QB Race

[GMoose]

Holy hyperbole batman, it was western freaking kentucky. Zac looked about this good around this time last year too...

[illnino]

Maybe I saw a different post game interview than the one some of you guys did, but the interview I saw showed an excited kid happy to win his first game as the starting QB. He looked a little nervous giving his first on-camera interview, but other than that, I didn't notice anything cocky about it.

[suh_fan93]

[Hunter94]

i swear to god. thats the most exciting thing weve seen on the offensive side of the ball for 10 years.

 

say it isnt.

 

 

oh yeah...niles dropping 2 passes didnt exactly help taylors cause.

 

hits the skin, you bring it in. --Mitch Krenk

 

 

as good as Paul can be, he sure can look pedestrian at times, he needs to keep his focus on every play, as sometime down the road it will make a difference, one way or the other.

[BigRedPowerWagon]

Oh hell, Martinez is already a better passer than Crouch ever was. And Green and Lee are better back ups than Bobby Newcombe and Monte Christo, even if Monte Christo had the more awesome name.

 

Also, Martinez is too cocky, but that will get pounded out of him soon. And Pelini is too testy with the media. You don't get to create a circus then complain about the circus.

 

Bigger concern is a Nebraska defense getting shredded by a Western Kentucky running game. But I think it was enough to wake them up.

 

Looks like an exciting year.

 

Wait a minute, we had a backup named Monte Christo. Thats badass.

[JOEY]

i swear to god. thats the most exciting thing weve seen on the offensive side of the ball for 10 years.

 

say it isnt.

 

 

oh yeah...niles dropping 2 passes didnt exactly help taylors cause.

 

hits the skin, you bring it in. --Mitch Krenk

 

 

as good as Paul can be, he sure can look pedestrian at times, he needs to keep his focus on every play, as sometime down the road it will make a difference, one way or the other.

 

It seems like paul chokes alot he will make an amazing play then fumble the ball =( I think if If he pulled his head out of his you know what,that he could be one of the best Wr's in the country.

[irafreak]

I'm really not sure that Lee actually got screwed. T-Mart and Green needed the experience and had more question marks around them then Lee. They also both looked good enough that you can't really say that they Lee should have started over them. I don't have any inside info on the subject but from watching the game I didn't see anything to say that he got screwed.

 

We'll never really see anything, other than indications that we saw today that Lee was not a part of this competition. From being the incumbent and taking a lot of reps with the 1's through fall camp (unless that's wrong), to suddenly not even being a part of the conversation, it's something that won't ever be given explanation.

 

The plan as we saw was that Martinez would get Q1, Green would be thrown in early, and then they didn't have any set rotation from there on. That's what Bo said.

 

And as we saw, Lee did not get in until the 4th quarter, when he was handing off to Jones and running with the ... 3's.. .

 

Thing is people will use this performance by Tay Magic, and say, "ha, he really is that good, we were right to support him all along, Lee didn't deserve the job." But there's really nothing to gloat about here. I admit he impressed me with his running, but we all knew that he was a good runner, and WKU's defense played pretty horribly. There's really been no new information revealed about Taylor today.

 

I know, all I'm saying is that after the game I don't think you can clearly say whether Lee did or didn't get the shaft. I did see him and Bo having a good conversation during the game while T-Mart was out there so I don't think their can be too much animosity between them. Also like I said T-Mart and Green needed the experience and were less proven then Lee so them being out there more could simply just be because the coaches wanted to get a better look at them and give them more experience.

 

I seriously hope that Bo takes these SunBelt Foes seriously and doesn't purposely start guys because he want to feel them out more, but starts them because he thinks they are the best man, at the time anyway, for the job.

