brophog

Word is Belichick only came down and talked for 4.5 hours so he and Ed could talk about long snappers.

Danny isn't the generational talent that Dylan is, but he's right there in terms of the rest of that quote. The atypical part is really the coaches giving them the freedom at the line of scrimmage. The coaches could have talked about last year's poor performance and having to start a freshman qb this year and made that an excuse to lower expectations. They know there is a high probability that they're not only starting a true freshman but that his backup may also be a true freshman and they're trying their hardest to age those guys up. I think they're respecting the ability and intelligence of these guys by throwing the kitchen sink at them and letting them learn through their mistakes. The defense has gotten them a few times because of it but they've hit some passes that were damn near indefensible as well. I know there is a lot of talk about needing to work on the passing game because of how poor it was last year and how the running backs are a little banged up, but I think there is also a strong belief that given enough time, effort, and patience this passing game can get really, really good.

I think a couple of these guys are eligible to run for President.

By next year I hope there is a fantasy league so we can play along at home.

Look how excited these guys are to make a play in practice. <cue allen iverson> What a concept this spring league is.

This will be the story at some point. If you parse together the videos yesterday from the OCs and QBs it's very apparent a lot of emphasis is being spent on RPOs and the quick game. At one point Raiola made mention of explosive plays and when a reporter followed that up assuming he was talking about deep balls he elaborated that he was referring to turning 5s into 25s. This offense sounds like it will use the short passing game and running game to control the safeties and then take calculated shots with the play action game. Not only with WRs but a myriad of TE looks, too.

I believe in Year 2.

The problem is the courts have been pretty clear that it's going to be a wild west out there without some sort of collective bargaining. Between that and Title IX concerns and all of that and it's sorta no win situation. Everyone agrees this current path is neither sustainable nor good for anyone.

At the end of the day I don't think I'd put much thought into this job title. It's not an atypical setup for Rhule. Unless Rhule announces differently, expect Satterfield to remain the primary play caller. What this does do, though, is bring a much needed veteran into the offensive staff because overall it's a very young and inexperienced gameday coaching staff. At the end of the day, Rhule is the final arbiter and he has a certain philosophy. That manifests itself differently at different stops. At Temple it was a bit more run centric, at Baylor a bit more pass centric, but there is a common philosphy in terms of how he wants to manage the game at both places and Glenn experienced that with him at both places. With Raiola coming in as almost certain starter, we are going to see that transition immediately and for the same reason we did between Temple and Baylor....the athletes changed. It was the expected hire and a good hire. If the offense doesn't see some significant improvement after all of this investment this year, then I'd expect some major changes.

The downside as an on the field coach is Holgorsen really hates recruiting. It would be an enormous shot in the arm for this offense though, as this staff desperately needs to completely restructure this passing game. Whatever role he takes, it'll be a big influence because the Air Raid brings a structured approach that, imo, Satterfield has always lacked. Some may be wondering how the Air Raid matches with Rhule's stated offensive philosophy, and to that I'll say to look at Michigan. A lot of their passing game is based on Air Raid concepts. You don't need 4 tiny wide receivers to utilize this approach it just started that way because the Air Raid, like most offensive systems, was designed to solve roster limitations at a school that didn't recruit the way the bigger schools did. Whatever role he ultimately takes, it will help solve the biggest problem this offense had last year: rhythm and timing. Our passing concepts had no sense of timing in their progressions and the QBs often held the ball, way, way longer than you can realistically expect to block. That's literally the problem the Air Raid was designed to solve.

