Am I the only one not a fan of Shawn Watson?

[derrtybird07]

My family and friends know very well about how I feel when it comes to Watson's play calling. I think every game last season other than the Arizona game you could hear me bitching about Watson. I never understood his logic. He was the most predictable play caller in college football last year. I would call before each play what was going to happen and I think I was right about 75% of the time. I don't know how many times we ran the same run play in the same formation in the same game when it didn't work the first 4 or 5 times. I don't know how many times we did a QB Draw on 3rd & 6 that failed. I don't neccesarily think our offense was as bad as the stats show, because you can't do anything without good play calling.

Now, his play calling is the only real problem I have with him. I think he does a great job in preparing the kids and bringing them up to their full potential. He was pretty conservative in the bowl game but atleast he tried something new that work. Every other game he was doing something over and over that didn't work. Atleast in the bowl game what he was doing over and over worked. The Arizona game has got me excited for this upcoming year and I can't wait to see what Helu Jr. and Burkhead are going to be able to do. But if Watson comes back with his approach that he took last season then it's going to be a disappointing year because of the high expectations.

Am I the only one who think the play calling shouldn't be in Watson's hands? I know there probably really isn't anyone else to take the duty.

 

[Ringer02]

My family and friends know very well about how I feel when it comes to Watson's play calling. I think every game last season other than the Arizona game you could hear me bitching about Watson. I never understood his logic. He was the most predictable play caller in college football last year. I would call before each play what was going to happen and I think I was right about 75% of the time. I don't know how many times we ran the same run play in the same formation in the same game when it didn't work the first 4 or 5 times. I don't know how many times we did a QB Draw on 3rd & 6 that failed. I don't neccesarily think our offense was as bad as the stats show, because you can't do anything without good play calling.

Now, his play calling is the only real problem I have with him. I think he does a great job in preparing the kids and bringing them up to their full potential. He was pretty conservative in the bowl game but atleast he tried something new that work. Every other game he was doing something over and over that didn't work. Atleast in the bowl game what he was doing over and over worked. The Arizona game has got me excited for this upcoming year and I can't wait to see what Helu Jr. and Burkhead are going to be able to do. But if Watson comes back with his approach that he took last season then it's going to be a disappointing year because of the high expectations.

Am I the only one who think the play calling shouldn't be in Watson's hands? I know there probably really isn't anyone else to take the duty.

I can see you're new here, welcome to huskerboard! You should have been here in november.

 

[zoogs]

You're one of 95% of armchair OC's who think they can call plays better than real OCs of the games they watch. Join the club! I play Madden, so sometimes I think I can call plays better as well

You have to understand why Watson shut it down (and Bo was a part of that decision too, apparently). Because our execution was so woefully inept, opening it up meant opening us up to losing games. We had a world class defense and we couldn't beat an Iowa State team that we shut down as expected. Yet, change a philosophy and we beat Oklahoma and hang in there with Texas. Who cares if we didn't throw for 250 yards. I guarantee you if we had tried the score would have been a lot more lopsided.

 

[derrtybird07]

You're one of 95% of armchair OC's who think they can call plays better than real OCs of the games they watch. Join the club! I play Madden, so sometimes I think I can call plays better as well

I don't remember saying anywhere in my OP that I could call the plays better. Can you point to where I said that, if you will?

All I said is that he was was too conservative and way too predictable. If I, as a 21 year old with 0 coaching experience, can sit there a tell you what he is going to do, don't you think all the DC's out there who are a hell of a lot smarter than me can figure it out? What Watson was doing was not difficult to figure out.

 

[zoogs]

Oops, I edited my post too late for you to see, I guess.

I only meant that as a friendly jab. But most people are critical of OCs and think they should call plays better, even when the OC is more in tune with the team, so in the end it just comes down to trust. Perhaps I assumed too much, but the distinction is a small one.

For me, it's pretty simple. Watson wasn't trying to be unpredictable and aggressively torch D's for yardage. He was trying to have our offense control as much of the game as they could - given their level of capability, which we all found out to be low - so that he could hand the superstar D great field position to close games out for us. And then of course, he cut loose once we got to the Holiday Bowl. It's hard to say his approach didn't work, honestly, given how we performed down the stretch in the W's column.

 

[GMoose]

Not taking a shot or anything, but I don't think you called 75% of his plays. If that were true we might not have made a bowl game.

I'm not a huge Watson fan either, I too think his play calling is suspect. But I think his true judgement day should come after the 2010 season. What he was working with last year, in a transition year no less, was a pretty nightmarish situation for an OC.

With the health, depth, and experience we return next year, anything shy of a top 60 type offense is basically inexcusable. Then I'll pass judgement.

 

[derrtybird07]

Oops, I edited my post too late for you to see, I guess.

