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Laxtonto

Burnt Ends
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Everything posted by Laxtonto

  1. OL is one of those units that while having 5 real solid players is awesome, you can be above average with 4 solid players and a JAG. The problem is when you are running out there 2 (or sometimes 3 or more in our case the last decade+) JAGs or worse the line falls apart. You can shift protection to help protect one tackle or allow your tackles to play a bit more on an island and allow your center to help double to help cover a weak G. You can even then add in an inline TE to help the tackles and then hope that G/Cs can hold the middle, but if you have to cover for both tackles or a G and a T or a C and a G you are in a world of hurt.
  2. So how much freedom does he have? I’m worried he might end up being enough of a dick to know that Addazio is a major part of the problem and forced Fisher to allow Petrino to hire someone actually competent.
  3. Sounds like Blue was way more of a pain in the ass than it ever made it out to the message boards
  4. The biggest issue with the Donetsk/Mariupol corridor is that it is the teeth of the old Cold War/Ukrainian war fortifications that have been hardened for decades. It is one of the reasons why that front has not really budged in a long time. The ability to isolate Crimea makes it extremely noteworthy as a general strategy, but the devil is in the details on this one. Everyone can see that the main rail artery that connects Rostov to Crimea can be severed and by doing so you can most likely then collapse the front around Kherson by the spring. How to get to that strategic objective is a major problem. The line of old hardened emplacements that stretch from Kherson to Donetsk makes picking where to to focus troops for an offensive a tricky topic. If you mass over Mariupol, then your offensive is at a location that is an all or nothing type scenario. If you can break into Mariupol then you both sever the rail line and take out a major population center that is the heart the symbolic Ukrainian breakaway oblasts. The problem is that you are committing to an offensive that is going to be a meat grinder for both sides and can be easily reinforced by the RU from both directions. If they instead mass to breach near Salvatore or Melitopol then you are away from the major concentrations of the RU forces that can bled for reinforcements. It lacks the political umpf as a statement for how the annexation of the population is failing, but would still allow the same strategic objectives. My gut says that they will try both Salvatore and Melitopol and stay out of the massive meat grinder, but I can see the value of going for the jugular.
  5. We all know that the winter offensive is coming, but where is the question. While there are multiple points that could see a major breakthrough, right now there is no real indication that there is a specific salient that we should be focusing on yet. We are seeing a slow grind on most of fronts in the east, with the most tangible developments happening around Salvatore. Outside of a thrust towards Melitopol, that is the most likely place to see a major offensive. If we move west, with Kherson already being held, we are now stuck with the idea of static defenses and/or major natural barriers that must be breached or bypassed to see any new developments. The problem with this is how does this even work without some form of amphibious assault at an extremely large scale. Worse, the geography of the Crimea makes any form of amphibious assault in the west that much more dangerous because the distance needed to travel by sea to reach any point that would have sufficient strategic value is fairly significant. Geography keeps Kherson from being a legit location to start from with essentially the best potential staging point being Odessa with a target around Zaliznyi Port (200 km or so). That is essentially infeasible to think that type of amphibious invasion at a scale not really seen since WW2 is remotely possible. Best case would be a large push across the river around Kherson, but the geography makes it extremely difficult with any attack going straight into the teeth of static defensive lines. So now what? Unlike the previous breakthrough, there are very few places that make any sense for the Ukraine to mount an offensive. All signs point to 2 spots and unless they get real creative this is going to be a fairly predictable set of offensives that are going to be much more of a grind than anything else we have seen so far.
  6. Just wanted to stop in and say Fuck OU. Now back to your regularly schedule programing.
  7. Yep. Solid players can make a defense average or better, but unless you have difference makers at a couple of positions that is your ceiling. Hopefully we are getting close to having a few of those “oh shit, did you see that” type players on D.
