[msqueri]

* Another commonality from the Anderson interview is Moi's comment that everybody here could have left but chose to stay. Methinks there's a theme developing in terms of the remaining players' tight-knit attitude and sense of solidarity reinforced by a little bit of a sense of grievance toward those outside the tent. It's coming across in these comments from the rising second year players but may be a broader attitude - Phillips was forcefully nodding along to this comment.

* Moi also talked about it feeling like family, which I long felt Shaw did not facilitate. Far too professional of a mindset, too much of a focus on the aspirations and life goals of the individuals as opposed to the collective, and too aloof/imperial of a leadership philosophy. I think Taylor is going to be a big difference in this regard and I hope it leads to more player satisfaction, better retention, and more of a team ethos. Could make a big difference.

* Phillips said the defense is now focused around get-off, penetration, and disrupting in the backfield. Kolodziej also mentioned get-off in the spring. Moi added to the focus on being explosive and disruptive by saying they're focusing in on their keys so they can get little hints about what the OL will do to try to get a step ahead. It seems apt that the younger guy would focus on this mental aspect, potentially more of a learning curve there. And chalk up another data point on keys being important to the defense.

* Body language got a lot less comfortable when Ben asked about what they learned playing under Shaw. It was the one part of the interview Phillips broke concentration and needed the question repeated (though it seemed there was cross-talk off camera judging from Moi's nod/smile off camera) but more tellingly the whole time Phillips was talking Moi looked a bit more stressed and like he was thinking about what to say. A lot of eye movement, looking down, mouthing words.....think he calculated that answer. Don't want to overstate this as they both came up with good, insightful answers, just kind of felt like these are guys who've turned the page and are very excited about a fresh start with something completely different and it required some mental energy to transport themselves back to worse days. In terms of the substance, the Phillips answer was absolutely on the nose and the perfect answer describing who Shaw was, what he focused on, and to some degree why he failed: instilling professionalism and molding Stanford Men. Shaw treated college young men as professionals, which had its benefits for a while but ultimately created an environment bereft of passion, joy, and commitment to team. College should be passionate, fun, and a bit messy. [By the way, when I talk about Shaw's pro mindset I'm talking about degrees, obviously Taylor also tries to act professionally and as Moi said Taylor too talks about daily habits befitting a professional.] Shaw also thought he was running a citizenship/leadership finishing school or something and took so much pride in his players treating people with respect and dignity and carrying themselves well off the field...but none of that wins football games. Moi's answer was actually somewhat moving in terms of embracing everybody and encouraging players to be themselves (e.g., the nerdy selves that are why they went to Stanford). I'm glad Moi's takeaway is that you can have two different personalities (on field/off field) as we definitely need to hope our on-field persona going forward reflects Shaw's niceness and high-mindedness as little as possible. As Ben noted, it's also telling that both answers were all about Shaw as a molder of men and had nothing to do with football. This is where we were under Shaw and the players know it. Much more exciting to be coached by somebody who's here for football but nonetheless is also a good man modeling good life lessons. By the way, great little knowing joke/reaction from the players when Ben time traveled back to the present.

* Phillips talked about the defense being a lot faster and a lot more key-oriented. I'm no coaching guru (and some of our defensive coaches are) but I wonder how this works. It's always seemed to me like the more you ask players to do mentally the harder it is to let them play fast. Aspiration is one thing but when it counts these are humans dealing with physical and mental limits. Moi supplemented the answer by saying there's a lot more movement, which sounds to me partly an extension of the keys concept where we'll be adjusting to the offense's looks and moving around to get better matchups. Moi contrasted this with how much the DL had to take on double teams last year and how this year the idea is they'll move around to be freed up so they can make impact and be disruptive. As a fanatic of the Party in the Backfield DL days and uber-skeptic of whatever the hell our front seven coaches were trying to do the last six years, I like the sound of this.

* Phillips' talk about loving being a game-wrecker and ruining an offense's plan, as well as loving silencing a crowd, is something I'll prefer hearing about if our DL is able to do some damage. Right now it's been quite some time since we walked any kind of walk and I'm really tired of it. I so want the players' excitement to translate into something. Stanford hasn't been top 70 (SEVENTY!!!) in the nation in tackles for loss per game a single goddamn time in the last eight years. Lance Anderson was such a ludicrously awful defensive coordinator. As a result, it rings so hollow for me to hear our fourth year anchor of the defense loving to wreck game plans. When have we ever wrecked game plans? I so badly want for this year to turn the page in that regard. As I keep reminding folks, this was actually the first meaningful on-field thing Harbaugh (via Shafer) changed when he got to Stanford. I think we have the personnel on defense to be a lot more disruptive than we have been these last eight years and I want to start seeing it in the worst way.

* All of us lovers of defense like hearing about physicality and Moi went right there, saying it's been one of the main points of emphasis and that what he loves about defense is being physical and if you have a bad day you can express it/let out that aggression on the field. May he and his teammates do that on their good and bad days alike!

