Per Press Conference with Bo: As of today, Tommy is starting

[admo]

Either I'm missing something, Beck is missing something, or our skill guys aren't as skilled as we/I think.

 

When is the last time we saw any of our WRs "in space" on a consistent basis? You'll see that once, maybe twice a game, but consistently? Nope. Then you look at Oregon's offense, or even Missouri's (yikes!) and you consistently see receivers in space.

 

Minny played straight-up man coverage most of that game. I'll go back and look at the game again when I can stomach it, but I don't remember any plays off the top of my head where our WRs got much separation. There were no obviously open guys unless they were off-camera or I flat missed them.

 

It does seem like we don't get really open very often. Lack of space is the reason I get frustrated with short passing game. We usually have a defender right there to make the tackle.

 

Either I'm missing something, Beck is missing something, or our skill guys aren't as skilled as we/I think.

 

When is the last time we saw any of our WRs "in space" on a consistent basis? You'll see that once, maybe twice a game, but consistently? Nope. Then you look at Oregon's offense, or even Missouri's (yikes!) and you consistently see receivers in space.

 

Minny played straight-up man coverage most of that game. I'll go back and look at the game again when I can stomach it, but I don't remember any plays off the top of my head where our WRs got much separation. There were no obviously open guys unless they were off-camera or I flat missed them.

 

It does seem like we don't get really open very often. Lack of space is the reason I get frustrated with short passing game. We usually have a defender right there to make the tackle.

A lot of short routes. We don't see the downfield separation as often when it happens because the QB is concerned about the pocket and starts circling and bailing out. If he stepped up in the pocket like Tommy and Ron do with confidence, and fire it, you will see those guys in space ready to make a play.

[The Dude]

I haven't read the whole thread, but have seen a lot of people saying that Taylor's not capable of running the ball right now. On his first designed rush attempt last Saturday, he went for 35 yards. So, was that just a fluke?

 

I'm not sure Tommy Armstrong has gone for more than 20 yards in his entire collegiate career. A lot of people are also conveniently forgetting that even with Taylor's interception at the end of the MN game, Tommy has still thrown more interceptions this year than Martinez.

 

Like I've said in other threads, I care about who's starting at QB way less than I do about the gameplan and the playcalling. I think any of the 3 QBs can win games and run the offense if they are put in a position to succeed by their coaches. However, fans are forming opinions about QBs with absolutely no objectivity whatsoever.

Tommy Armstrong doesn't have to break long runs, that's not his game. Taylor Martinez has to because that's his game. All of it. No one is afraid of Martinez throwing the ball down field. Not Wyoming, not Minnesota, nobody. No one is really afraid our our dink and dunk game either, because we're not all that good at it, and they'd rather be playing closer to the line of scrimmage to stop Abdullah anyway.

 

What defenses used to be afraid of is him taking it to the house from anywhere on the field. Now that's out of the picture, well. . .

[admo]

I haven't read the whole thread, but have seen a lot of people saying that Taylor's not capable of running the ball right now. On his first designed rush attempt last Saturday, he went for 35 yards. So, was that just a fluke?

 

I'm not sure Tommy Armstrong has gone for more than 20 yards in his entire collegiate career. A lot of people are also conveniently forgetting that even with Taylor's interception at the end of the MN game, Tommy has still thrown more interceptions this year than Martinez.

 

Like I've said in other threads, I care about who's starting at QB way less than I do about the gameplan and the playcalling. I think any of the 3 QBs can win games and run the offense if they are put in a position to succeed by their coaches. However, fans are forming opinions about QBs with absolutely no objectivity whatsoever.

Tommy Armstrong doesn't have to break long runs, that's not his game. Taylor Martinez has to because that's his game. All of it. No one is afraid of Martinez throwing the ball down field. Not Wyoming, not Minnesota, nobody. No one is really afraid our our dink and dunk game either, because we're not all that good at it, and they'd rather be playing closer to the line of scrimmage to stop Abdullah anyway.

 

What defenses used to be afraid of is him taking it to the house from anywhere on the field. Now that's out of the picture, well. . .

 

Hey that's exactly what the UCLA coach said prior to kickoff about the fear of Taylor taking it to the house. That's probably why they loaded the box. Out of the 21 points scored, 14 points came on two short field drives (28yds, 26yds). The other was a great 92 yard TD drive. The injuries didn't help, but their game plan against Taylor seemed to work. No room to run. No downfield passing.

