Nice OWH Article on Watson

[sd'sker]

If Watson wanted to be a 20+ year loyal assistant (like McBride), I'd be all for the patient route. But since he has openly stated his desire to be a head coach, I don't see the point in suffering his growing pains only to never see the reward.

 

How exactly do you propose to skip growing pains with a coach? You can bring in some established veteran guru and there'd still be growing pains, and no guarantee of production living up to hype.

 

Huh? I said, if I expected him to be around a while, I'd be all for sticking out the growing pains. But I fully expect him to get a head coaching offer in the next 2-3 years. So we will get the average offenses while he matures as a playcaller, and then get none of the reward. Let's get a guy who is prepared to be here long-term, then we will at least have the chance to be rewarded for patience and longevity down the road.

it is near impossible nowadays to get a quality coach to come as a coordinator that you expect to stay for the long haul.

 

Maybe so, but if that's the case then patience and coaching longevity no longer has its place. Personally I think it's rare but still possible to find a loyal assistant coach.

 

My only point in all this was, if Watson needs another 5 years to become a great coordinator, that probably doesn't do Nebraska any good, since he will probably be somewhere else in 5 years.

i understand what you are saying. but i think we have to treat him for as a long term guy instead of shuffling through coaches until we find the right one. that does the program no good either.

 

i like watson and thinks he is good, but to be honest, you do not need a stellar offense to win a mnc. last year we had a championship defense, if we had an offense like this year's last year, we probably go undefeated.

 

and if we do not play flat against tu this year, we probably go undefeated. it is tough to perform each week at a championship level, regardless of your coordinator.

[knapplc]

My only point in all this was, if Watson needs another 5 years to become a great coordinator, that probably doesn't do Nebraska any good, since he will probably be somewhere else in 5 years.

 

Good points all around in this thread. I would be surprised to see Watson stick around long enough to be our OC in five years, but it's possible. Most likely he'll be gone, like you say, and we'll be looking for someone else.

[HUSKERCR]

I agree Watson will be leaving for an HC position.

 

Frankly, I think he'll be a much better HC than OC.

[knapplc]

Here is the perfect opportunity for Watson to silence his critics. He has the horses. He has the WRs. He has a game-changing TE. He has an offensive line. He has weeks of film on his opponent. Now is the time to put all of this together with a nice game plan that takes advantage of our strengths and keeps his opponent guessing. It's time to move the ball, score some points, and dictate, rather than react.

 

If he cannot do that in this game, then he cannot stay.

[Pedro Guerrero]

Shawn

[sd'sker]

Here is the perfect opportunity for Watson to silence his critics. He has the horses. He has the WRs. He has a game-changing TE. He has an offensive line. He has weeks of film on his opponent. Now is the time to put all of this together with a nice game plan that takes advantage of our strengths and keeps his opponent guessing. It's time to move the ball, score some points, and dictate, rather than react.

 

If he cannot do that in this game, then he cannot stay.

i guess he gets to stay.

[RedDenver]

Here is the perfect opportunity for Watson to silence his critics. He has the horses. He has the WRs. He has a game-changing TE. He has an offensive line. He has weeks of film on his opponent. Now is the time to put all of this together with a nice game plan that takes advantage of our strengths and keeps his opponent guessing. It's time to move the ball, score some points, and dictate, rather than react.

 

If he cannot do that in this game, then he cannot stay.

i guess he gets to stay.

Wow! You hit almost every nail right on the head with that post, knapplc!

[zoogs]

Here is the perfect opportunity for Watson to silence his critics. He has the horses. He has the WRs. He has a game-changing TE. He has an offensive line. He has weeks of film on his opponent. Now is the time to put all of this together with a nice game plan that takes advantage of our strengths and keeps his opponent guessing. It's time to move the ball, score some points, and dictate, rather than react.

 

If he cannot do that in this game, then he cannot stay.

i guess he gets to stay.

 

He's put together gameplans that has taken advantage of our strengths and the opponent's weaknesses in most every game this year...for instance, I don't know if we've gone hardcore zone read since KSU. We showed some new stuff against Texas and almost had 'em, then passed all over Oklahoma State, then came back and straight ran it up Missouri's throats.

[bshirt]

That 2nd qtr was vintage SW.

 

We're up 24 - 0. Missou CANNOT stop our running game. Roy blasts for 7 or 8 yds on 1st down. SW takes his foot off Missou's neck and starts flinging the ball around going 3 & out that series and continued almost the whole 2nd qtr letting Missou get back in the game.

 

He's ok when we have studs everywhere but when we don't.....

 

SW is not a horrible OC but he's certainly nothing special either.

[zoogs]

The first half was Taylor Martinez getting into hot streaks and cold streaks. He went cold for a few drives after we went up 24-0. Not bagging on Taylor here because he got us to 24-0. But it's just something that he's prone to now, along with getting antsy. He's a freshman, that's how it is. Hope it goes away.