They have good skill guys, but the key to that offense is they have offensive lineman that can really move. They ask a lot of their lineman with their reach blocks. That makes the defenders overplay to beat them to those spots and then the 49ers utilize a lot of motion and misdirection to punish them when they do that. All of their big guys can really move whether that's OL, TE, or FB and that immensely helps them with a wide variety of screen passes. They also love quads and with all of that motion that creates a lot of opportunities. Purdy gets a lot of easy throws at times because they can either create a numbers advantage in this way or set it up so that they can isolate a backside receiver if the defense overplays the strong side. They simply do a fabulous job stretching you laterally with their motion and mobility, and off of that lateral stretch they can create verticality by attacking those seams. It's this mobility by everyone, but in particular the offensive line, that forces the defense to overplay and that allows the running and passing game to sync off of one another. As it relates to Nebraska, this falls in line with our overall recruiting and S&C philosophy. Both offensively and defensively, we want big guys that can move and guys on both sides of the ball made big strides towards that end this past season.

Like is typical with Rhule classes this is an underrated class. Lots of guys will grow into big, fast, physical frames. Lots of guys will change positions. Finally, lots of guys will come in early and while that last aspect doesn't go into the ratings, maybe it should because those guys won't be the same come fall.

I can’t believe the college football world lost it’s collective mind over this bum this week.

Bad QB play AND turnovers. Iowa had arguably an even worse passing game than we did. While their turnover numbers weren't good, they were still over a whole giveaway less per game than ours.

The NFL passer completion formula was supposed to show a top QB at 100, not 158.3. In 1971, when the formula was created it was derived using then current statistics and those statistics made 100 a great score. The big difference between then and now is because completion percentage is double figured into the formula because the equation includes both a completion percentage and yards per attempt component. As teams styles changed to include more short passes, the completion percentage went up, and since it's more or less counted twice, it had a great impact on the scores. Back in Nebraska's heyday, running backs from the school were often discounted as pass catchers, because essentially, they were never thrown to in that offense. It's not without its irony that Roger Craig and Ahman Green are arguably two of the very best West Coast Offense running backs, playing a system that commonly threw to its backs. 49.5% is not the same in that offense, in that era, as it is in the modern game. Frazier ranks #2 in Big Eight history for passing TD's and #1 in TDs Responsible for.

He's not that bad. I wouldn't have hired him, certainly not at that cost, but he's average level OC.

So while the analytical world struggles with interdependence relationships, not only amongst the group of lineman themselves but also as they relate to the ballcarrier, you can actually identify which coaches were responsible?

And Tommie could moonwalk faster than Raiola can run. They're totally different QBs who were both amazing high school prospects.

And Satterfield has to help his young QB. After signing day, all I want to read about is getting a QB coach and that staff and those analysts sitting down and breaking down this passing game. Focus on improving timing and spacing and getting that ball out of the QBs hand.

We're not doing that, the game of football does that. No other position in team sports has such an onus on success and failure. Even a baseball team is composed of half pitchers. Quarterbacks always have the weight of the world on their shoulders because the modern game is designed that way. As the saying goes, they get too much blame and too much credit. Nebraska ranked near the very bottom in every passing statistic, dead last in giveaways, second to last in turnover margin. It's a miracle they won 5 games, to be honest. Raiola doesn't have to play like the top recruit in the country, he just has to get Nebraska to be an average offense.

Which also sits in a dead period. Sunday (today) was a quiet period. It's a very strange time to have a signing day.

The SEC got their TV deal after getting out from under that horrible CBS deal. The powers that be don't want any more competition down there.

For Nebraska, certainly. But for a coach who stacks 5 stars on top of 5 stars, maybe a rent a player isn't a bad idea. That said, I have no idea why Lincoln Riley thinks Howard is that guy.

We do have a renewed emphasis now on special teams, but we'd also be remiss if we didn't put things in historical context. Kick return numbers are unsurprisingly heavily impacted by recent rule changes but most of those guys you mention are from an era that's very different in terms of punt returns, too. Punters, on average, have gotten much better at ball placement and coaches are more intelligent on when to punt. In the modern game, possession is generally prioritized over field position. There are teams that just don't see the value in practicing special teams and are content with just gaining possession and getting on with it.

Dude spent all weekend up here chillin' with the homies instead of being at Georgia's practice. Don't need to pay 9.95 to anyone to know that cat's strayin.