I only meant that as a friendly jab. But most people are critical of OCs and think they should call plays better, even when the OC is more in tune with the team, so in the end it just comes down to trust. Perhaps I assumed too much, but the distinction is a small one.

For me, it's pretty simple. Watson wasn't trying to be unpredictable and aggressively torch D's for yardage. He was trying to have our offense control as much of the game as they could - given their level of capability, which we all found out to be low - so that he could hand the superstar D great field position to close games out for us. And then of course, he cut loose once we got to the Holiday Bowl. It's hard to say his approach didn't work, honestly, given how we performed down the stretch in the W's column.

I understand where you are coming from when you say he was trying to control the game. But I find it hard to believe we couldn't have been a better team. We had the talent. If we could have put up 1 more TD in a couple games our record could have been only 1 or 2 losses. We can't be scared and let our D bail us out no matter how good they are. I know I can't say we would have definately been better had we took more shots downfield, but I think it would have kept the oppsing Defenses on their toes as opposed to knowing what was coming, opening up some big runs or something.

As a side note, I don't know if Watson was calling plays for the Red, White, or both during the spring game but I really liked what I saw. Paul proved he can bring in those tough catches and I was really impressed with the others. I think Watson needs to have a little trust in his star players.

 

[Husker_x]

When Watson was held over from the previous staff I thought it was a good move. He fielded an excellent product in 2008. Last year was a mixture of injuries and a decided effort to let the defense win the game when it became obvious the offense couldn't. I'm not saying I even agreed with the strategy, but there were other games where another turnover would have netted us an 8-win season. He called a brilliant game against Arizona. That team was flat run over by both coordinators.

This season will cement Watson's immediate future at least in the minds of fans. I think the offense has something to prove this year. If they phone in another season like last year, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a shakeup. I really hope it doesn't come to that, but you can't allow the Brothers' Pelini defensive genius to be wasted on an offense that can't put two touchdowns on the board.

 

[zoogs]

Oops, I edited my post too late for you to see, I guess.

I only meant that as a friendly jab. But most people are critical of OCs and think they should call plays better, even when the OC is more in tune with the team, so in the end it just comes down to trust. Perhaps I assumed too much, but the distinction is a small one.

For me, it's pretty simple. Watson wasn't trying to be unpredictable and aggressively torch D's for yardage. He was trying to have our offense control as much of the game as they could - given their level of capability, which we all found out to be low - so that he could hand the superstar D great field position to close games out for us. And then of course, he cut loose once we got to the Holiday Bowl. It's hard to say his approach didn't work, honestly, given how we performed down the stretch in the W's column.

I understand where you are coming from when you say he was trying to control the game. But I find it hard to believe we couldn't have been a better team. We had the talent. If we could have put up 1 more TD in a couple games our record could have been only 1 or 2 losses. We can't be scared and let our D bail us out no matter how good they are. I know I can't say we would have definately been better had we took more shots downfield, but I think it would have kept the oppsing Defenses on their toes as opposed to knowing what was coming, opening up some big runs or something.

As a side note, I don't know if Watson was calling plays for the Red, White, or both during the spring game but I really liked what I saw. Paul proved he can bring in those tough catches and I was really impressed with the others. I think Watson needs to have a little trust in his star players.

(Emphasis mine) Me too bro, for sure. I was aghast at how untalented we were for the talent that we had. We all saw the WR derby we had going last season after Niles, our clear-cut #1 and even he was making the most bone-headed plays you'll ever see. Good for us he got motivated and turned it on at the end of the year, but pretty much everyone was getting their shots last year and nobody could take it. I lay that at Gilmore's feet, not Watson's, though. Gilmore gave him the WRs who ran lazy routes and couldn't make plays and there's not all that much Watson could do about that, as he has a lot more to be in charge of.

I also lay it at Barney's feet. As unqualified as Bill Callahan was as our program's HC, he was simply a masterful OL technician and our OL play benefited from his presence here. In comes Barney and he directly criticize's the master's approach, telling his OL to not focus on techniques and details and just play hard. I'll bet the players loved that, but everyone paid for it on Saturdays. Good thing too we have seen (I think) a change of approach and some consulting from Milt Tenopir with the OLs. So in both cases the future looks bright, although from my uneducated perspective I would say the OL's future looks brighter - given the recent and current recruiting and the consulting from Milt Tenopir. Our resident insider BigWillie has been thoroughly critical of Gilmore's abilities both as a recruiter and as a coach for his whole tenure here, so I'll take his word on that, a little sadly

I would say that what we did last year might been seen as scared, but it's also smart. Attitude makes a lot of difference, but it can only get you so far if you don't have the ability to back it up. I think it was more of a case of 'Well, we're in deep water now, but instead of flailing and thrashing in the waves let's just focus on treading water until we collect ourselves and are ready to make the next step.' The walk-before-you-run and all that. It's shocking because there's really no reason these guys should not be able to run, but that's how it was. GIVEN that, I don't see much other alternative that Bo/Wats could have taken.

