What did we learn???

[Hercules]

Should Taylor not learn to hold the ball better, though?

 

I've noticed him holding it very dangerously sometimes, and the fumbles did, indeed, happen.

 

He should. And he's getting better at it, like Tim Beck said after practice earlier today. He's just got to continue to improve.

[The Dude]

I heard from a close friend of a facebook friend of a reliable source that Taylor had to do 300 yards of pencil rolls in practice for fumbling 3 times. Can anyone confirm?

[Saunders]

I heard from a close friend of a facebook friend of a reliable source that Taylor had to do 300 yards of pencil rolls in practice for fumbling 3 times. Can anyone confirm?

Can't confirm (although Knappic said this). However, in his interview on Monday(?) he alluded to having to do them.

[Pedro Guerrero]

According to the paper today in 14 career games Martinez has put the ball on the ground 21 times (5 already this year in 2 games). That is crazy and needs to stop. We have been lucky to recover a lot of those but sooner or later that luck will run out.

 

21 fumbles out of 196 carries is terrible and there is no excuse for that. I don’t care if you are a Martinez lover or basher that stat is crappy and there isn’t any way to spin that it isn’t.

[Ratt Mhule]

Should Taylor not learn to hold the ball better, though?

 

I've noticed him holding it very dangerously sometimes, and the fumbles did, indeed, happen.

 

He should. And he's getting better at it, like Tim Beck said after practice earlier today. He's just got to continue to improve.

 

Five fumbles out of a possible seven fumbles this season have come from Taylor and we are only in our second game. You call that improvement?

[knapplc]

Should Taylor not learn to hold the ball better, though?

 

I've noticed him holding it very dangerously sometimes, and the fumbles did, indeed, happen.

 

He should. And he's getting better at it, like Tim Beck said after practice earlier today. He's just got to continue to improve.

 

Five fumbles out of a possible seven fumbles this season have come from Taylor and we are only in our second game. You call that improvement?

 

I wasn't aware that fumbles were the only way to determine whether a player has improved.

[Ratt Mhule]

Should Taylor not learn to hold the ball better, though?

 

I've noticed him holding it very dangerously sometimes, and the fumbles did, indeed, happen.

 

He should. And he's getting better at it, like Tim Beck said after practice earlier today. He's just got to continue to improve.

 

Five fumbles out of a possible seven fumbles this season have come from Taylor and we are only in our second game. You call that improvement?

 

I wasn't aware that fumbles were the only way to determine whether a player has improved.

 

Read the converstaion again. Where is it talking about his entire skill set? I don't see it, maybe your seeing something I'm not...

[Hercules]

Should Taylor not learn to hold the ball better, though?

 

I've noticed him holding it very dangerously sometimes, and the fumbles did, indeed, happen.

 

He should. And he's getting better at it, like Tim Beck said after practice earlier today. He's just got to continue to improve.

 

Five fumbles out of a possible seven fumbles this season have come from Taylor and we are only in our second game. You call that improvement?

 

You're not looking at the context.

 

One fumble was a fumbled snap against UTC. That doesn't concern me.

 

Another fumble against UTC was on an option pitch. Those will happen sometimes if you run the option (they happened to Tommie Frazier, Scott Frost, Eric Crouch... and they'll be less frequent the more reps Taylor gets at running the option).

 

His first fumble against Fresno State, he was actually trying to protect the ball by switching it to his outer hand, which is exactly what he's supposed to do. He just needed to do it sooner, but it's still an improvement from his ball security issues last year.

 

Another fumble against Fresno State was on an option, where he kept but continued to hold it like he was about to pitch. That is the only one that I think is inexcusable - once he decides to keep, he's got to just tuck it away. Even still, he'll get better at that as he gets more used to running the option.

 

Finally, his fifth fumble (that I can remember) came when he was looking to throw and got sacked from his blind side. That kind of fumble happens to every QB, it's not a ball security thing. It's just part of the game.

 

So, 5 fumbles isn't good, but if you go back and watch each one of them, they usually aren't coming from sheer lack of ball security, like they were last year. He's still got work to do, but I do think he's shown improvement. If he continues to focus on it and improve, he'll be fine.

 

 

Just looking at the stats and seeing 5 fumbles doesn't tell the whole story. It only tells part of the story. It's like seeing that he's thrown two interceptions without knowing that one of them came on a hail mary.