Let me give you my perspective. This comes from many years as a journalist, including sports journalism.VikingsVictorious wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2020 11:55 amI trust almost nothing that comes out of a coaches mouth. Once in a while I make an exception, but it is the exception.J. Kapp 11 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2020 10:29 am
What?
Sure I can. Is Randy on the field every day? Does he break down film? Is he an NFL scout? That doesn't even make sense.
Look, I don't mean to diss anybody here. But you're saying a coach is just throwing out coach-speak, and you have absolutely no basis. They're both telling you WHY Shamar Stephen is valuable to the Vikings D-line, and all you guys are offering is "coach speak."
Coach speak is stuff like, "He's doing some really nice things out there." Glittering generalities. Zimmer does that all the time. But when a coach says, "Here's exactly why he's so valuable," that's not coach speak. And when another player backs it up and basically says, "I wouldn't have these gaudy tackle stats if not for Shamar Stephen," that's even more credible.
Sorry, but I'll always, 100% of the time, take the word of the people on the field over the people on this board ... including myself.
It isn't coach-speak just because a coach says it. I always look at WHAT they say and the context in which they say it. I also look at a coach's history. For example, Steve Spurrier had a history of being extremely quotable. He also gave you his unvarnished opinion, even if it didn't place his team in the best light. He was the total antithesis of coach speak.
Mike Zimmer, on the other hand, comes from the Bill Parcells school of All Journalists Are Tools and I'm Only Doing This Press Conference Because Management Says I Have To. Good journalists know when they're getting the runaround, and that's pretty much all you get from Zimmer. I rarely watch a Mike Zimmer presser because he doesn't say anything. He's just trying to get to the point where the PR guy says he can leave the room. In the case of Stephen, a typical answer from Zimmer would have been, "He does what we ask him to do."
But that's not what Andre Patterson said. He basically said, "Don't look at stats because we ask him to do things that don't show up on stat sheets. We ask him to keep offensive linemen from getting to the second level. And if you don't believe me, ask Eric Kendricks about it." To me, that's a totally different thing. Instead of giving an answer that's obviously just a means of getting the interview off the checklist, Patterson actually tells you the specifics of why he thinks Stephen does a good job.
Agree with it or don't agree with it. That's your prerogative. But I would encourage you to take a look at the content before you dismiss everything a coach says.
EDIT: Have you ever noticed that Mike Zimmer almost never does a one-on-one interview? If he does, it's only with Vikings.com people who will lob softballs at him ... not the press or TV at large. That's because (I believe) he can get away with coach speak in a press conference, but in a one-on-one, the interviewer (if he or she is any good) would challenge him on coach speak and non-answers. The Vikings know better than to put him in that position, so they don't ask him to do it.