Actually I wondered about this. He already knows what he has in Lee. More than likely Bo really felt like the best player and future was Martinez and Green backing up so he wanted them to both get good experience to prepare for the road when he may need a guy to step up in a big game for a "spark"

[Redmusky]

Bottom line is this, we are fans, we don't know as much about the players as we think we know. The coaches will make the best decision for the team as a whole. IMO Zac is a decent QB.......AT BEST........he lacks some of the skills necessary to do the job, but that doesn't mean I won't support the guy if he gets the nod. Green and Martinez lack the experience, but they played very well tonight. Until we get some good competition we won't know how good anyone is. Zac did kinda get slapped in the face, but maybe the coaches are trying to send him a message if he is so cocky. Drop the attitude, we aren't going to just hand you anything.

Well they certainly send Dillard a message last year for 2 games

[Saunders]

All im gonna say is the zone read will not work against alot of teams that have a pulse. How many times did we run that play??? 8 times???

 

Yes, of course. Florida and Texas didn't win MNCs with a Zone read offense...

[th3r0m]

This discussion is really interesting and some veins in it are awfully strange. As someone else point out, if he "got screwed" that means that he was bumped back for reasons other than that he wasn't the best. That would mean that Bo Pelini and or Shawn Watson, adult men who get paid a lot to head a football team consisting of adolescents and young men, burdened with strong demands of success, would risk their season just to stick it to a college student for completely unclear reasons (e.g. Bo doesn't like him)? Does anyone else feel that that line of reasoning and set of assumptions are totally absurd and bordering on insane? The best explanation in here for how he may or may not have gotten screwed is that he didn't get snaps in his underclassman days and didn't get a chance to learn the complex system. But the idea that Bo would hate him and tell Watson to bump him to third string is just crazy when you consider how much of Pelini's and Watson's future ride on the success of the team.

 

The same thing goes for the other side of the same coin, though, that Lee is somehow owed something by the coaching staff and should get played regardless simply because of his seniority. I don't doubt that it would absolutely suck to be passed over by younger players, but just as I find it difficult to believe that the coaches would be petty and punish the team and themselves because a player is, what, arrogant? Unlikable? I don't know... just as I don't believe that, I also would be extremely disappointed if they played someone who was less qualified just because the staff like a guy. They get paid to be and act like professionals and not run some kind of Feelgoodery. They should work their butts off to refine every ounce of potential into practiced talent, and if they fail to do that, then, yes, they are "screwing" their players. But if they do their jobs, the players show up and do theirs, and some players, through a combination of practice, natural talent, and other characteristics are better, then it's up to them to fairly evaluate the players and put them where they belong.

 

This current staff hasn't given me much/any reason to believe that they would play a subjective game of favorites/least favorites just to fulfill some petty impulses. That being said, I don't think that they're robots and that they do have emotions that might lead to poor judgment from time to time, but bumping someone from first to (what appears to be) third string? That doesn't seem like a decision that would be made by a single person or made lightly.

 

So, in short (maybe I could put a *skip to summary* link at the top ) at this point, I believe that they made their decision based on many observations, notes, videos, hours of practice, and long discussions among the staff and not the process of some kind of evil, mustache-twirling, cat-stroking, Champagne-drinking sports movie villain who just has it out for the good-hearted kid.

 

Actually, it's not all that far out of an idea to put forth (ie favoritism or the lack thereof)

 

In many, if not most, areas of life and business it's not just likely but unfortunately very common that talent and hard work aren't what lead to promotion - it's where you stand politically (ie favored versus unfavored) in the eyes of those with the power to further (or be a detriment to) your career. Not saying that's the case here, but WHO you know usually gets you further than WHAT you know or how hard you work. I know plenty of people who work extremely hard and are extremely knowledgeable who have been passed over many a time for promotion by people less knowledgeable, less qualified and less able to do the job they're promoted to, but who have an "in with the boss."

 

It's my fondest hope that what you say above is true (and it's just as, if not more, likely than not that it is), but many a career has been made, extended or ended because of how someone "feels" about a person rather than the facts.