[JTrain]

^

http://sports.omaha....n-iowa-sheriff/

 

Why did he opt for this strategy? Because Minnesota was daring him to. Beck looked down from the press box (just as I did) and saw the Gophers playing man-to-man on the outside.

“All day long,” Beck said.

 

Did you consider just running it three straight downs and seeing what happened?

 

“No,” Beck told me. “If we gotta do that (in the future), we’ll do it … I just figured man-to-man, Kenny and Quincy and Jamal and Ameer, you got some pretty good skill guys. You want to get them the ball in space and let them go 1-on-1 and make some plays. You’ll take those matchups most of the time. We just didn’t win ‘em today.”

 

I asked the question in another form. Did you feel like they could stop you if you just put your head down and pounded them?

 

“We tried to do some of that if you go back and look,” Beck said. “And then we’d get hit and it’d be second-and-10. So if it’s second-and-10 and you’ve got Kenny, Jamal, Quincy, Ameer, they’re gonna play cover-1, or do you want to run against nine guys and hope you get three (yards)?”

 

Dirk doesn't like this, but I have to (mainly) agree with Beck here. You can't look, as Dirk did, at the results of the times we did run the ball and suggest that we could've done that at any arbitrary time we chose to run the ball against any arbitrary look the defense gave us, including stacking the box.

 

I get the point, but look back at the first three drives of the second half and tell me the calls weren't atrocious.

[JTrain]

Tommy Armstrong doesn't have to break long runs, that's not his game. Taylor Martinez has to because that's his game. All of it. No one is afraid of Martinez throwing the ball down field. Not Wyoming, not Minnesota, nobody. No one is really afraid our our dink and dunk game either, because we're not all that good at it, and they'd rather be playing closer to the line of scrimmage to stop Abdullah anyway.

 

[JTrain]

[admo]

[admo]

CONGRATS JTRAIN

[Hercules]

I haven't read the whole thread, but have seen a lot of people saying that Taylor's not capable of running the ball right now. On his first designed rush attempt last Saturday, he went for 35 yards. So, was that just a fluke?

 

I'm not sure Tommy Armstrong has gone for more than 20 yards in his entire collegiate career. A lot of people are also conveniently forgetting that even with Taylor's interception at the end of the MN game, Tommy has still thrown more interceptions this year than Martinez.

 

Like I've said in other threads, I care about who's starting at QB way less than I do about the gameplan and the playcalling. I think any of the 3 QBs can win games and run the offense if they are put in a position to succeed by their coaches. However, fans are forming opinions about QBs with absolutely no objectivity whatsoever.

Tommy Armstrong doesn't have to break long runs, that's not his game. Taylor Martinez has to because that's his game. All of it. No one is afraid of Martinez throwing the ball down field. Not Wyoming, not Minnesota, nobody. No one is really afraid our our dink and dunk game either, because we're not all that good at it, and they'd rather be playing closer to the line of scrimmage to stop Abdullah anyway.

 

What defenses used to be afraid of is him taking it to the house from anywhere on the field. Now that's out of the picture, well. . .

 

I don't really disagree with any of that. What frustrated me on Saturday was that Martinez looked like he could still break long runs (and he did). But it didn't appear that our coaches wanted him to, based on their play-calling. I don't get it.

 

I agree however, that if Martinez isn't a threat to break long runs, no matter the reason - he shouldn't be playing.

[desertshox]

I haven't read the whole thread, but have seen a lot of people saying that Taylor's not capable of running the ball right now. On his first designed rush attempt last Saturday, he went for 35 yards. So, was that just a fluke?

 

I'm not sure Tommy Armstrong has gone for more than 20 yards in his entire collegiate career. A lot of people are also conveniently forgetting that even with Taylor's interception at the end of the MN game, Tommy has still thrown more interceptions this year than Martinez.

 

Like I've said in other threads, I care about who's starting at QB way less than I do about the gameplan and the playcalling. I think any of the 3 QBs can win games and run the offense if they are put in a position to succeed by their coaches. However, fans are forming opinions about QBs with absolutely no objectivity whatsoever.

