Oct. 26, 2009
PHOTO GALLERY
Bronx, N.Y. - The fifth weekly Monday Night Quarterback Coaches Show was held tonight in The Marketplace in the McGinley Center with appearances by Fordham head coach Tom Masella, wide receivers coach Custavious Patterson and players Darryl Whiting and Nick Magiera.
WFUV announcer Brian Clark led off the show with audio highlights of last Saturday's 26-21 Patriot League loss at Lafayette and then went into an interview with Masella on the game. Here are some quotes from the questions:
On the game
"The kids played extremely hard. We had some chances on offense in the first half but couldn't capitalize on them. The effort was outstanding. We played hard in spots but not well enough to win on the road."
On the play of the defense against Lafayette:
"Early on the defense gave the offense some great field position and we had the opportunity to put more points in the board but didn't. One of the big plays was the third and 17 that Lafayette converted in the fourth quarter. When you play on the road you have to make those plays to win."
On the play of the offense on Saturday:
"At times we ran the ball well and at times we passed the ball well but we just weren't consistent enough. Lafayette is big and strong and I thought our coaches did a great job getting us ready for the game.
On the performance of the offensive line:
"I think this is the best defense we've faced this year and the kids up front on the offensive line gave a great effort. They fought hard and protected John Skelton well even though this group hasn't been together that long."
On the play of the defensive line:
"I though the guys on the defensive line played extremely well. If you can take away two plays on defense they did a heck of a job. Of course, you can't take away those plays and those are plays we have to make in order to win on the road."
On the play of the linebackers on Saturday:
"The linebackers are finally getting healthy and I think that's showing up in the way they've been playing. It's good to see guys like Nick Magiera, Andre Delaire, James Crockett, Clifton Stuckey, David Mendez and Michael Martin all out there playing. It seems like we haven't been at full strength at linebacker all year."
Next up was an interview with Patterson. Here are some quotes from his appearance:
On the Fordham passing game:
"The biggest key to the passing game from the receiver's perspective is that the guys are working hard and they've bought into the system. Asa Lucas has great hands and a solid work ethic. Jason Caldwell is a phenomenal athlete who gets in spaces to make plays. Michael Shackelford is another guy who is a hard-nosed football player. I think this is the best group of receivers that I've had at Fordham."
On the how he has been working on the issue of dropped passes:
"We've been doing a lot of different things. Some of those include changing our focus and reevaluating the drills we run in practice. We have a concentration drill where we use footballs with numbers and letters on them and the receivers have to call out the number or letter when they catch the ball."
On quarterback John Skelton:
"From a receiver's point of view, when you have a talent like John at quarterback you know you're going to get the ball in the right position. Some teams can't throw certain passes because the quarterback is physically unable to do it but that's not an issue with John."
Next up was Whiting, the team's second leading rusher.
On the running back rotation:
"Xavier Martin and I have different styles of running. He's faster and looks to get to the outside while I'm bigger and look to move the ball up the middle."
On being listed number two on the depth chart:
"All the running backs at Fordham are competitive and we all strive to be number one. That's what helps us to improve. We are constantly fighting in practice to be number one."
Magiera followed Whiting:
On his defensive effort against Lafayette where he led the team with 12 tackles as well as recovering a fumble:
"It was the first opportunity I had to start this year and I wanted to take advantage of that. Every week we had solid competition at linebacker and I wanted to take the chance I got this week to step up and make an impact."
On his injury situation:
"I'm back to or close to one hundred percent. I seemed to have been bothered by injuries for most of the season but that hopefully is behind me now."
On the improvement of the defense:
"We came in to the season with high hopes but injuries took their toll on the defense. We have eight quality linebackers but we had to get them all healthy. I think we're as close to that now as we've been all season. The defensive line is also starting to really play well now and that makes it easier for us linebackers."
Masella then returned to the headset and wrapped things up with some questions from Clark on the upcoming Holy Cross game.
"It's a rivalry game for both of us. I think both teams have very similar defenses. On offense we probably would like to run the ball more than Holy Cross but they're a ball control team on offense, even with all their passing. I think we're looking at two well-coached, pretty good football teams."
On Holy Cross' win over Colgate last Saturday:
"Holy Cross made plays and stopped Colgate early. They made it difficult for Colgate to run the ball. Once Holy Cross gets a lead in a game the other team usually feels pressure to try and match them. Holy Cross is a very good football team with an exciting offense to watch, though it's not exciting to have to coach against them."
On the match-up of the quarterbacks:
"It will definitely be a special game, especially when you look at what the two quarterbacks have done so far this year. There will be some points put up on the board on Saturday. I just hope at the end of the day we made more plays than they did."
The keys to the Holy Cross game:
"We need to establish the running game so we can throw the ball and we need to throw the ball so we can run. I thought we were out of balance last week and we got caught in too many second-and-long situations. Holy Cross plays strong run defense so we will have to work hard to open some running lanes."
If you couldn't make it to the show you can listen to the archived shows at wfuv.org. And remember to come out to Jack Coffey Field on Saturday to watch the Ram-Crusader Cup match-up between the Rams and Holy Cross at 1:00 PM.