 

I didn't mean to completely disregard that possibility but there is a coaching staff that, you'd think anyway, would question a bad decision. Also, unlike business, the coaches' performance is put on display and monitored every week (at least). This isn't like promoting one doofus to one of many management positions where that doofus's performance can be obfuscated in bureaucracy and layers of other employees (not intending to strawman what you said, I was just picking an example). This is something where we can see a supposed doofus's performance and ask, "What were they thinking?" But I didn't think that yesterday, Martinez performed well and just looked slightly crisper than the other two QBs. I don't think he's leagues ahead and might not be tops on every attribute of what makes a good QB, but he look a little better and might have more potential for growth. So I just find it unlikely that in this instance (I didn't mean every instance of promotion) that the decisions are more transparent to the people that the coaches have to answer to. Watson wouldn't want to look bad by promoting the not-best QB and Pelini wouldn't want to field a team that has a lower likelihood of winning. I'm sure they have favorites, everyone does, but you'd hope that someone else in the staff would call out a decision like that and ask for some good rationale for it.

 

I think that we see more of what you're describing within coaching staffs (Cosgrove, anyone? ).

 

So I feel that what you say is possible in this instance, but seems unlikely. Above all, though, I hope that the coaches aren't too proud to reverse a decision if it doesn't work out after a few games!

 

Right on, wasn't really disagreeing with you, just pointing out that it's something that happens more often that we'd like to believe. As for who's starting/playing qb, whether it's Lee or Green or Martinez, I really don't care - I just want to see some consistency and stability at the position this season (big numbers don't hurt either). May the best man win

[irieboy8]

i find it to be somwhere in between.. i think its his first time in front of the press under such a huge spotlight and the kid spoke his mind and might have said things in a way that could have been slanted in someway.. however if i was other guys on the team (i.e the other QBS) i would be a little pissed at this kid coming up and saying how easy everything is and how much better i can be and how little i really worked to get the job.....

 

respect the honestly but not the way the message was delivered....

 

 

REMEMBER TMN

 

 

strong like a lion but humble like an ox

[macroboy]

Honestly, cocky isn't the word I would give that interview......awkward I think is a better one. He just looked really uncomofiratble and his answers were all too short.

 

I did ask afterwards- is that kid really cocky or is he just a bad interview.

[talaricohusker]

I dont think he was too cocky. he was short and to the point. he did his job and he did it well there is no reason to think he is too cocky. remenber he set high school records and won some award in cali. i dont think he had to work that hard here look at the talent he has compared to lee and green. he's got speed as well as an arm better then lee or green.

[Saunders]

Honestly, cocky isn't the word I would give that interview......awkward I think is a better one. He just looked really uncomofiratble and his answers were all too short.

 

I did ask afterwards- is that kid really cocky or is he just a bad interview.

 

Bingo. After his "i was always this good" answer, he paused and made a "oh crap" face. He has been shielded since he's been here, and it's his first time under the lights.

[Foppa]

The only concern of mine was putting his arms up before crossing the goalline. A stricter officiating crew could easily call a celebration penalty, which by the new rules would annul the TD. Would be a crappy way to lose a big game.

 

As for the interview, it came across as far more awkward than anything else. I think the answer about not having to work hard just came across wrong. He was just trying to say that he had developed his skills his senior year of HS so there wasn't any huge improvement needed as far as running and making good passes.

 

A friend of mine lived on the same floor as Martinez last year and said he was one of the cockiest people he'd ever met and that no one on the floor or on the team liked him. My friend knows one of the walk on players pretty well and he said that Martinez flat out told him and other walk-ons that they didn't deserve to be on the team and that they were basically a waste of space. I would say he's a little cocky. Still, as long as he continues to play like he did last night I don't think anyone really cares.

 

Well, Mr. 2-Post, that's quite a story there. A friend you know heard from some guy he knows that Taylor said walk-ons were a waste of space and nobody liked him.

 

Unencumbered by anything verifiable, or even first-hand information, maybe you shouldn't be ripping a person's character in a public forum.

 

I knew a guy who spoke to someone who lived close to the same floor as Lawrence Phillips. You know what that makes us? ABSOLUTELY GUILTY! Oops...I meant nothing. Crap, I'm going to jail now.