Are Armstrong's completions enough?

[The King]

It's an unfortunate truth that Taylor Martinez's public shyness, often mistaken for Southern California disdain, contributed to the mixed feelings he still engenders.

 

Mixed feelings? Maybe because...

 

The dude had 45 fumbles, 15 lost, and 27 interceptions prior to his senior year. Also, I don't want to hear the argument that "well, we recovered the other 30 - THIRTY - fumbles that he had" because you know what that does? Puts us behind the sticks, forces us to punt, changes our offensive identity, three & out, etc. This was all in 40 games. He averaged more than a fumble per game...crazy.

 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Tommy is the better QB (not necessarily the better player) - better leader, manages the team better, keeps us on track re: down and distance, makes better decisions and doesn't go hero mode and he is now healthy. Maybe thats why our offense / playcalling is better than it has been in the past ... I'd be curious to see our average drive length w/Tommy vs. Taylor. Those fumbles hurt, a lot, and I was on record saying we'd never win anything meaningful with him at QB because of that - and to be fair - he wasn't the only one with fumble issues, but 45 fumbles in 40 games? Sheeeeeshhhh.

 

With that out of the way, I'm not necessarily worried about MSU's defense this week. More worried about Connor Cook. MSU's defense didn't look stellar against Oregon and I think the attrition has really affected them - the Ducks have an explosive offense, but they got flat cooked in the 2nd half. I like the fact that they had a bye week also, because I think that will hold back their defense a little bit as they'll slowly progress throughout the year. Ameer has always had success against them and they loaded the box before. Should be a good game.

[Danny Bateman]

Delete

[Cougar74]

Yeah TA is a good one. I think his multiple skill set is as dangerous as TM's our even more so. His skills define the Red Storm. He can run option, Veer, through underneath the safety's, has pocket presence, can extend plays, run if needed and can even deliver the deep ball which is not easy to do. He is only going to get better. As a film buff, his repetition in practice plus experience will evelvate (command) his completition rate (intermediate routes) throughout this season and his career.

 

Ameer and the offensive line have played lights out so far which reduces alot of uneeded stress when making decsions for a QB.

[True2tRA]

Yeah TA is a good one. I think his multiple skill set is as dangerous as TM's our even more so. His skills define the Red Storm. He can run option, Veer, through underneath the safety's, has pocket presence, can extend plays, run if needed and can even deliver the deep ball which is not easy to do. He is only going to get better. As a film buff, his repetition in practice plus experience will evelvate (command) his completition rate (intermediate routes) throughout this season and his career.Ameer and the offensive line have played lights out so far which reduces alot of uneeded stress when making decsions for a QB.

Hell yea. Great post. TA is the man, and his surrounding cast is a good one too. The sky is the limit.

[Danimal]

I think this game will get down to him avoiding turnovers and making throws under pressure. We've been pounding the rock with AA like a mofo. If I'm MSU I force us to pass and hope TA throws picks. If he steps-up to the challenge we'll be in great shape.

[Cougar74]

Yeah, on skills alone, TA's long ball is nice! With play action and Kenny Bell, C. Carter seams, Reilly, Perison EL, Irons it is can be devasting. Man, I still through flys several times a week and struggle with it. But, TA has this weapon already. IMO, it is a seprator from most dual threat college QBs. Bottom line he is dangerous.

[Moiraine]

With play action and Kenny Bell, C. Carter seams, Reilly, Perison EL, Irons it is can be devasting.

 

O.o

 

Looks like you put all the names of the WRs on our roster in a hat and pulled them out.

[Cougar74]

More or less. I see the speed skill and ability to separate more inclined with this grouping than that of Burtch's Allen and Hovey. I tend to place wr in group. I tend to be black and white when referring to routes or plays

 

I'm somewhat old anymore , biased, but should probably expand my thinking on which group or individual can separate better. Maybe look at all options before drawing conclusions.

[Danny Bateman]

More or less. I see the speed skill and ability to separate more inclined with this grouping than that of Burtch's Allen and Hovey. I tend to place wr in group. I tend to be black and white when referring to routes or plays

 

I'm somewhat old anymore , biased, but should probably expand my thinking on which group or individual can separate better. Maybe look at all options before drawing conclusions.

Did Tuff Tiger come out of retirement and make a new account or what?

[hskrfan4life]

 

 

More or less. I see the speed skill and ability to separate more inclined with this grouping than that of Burtch's Allen and Hovey. I tend to place wr in group. I tend to be black and white when referring to routes or plays

 

I'm somewhat old anymore , biased, but should probably expand my thinking on which group or individual can separate better. Maybe look at all options before drawing conclusions.

