TMart's run in the CCG..

[Fuzzy]

This was by design and should go on the highlight reel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIeDlU9b25Y

This was not by design.



I'm not taking anything away from Martinez, despite what some of you think. It was more to make a knock on the offensive line and the lack of discipline to communicate the blocking assignments. As for plays getting blown up all the time, the best offenses reduce the frequency of their plays being blown up.

A Top play, Amazing play to me, is flawless execution all across the board. Maybe I am being overcritical on this play, but that is the fan of football and the coach in me to point out the negatives. As for Martinez being the only Husker making a play or trying to make a play. There were other players out there trying to make plays, Bell, Turner, Burkhead and Cotton. I can't really point out an offensive lineman that really looked to make a play or try to make a play.

I wouldn't say that i am a Barney Cotton hater, but the man has proven over the past few years (3 or 4 years), his offensive line cannot be consistence. They are not consistence are being terrible or great. They flip flop with every game or go up and down like a roller coaster. Some weeks the offensive line looks good and HB has the comments from people to prove it, but there are other games where the offensive line is horrible and of course that noise is 10x louder than the praise when the OL plays well.

I applaud Martinez for the great run, but i don't think it should be a highlight because it shows how poorly our offensive line played.

 

[Landlord]

Maybe I am being overcritical on this play, but that is the fan of football and the coach in me to point out the negatives. As for Martinez being the only Husker making a play or trying to make a play. There were other players out there trying to make plays, Bell, Turner, Burkhead and Cotton. I can't really point out an offensive lineman that really looked to make a play or try to make a play.

I wouldn't say that i am a Barney Cotton hater, but the man has proven over the past few years (3 or 4 years), his offensive line cannot be consistence. They are not consistence are being terrible or great. They flip flop with every game or go up and down like a roller coaster. Some weeks the offensive line looks good and HB has the comments from people to prove it, but there are other games where the offensive line is horrible and of course that noise is 10x louder than the praise when the OL plays well.

I applaud Martinez for the great run, but i don't think it should be a highlight because it shows how poorly our offensive line played.

It also shows one of the most athletic and incredible individual efforts we've seen on this team and in the nation in years.

 

[Fuzzy]

Maybe I am being overcritical on this play, but that is the fan of football and the coach in me to point out the negatives. As for Martinez being the only Husker making a play or trying to make a play. There were other players out there trying to make plays, Bell, Turner, Burkhead and Cotton. I can't really point out an offensive lineman that really looked to make a play or try to make a play.

I wouldn't say that i am a Barney Cotton hater, but the man has proven over the past few years (3 or 4 years), his offensive line cannot be consistence. They are not consistence are being terrible or great. They flip flop with every game or go up and down like a roller coaster. Some weeks the offensive line looks good and HB has the comments from people to prove it, but there are other games where the offensive line is horrible and of course that noise is 10x louder than the praise when the OL plays well.

I applaud Martinez for the great run, but i don't think it should be a highlight because it shows how poorly our offensive line played.

I take that comment as a personal attack. :sarcasm

 

[Branno]

It wasn't an individual effort though. Look at the blocks from Bell, Burkhead, and others after the play broke down that allowed TMart to get the TD.

Remove the well times blocks and you remove the 7 points.

No, the play wasn't planned... but saying that Taylor did that on his own is disingenuous at best.

 

[zoogs]

I don't know if we can for sure put that on the offensive line. If I had to make a guess, Taylor messed up the pre-snap read, but then saved it with some pretty incredible heroics...because he's a magician like that.

He either missed the boat on diagnosing where the rush was coming from, or the OL had a miscommunication on his directions. It is impossible for sure to know which, although we had LT, LG, and C all slide right after the snap, while the RT 71 had nobody to block, Rex 22 had nobody to pick up (at least until the LT's guy blew past him), and the RG let his man go free to have a clean shot at the QB.

Recognizing where the rush is coming from is critical and it comes with experience and film work, but of course the D is also always trying to stay one step ahead. The best QBs don't get it right all the time; more limited QBs miss these regularly.

So on the sacks and pressures, the linemen can make the QB look bad, and vice versa - it goes both ways. Rough play for our left tackle though, by looks of it.

