. “That’s what we have to have to have success. The quarterback has to think like us.
“He really has a good feel for the game plan because he studies so hard.”
Two-minute drill
* Kudos to the replay review officials. They’re getting them right, and they’re getting them right in a hurry.
* Saturday’s Maytag Repairman of the Game has to be Sam Koch. One little punt, but it was a beauty. If only I could get that kind of spin with my pitching wedge.
* And now for something completely different ... a road trip. It’s hard to believe, but the Huskers haven’t had one since the Oklahoma journey 11 months ago.
I call shotgun.
Reach John Mabry at 473-7320 or jmabry@journalstar.com.
Most Commented news