Danny Bateman

After seeing PJ bite on the bootleg by Wilson, I have questions over how well he can do covering the top of the field. Although he could probably do better than Stafford, though that really isn't saying much. He seemed solid before this last game, but he just got absolutely punked on that one play. I guess our whole D really got punked the entire game though. Anyone know how well PJ and/or Courtney do covering the top of the field? More specifically, how did PJ do Saturday night?

Or, you also run the risk of what this coaching staff has done before - you put in the young guy and he struggles, you bring back the old guy, you somewhat shatter the young guy's confidence and then you play quarterback roulette every week, with promises of a more efficient offense the next season. Sound familiar? I understand your point, but I think we can take two approaches. Play a pass-limited, run heavy offense and struggle through our young guys' growth processes, or your approach. The only reason I like mine better is because we have the playmakers and the playbook to run a much more diversified running attack this year than we did in 2009 when we went to a run-heavy approach. Actually Enhance, I was just displaying the two options we have as I see them. I too am actually in favor of letting Taylor remain the starter. I think we just need to do what we can with what we have, grind out games on the ground, and continue to ask Taylor to pass only when he needs to. That means play action (after we set it up sufficiently by pounding the rock), and some deep balls to the likes of Kenny Bell and Jamal Turner and Reed a few times every game. I'm especially excited because for some odd reason our offensive line has looked much improved this reason... Maybe with Stai and Garrison helping the coach Barney is held accountable and can't just sit in his office and eat Twinkies all day... And, FWIW, if we take the second approach of sticking Carnes in, I'd hope our coaches would have the wherewithal to stick with Carnes through his struggles. It would be risky though... You don't want a Ryan Leaf/Andre Ware/David Carr type situation where you stick a guy out there and he does super poorly and his confidence is just shattered. Although I think we have much much more weapons offensively than any of those guys' NFL teams had.

(Patting you on the back) We all felt that way CN. Think of what an ass I feel like after I wrote all over the board: WE WILL WIN! And I really thought we might pull it off as I watched the first quarter. We DID do some really good things in that first quarter but what is frustrating for me is why we didn't continue to do those things. Blah! I'm hoping that we'll get the opportunity to play Wiscy again. Exactly right. 100% dead on. Bo and Co got scared, and became a turtle hiding in their shell. They totally abandoned their game plan and played like a road team playing not to lose. They stopped blitzing Wilson (effectively) and panicked on O and tried to carve Wisconsin apart through the air, which of course, failed horribly.

I know this is some folks initially reaction, but as bad as it may have looked tonight Brion will be a step backwards. absolutely, 100% correct. Seriously though... Putting in Brion would be the equivalent of taking a step backwards momentarily in hopes of eventually taking many steps forward. It would be a move made for the future. If you're gonna do it, you're gonna have to break the kid in eventually. During the meat of the big 10 schedule probably isn't the best time, but I digress... You've seen it before. Ohio State replaced Todd Boeckman with Terelle Pryor. Virginia Tech replaced Sean Glennon with Tyrod Taylor. Hell, the Notre Dame replaced Dayne Crist with Tommy Rees. It happens... You realize you do not have the right guy under center... he might just not have the "it" that QB's need... and you replace them with someone that might. Sometimes it takes an ass kicking to realize that and make the change (Ohio State got rolled by USC right before Pryor took over, and Notre Dame looked like crap with Crist at the helm this year). I've said this multiple times, and from my perspective, this is how I see our QB situation: We either run a pass-limited offense with Taylor and hope we don't go down big or get in holes where we need to pass, or put in Brion and struggle some and hope to develop a more multi-dimensional offensive attack.

So, it's leadership you want... ...Discuss.

Yep, Dennis Green freaking out ABOUT the Bears. My bad... memory lapse.

On the plus side, if we look like a decent team with a crap defense, especially with Pelini at the helm, a lot of those kids may see the opportunity to step in and play right away.

