Billy Napier responds to criticism of his playcalling

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The No. 22 Florida Gators came out slow and fell flat on the road to the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats. For the second week in a row, Billy Napier’s offense struggled to move the ball and score touchdowns.

The Gators punted on four of their first five possessions with an interception sandwiched in between. In the first quarter, Florida tallied 39 yards of offense and 31 yards in penalties. The Gators went into the locker room at halftime with just 154 yards of offense and seven points.

Following the game, Napier was asked by the media how he would evaluate his playcalling. If he feels that he’s too conservative throughout games, and if the criticism of his offensive game planning and playcalling on Saturdays is fair and accurate.

Below is the transcript of Napier’s responses to these questions.

How do you evaluate your play calling in the aftermath?

Napier: “I think I remember them all. I think between possessions we know what happened. I think sometimes you’ve gotta remain objective. No different than how we evaluate everything we do. What caused the issues in the game? Is it, sometimes it may be design, sometimes it’s communication, sometimes it’s an undisciplined penalty, sometimes it’s fundamentals and technique. I think there’s lots of things that contribute to when you don’t have success in this game. We’ve got a great group of people that work hard to do that. We certainly weren’t good enough today.”

Are you too conservative with your play calling?

Napier: “Yeah, I think all of those things are, look, I think let’s just go back to the first third down of the game. We called an outside zone that popped for a first down on third and long. So, when they work they pat you on the back. When they don’t work they criticize you. What we have to do is we have to do our job for the players. That’s what’s important to me. It’s important to me that we do our best for the players and the staff. When you don’t have success you deserve criticism. We deserve every bit of criticism that we’re going to get for this game. That’s part of it. My responsibility is to the players and to the staff. Ultimately, that’s what I think about.”

Is the criticism of your play calling inaccurate or accurate?

Napier: “I think there’s always good and bad. Some of it is well deserved. Some of it, you know, maybe they don’t quite know what they’re talking about. I think it’s probably a mixed bag.”

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