Of Coordinators and Quarterbacks

[zoogs]

Those guys were tough as nails and gutted it out and that's why we loved them. Lee was tough as nails too, but that didn't work out quite so well last year, even injury aside.

 

Those are good qualities, for sure, but the offense enabled it. It takes two to tango. It's not like you're going to get a spineless, panicky player that is a poor leader and send him out to QB and have ANY success whatsoever. Those are qualities EVERY good QB will have. It's necessary. If only QBs who succeed without intangibles get credited to their QB coach, then you are unlikely to give credit to any QB coach anywhere, ever. That's why I am saying you are going to great lengths here to avoid giving credit to Watson where it is due.

 

But what's also necessary? Being made into good QBs. Zac and Joe were awesome in those qualities they possessed, but those qualities did not make them good quarterbacks. Their coaches, from their entire (including pre-Nebraska) careers, made them so.

 

Guys who don't go down without a fight, and tough SOBs are gonna help offenses. No kidding, man. Are you really trying to saying that for an OC to get credit, he has to succeed without those guys?

[husker_hurdler]

I think Taylor has shown over the course of the year that he won't use the check down.

 

All year this has happened. You need no more proof than the last NU play on offense. The ball was going to Kinnie whether he was open or not. Taylor did not look at anybody else.

[I am I]

more complete crap on the field from Watson.

 

We had success running the ball up the middle. A lot of that success came on direct handoffs with no zone-read. Yet, aftr establishing that middle ground game, Watson starts sending the plays to the edge, where they got blown up and where we fumbled. Where was Helu after his fumble? Why, with a 17 point lead, would our two best players on offense not each carry the ball about 20 times?

 

why did we have Martin-ez throwing the ball to an OU defender on 3rd and goal from the six when we could have safely ran it up the middle and maybe scored 6 or just taken the few extra yards and kicked a FG and been up 20-10 going into half? That is just plain dumb of him to put the ball into the hands of a QB who was obviously struggling to throw the ball, especially in such tight confines near the goal line.

 

Why in the world would Watson wait til the 4th quarter of the CCG to have Rex bomb it down field to our QB? That shoulda been a play ran in the 1st quarter with a huge lead just to keep them guessing and honest in our Rexcat formation. Stupid, Stupid playcalling. Matin-ez was obviously not running the ball well last nite, why even TRY to run the zone read, especially since we were having success handing the ball off up the middle. More terrible play calling.

 

If Landry freaking Jones can execute a play fake and boot leg around the end for 17 yds, where has this play been for us ALL YEAR?? Complete lack of innovation and actually maximizing the talent Watson has. We have good players. But Watson just does not put them in the best plays to maximize their strengths. Once again, we had no misdirection, no trap plays, I do believe we ran one screen (which worked!!), no reverses, and no roll-out passing. This is baffling because of how much OU was blitzing. Nice way to confuse or exploit an overly aggressive Defense, Watson.

 

Taylor got the crap beaten out of him last nite and he needs to learn how to safely protect himself and the football and not make stupid turnovers, that is a learning process and he's only a freshman. I put ALL the rest of the blame on Watson. He is terrible and another crap performance by the man who 'didn't get stupid overnight' but can't coach himself out of a paper bag.

[I am I]

Why was Ganz good?

 

Because he paid his dues and knew this offense. Inside and out. Years of being coached up and brought up in the system.

 

Yeah, some players, like Burkhead, are just ballers. Swift or Peterson too could go in that category. Ganz doesn't. He had little in the way of physical skills, and was maximized far beyond any realistic dreams, by the offense. Same story with Zac Taylor, but without quite as unworldy stats. And the light came on for Zac quicker. Ganz didn't really emerge until his later years.

 

If you don't give Watson, and Callahan credit for bringing along Zac Taylor and Joe Ganz, I think you just don't want to. (Watson with Ganz and Callahan with both).

 

Really, Burkhead has nothing to do with Watson anyway. The coach being denied credit there would be Tim Beck.

 

 

What about Zac Lee then? I mean seriously, that kid is tough and a pretty fierce competitor. His dad played in the pros and probably taught Zac a thing or two about being a QB. He came here after Leading the Nation in passing at a championship juco. He redshirted, learned the system, and won the job. He showed flashes of being able to direct an offense he knew inside and out. But yet, somehow, all his learning and all his intangibles never really produced much. Even through the injuries when our offense was shut down by Bo, we still didn't even scare the Girl Scouts with our terrible offense. It's Watson man. It's Watson. Our defense is freaking good, with all the opportunities they give the offense we should be putting way more points on the field. Watson and his playcalling and the production he doesn't get from the talent he has is Nebraska's own worst enemy.

 

the players on the field produce what the coaches are coaching them. And yes, I mean they fumble, false start, take sacks, hold, delay the game, chop block into the 12th game of the season because they are or are not being COACHED in such a way that that is what manifest's itself on game day.

[zoogs]

I think the Rex-to-Taylor play was a bad call, but I don't think it could have happened when you suggested. We never had a 17-0 lead with the ball in the offense's hands if I'm reading the PBP right. We scored to go up 17-0, then Oklahoma drove down to cut it to 17-7 right afterwards.

 

Landry Jones executed that because it was 4th and 1 and we sold out on the run up the middle. If you forgot, on our own 4th and 1 OU did the exact same thing: sold out to stop the run up the middle. Instead of a bootleg, Taylor went deep and hit, I think it was McNeil for a huge gain. 36 yards. Taylor freaking Martinez executing a 36 yard playaction pass, that was sweet. Of course it was all for naught, thanks to the pick.

 

I don't know what you would call the zone read, but it's not a straightforward run by any means. It is our misdirection/trap equivalent. And once again, Taylor is not suited for the roll out passes, so people can stop calling for it! Taylor can't throw on the run. Heck he can barely throw standing still. It'd be awesome if he could throw on the run, because then he could take advantage of that speed. But he can't. He did once today, very inadvisably. Threw across his body straight into Travis Lewis in the pick that changed the entire game.

 

I wish people would get this through, so I'll repeat for emphasis: Taylor: not a roll-out passer at this point in his career.

 

What about Zac Lee then? I mean seriously, that kid is tough and a pretty fierce competitor. His dad played in the pros and probably taught Zac a thing or two about being a QB. He came here after Leading the Nation in passing at a championship juco. He redshirted, learned the system, and won the job. He showed flashes of being able to direct an offense he knew inside and out. But yet, somehow, all his learning and all his intangibles never really produced much. Even through the injuries when our offense was shut down by Bo, we still didn't even scare the Girl Scouts with our terrible offense.

 

I think I mentioned Lee.

 

Zac's knowledge of the offense, not comparable to Joe's or Zac Taylor's, in my estimation. That's for one thing. At the beginning of the 2009 year for instance, his reads on pass plays were being broken down in thirds of the field. Left/middle/right. So when he'd have to make multiple reads, they'd all be in the same third of the field, because Zac was still getting a handle on things. VT picked up on that, and made us pay.

 

The other thing is Zac had an injury that hampered his throwing arm. It would be like saying, "Yeah, I know Taylor has injuries and stuff, but he still isn't making any good runs." That's because he has a food/ankle/leg/whatever injury. Zac had a throwing arm injury.