Short yardage passes...

[Army Husker]

I know I haven't been the only one aggravated or perplexed by the short yardage offensive plays the last 3 games. While it seems to be a key to the wins and/or the better offensive plays so far, is this a forcast of what to expect the remainder of the season? Thoughts from everyone?

[Husker_x]

I don't know what the deal is. I think we have some receivers that can be playmakers. We've got size in Peterson, dependability in Swift. We need the guys who can streak down the hash marks and run the deep posts. But, of course, Watson is only calling the short stuff. If you make those safeties back off it opens things up for the run game as well. I think one reason we have a bit of trouble rushing is defenses don't respect the deep ball. We should enlighten them a few times.

[TheKiD]

Well it did open up the long ball that we scored that last TD on.

[hskrpwr13]

Well it did open up the long ball that we scored that last TD on.

 

I agree with that, but I dont think Watson needed to wait THAT long to pull that off. It was well established in the first quarter that it seemed NU wouldnt take shots further than 10 yards.

 

To answer the topic, yes, I've been annoyed all season with NU's either lack of skill or will to throw passes over 15 yards. I think what annoys me more than that are the receivers not running routes past the first down marker. It seemed there were quite a few times today that the reveiver who got the 3rd down catch consistently had to "fight" for the first down because the route was broken off a yard before the sticks. I wonder if this is by design or poor route running.

[shagg]

we will struggle against a more physical D...we haven't show the ability to get deep on a cosistant basis...teams will pick up on this and they'll start squating on those short passes...we need the speed guys that can get separation when a corner comes up to challenge them....peterson and swift are sure handed and reliable but lack the speed to get separation when they're really challenge(VA tech game comes to mind)....we need to start playing GILLEYLEN more to complement those big possesion type WRs..i know he dropped 2 passes today but he's just like anybody else...he needs more reps to get comfortable

[Army Husker]

The other thing that bugged me was the fact that Baylor bought on each and every one of our play actions, yet the play only called for Ganz to run or throw a short receiver screen. The recievers were open throughout, yet Watson continued with the short game.

[DaveH]

There were a few longer routes called, but Joe missed them and either threw short or the guy dropped it. Overall the recievers had a bad to very mediocre day.

 

I like the fact that Watson keeps going back to that when it's a guaranteed 4,5 or 6 yards on 1st down each time.

 

Dynamite call on the screen on 3rd down late in the game.

 

Overall, I am satisfied with how the offense is being run. It differs from week to week depending on the opponent which is good.