Now for the positive stuff, aside from Taylor's considerable heroics: how about Rex, Jamal, and Kenny Bell (along with an OL or two) all delivering some key blocks downfield? Really head's up play by everybody after it broke down initially.

 

[Landlord]

I don't know if we can for sure put that on the offensive line. If I had to make a guess, Taylor messed up the pre-snap read, but then saved it with some pretty incredible heroics...because he's a magician like that.

He either missed the boat on diagnosing where the rush was coming from, or the OL had a miscommunication on his directions. It is impossible for sure to know which, although we had LT, LG, and C all slide right after the snap, while the RT 71 had nobody to block, Rex 22 had nobody to pick up (at least until the LT's guy blew past him), and the RG let his man go free to have a clean shot at the QB.

Recognizing where the rush is coming from is critical and it comes with experience and film work, but of course the D is also always trying to stay one step ahead. The best QBs don't get it right all the time; more limited QBs miss these regularly.

So on the sacks and pressures, the linemen can make the QB look bad, and vice versa - it goes both ways. Rough play for our left tackle though, by looks of it.

Now for the positive stuff, aside from Taylor's considerable heroics: how about Rex, Jamal, and Kenny Bell (along with an OL or two) all delivering some key blocks downfield? Really head's up play by everybody after it broke down initially.

Also keep in mind they were using the standing up, moving around defensive front that seemed to confuse the hell out of every person on the offensive side of the ball.

 

[walksalone]

I saw two of the best runs I've seen all year that day, Taylor's being the first, and this being the second...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qANnolngkU

 

[zoogs]

Also keep in mind they were using the standing up, moving around defensive front that seemed to confuse the hell out of every person on the offensive side of the ball.

Well, yeah, but let's not diffuse responsibility. it's not on the guard or tackle or RB in the backfield to read this. It's the QB's job to look at what the defense is throwing him and *direct* his pass protection, or check out of a bad play.

This is really what I feel is one of Taylor's big weaknesses: defenses can really fluster him by throwing out disguised or confusing looks, whether in rush or coverage. Our counterpunch of course, is Taylor's developing ability to recover from broken plays.

Still it's one of the less visible battles fought on the field that nonetheless is extremely important in influencing the outcome of games..

 

[Landlord]

Also keep in mind they were using the standing up, moving around defensive front that seemed to confuse the hell out of every person on the offensive side of the ball.

Well, yeah, but let's not diffuse responsibility. it's not on the guard or tackle or RB in the backfield to read this. It's the QB's job to look at what the defense is throwing him and *direct* his pass protection, or check out of a bad play.

This is really what I feel is one of Taylor's big weaknesses: defenses can really fluster him by throwing out disguised or confusing looks, whether in rush or coverage. Our counterpunch of course, is Taylor's developing ability to recover from broken plays.

Still it's one of the less visible battles fought on the field that nonetheless is extremely important in influencing the outcome of games..

While, admittedly, I don't know what I'm talking about, I disagree. I think Taylor's pre-snap understanding of what defenses are doing is one of his strengths - it seems Beck is confident in giving him that responsibility, and I've seen many a play go for a big gain or a touchdown due to Taylor's audibles (the 71 yarder against MSU stands out in my mind). When the defensive line is standing up and moving around, I wonder who has more of an onus to make sure the play is blocked properly? Maybe it is Taylor...maybe it isn't - I mean there's only so much (very little) he could determine with 4-6 guys all moving around beforehand, and it gets to the point where the linemen need to be coached well to know what to do and who to block after the ball is snapped.

 

[Fuzzy]

Also keep in mind they were using the standing up, moving around defensive front that seemed to confuse the hell out of every person on the offensive side of the ball.

Well, yeah, but let's not diffuse responsibility. it's not on the guard or tackle or RB in the backfield to read this. It's the QB's job to look at what the defense is throwing him and *direct* his pass protection, or check out of a bad play.

This is really what I feel is one of Taylor's big weaknesses: defenses can really fluster him by throwing out disguised or confusing looks, whether in rush or coverage. Our counterpunch of course, is Taylor's developing ability to recover from broken plays.