I think the pass had more to do with Beck trying to get proud and prove we COULD pass, and we couldn't. You get cute and try to get away from the bread and butter, and ask Taylor to do something he ain't good at, and it's going to get ugly for NU. I guess now we can all consider the OKST game last year an anomaly. Chickenheart, that's the risk we run trying to run that stretch option off tackle. Taylor's got the ball to begin with, and therefore his decision making decides where it's going to go. He's still very very green trying to run it, and therefore I've seen a lot (as I'm sure you all have) of him just taking a couple steps outside and then trying to bust squirt through a hole in the line himself without utilizing the RB at all. Wisconsin just knew what was coming. Something I'd really like to know after last night... Did Beck answer questions after the game at the presser? I'm definitely not ready to start forming the lynch mob ala Watson, but I really really want to know what he has to say for himself after last night's debacle. Edit: Irafreak basically beat me to my first point.

Compared to Taylor? He's Joe Montanya. Or whoever that was. I thought the secondary was exceptional in 2009, the year after having the Chase Daniel/Sam Bradford/Graham Harrell shows make it rain on them. Obviously Ganz isn't in the same league as that crowd, I was kidding, but he threw a damn good deep ball, and it seemed every time someone threw one up the year after he left it was an interception. Some of that had to have been learned in practice. 2010 the secondary was freakish. One of the best I have ever seen, carried over it seems. So the #1 O doesn't get ANY time against the #1 D? More proof to our extreme blow-age. That seems silly to me. But oh well. That's just the way practices are traditionally run. You let your scrubs, your scout teams, go up against your #1 O and D to help them "learn things." You don't practice 1s vs. 1s much because then coaches would have to coach both sides of the ball at once. It's much easier to coach one side of the ball at once. Also, when you run 1s v 1s, you risk injuring a starter much more. We could probably use some more of it though, to help this team grow some balls.

Now, my source may not be the most reputable, but I'm hearing the following news after tonight's embarrassment. 1) Bo and Carl Pelini will both be let go at the end of the season. We will not need to search for a new coach, as Shawn Watson has already agreed to forgive and forget and has been awarded Bo's job, and Carl will be replaced by either Cosgrove, Barney, or a ham and cheese sandwich. 2) Tom Osborne will step down as the AD and will focus on his true passion... he will become the head coach of the gymnastics team. He will be replaced by either Trev Alberts or the loser of the Carl sweepstakes... I'm pulling for the sandwich myself. 3) Barney Cotton will be fired early next season for eating the new AD. 4)Sean Fisher will be put in a woodchipper and left there. 5) We will be forcing Taylor to use stick em in every game from now on, which won't matter as he will only get in for a few designed runs per game, as he will now be backing up Carnes. 6) Bo will go to anger management courses and will not be allowed by the NCAA to accept another position until he comes back acting like Mr. Rogers, complete with sweater. 7) Rex quit the team, citing a "lack of excellence in all areas." 8) Apparently, we've done something called "gravitate into mediocrity." Anyone care to add anything I may have missed? I mean I hear things,but I can't possibly hear everything.

I'd agree with anyone calling for Bo's head. That's 100% knee jerk. Rome wasn't built in a day. I have to wonder what would happen if we broke in Carnes though. That's a legitimate thought. Taylor has never looked good as a passer, and maybe never will. OTOH, from what we've gathered, once he gets comfortable, Carnes' ceiling as a QB is much higher.

And we can pay him in hair gel! We have tons left over... I don't know if anyone knew this little known fact or not, but during his time at NU, we actually paid out Zac Lee's scholarship in hair product. Brilliant Paul!

