Brion

[Enhance]

I put this more on beck. The early running opened up the pass for Taylor to have success early, then he lost hus run portion of the playbook until the last drive.

I agree. Beck is not only calling the plays, which I thought was done pretty poorly. He also decides who goes in there to execute this offense. I don't think Beck is doing a very good job developing Martinez, and apparently he can't develop a guy to take some snaps behind him either.

First time being an OC at a division one program. People seem to think he was an OC before, but he was just a passing coordinator. He has never been a full-fledged OC.

 

That said, it should be obvious to him now (like it is to us) that Martinez can't run this balanced offense anymore. We need to be a running team that runs creatively, like we did so successfully for decades.

[True2tRA]

I do think we will play these guys again for the Conference title. Hopefully we have a bit better gameplan next time. One that involves distributing the ball to 3 talented running backs we have on this team......and a little less Martinez.

[HuskerTex]

I just don't understand why Taylor was still in there after throwing three interceptions. Any other team would have gone to the backup quarterback after that. Why didn't we?

[HUSKER FREAK]

I really don't think it would be a good idea to start Brion right now. Looking back at the games played this year, I think it would have been wid=se to at least play Brion a few meaningful series at the very least. I also think that during the Wisky game it could have been very beneficial for both Martinez and Brion , for Brion to come in after the third interception. The reason being T-Mart was very flustered and could have used a little breather to sit back and watch it from the sideline. This could have been good for Brion as well, even if he didn't do any better it would have helped his developement. You don't have to keep him there for the rest of the game, and this could have maybe made T-Mart refocus. I will also add that Beck did not help utilize this teams strengnth and also put Martinez in a bad position. I also would like to say that the Oline play was very good and Martinez had plenty of time to throw the ball away or scramble when no one was open.

[Enhance]

I just don't understand why Taylor was still in there after throwing three interceptions. Any other team would have gone to the backup quarterback after that. Why didn't we?

Because he's our quarterback right now and he probably gives us the best chance to win. That's not saying they don't have confidence in Carnes, but I don't think they want to make the same mistake they did with Green, where he was flip-flopped and it looked like it damaged his confidence.

[Vince R.]

Some of you guys are making pretty good points for why Taylor should remain qb but there is one thing I want to say. Brion is not Cody Green. Brion has seen greater athletes in high school than what he'll see in the big ten. I don't buy into the whole confidence argument, because wouldn't throwing 3 picks and getting sacked all night long be a confidence killer?

 

At some point if Taylor continues to mess up (and we know he will), Brion has to get a shot. We've already seen the ceiling of Taylor, he will not change his mechanics, he continues to stare down receivers, panic in the pocket, fumble, predetermines his receivers, and throws across his body. There are Senior's in high school who have this stuff down.

[Enhance]

Some of you guys are making pretty good points for why Taylor should remain qb but there is one thing I want to say. Brion is not Cody Green. Brion has seen greater athletes in high school than what he'll see in the big ten. I don't buy into the whole confidence argument, because wouldn't throwing 3 picks and getting sacked all night long be a confidence killer?

 

At some point if Taylor continues to mess up (and we know he will), Brion has to get a shot. We've already seen the ceiling of Taylor, he will not change his mechanics, he continues to stare down receivers, panic in the pocket, fumble, predetermines his receivers, and throws across his body. There are Senior's in high school who have this stuff down.

First off, you might have a point about the athletes, but the sophistication and skill level of B1G players is vastly greater than any high school team. Seeing good athletes in high school doesn't mean you're ready for division one football. Green played in the second toughest conference in Texas, after all, and he struggled for various reasons.

 

Second of all, what do you mean if Taylor keeps struggling then Brion deserves a shot? If Martinez is being asked to throw 20+ times a game, that's on the coaches and not on Martinez. If players around Martinez aren't helping him to play well, that's on them as well. Now, if Martinez is fumbling all the time, throwing multiple interceptions on only 10-15 attempts consistently and just doing a genuinely poor job of executing the offense, then perhaps Brion will deserve a shot.

 

However, if the coaches put Martinez in a position to play well, then Brion can continue to sit back and take the mental reps he desperately needs. I've said it in other threads before - if we run the ball at least 75% of the time, and pass efficiently, Martinez can win us football games. That means we need to do play action, pass on long third downs or if we need a quick change of pace (i.e. maybe a WR screen or something like that). Asking Martinez to pass like he was asked last night is going to result in us seeing similar point totals at the end of the game.

[Husker Richard]

There was nothing wrong with Beck's playcalling. Sure he definitely should've ran the ball more, but receivers were open on almost every passing play. Martinez never once looked at them because he rarely, if ever, goes through his progressions. The check down was there almost EVERY time. Taylor locks in on the primary read and if it's not there he panics and usually gets sacked.

[VA Husker Fan]

How about Rex in the wildcat, running option with Martinez and/or tossing to Martinez in the flat?

After yesterday I never know when to take someone serious or not so I assume if there's no sarcasm tag, it's serious. Rex-cat can work as a change up or an emergency, but I can't see that as a full-time offense, can you?

 

I agree that after 3 quick INTs, Carnes should've at least come in for a series or two, if not the rest of the game. Maybe he still doesn't have much of the playbook at all down? Most of us are looking at potential, the coaches are also looking at reality of whether he's really game-ready.

 

As far as throwing young guys in, we've had some misses, but we've also had some successes with Frazier and Crouch, and I think Newcombe would've done well too. OTOH, Osborne kept Gill on the shelf until a few games into his soph season, even after Gill played on the Freshman team, and not rushing him paid off.

