Stop Over Reacting!

[SoCalhusker88]

I am not gonna say we played well.....well because we didn't, but at the same time Fresno does this every year. I remember in either 2005 or 2006 when USC was killing every single team they played Fresno went to USC and gave USC their toughest game of the year...Pat Hill does one hell of a job. That USC team was the very best team in college football that year...can you honestly say they sucked because they let Fresno Hang with them? No.... I think this team has a long way to go to be national championship worthy, however this team sure as hell is better then the 2007 team and will not lose 5-6 games.....I love this board and my huskers but come'on guys lets have some perspective

[redout22]

This thread title for some reason reminds me of this...

[EbylHusker]

I'll give you some perspective.

 

Let's start with giving credit where credit is due to Fresno St. They came to play and put together a good game. They've got a good QB (I'd gladly take Carr over TM in a hearbeat) complimented by some decent receivers, a shifty midget running back that can burst through tiny holes, and O and D lines that can get the job done a fair amount of the time.

 

Nebraska, however, looked like absolute sh#t for most of the game. And yeah, we definitely came out in some kind of funk and looked totally flat throughout the first half. But it's more than that.

 

TM has not shown any real improvement at all. None. He has no ball security, still makes love to his receivers with his eyes every single play, is incapable of reliably going through his progressions, and has so-so accuracy. Now, I didn't expect us to get a miracle and get something like Griffin III or anything, but I expected him to have shown visible improvements in at least SOME of those areas. The staff even said he's shown improvement. bullsh#t. If we had any other option at this point, ANY other option, that we could possibly win games with, I'd say sit his ass down and let him ride the bench for the rest of college career. He's shown he isn't capable of improvement and so he's a dead end investment. Sadly, we don't have another viable option right now.

 

Our O-line is young and still inconsistent. What more needs to be said? Cotton continues to put a subpar product on the field no matter how much experience he has to work with there. He should have been gone before last season and he sure as f#*k had better be gone after this season unless the O-line turns into something worthwhile on a regular basis. But we all know that's not going to happen because we've all been saying the same things and making the same excuses for our O-lines for a while now. It's not getting any better, so cut the dead weight and let's get someone in who can build a real O-line.

 

We've got good backs with lots of talent. Nothing new there, the future looks bright. Abdullah was obviously a returns stud just from watching in the first game, and he only proved it more with his performance this game. I'm pretty sure that guy he faked on his way to the endzone never found his pants. And exactly how someone can pull a move like that a full speed, without loosing too much momentum, is mind boggling.

 

We still have issues with our receivers, but I think we started seeing a couple people step up in the second half. We're not ever going to have awesome, superstar receivers that can do anything and beat anyone, but I think they'll get the job done as the season goes on. We still have some issues with catches and soft route running at times, but it's really the O-line and TM that are the weakest links.

 

Our defense is not "great". In fact, they're not even good right now. I don't give a sh#t how many announcers claim we've got a great defense - watch the f'ing games and pay attention, they're not great. We lost a lot of talent on defense and it's going to take a while for the more inexperienced guys to catch up.

 

The secondary is easily our weakest link, and while I know Dennard is out, his return will not be some miracle pill for the secondary. You can see them start to play better when the space tightens up in the red zone, but out in the open field, they're still a bit clueless and outmatched. They'll improve as the season goes on, but we're not going to have a shutdown secondary this season.

 

The same is true for our LB's. They've got a long way to go this season, and just like our secondary, I expect them to improve, but not be great this season. In a way it's really a rebuilding season for our defense. I think our D-line is fine, but they're not a superstar unit and they won't be able to reliably get pressure with just the four of them. They'll need help from the LB's and secondary, and that's where we'll really be in a dilemma this season. Our D-line can't do it alone, but we really can't afford to further weaken our second and third levels by bringing in too much help.

 

So when you couple just an alright defense with TM (who is 100% feast or famine and will never change) and a sh#t O-line, yeah, we're going to lose some games. Teams like WI, who is probably one of the best in the country, are going to embarrass us. The defense is probably going to get shredded by good teams with a balanced attack, and the offense doesn't appear capable of consistently bringing it.

 

So there's your perspective. It's going to be a very up and down season. And while credit goes to Fresno St. for playing a good game, we also deserve some credit for managing to pull it together and pound out a win. But that sh#t isn't going to fly with a lot of our Big 10 opponents, and there are some serious problems with this team that won't be improving that much before we hit those opponents.

[zoogs]

I would agree with any assessment that we did not do well.

 

I was surprised, though, by the viciousness and eagerness with which many fans leapt to deride or ridicule Husker players for making mistakes. It's fine, I get that not all of them are great players, and I know we all get emotional during games, but man, there was some serious anger in there.