Still it's one of the less visible battles fought on the field that nonetheless is extremely important in influencing the outcome of games..

It appears that Martinez did in fact direct his pass protection by sending Burkhead to his left side. I can't say for certain, but it seems this was the correct adjustment (moving Burkhead to the left side). But as zoogies said before, the tackles didn't do a good job of picking up the blocks, and it could very well been a misread by Martinez.

The standing defensive isn't that new. especially to the Huskers, as they used some of it in the latter half of 2012 in the Big 12. They haven't gone back to it, more than likely because of the run-heavy offenses we face in the Big Ten. If the defense practices running it, i would assume the offense runs plays to counter it.

Worst case scenario, take a time out and discuss the adjustments with the coaches. Not saying Taylor should have done that, but he isn't gonna be successful scrambling every time the defense blows past the offensive line like that.

 

[zoogs]

Yeah, I'm not exactly an authority on the subject either, so who knows. I think Taylor's certainly improved since his freshman season in that area, but I don't think I'd consider it a strength yet. But it's hard to quantify for an eye as untrained as mine....still, this is the main reason I worry about the offense getting into predictable pass situations against athletic defenses that can throw wrinkles and weird looks out at us.

On this particular play it seems like Taylor was expecting one or both of the edge rushers to rush, and one of the middle 4 guys to drop back into coverage. Going a little off memory now, Cotton took at the left edge (1) although he was just in coverage anyway. LT had the next guy (2) briefly before Rex came and helped. LG had (3). C and RG both took (4), and RT took (6), skipping 5, who made a beeline for Taylor. Problem was (6) was the guy on the right edge and he dropped back in coverage. We had the numbers to block the 4 guys that came after Taylor (5 linemen + Rex) but our line appeared directed to leave the wrong guy open.

Is it an indictment on Taylor's abilities? Maybe, maybe not*. It's just one play after all, and nobody wins this battle 100% of the time in a game. And, again, maybe #71 RT just didn't get the memo or something to shift inside, or maybe Long, RG, wasn't supposed to double up on (was it Borland?). Maybe it was something Taylor ought to have picked up in film study, the Wisconsin end or LB dropping back into coverage, or maybe it was something completely new they threw at him. Who knows

I feel like this is probably one area that isn't likely to become a point of particular strength for Taylor or our offense, so having to deal with it and account for it by improvising out of broken plays is probably something we can reasonably expect the offense to do. Every offense works around its relative strengths and weaknesses.

*he did get sacked 6 times or so

 

[TaraTony]

Eric Crouch's 97 yard run against Mizzou, Taylor's run against Wisconsin, then Tommie's run against Florida. The Top Three!

 

[NU jumper alum]

Eric Crouch's 97 yard run against Mizzou, Taylor's run against Wisconsin, then Tommie's run against Florida. The Top Three!

I agree, but not in that order. Nothing will ever top Tommie's run, then Crouch, then Taylor. All three spectacular.

 

[The Dude]

Knowing our center was making the first start of his career, you got to hand it to Wisconsin for making an effort to confuse the f#*k out of our offensive line.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Also keep in mind they were using the standing up, moving around defensive front that seemed to confuse the hell out of every person on the offensive side of the ball.

Well, yeah, but let's not diffuse responsibility. it's not on the guard or tackle or RB in the backfield to read this. It's the QB's job to look at what the defense is throwing him and *direct* his pass protection, or check out of a bad play.

This is really what I feel is one of Taylor's big weaknesses: defenses can really fluster him by throwing out disguised or confusing looks, whether in rush or coverage. Our counterpunch of course, is Taylor's developing ability to recover from broken plays.

Still it's one of the less visible battles fought on the field that nonetheless is extremely important in influencing the outcome of games..

Well, that goes pretty much against everything that has been said about him running the offense this year. Taylor has been repeatedly complimented by the coaching staff in his ability to read the defense and get the team in the right play.

I believe this play was the first time our team saw the stand up defense formation. It is understandable that it confused the O line on blocking assignments. We were at 3rd and 11 deep in our own side of the field. There isn't much more we could have done other than try to get a pass play off quick.