[HUSKER FREAK]

This is also true Richard we saw this all night that the check down was open especially Rex in the flat. This is all the more why after all the interceptions that I think it would have been a good idea to bring in Carnes for at least a series. If nothing else to calm Martinez down. If he is going to pout and throw a fit over that well he will never be the leader of this team.

[Vince R.]

Some of you guys are making pretty good points for why Taylor should remain qb but there is one thing I want to say. Brion is not Cody Green. Brion has seen greater athletes in high school than what he'll see in the big ten. I don't buy into the whole confidence argument, because wouldn't throwing 3 picks and getting sacked all night long be a confidence killer?

 

At some point if Taylor continues to mess up (and we know he will), Brion has to get a shot. We've already seen the ceiling of Taylor, he will not change his mechanics, he continues to stare down receivers, panic in the pocket, fumble, predetermines his receivers, and throws across his body. There are Senior's in high school who have this stuff down.

First off, you might have a point about the athletes, but the sophistication and skill level of B1G players is vastly greater than any high school team. Seeing good athletes in high school doesn't mean you're ready for division one football. Green played in the second toughest conference in Texas, after all, and he struggled for various reasons.

 

Second of all, what do you mean if Taylor keeps struggling then Brion deserves a shot? If Martinez is being asked to throw 20+ times a game, that's on the coaches and not on Martinez. If players around Martinez aren't helping him to play well, that's on them as well. Now, if Martinez is fumbling all the time, throwing multiple interceptions on only 10-15 attempts consistently and just doing a genuinely poor job of executing the offense, then perhaps Brion will deserve a shot.

 

However, if the coaches put Martinez in a position to play well, then Brion can continue to sit back and take the mental reps he desperately needs. I've said it in other threads before - if we run the ball at least 75% of the time, and pass efficiently, Martinez can win us football games. That means we need to do play action, pass on long third downs or if we need a quick change of pace (i.e. maybe a WR screen or something like that). Asking Martinez to pass like he was asked last night is going to result in us seeing similar point totals at the end of the game.

 

Simply put, I'm not under the impression that our O-line at this point is good enough to run 75% of the time and get positive yards consistently especially against the big boys. I think we need to be more balanced than that and I see an advantage with Bell, Reed, Turner, and Enunwa. By running 75% of the time, we've wasted talent and opportunities. If we had a QB who could consistently throw it, Nebraska would be such a threat that we could give our D time to grow up and still win.

 

At the end of the day, I just want to be balanced and not have such a glaring weakness that doesn't allow us to be consistent.

[In the Deed the Glory]

Some of you guys are making pretty good points for why Taylor should remain qb but there is one thing I want to say. Brion is not Cody Green. Brion has seen greater athletes in high school than what he'll see in the big ten. I don't buy into the whole confidence argument, because wouldn't throwing 3 picks and getting sacked all night long be a confidence killer?

 

At some point if Taylor continues to mess up (and we know he will), Brion has to get a shot. We've already seen the ceiling of Taylor, he will not change his mechanics, he continues to stare down receivers, panic in the pocket, fumble, predetermines his receivers, and throws across his body. There are Senior's in high school who have this stuff down.

 

You do realize that Cody Green played in the highest level in Texas, right?

 

Also, Brion is NOT a pass first QB. He played at Bradenton Manatee High School, they are a triple option team. They pass very little and even less non-play action stuff.

 

However, I would have liked to have seen him get some time in the latter stages of last night's game.

[IvabigN]

There was nothing wrong with Beck's playcalling. Sure he definitely should've ran the ball more, but receivers were open on almost every passing play. Martinez never once looked at them because he rarely, if ever, goes through his progressions. The check down was there almost EVERY time. Taylor locks in on the primary read and if it's not there he panics and usually gets sacked.

nothing wrong with Beck's play calling? really? so you admit TM rarely if ever, checks down and Beck still calls pass plays- maybe thats not bad play calling but it is the definition of insanity- oh and passing the ball with under two minutes to go in the half was a classic sign of "bad play calling" When you have a QB that throws the ball like a kid skipping rocks, having wide open WR's isn't the problem, the problem starts when you call a pass play.

[Husker Richard]

There was nothing wrong with Beck's playcalling. Sure he definitely should've ran the ball more, but receivers were open on almost every passing play. Martinez never once looked at them because he rarely, if ever, goes through his progressions. The check down was there almost EVERY time. Taylor locks in on the primary read and if it's not there he panics and usually gets sacked.

nothing wrong with Beck's play calling? really? so you admit TM rarely if ever, checks down and Beck still calls pass plays- maybe thats not bad play calling but it is the definition of insanity- oh and passing the ball with under two minutes to go in the half was a classic sign of "bad play calling" When you have a QB that throws the ball like a kid skipping rocks, having wide open WR's isn't the problem, the problem starts when you call a pass play.

 

That's the definition of a terrible quarterback. You can't run the ball 100% of the time, the D will eventually stuff it and then people like you will bitch about why Beck isn't calling passing plays. Martinez is an athlete playing QB and he severely limits the potential of this offense. We have way too many weapons to sputter like we did last night.

[JTrain]

Am I the only one who thinks Taylor's running ability has gotten worse? When he was healthy last year, he seemed like a great running back who made impressive, confident cuts and knew when to burst upfield. Now he seems really hesitant and often runs straight into defenders before deciding which way to cut.