A Honest Question

[PaulCrewe]

My three biggest bones against Taylor are the same that have been kicking at me since October.

 

1. He is not secure with the ball. Taylor doesn't even take a solid shot and the ball is on the ground. His ball security straight up sucks. Tonight prime example, when he was getting pressureed the ball was is one hand dangling away from his body waist high waiting to get knocked away. Sorry, but this went on all year.

 

2. He locks onto his primary receiver. Since the opening game this was obvious. And when NU faced defenses good enough to figure this out and took option A away he paniced. There were a lot of occassions tonight where Taylor had time but would not look off his primary receive.

 

3, He is not a good passer. This was brought up by other schools when he was in HS. And tonight he proved it. Many a times Taylor had time in the pocket and delivered the ball a yard or two behind his receiver. The third down play to Kinnie(in the third quarter I believe) where Brandon was all alone and yet the ball was thrown five feet behind him, is the one that really stands out. But all night long it was the case. Passes thrown behind receivers. Hell even the last passwas behind Kinnie(which is a different thread, because the whole stadium knew what was coming on that down).

 

Like I said, what did Taylor do that was impressive? Nothing, could Cody have done otherwise, who knows. The only thing I am certain is that Cody probably doesn't throw the pick in the endzone before the half. Definite momentum killer.

[SECHusker]

Taylor didn't have the ability to run which is a huge par to of his game. Personally I think some of his hesitation to stay in the pocket came from his inability to run tonight. I think a healthy Taylor would have provided a much more affective offense.

 

In the beginning he seemed to scampering around just fine. His decision making is what got him into trouble. He makes the freshman mistake of always looking for the big play, instead of just taking the 'L' and living for another play.

[REDSTEEL]

He reminded me of Bobby Newcombe tonight. Didnt know when to give up on a play and throw it away.

 

Though why a OC thought that having a QB that is injured running as a wr on a pass play when the offense was moving the ball by running is beyond me.

[Lincolnite]

It just wasn't in the cards. I believe Taylor has the tools to become a great quarterback. He's clearly an explosive runner, and he looked pretty damn good passing the ball against Okie Lite and Mizzou. If not, hopefully Cody, Carnes, Jamal, or Bubba can take the reigns.

[zoogs]

In my opinion Taylor keyed the success early in the game. His presence allowed for some of the playcalls we had that showed success early on, such as that 4th down play, and maybe the Helu run (though most credit goes to Roy, obviously). Once he turned it off, he was a liability for the rest of the game.

 

If Taylor starts and was on for the whole game it would have been great. I don't know that I have confidence in Green, who in retrospect may have done a better job. But if this is how Taylor was going to play all along I guess I would just say, we were screwed at the QB position from the get-go.

 

I guess the staff took the gamble that Taylor could stay hot and minimize mistakes, with no faith in Green. The gamble obviously missed but I don't think it was a guarantee to. The no faith in Green, I can't really say that it's undeserved, but others seem higher on Green than I am.

 

It's very funny how quickly the relative perception of QBs change. Remember 2008 when we were thinking about the succession line? We were "going to a mobile QB offense", so Witt was obviously too slow for that and Lee, the speedster of the group, obviously had to be the man and that's why Witt transferred, he saw the writing on the wall. I didn't agree with that at the time, as Lee was the kid we had heard some bad things about re: ego (somewhat true when he first got here, I guess) and Witt was the guy I had heard nothing but good stuff about. I thought Witt was the future back then.

 

Fast forward half a year, and suddenly the plenty athletic Lee is looked at as some trodding-along grandmother, and our offense "obviously" needed even more speed and even less skill out of that position.

 

I say this because Cody, not Green, is the "more speed/less skill" guy I am talking about last year mid-season. Green came in this totally raw, athlete, project QB who was a poor passer. So all I am saying is I guess I would temper down the calling Cody a true QB next to Taylor being a wide receiver. I don't honestly know how far Green has come (at least as far as showing up in games), but if Taylor is a WR taking snaps at QB, it's probably not toooo far from the truth that Green is a TE doing the same. Taylor is obviously a lot more raw, but Green isn't polished either - is he? I would jump on the Carnes camp, but I don't want to let hype destroy another player.

[corncraze]

Taylor didn't have the ability to run which is a huge par to of his game. Personally I think some of his hesitation to stay in the pocket came from his inability to run tonight. I think a healthy Taylor would have provided a much more affective offense.

 

In the beginning he seemed to scampering around just fine. His decision making is what got him into trouble. He makes the freshman mistake of always looking for the big play, instead of just taking the 'L' and living for another play.

He was not full speed, I can assure you on that. I can guarantee that he would have made a couple more first downs and he wouldn't have gave the ball off so many times on the zone read. Martinez's ability to reach top speed in three steps in not available today and that killed us.

 

I do acknowledge though that there were many plays where I was screaming for him to just throw the ball away, but he is a redshirt freshman still. He will learn and he will heal, and we will be fine.

[BornRedCornFed]

im sick of this bandwagon sh*t.