[msqueri]

* Another commonality from the Anderson interview is Moi's comment that everybody here could have left but chose to stay. Methinks there's a theme developing in terms of the remaining players' tight-knit attitude and sense of solidarity reinforced by a little bit of a sense of grievance toward those outside the tent. It's coming across in these comments from the rising second year players but may be a broader attitude - Phillips was forcefully nodding along to this comment.

* Moi also talked about it feeling like family, which I long felt Shaw did not facilitate. Far too professional of a mindset, too much of a focus on the aspirations and life goals of the individuals as opposed to the collective, and too aloof/imperial of a leadership philosophy. I think Taylor is going to be a big difference in this regard and I hope it leads to more player satisfaction, better retention, and more of a team ethos. Could make a big difference.

* Phillips said the defense is now focused around get-off, penetration, and disrupting in the backfield. Kolodziej also mentioned get-off in the spring. Moi added to the focus on being explosive and disruptive by saying they're focusing in on their keys so they can get little hints about what the OL will do to try to get a step ahead. It seems apt that the younger guy would focus on this mental aspect, potentially more of a learning curve there. And chalk up another data point on keys being important to the defense.

* Body language got a lot less comfortable when Ben asked about what they learned playing under Shaw. It was the one part of the interview Phillips broke concentration and needed the question repeated (though it seemed there was cross-talk off camera judging from Moi's nod/smile off camera) but more tellingly the whole time Phillips was talking Moi looked a bit more stressed and like he was thinking about what to say. A lot of eye movement, looking down, mouthing words.....think he calculated that answer. Don't want to overstate this as they both came up with good, insightful answers, just kind of felt like these are guys who've turned the page and are very excited about a fresh start with something completely different and it required some mental energy to transport themselves back to worse days. In terms of the substance, the Phillips answer was absolutely on the nose and the perfect answer describing who Shaw was, what he focused on, and to some degree why he failed: instilling professionalism and molding Stanford Men. Shaw treated college young men as professionals, which had its benefits for a while but ultimately created an environment bereft of passion, joy, and commitment to team. College should be passionate, fun, and a bit messy. [By the way, when I talk about Shaw's pro mindset I'm talking about degrees, obviously Taylor also tries to act professionally and as Moi said Taylor too talks about daily habits befitting a professional.] Shaw also thought he was running a citizenship/leadership finishing school or something and took so much pride in his players treating people with respect and dignity and carrying themselves well off the field...but none of that wins football games. Moi's answer was actually somewhat moving in terms of embracing everybody and encouraging players to be themselves (e.g., the nerdy selves that are why they went to Stanford). I'm glad Moi's takeaway is that you can have two different personalities (on field/off field) as we definitely need to hope our on-field persona going forward reflects Shaw's niceness and high-mindedness as little as possible. As Ben noted, it's also telling that both answers were all about Shaw as a molder of men and had nothing to do with football. This is where we were under Shaw and the players know it. Much more exciting to be coached by somebody who's here for football but nonetheless is also a good man modeling good life lessons. By the way, great little knowing joke/reaction from the players when Ben time traveled back to the present.

* Phillips talked about the defense being a lot faster and a lot more key-oriented. I'm no coaching guru (and some of our defensive coaches are) but I wonder how this works. It's always seemed to me like the more you ask players to do mentally the harder it is to let them play fast. Aspiration is one thing but when it counts these are humans dealing with physical and mental limits. Moi supplemented the answer by saying there's a lot more movement, which sounds to me partly an extension of the keys concept where we'll be adjusting to the offense's looks and moving around to get better matchups. Moi contrasted this with how much the DL had to take on double teams last year and how this year the idea is they'll move around to be freed up so they can make impact and be disruptive. As a fanatic of the Party in the Backfield DL days and uber-skeptic of whatever the hell our front seven coaches were trying to do the last six years, I like the sound of this.

* Phillips' talk about loving being a game-wrecker and ruining an offense's plan, as well as loving silencing a crowd, is something I'll prefer hearing about if our DL is able to do some damage. Right now it's been quite some time since we walked any kind of walk and I'm really tired of it. I so want the players' excitement to translate into something. Stanford hasn't been top 70 (SEVENTY!!!) in the nation in tackles for loss per game a single goddamn time in the last eight years. Lance Anderson was such a ludicrously awful defensive coordinator. As a result, it rings so hollow for me to hear our fourth year anchor of the defense loving to wreck game plans. When have we ever wrecked game plans? I so badly want for this year to turn the page in that regard. As I keep reminding folks, this was actually the first meaningful on-field thing Harbaugh (via Shafer) changed when he got to Stanford. I think we have the personnel on defense to be a lot more disruptive than we have been these last eight years and I want to start seeing it in the worst way.

* All of us lovers of defense like hearing about physicality and Moi went right there, saying it's been one of the main points of emphasis and that what he loves about defense is being physical and if you have a bad day you can express it/let out that aggression on the field. May he and his teammates do that on their good and bad days alike!