 

bshirt, I wonder when you will put anything on Taylor. Even when our electric, home run threat, awesome running QB was carrying the ball, you called out Wats for running with TM instead of Roy in the 2nd quarter. Does not make sense.

 

Here's that 2nd quarter breakdown I posted before. I added to it a bit since I watched the replay.

 

Stats of Note:

 

First half: 9 pass attempts, 21 rush attempts

Second quarter: 14 run calls, 5 pass calls. That's 76% running, and 2 of those passes were on obvious pass situations (3rd and 15, 3rd and 17). This includes the holding penalty, which was a run play.

 

 

Drive summaries in the Second Quarter:

 

Drive 1

 

Helu, 6 yard gain. 2nd and 4, we set up a playaction, but Taylor throws before pressure gets to him and it's an awful overthrow that was a dangerous, lofting duck that could have been picked. Certainly no Huskers in the neighborhood. 3rd and 4, Missouri does a stunt or something and beats our OL silly. Martinez takes the sack. 3rd and 4 isn't really a rushing down to begin with.

 

Drive 2

 

It's 24-7 now. We start on our own 45. Looks like a zone read with the rush end unblocked. Not much of a fake though, Taylor kept it. Runs into trouble, changes direction to the other side of the field and can't beat the rush end (Aldon Smith) laterally, who pulls him down for a 7-yard loss. Now it's 2nd and 17. We go 4WRs, outside guys run deep and inside guys run short. It LOOKS like Reed is one of the inside guys and McNeil is the other, not sure about McNeil but that would be logical. Now if the playcall is intended to go deep, I would disagree with it as an unnecessary risk. At any rate, McNeil has a 5/6-yard hook and is there for the easy underneath completion. But Taylor is looking deep all the way and lofts up a way overthrown duck, but Gilleylen tackled the corner that would have almost certainly made the pick. You can argue for a run here, but I think a manageable pass (6-8 yards) has a slight edge. IMO Taylor should have gone to McNeil and set up 3rd and 11, but I guess we wanted the killshot. You take risks sometimes, so I can't fault Taylor for making the decision. A better throw could have been huge for us as Gills was in man coverage.

 

3rd and 17 now - a playcaller's no man's land. We go for a pass, Taylor gets pressured, escapes the pocket and then completely freaks out. He reaches the right sideline and dances around before trying to come back to the near sideline. He almost makes the corner before he's cut down behind the line. Hard to blame him on a play that had little chance of going anywhere, but I pointed it out just as it's an indication of how out of rhythm he was at that point.

 

Drive 3

 

We start within our own 20 this time, and open with a solid 5/6-yard run to Helu...BUT, it's called back for an illegal chop block penalty on Ricky Henry. Reed has an illegal block on the same play too but it's declined. (Reed is pulled after this, by the way - not sure if it's relevant, but thought I'd include that). Penalty screws us here, gives us a 1st-and-18 inside our 10 instead of 2nd-and-5 past the 20. Next play: QB draw; Taylor takes a 2-yard loss. On 2nd and 20, we run Martinez up the middle and he finds a crease this time to get a decent gain. Note: what we're doing now is, instead of passing, just holding on to the ball and grinding clock/playing it safe inside our 20. Very cute, these runs up the gut.

 

On 3rd and 15 from the 10, we go with pass. Looks to me like we aren't going for the first down here, just going for a checkdown to get a completion and advance a few yards, while giving the receiver a chance to fake someone out and pick up 8 YAC to move the chains. We send three guys deep but mostly, it seems, to clear out space for two underneath guys. Taylor's first look is Reed, who is open there in the flat, but he feels the heat and pulls it down to scramble. Looks like he's going to run and not get very far but he looks up, sees Helu open and flips the ball to him. The broken play almost nets us a first as Helu takes this one from the 13 all the way up to the 25. It's a 4th and 1, but that was as much as we could have asked for in this situation. Very smart checkdown option. And a much better play than running it, where the chances of something like this happening are basically zero.

 

Drive 4

 

We get this one after Ressel's 54-yarder is juust short. 4:12 in the half now. On 1st and 10, we go Burkhead up the middle for 2. 2nd and 8, we go trips right, and zone read. The DE just hesitates enough for Taylor to decide to keep it and he makes it around the corner for 13 yards and a 1st down. Next play: 1st and 10, Taylor to the left, gets injured, but gets 5 yards. Now he's hobbling, and we run it up the middle on 2nd and 5. Burkhead gets about 2, so we're in 3rd and 3. Taylor throws it incomplete. He had Kinnie on the slant but it's way behind him. Dangerous throw. Announcers say it's tipped but really, it hit the helmet of the Missouri linebacker who is keying on Helu.

 

Now you may criticize this pass call but 3rd and short is a higher passing % situation than you might think. 3rd and 1 is more run, 3rd and 2 though, you get a step up in the passing %, and another step up for 3rd and 3. Missouri looks like they were clearly anticipating run, as they sent two linebackers straight down the middle. A better throw gets us a first down here as Kinnie would have been open. 1 on 1 and he had the inside.

