The Latest Quarterback Thread

[knapplc]

It's a very fair question and the OL has been a big liability in recent years. They played a solid game against Wisconsin, though, I thought.

 

 

They did, and that was a good first step. Now they have to maintain that and build consistency so Martinez doesn't feel like he's going to get pressured every time he drops back and makes one read.

[Hercules]

I think what alot of posters are forgetting about the Osborne quote. Is that the option we ran in the 90's was the same in structure as the one we ran in the 80's. The difference is that we had the athletes to do it and do it VERY well.

 

Osborne himself said that the option can't be stopped IF you have the proper athletes at each position to run it.

 

This begs the question: Does NU have the proper athlete at the QB position to operate our present offense? Most pundits now would say NO.

 

The total of ALL the parts is what makes championship caliber teams.

 

What Frazier lacked in passing skills he made up for in leadership and moxie. I dont want to compare the 90's to now, but I think you can see the point I'm trying to make here.

 

I'm in the minority right now, but I still think Martinez does have the ability to run our offense.

 

We didn't ask him to run our offense in the second quarter. That was somebody else's offense. That, combined with the fact that Taylor stopped running our offense too (forcing things downfield), led to a disastrous 2nd quarter that cost us any shot at remaining competitive.

[junior4949]

The OL played solid? I thought we were in the first and long, second and long mostly because of the OL. They may have played solid with regards to how they've played the rest of the season, but they're still not very good. At the end of the day, we will lose most of the games left on the schedule if Beck calls another game like he did last Saturday.

[Spartness]

If this topic has already been brought up, an administrator can move it to that thread. One glaring weakness I see with Martinez is he is an adequate thrower on designed plays, but when those plays are busted -- and sometimes he busts them before they are actually busted -- he seems to panic, hasn't shown to be able to scramble around to find an open receiver, and hasn't shown the ability to run in broken field with traffic and no running lanes.

 

I realize he's still young, and some players take longer to develop. Here's hoping he learns from experience and can cope better in busted plays. But one thing he may never learn to do is dodge a defender. It seems you naturally have that ability or not. Crouch could, Tommie Frazier could, as well as Russell Wilson.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

I think his implosion against Wisconsin was very similar to the Oklahoma game when he never recovered after throwing a goal line INT after leading 17-0.

[The Maudfather]

How did the thread title change?

[knapplc]

How did the thread title change?

Several threads have been merged into this one.

[kchusker_chris]

I think his implosion against Wisconsin was very similar to the Oklahoma game when he never recovered after throwing a goal line INT after leading 17-0.

I think this season will be very similar to last as well. I'm starting to believe the injury wasn't the issue, Taylor was. Hopefully he proves me wrong, but teams figure out how to rattle him as the season goes on. We're seeing that now. It will likely be reinforced next week. I see a 10-7 game coming up, just because both offenses are so pathetic, otherwise we'd get beat. OSU defense isn't bad. They'll get to him. There's enough film on this season now (despite the smokescreen they attempted to put up) that it's obvious to anyone how to stop Taylor. He needs 10 pass attempts a game TOPS. 7 of which should come in the first 2 quarters as we set up the run. Then the 2 freshman and rex pound, pound, pound with a few short passes and a few end-arounds. What happened to the diamond formation? Where was Rex-Cat when Taylor was throwing interceptions?

 

And honestly - the saddest thing about this whole mess is that some of our best athletes are receivers - and we have no way to get them the ball. When was the last time we could say that? Enunwa, Turner, Bell, Reed (even Kinnie is making great grabs now) - all completely wasted out there. We should just add another linemen or two and forget about the receivers.

[knapplc]

And honestly - the saddest thing about this whole mess is that some of our best athletes are receivers - and we have no way to get them the ball. When was the last time we could say that? Enunwa, Turner, Bell, Reed (even Kinnie is making great grabs now) - all completely wasted out there. We should just add another linemen or two and forget about the receivers.

 

It would be a shame to waste one of the best receiving corps we've had in... ever. It's still early in the careers of Bell, Enunwa and Turner, but boy do they look good when we get them the ball.

[kchusker_chris]

And honestly - the saddest thing about this whole mess is that some of our best athletes are receivers - and we have no way to get them the ball. When was the last time we could say that? Enunwa, Turner, Bell, Reed (even Kinnie is making great grabs now) - all completely wasted out there. We should just add another linemen or two and forget about the receivers.