  8. Part of the “can’t get off the field on critical downs” is less scheme and more of a jimmy and joes problem. We get killed on 3rd and 4th downs because when it comes to critical plays, most offenses has more dynamic guys that can win a one on one matchup than we have defenders that can lock someone down. We had a walk-on playing key downs off and on this season on D. Last year we had a statue at LB playing because he was still better than the other junk on the roster. We are woefully weak at LB and EDGE and Safety is a concern. 2 more solid players at any of those 3 positions and the outcome of many of those critical downs swing the other way. We saw it last night with UW. When they absolutely needed a play we didn’t quite have enough true talent to overcome what they have on the field. I will say this though, safeties weren’t as bad last night than earlier in the season. PK did a great job this year, but next year I expect more. Year 3 for him and he should now have more of the type of guys he needs for his system.
  9. Nice to see Campbell essentially splitting snaps with Hutson
  10. Games like this makes it pretty damn obvious how bad it was to lose Neyor before the season ever started. If Worthy was not your primary deep option (which it is obvious he sucks at) and instead was feasting underneath things would look way different. As it was, Worthy was the only real deep guy that Sark trusted to stretch the D and we paid for it.
  11. Ref blows the whistle... play clock waits 4 seconds before starting...
  12. Oh shit... I actually saw Brooks look back for the ball... better coach that out of him...
  13. Got to give Krob the chance.. Been #3 all season (even though he is a real situational guy) so he earned the start
  14. The issue here isn’t whether it came from a lab or not at this point. The lab leak theory is probably the only one they actually makes real since from both a scientific and spread/proliferation standpoint. The issue is why did we (and the rest of the world) decide to allow the alternative scenario flourish as long as it did. And before we get all political, just remember what this type of allegation means, both economically and militarily. So, this thing came from a Chinese lab and killed millions of people globally and wrecked the world economy. Who is liable and how do you get restitution? Is this a scenario where we go to the world court and demand China makes this right? When they don’t do we bomb them into the Stone Age? Do we embargo China and further tank the global economy? Does everyone globally follow along? What happens is other nations do or do not side with us over this? The problem with the lab leak theory isn’t that it is plausible or likely, but once proven as true then humans are now liable. It is no longer an act of god but instead negligence by people working at the behest of a foreign government. Once this Pandora’s box is opened, the world is going to change forever. There is no way for this not to have global repercussions. So we talk about cause, but we need to accept that this is purposely being obfuscated because once the direct claim is proven, then it is no longer the virus as the bad guy, but instead a country.
  15. She's a Phd 5 degrees in a variety of feilds. Got to start with something that she is tangentially interested in that is unknown to get her interested and out of a book first... then go towards step 2
  16. I’ve been trying to explain to my wife how much things like drones have changed warfare, but this footage is something that finally really encapsulates what that means. Being able to chase down armored infantry carriers and kill/injure/neutralize approximately 80 infantry with a small force of drone and Javelin operators in a somewhat forward position brings to questions many things at a tactical level. This makes the idea of what constitutes recon and mobile infantry units and what additional protections are needed for them are major points of contention. How far are we from having infantry carriers that have a built in offensive and defensive drone controls? At what point will we see drone swarms unleashed on advancing convoys to stall their advance/bottle them so that artillery and missile systems can then finish them off. Lightly armored mechanized troops have great value in their mobility which increases both their offensive and defensive capabilities. By being able to change the combat priority by how they are targeted you can instead use that cascade of firepower to instead focus on more dangerous units. Sends the drones after the BMPs and other light armored vehicles and then reserve the Javelins, tanks, and air assets for bigger game. It isn’t so much that drones are better or a major increase in firepower but instead they allow infantry to target light armor while reserving their stronger assets for heavier armored targets.
  17. Purdue is a pretty damn strong MBA program. Isn’t McCombs, but it’s easily in the top 50 with multiplied highly ranked programs. Depends on what he’s going in for, but since he’s not going to Mich, UW, NW, UT etc, Purdue is a very solid choice. Bigger question is what is the NIL package and more appropriately what contacts does this get him in Chicago longterm.
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