Did Tuff Tiger come out of retirement and make a new account or what?

Possibly....

[Danimal]

I never felt Joe Dailey got a fair shake

 

 

Ya, poor guy wasn't recruited to run that kind of scheme and he had to learn it in a short time. Then the following Spring it was obvious Callahan would never give him another chance. Hell the guy never got to work under the same OC more than one season through his whole college career. I think if Solich stayed Dailey would've developed into a pretty decent qb.

[Branno]

 

 

 

 

And nothing Armstrong has shown these past two years, has shown these actually reducing the number of turnovers. Unless you ignore last year and only take into account 5 games against weak competition.

 

But again, there is a divide here. And I don't think us going over the exact same thing over and over and over is going to really make any difference in the long run other than furthering that divide.

 

 

Come on man, you are really starting to grasp at straws here.

 

Our team is turning the ball over less than in the past.

 

 

We had 8 turnovers (7 fumbles, 1 interception) through the first five games last season.

 

We had 10 turnovers (6 interceptions, 4 fumbles) through Tommy Armstrong's first five starts last season.

 

We have 5 turnovers (3 interceptions, 2 fumbles) through the first five games this season.

The key word is team. We have 5 turnovers but 4 of them are because of one player. TA. I agree completely the team is doing much better when it comes to turnovers this year so far. But how many of the turnovers in the first 5 games last year were on the QB?

 

Who cares?

 

Quit comparing them.

 

The team is doing better with turnovers. Deal with it.

I'd love to, but other people keep bringing him up. I like the guy, I'm going to defend him. Why do other people keep bringing them up? Maybe they should stop caring so f'ing much. I think it's funny how you quote me saying there's a divide we should probably stop trying to compare them while trying to tell me to stop comparing them.

[Branno]

 

 

 

 

 

 

And nothing Armstrong has shown these past two years, has shown these actually reducing the number of turnovers. Unless you ignore last year and only take into account 5 games against weak competition.

 

But again, there is a divide here. And I don't think us going over the exact same thing over and over and over is going to really make any difference in the long run other than furthering that divide.

 

 

Come on man, you are really starting to grasp at straws here.

 

Our team is turning the ball over less than in the past.

 

 

We had 8 turnovers (7 fumbles, 1 interception) through the first five games last season.

 

We had 10 turnovers (6 interceptions, 4 fumbles) through Tommy Armstrong's first five starts last season.

 

We have 5 turnovers (3 interceptions, 2 fumbles) through the first five games this season.

The key word is team. We have 5 turnovers but 4 of them are because of one player. TA. I agree completely the team is doing much better when it comes to turnovers this year so far. But how many of the turnovers in the first 5 games last year were on the QB?

 

Who cares?

 

Quit comparing them.

 

The team is doing better with turnovers. Deal with it.

this. it seems like taylor keeps getting brought up because someone compliments tommy and then the comparisons come out, "he's not as good..."

 

we all need to stop bringing up taylor and we should really stop trying to sell tommy short for whatever reason people feel compelled to do so. why are so many people trying to cut tommy down? because people like him? and other people think liking a new qb is some sort of referendum on a previous qb?

 

also, it stands to reason that the player who touches the ball on every play would be most responsible for turnovers.

No, most of the time Martinez gets brought up because someone says Tommy is so much better at Martinez than blank without providing any kind of real statistic and when a real statistic is brought up starts to show their statement isn't true they start complaining about bringing up Martinez

[The Dude]

There are things that Tommy does that makes the offense better. His deep ball makes it more difficult for defenses to commit 7 or 8 to the box. As a result, our offensive line/TEs/FBs are seeing a lot more 6-on-6 or 7-on-7 matchups instead of 6-on-7 or even 6-on-8. Making our running game in general more effective. People attempt to minimilize his impact by saying "his offensive line/runningback is better than what Taylor had!" Without considering one of the biggest reasons why they're doing better.

[Guy Chamberlin]

Statistics don't prove much either way.

 

Whatever you think of Martinez or Armstrong, it's pretty obvious that the healthy Armstrong is encouraged to read-option to his heart's content, while the injured Martinez was often held back, and typically went down early in the open field to avoid injury. Between the more aggressive play-calling and visible QB confidence, Nebraska's offense is in a better position now with Tommy Armstrong. I think we can say that without slighting Taylor Martinez, who played his ass off trying to prove his injuries weren't limiting.