 

im not going to argue that he had a bad game, clearly he did. but where was this criticism against OKLA ST or Washington? this goes out to the whole board; dont sit here and tell us that you've been a cody supporter all year long, nobody's buying it. you ever think its people like you that this kid may want to transfer? i wouldnt want to play for a bunch of fair-weathered fans that are so quick to criticize every error. part of being "the best fans in college football" is supporting your guy or your team when they struggle. you should be proud of this kid, and everything this team has done for that matter.

 

this complaining and excuse making has gone way overboard. we support our guys and our team, not just when they win. agian,this isnt not addressed at anyone in particular, but reading all of these posts and threads almost makes me sad to call myself a husker

[PaulCrewe]

My biggest beef I guess is the role of Taylor in the offense tonight. It was blatently obvious early that he wasn't going to try to run. He had opportunities and instead of keeping the balls like he did earlier in the year he gave for minimum success. He had numerous opportunities to run the ball while scrambling, yet he didnt.

 

What we saw tonight was Taylor attmepting to "manage" the offense. Much like CG in the ISU and CU games. And to this Taylor failed badly at times. Taylor was never a threat in this game. Those that diagree watch it again and tell me that Boomer wasn't daring him to beat them. Taylor tried to be a manager of the offnse, and again it was obvious that Rex is the only person we played tonight that I would trust to be in that position.

[SECHusker]

Taylor didn't have the ability to run which is a huge par to of his game. Personally I think some of his hesitation to stay in the pocket came from his inability to run tonight. I think a healthy Taylor would have provided a much more affective offense.

 

In the beginning he seemed to scampering around just fine. His decision making is what got him into trouble. He makes the freshman mistake of always looking for the big play, instead of just taking the 'L' and living for another play.

He was not full speed, I can assure you on that. I can guarantee that he would have made a couple more first downs and he wouldn't have gave the ball off so many times on the zone read. Martinez's ability to reach top speed in three steps in not available today and that killed us.

 

I do acknowledge though that there were many plays where I was screaming for him to just throw the ball away, but he is a redshirt freshman still. He will learn and he will heal, and we will be fine.

 

Cool, he's a freshman I get it. Both he and Green came in the same year, but no one has faith in Green to come in and play, or develop him.

 

There seems to be a man crush on T-Mart, but we don't need a dynamic QB to win games. We just need a solid QB. We have some decent weapons that are underutilized, because we are putting all of our eggs in the T-Mart basket. We need to a better job of incorporating these other talents into games, so when T-Mart can't break one we aren't left high and dry.

[schuhbdoo]

If we have a QB who doesn't throw to no one in the end zone and get picked because he's doing everything he's not coached to do, we probably win this game. Taylor was the antiquarterback tonight. I think Rex would have been more effective the whole way through.

 

 

this was not working for me. Taylor needed to be replaced by a more capable QB. We needed someone that could throw a pass and not get sacked all night.

[Husker1995]

Taylor is a freshman, he looked like a freshman. The key is for him to get better.

 

Asking him to leave or whatever is as classless as the fans who booed Scott Frost.

 

 

+1

[It'sNotAFakeID]

I'm torn. I love CG, but I don't know if he could have made some of the throws that Taylor did. Maybe, maybe not. I just don't know. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think CG has ever thrown more than 99 yards in a game. Martinez had ~150 I believe.

 

Martinez also had utility in the beginning of the game. I am sure that OU had to pay attention to his running ability, which might have opened things up initially. But once it was obvious that he wasn't going to run with the ball, then he became no better than CG.

 

As for CG, I think he would not have freaked out in the pocket like Martinez. This is the biggest indictment of the "Martinez is a freshman; lay off" argument. Martinez is a REDSHIRT freshman, which means he's been in the program as long as CG. CG looks poised and comfortable in the pocket; Martinez panics as soon as there is any pressure. I think that CG and Burkhead provide a very stable, reliable backfield that would have ultimately been a better choice than Burkhead-Martinez.

 

Now, if I'm being honest, Zac Lee gives us the best chance to win of the three, since he is a better passer than Martinez, the calmest of the three, and is enough of a run threat to move the chains every now and again. His injury really cost us.

 

 

You fail to realize that Martinez didn't see the field at all and had no idea what it was actually like when it mattered. That makes a BIG difference. Cody Green had his issues when he started in the Oklahoma game but as a result, he learned from his mistakes and bad games, and made himself into a better QB this year. Hopefully he starts next year. I think he will be way better than Martinez.

[EbylHusker]

TM was far more composed in games before his injuries. I think that, and whatever else went on, has really rattled him. It's unfortunate, because we could have used a more composed TM tonight.

 

As for the OP, I really don't know if Green could have done better. I'd say it's certainly possible, as TM had a pretty bad game.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

The only big game TM looked composed in was the Oklahoma State game, and the beginning of the Missouri game. Other than that he hasn't looked well in any big game (See Texas)

[EbylHusker]

The only big game TM looked composed in was the Oklahoma State game, and the beginning of the Missouri game. Other than that he hasn't looked well in any big game (See Texas)

Notice how I didn't say he actually looked composed, nor did I say anything about big games... Go back and watch the games and you'll see a TM prior to all this that was far more comfortable in the pocket than after the injuries and whatever else is up.