Reading between the lines of Billy Napier’s post-A&M comments

With yet another loss, Billy Napier has fallen to 21-23 since arriving as head coach of the Florida Gators.

After the loss, Napier gave a press conference and these were among the notable quotes he had.

Opening Statment

"First of all, hats off to Texas A&M. They played a heck of a game, and they got a really good football team. Well-rounded team, good in all parts. I think our kids, early on defense, started a little bit slow. Offensively, we started fast, and then we kind of settled in on defense and struggled to generate many points from that point forward on offense."

It really is just the same old platitudes from Napier. No anger, no passion, no urgency, just "Gee golly, that's a good team over there."

For the record, Mike Elko is in year two and built a team that just ran circles around Napier.

4th and 13

"I think that the analytics would say at that point you go for it, but in general, yes that’s one you think about."

This felt insane in real time to go for it, and shocking Florida didn't get it.

What's even more funny is that Neil Blackmon of Saturday Down South predicted this would be Napier's response while pointing out that no, the analytics don't support going for it there.

Fast start, slow finish

"They showed up playing a little more man coverage, man pressure, they played bracket to mixed bracket with that. Obviously, a lot of those throws were runs that were tagged with run-pass options, and we were attacking the corners in cover one. Once we proved that we could win outside, I think they settled down and played a little bit more post safety zone."

Sooooooo, once again, a team makes a basic adjustment, and Napier has no counter adjustment.

Got it.

Screen on 3rd and 12

"We threw a screen into man-match coverage, which was not great. They played zone, they just pushed through the zone and matched the back. Our lineman was not able to get out, and get the guy that covered the back. And look, sometimes those work, sometimes they don’t work."

So first off, you just said they were playing more man, so why call a play into man-match coverage you knew wasn't great?

Also, no, those plays do not "sometimes work."

Starting 2-4

"So, there’s no quick fix here. The best thing to do is go win. We saw that last week. In general, here, we got to stay the course to keep going here. I think we got a lot of kids in there trying to do things the right way. 
We’re close. I think we’re getting better on offense, and I think the defense has played really tough and hard the entire way.”

Correct, the best thing to do is to go win. The problem is Florida is 21-23 in the Billy Napier Era.

Three of the four losses have been by double digits, and so no, you're not close.

Plus, your starting QB is tired of the losing.