Tommy Armstrong doesn't have to break long runs, that's not his game. Taylor Martinez has to because that's his game. All of it. No one is afraid of Martinez throwing the ball down field. Not Wyoming, not Minnesota, nobody. No one is really afraid our our dink and dunk game either, because we're not all that good at it, and they'd rather be playing closer to the line of scrimmage to stop Abdullah anyway.

 

What defenses used to be afraid of is him taking it to the house from anywhere on the field. Now that's out of the picture, well. . .

 

I don't really disagree with any of that. What frustrated me on Saturday was that Martinez looked like he could still break long runs (and he did). But it didn't appear that our coaches wanted him to, based on their play-calling. I don't get it.

 

I agree however, that if Martinez isn't a threat to break long runs, no matter the reason - he shouldn't be playing.

 

there was a play, in the third quarter, where TM was heading up field when all of a sudden he runs parallel to the line of scrimmage before throwing. he had all sorts of daylight. his pass turned a positive play into a negative play. his desire to run was nowhere to be found on that play. so how do you call a run for him if you dont know he is going to want to run?

[Chaddyboxer]

I haven't read the whole thread, but have seen a lot of people saying that Taylor's not capable of running the ball right now. On his first designed rush attempt last Saturday, he went for 35 yards. So, was that just a fluke?

 

I'm not sure Tommy Armstrong has gone for more than 20 yards in his entire collegiate career. A lot of people are also conveniently forgetting that even with Taylor's interception at the end of the MN game, Tommy has still thrown more interceptions this year than Martinez.

 

Like I've said in other threads, I care about who's starting at QB way less than I do about the gameplan and the playcalling. I think any of the 3 QBs can win games and run the offense if they are put in a position to succeed by their coaches. However, fans are forming opinions about QBs with absolutely no objectivity whatsoever.

Tommy Armstrong doesn't have to break long runs, that's not his game. Taylor Martinez has to because that's his game. All of it. No one is afraid of Martinez throwing the ball down field. Not Wyoming, not Minnesota, nobody. No one is really afraid our our dink and dunk game either, because we're not all that good at it, and they'd rather be playing closer to the line of scrimmage to stop Abdullah anyway.

 

What defenses used to be afraid of is him taking it to the house from anywhere on the field. Now that's out of the picture, well. . .

 

I don't really disagree with any of that. What frustrated me on Saturday was that Martinez looked like he could still break long runs (and he did). But it didn't appear that our coaches wanted him to, based on their play-calling. I don't get it.

 

I agree however, that if Martinez isn't a threat to break long runs, no matter the reason - he shouldn't be playing.

 

there was a play, in the third quarter, where TM was heading up field when all of a sudden he runs parallel to the line of scrimmage before throwing. he had all sorts of daylight. his pass turned a positive play into a negative play. his desire to run was nowhere to be found on that play. so how do you call a run for him if you dont know he is going to want to run?

Or if maybe he audibles out of a run play into a pass play?.........

[JTrain]

If you get the right play and the right execution, you can run for 35 yards without being that fast. Taylor certainly was not comfortable running and was in a lot of pain, especially trying to cut. To put it in NCAA Football College Football Madden terms, he looked only about 85% speed, 75% acceleration, 60% agility. His game is built around being lighting in a bottle, and the defense scheming around that threat. As it was, he wasn't much (if any) more dangerous than Philip Nelson, who had a 23 yard run and averaged 7 ypc.

[Enhance]

I agree with a lot of what's being said here. We all know TM's greatest asset is his straight-line speed and running ability. Regardless of how much time he's put into honing his passing skills or the experience he has, it's clear that when he's hurt, he's not able to put this offense on the tier it needs to be. That's what's most frustrating. The comebacks TM captained over the last couple of years were certainly impressive, but that was when he was healthy. As we saw against Minnesota, he's just not capable if he's hurt. We also saw it in 2010 when he had less passing ability. If TM's feet aren't doing what they can do, our offense isn't good.

 

I can't put this all on TM though, because as we've seen, receivers will drop passes, Beck's playcalling gets erratic, the line can't block and players start fumbling. It's a snowball effect.

 

Some people will also argue that TM doesn't have the "it" factor so that lends to a lot of the snowball problems. I don't feel I can say whether that is or isn't an issue.