 

Drive 5

 

Handoff, handoff, handoff, all Roy.

 

Please point out at what point in this sequence were we 'cute.' I think we took one risk, and that was a shot downfield, on 2nd-and-17. And even then we had McNeil underneath on a checkdown that I think Taylor should have taken.

[Landlord]

That 2nd qtr was vintage SW.

 

We're up 24 - 0. Missou CANNOT stop our running game. Roy blasts for 7 or 8 yds on 1st down. SW takes his foot off Missou's neck and starts flinging the ball around going 3 & out that series and continued almost the whole 2nd qtr letting Missou get back in the game.

 

He's ok when we have studs everywhere but when we don't.....

 

SW is not a horrible OC but he's certainly nothing special either.

 

 

 

First half: 9 pass attempts, 21 rush attempts

Second quarter: 14 run calls, 5 pass calls.

 

 

 

Haha, owned.

[knapplc]

That 2nd qtr was vintage SW.

 

We're up 24 - 0. Missou CANNOT stop our running game. Roy blasts for 7 or 8 yds on 1st down. SW takes his foot off Missou's neck and starts flinging the ball around going 3 & out that series and continued almost the whole 2nd qtr letting Missou get back in the game.

 

He's ok when we have studs everywhere but when we don't.....

 

SW is not a horrible OC but he's certainly nothing special either.

 

 

 

First half: 9 pass attempts, 21 rush attempts

Second quarter: 14 run calls, 5 pass calls.

 

 

 

Haha, owned.

 

Ummm.... what? "Owned?"

 

What zoogies posted (great post BTW, zoogs) doesn't obviate what bshirt said. bshirt said we went three-and-out that series. We did. bshirt said that continued "almost the whole 2nd qtr."

 

Our drives in the second quarter were:

 

3 and out - 2 pass plays

3 and out - 2 pass plays

4 and out - 1 pass play

5 and out - 1 pass play

3 plays - halftime

 

38 total yards, zero points, one first down.

 

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

[zoogs]

We stunk bad in the 2nd quarter, but I think you're only talking about one or two "take a chance" calls from our OC. We stunk because we didn't make plays on the field and I think that's attributable to Martinez going cold, rather than Watson doing anything differently.

 

As far as definitions go:

 

"lifting the foot off the throttle": What we did after our final score. Run run run, hold on to the ball and the lead and ride out with a victory.

 

"keeping the pedal to the metal": Passing and taking shots to try to go up even more.

 

I think that pass call on 2nd & 4 (Helu officially ran for 6, not 8, on first down, which does make a difference) - was an instance of keeping the foot to their throats. The next play, the 3rd down where we took a sack, was (apparently - I didn't notice personally) a run-pass option, and could have gone either way.

 

For some reason, people keep looking at the success we are having as attributable solely to some insanely good QB that is bailing everyone out. I think that is hardly the case. I think we have an insanely raw (but physically gifted) QB that would be an interesting project for any OC to work with as a starter, and Watson is handling the "bringing Taylor along" process fairly masterfully. You can never prevent mistakes or cold streaks or execution problems totally, but you do the best to maximize out of the pieces you are given. It's also possible to misuse those pieces. Right now we are using them exceptionally well, and that is how we wound up gouging Missouri's purportedly good defense for 454 yards.

[Landlord]

That 2nd qtr was vintage SW.

 

We're up 24 - 0. Missou CANNOT stop our running game. Roy blasts for 7 or 8 yds on 1st down. SW takes his foot off Missou's neck and starts flinging the ball around going 3 & out that series and continued almost the whole 2nd qtr letting Missou get back in the game.

 

He's ok when we have studs everywhere but when we don't.....

 

SW is not a horrible OC but he's certainly nothing special either.

 

 

 

First half: 9 pass attempts, 21 rush attempts

Second quarter: 14 run calls, 5 pass calls.

 

 

 

Haha, owned.

 

Ummm.... what? "Owned?"

 

What zoogies posted (great post BTW, zoogs) doesn't obviate what bshirt said. bshirt said we went three-and-out that series. We did. bshirt said that continued "almost the whole 2nd qtr."

 

Our drives in the second quarter were:

 

3 and out - 2 pass plays

3 and out - 2 pass plays

4 and out - 1 pass play

5 and out - 1 pass play

3 plays - halftime

 

38 total yards, zero points, one first down.

 

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

 

 

I think the most dominant thought in his post was how we started throwing the ball over the place and abandoning the run. Not sure why I bolded the rest of it, but the "flinging the ball around" in addition to the "...CANNOT stop the run" earlier in the sentence made it seem like that was the biggest point he was trying to make, and zoogie very eloquently pointed out that wasn't really the case.

[sd'sker]

am i the only one who thought we just wanted to sit on the lead? that seem to be bo's 'm.o.' in big games. watching it in the stadium, you tend to just live in the moment. perhaps i need to watch it again.