 

It would be a shame to waste one of the best receiving corps we've had in... ever. It's still early in the careers of Bell, Enunwa and Turner, but boy do they look good when we get them the ball.

no crap. and to think it was kind of a question mark going into the season. we knew there was tallent, but i'm loving this group right now.

 

( turner needs to quit prancing around though. he's going to get his 160lb block knocked off one of these days)

[NoKoolAidForME]

t-mart is still developing, he needs his reps just as well. also, t-ragic, although clever, is unfair. he did not lose that game. wiscy was the better team and our coaches failed the players. it is what it is, and it should be a pretty interesting, maybe exciting, season.

Agreed, why would we call a game plan(that Beck and Bo both agreed on) that was a passing game.

 

What happened to playing to your players strengths? Where was our run game in the second quarter? It looked great on the last drive of the game. Our best pass game may come off play action, whats wrong with that?

This cannot be stated enough that any game plan discussion made for both offense and defense usually goes through the Head Coach. The Head Coach is responsible for a game plan for the week and it is the responsibility of the coaching staff to work and scheme within that game plan. If (and I don't believe it to be) Bo gives full discretion to his coordinators then he is a fool.

[Hercules]

What do people want to see from Taylor as far as his actual play (not intangibles) on the field against Ohio State?

 

This Saturday against Ohio State, I'd simply like to see him play within the offense and go to his checkdowns when the primary target isn't there. He does that, I'll be happy. I think that's a reasonable improvement to see him make after his mistakes last Saturday, and I think it's more than possible that he makes it. Hopefully that Wisconsin game was like last year's Texas game - which would mean that this Saturday we'll see him come out settled down and just play within the offense like he did against Oklahoma State.

 

I think fans tend to grade QBs on a much steeper learning curve than other players on the team (strange, considering it's the toughest position to learn/play). Guys like Crick and Suh have had similar problems on the defensive side of the ball, where they'll have a bad game due to trying to do too much. It just doesn't show up in the final commentary the same way as when the QB has a bad night like that (which I think is due to how the game is played, how it's analyzed by the media, and how the QB position is perceived by the fans).

 

When you look at Taylor's progress in his career so far, it's clear he's improved in the zone read game, he's gotten much more comfortable in the option game as the year has gone on (and he really ran that efficiently against Wisconsin), he's started to slide/go out of bounds when necessary/appropriate, he's started to throw the ball away when under duress, and he's been better at not taking sacks.

 

I think the next step is taking to heart the lesson he's learned from Texas last year and Wisconsin this year, which is to not press too hard in pressure situations, to just let the game come to him. His accuracy will be an ongoing project, but he's shown on multiple occasions (including the first quarter from the other night) that he can be an effective passing QB when he's not pressing too hard.

 

Anyways, we'll see what kind of jump he makes against Ohio State, but despite all the doom and gloom in Husker Nation, I still think he can be a pretty special QB over the next couple years if he can keep his focus on getting better every week.

[Chaddyboxer]

Is Kyler Reed a senior!??

[kchusker_chris]

...

 

Anyways, we'll see what kind of jump he makes against Ohio State, but despite all the doom and gloom in Husker Nation, I still think he can be a pretty special QB over the next couple years if he can keep his focus on getting better every week.

Well said, you give me hope. I think he's watching film this week and hating himself for not finding the open receivers. It was there for him. I'd just like to see him become a "serviceable" QB for the rest of the season. Run the offense, don't let it run him. Honestly we have enough playmakers on this O that we don't need him to do anything special this year. He just needs to distribute, manage and avoid turnovers. There's a lot of wins out there if he can manage that.

[Hammerhead]

And honestly - the saddest thing about this whole mess is that some of our best athletes are receivers - and we have no way to get them the ball. When was the last time we could say that? Enunwa, Turner, Bell, Reed (even Kinnie is making great grabs now) - all completely wasted out there. We should just add another linemen or two and forget about the receivers.

 

It would be a shame to waste one of the best receiving corps we've had in... ever. It's still early in the careers of Bell, Enunwa and Turner, but boy do they look good when we get them the ball.

 

That's another reason why I'm sick of all the comparisons to Osborne's triple option offense. Who were our wide receivers back then? With all due respect to those guys, does anyone even remember?

 

We have guys who can do some very impressive things with the football if we can just get it to them.