 

Hopefully when the day comes where Jamal Turner misses a few passes in a row - and it's likely to come at some point in his career, especially with on-again, off-again passing as we have - he won't endure the same kind of tearing-down that has been hurled at Curenski, Paul, and now Kinnie.

[EbylHusker]

I really don't see any problems that our receivers can't work through as the season comes a long. The drops are a little frustrating, but TM isn't always giving them gifts either. Some of those passes that were dropped today were very difficult catches. And some of them weren't. I expect them to continue to develop as the season goes on, though I'm confused why we can never shake the drops.

[zoogs]

Exactly, I think 'drops' has been stretched more than a little based on the types of passes we have seen thrown.

 

Yes, a better receiver will make those catches. But a lot of these tightly contested balls, and difficult catch attempts, aren't what you'd usually call drops. Even if the receiver could have done better, I think they are (not for all of them, but for a good number of them) blameless for the effort they made and the pass that was thrown.

 

Want to see some drops, remember how it plagued us during the Nebraska/A&M game in 2006.

 

 

At 1:20, Peterson has a drop. At 2:50, Terrence Nunn has a drop. That 3rd & 10 pass to Mo Purify that he doesn't pull down...wasn't a drop, obviously.

[redout22]

Exactly, I think 'drops' has been stretched more than a little based on the types of passes we have seen thrown.

 

Yes, a better receiver will make those catches. But a lot of these tightly contested balls, and difficult catch attempts, aren't what you'd usually call drops. Even if the receiver could have done better, I think they are (not for all of them, but for a good number of them) blameless for the effort they made and the pass that was thrown.

 

Want to see some drops, remember how it plagued us during the Nebraska/A&M game in 2006.

 

 

At 1:20, Peterson has a drop. At 2:50, Terrence Nunn has a drop. That 3rd & 10 pass to Mo Purify that he doesn't pull down...wasn't a drop, obviously.

That game was sooo nuts, awesome, awesome ending..

Just wish sometimes that T-Mart would stay in the pocket as long as Taylor did

[Foppa]

I only came here to say...hyphen.

[n.e.husker]

Just wish sometimes that T-Mart would stay in the pocket as long as Taylor did

 

I dont think Tmart has the same amount of time in the pocket this year.

[The Dude]

Just wish sometimes that T-Mart would stay in the pocket as long as Taylor did

 

I dont think Tmart has the same amount of time in the pocket this year.

If anything, we need T Mart to roll outside of the pocket. Having him sit there like a pocket passer makes no sense. Especially since he's not getting much time to make decisions. At least on rollouts he has tons of space to run if he doesn't have a receiver, instead of running straight into the defense.

[True2tRA]

I guess I never realized how good Zac Taylor looked back there til' I've been stuck watching some of the recent guys we've had taking snaps at Nebraska. I always respected Zac Taylor.....one tough ass dude. Took a lot of hits, but made a lot of big plays. Heart of a champion on that kid. Hopefully Taylor Martinez starts to show some improvement and a bit more heart. He looks like he doesn't care out there and that throwing motion is just .....wow.....don't thing I've seen worse in my life honestly.

[EbylHusker]

I think Martinez cares. It's not a lack of heart or effort that bothers me.

 

And his throwing motion is bad, but honestly, you're very often stuck with more or less whatever throwing motion a QB has in college just because it takes so much work and time to retool it completely. They can tweak his motion, but they won't be changing it, and we shouldn't expect them to.

 

It's the utter lack of any improvement in his core QB aspects that is bothering me. His ball security is still awful. He still stares down receivers and has trouble going through progressions. His accuracy hasn't improved at all, and he still bails on the pocket too soon when he should stay and stays when he shouldn't. He's exactly the same as he was last season, despite no doubt working hard at improving. That's what really bothers me and why I'd look to the future and replace him if we had any other viable option, but we don't.

[The Dude]

See, looking to bench 385 yards and 3 touchdowns worth of productivity just doesn't make sense to me. If we completely ignored that, and just look at the negative, I would understand. But we all know that is completely unreasonable.

[n.e.husker]

When the O line stuggles it makes everyone look bad. Those guys are really young and raw. Taylor hasnt always had time to go through progressions. Our pass protection hasnt been up to par and this may be due to the opposition stacking the box.

 

Id like to see more quick slants, 3 step drops and roll outs to get the ball to more playmakers hands. We cant keep relying on Taylor this much.

[EbylHusker]

Yeah, well TM doesn't go through his progressions even when he has time. And it's always the same story with the O-line...they're young, they'll get better. They're hurt, they'll get better. Blah blah blah. Year after year. It's long past due for Cotton to go at the end of this season unless we see some serious improvement, and fast.