I'll make this simple. If your D can't stop your opponents O, your O needs to stay on the field. What part of the first quarter did you miss? TM is DIRECTLY responsible for 21 points going to Wisconsin. But Beck keep having him pass even when he was clearly rattled. Capishe? Makes complete sense. Run 3 times for 6 yards and punt. Bring the D that is getting punished right back out on the field. So what's worse for the team, going three and out and putting the opponent on the 25 again, or throwing a pick and putting them on the 45? That's not counting the mental breakdown that occurs.Martinez can't pass well. He can't find open receivers well. His throwing motion is garbage. Throw to open the run even when he's already thrown two picks? If they're stacking the box, how about calling an option? Maybe even to the long side of the field so you have more room. Maybe run to the sideline, or a power run, or an option fake.How about something that might confuse them, instead of putting Martinez in the shotgun and hoping he forgets he's Martinez? You're exactly right. Throwing an awful pick that no QB at this level should throw is far worse. I see... so we put in Carnes. And the 6 plays he probably knows by now will surely win the game.Martinez ain't a great QB, I'll agree with you there. But that's all NE has right now, and you're delusional if you think otherwise. You don't throw Carnes to the wolves after 6 months of learning the entire offense. Taylor and Carnes have the same knowledge of the offense. If you're referring to the new offense Beck instilled after we let go of Wats, they've both been here the same amount of time. If you're not referring to a new offense, Taylor's only been here a year longer than Brion.

But we suck.

We need individuals that have arms, and are willing to wrap them around the opposing ballcarrier and attempt to bring them to the ground. Our D tackles like a bunch of these...

The boys up in Ann Arbor might have a little something to say about that. Russell Wilson just ran circles around this team, what will the best, quickest, shiftiest QB in the league do to them. He will bake them a nice, fluffy quiche and attempt to discuss the current state of our economy.

WTF? Why in god's name is this on Huskerboard?! At the very least keep your own personal fetish crap confined to the Woodshed!

Welcome to Watsville gone wrong. Cody was supposed to step in and be the golden boy. Taylor was merely a likely safety or receiver prospect who tricked our coaches into thinking he was a confident passer. But hey, I still prefer Taylor to Hair Gel Lee or that coke-head Keller.

Well, Lil Red, since we may not be fielding a decent defense for a while... Should we continue to put Martinez out there when he is clrearly very very near his ceiling as a QB, or throw Carnes out there and try to let him get used to running the show? I think most would agree Carnes has a much higher ceiling as a passer than Taylor, although there's no way to determine that for sure as of yet. Although Taylor seemed to have improved as a leader on offense... He still throws the rock like one of those "slow children playing" you always get warned about by my favorite signs.

I actually muted it about halfway through the 3rd quarter, but to be fair, I didn't even want to be watching at that point.

Lamar from Revenge of the Nerds. After an acid laced milkshake.

Ok real simple for anyone who doesn't feel like thinking for themselves, these are our only 3 options: 1) Let Taylor remain the starter and continue to accept we'll have a pretty good running game that we'll have to grind out games with, along with a mediocre passing attack. 2) Stick in Carnes and alter the offense accordingly. If we need to run a bit less and throw some more, so be it. This would probably make us a notch or two better passing, and a notch or two less effective running team. 3) Let Choi play QB and say f*ck it. I think our defense is a bigger problem at this point. Our defense has much, much more experience than the offense, and they flat out embarrassed themselves.

Kudos to you Crewe. Your last sentence actually made me laugh. Actually, in regards to the punch, I thought Wisconsin guys played like douchebags all night, on defense at least. I don't know how many times I saw a Wiscy player tackle one of our boys, only to go into some kind of epileptic seizure on top of our player on the ground. I believe they were probably barking like dogs trying to intimidate a rival dog while doing so, and to top it off, they finished the play off by trying to hump our players into submission while on top of them. And we thought Cotton got violated during the A&M game last year...

Seriously... We suck. Pretty significantly. Not a serious thread, just want to vent. Bet the commits aren't too thrilled right now, though...

Bshirt, still suckling at the teet of Taylor. Never fails. And now the veil is lifted and NEBRASKANHEAT finally learns bshirts true identity... Casey Martinez.