 

[corncraze]

My family and friends know very well about how I feel when it comes to Watson's play calling. I think every game last season other than the Arizona game you could hear me bitching about Watson. I never understood his logic. He was the most predictable play caller in college football last year. I would call before each play what was going to happen and I think I was right about 75% of the time. I don't know how many times we ran the same run play in the same formation in the same game when it didn't work the first 4 or 5 times. I don't know how many times we did a QB Draw on 3rd & 6 that failed. I don't neccesarily think our offense was as bad as the stats show, because you can't do anything without good play calling.

Now, his play calling is the only real problem I have with him. I think he does a great job in preparing the kids and bringing them up to their full potential. He was pretty conservative in the bowl game but atleast he tried something new that work. Every other game he was doing something over and over that didn't work. Atleast in the bowl game what he was doing over and over worked. The Arizona game has got me excited for this upcoming year and I can't wait to see what Helu Jr. and Burkhead are going to be able to do. But if Watson comes back with his approach that he took last season then it's going to be a disappointing year because of the high expectations.

Am I the only one who think the play calling shouldn't be in Watson's hands? I know there probably really isn't anyone else to take the duty.

I talked to Ganz a little while ago at a husker party. He said our offense was so inhibited from injuries and inexperience that they really had to mess with the playbook. Now he wasn't trying to make excuses, but was rather stating that we couldn't run a lot of the plays that watson wanted to run.

For what its worth, both ganz and taylor were extremely complentary on watson.

I've said it once, and I'll say it a thousand times again. Watson was offered nearly double for the same position at bama.

I think he's a good coach, and means a lot if osborne himself recomended to pelini form him and gilmore to b the only coaches retained after Cali. Both Pelini and Osborne still have a great deal of support behind Watson. And it was just 2 years ago that the offense was carrying us.

I guess we'll see next season

I do agree 100% w the Barney comment though, but I must say the dude can recruit.

 

[derrtybird07]

Maybe Paul will spend more time on the football field and not peeing outside of a mall.

As another side note, did anyone see that NFL.com had Niles Paul as the best SR. wide receiver? I love my Huskers and I'm glad one of our players were chosen at #1, but c'mon. Greg Little is far better than Paul is.

 

[GMoose]

Bit of a tangent here, but a good question I think. What kind of offense would you guys like to see? I'm a big time proponent of a run heavy pro set. I think that type of offense would go hand in hand brother's style of defense.

Sometimes I sit and drool thinking about a backfield with Zac Taylor and Rex Burkhead, with Mo Purify and Nate Swift split wide.

 

[Ringer02]

Maybe Paul will spend more time on the football field and not peeing outside of a mall.

As another side note, did anyone see that NFL.com had Niles Paul as the best SR. wide receiver? I love my Huskers and I'm glad one of our players were chosen at #1, but c'mon. Greg Little is far better than Paul is.

Greg Little had a much better QB than Niles did, and I expect Paul to have a great year. He may not be as good as little, but I wouldn't say there is a huge difference.

 

[GMoose]

Maybe Paul will spend more time on the football field and not peeing outside of a mall.

As another side note, did anyone see that NFL.com had Niles Paul as the best SR. wide receiver? I love my Huskers and I'm glad one of our players were chosen at #1, but c'mon. Greg Little is far better than Paul is.

Greg Little had a much better QB than Niles did, and I expect Paul to have a great year. He may not be as good as little, but I wouldn't say there is a huge difference.

I don't know if I would call TJ Yates "much better" than Lee...he had a much worse passer rating and they both threw for nearly exactly the same yardage. Yates also had a much worse TD-INT ratio

 

[REDSTEEL]

When Watson was held over from the previous staff I thought it was a good move. He fielded an excellent product in 2008. Last year was a mixture of injuries and a decided effort to let the defense win the game when it became obvious the offense couldn't. I'm not saying I even agreed with the strategy, but there were other games where another turnover would have netted us an 8-win season. He called a brilliant game against Arizona. That team was flat run over by both coordinators.

This season will cement Watson's immediate future at least in the minds of fans. I think the offense has something to prove this year. If they phone in another season like last year, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a shakeup. I really hope it doesn't come to that, but you can't allow the Brothers' Pelini defensive genius to be wasted on an offense that can't put two touchdowns on the board.

Really? :facepalm: What great or even good defense did that team beat? Missou? Oklahoma?

When it comes down to it Callahan/Watson offenses have lost to every great defense they ever played.

Even the bowl game how many times did Nebraska have to settle on a FG?