zoogs
Assistant Coach
I am disappointed, but not too surprised to see Shawn Watson being once again thrown under the bus after a flashy, 471 yard performance with 360 yards on the ground.
But we won't want to see flashiness and yards, we want to see points!
No. We wanted to see Taylor Martinez make electric plays with his feet and dazzle us with some old school Nebraska quarterbacking style. Check. We wanted to see a commitment to the run game instead of being a finessy pass team. Double check. We wanted to build for the future with an exciting freshman at quarterback. Check and mate.
This is exactly what we have got. Through two games, Taylor has been nothing short of magic with his expert ball fakes and ridiculous running. We had an amazing athlete with Crouch, but Taylor has been averaging something like 15 yards a CARRY. I don't know how you could ask for a better rushing performance than what he has delivered for us at the QB position in two games. 4 touchdowns, approaching 300 yards rushing on what, 21 carries? Phenomenal.
On the other hand, he has struggled through the air. He was pedestrian, although fine, against Western Kentucky. Today, he averaged 6.2 yards per attempt. I'm excusing the pick completely because that is the kind of play that he can easily fix if he just pulls it down and takes the sack next time. We haven't seen him stand tall in the pocket, zone into a pass and just make an awful read that results in a pick, yet. Still, 6.2 yards per attempt is an alarming number given the opponent we faced.
But, he is a freshman. Everyone always said his passing was raw and he had a ways to go in that area. Are we acting surprised now that this turns out to be true? We got precisely what we, and Bo, wanted. An electric running quarterback, passing element be damned, because if defenses key in to take Taylor out, we end up with so many different ways to attack. A guy that is cocky and plays with intensity. A guy that is young and will make freshman mistakes.
This is the bed we asked for. It's the one that we have to live with this year. Taylor has a long ways to go, but he can make progress and we could still win a lot of games this year. I'm :facepalm: at anyone that wants to go and blame Shawn Watson for the ineffectiveness we saw today.
In fact, I think this is one of the best possible outcomes for Taylor that we could have asked for today. The last thing I wanted to see was another game where he dominated in all facets and led us to a blowout victory. He is going to face real adversity and be hit in the mouth and struggle with inconsistency at some point this season. The fact that he is taking those lumps right now, as opposed to against Kansas State or Texas, will have a positive result.
Heading into next week, it's going to be a hostile environment on the road with Washington and it is gonna be a battle. Nothing different from what was expected at the beginning of the season.
But we won't want to see flashiness and yards, we want to see points!
No. We wanted to see Taylor Martinez make electric plays with his feet and dazzle us with some old school Nebraska quarterbacking style. Check. We wanted to see a commitment to the run game instead of being a finessy pass team. Double check. We wanted to build for the future with an exciting freshman at quarterback. Check and mate.
This is exactly what we have got. Through two games, Taylor has been nothing short of magic with his expert ball fakes and ridiculous running. We had an amazing athlete with Crouch, but Taylor has been averaging something like 15 yards a CARRY. I don't know how you could ask for a better rushing performance than what he has delivered for us at the QB position in two games. 4 touchdowns, approaching 300 yards rushing on what, 21 carries? Phenomenal.
On the other hand, he has struggled through the air. He was pedestrian, although fine, against Western Kentucky. Today, he averaged 6.2 yards per attempt. I'm excusing the pick completely because that is the kind of play that he can easily fix if he just pulls it down and takes the sack next time. We haven't seen him stand tall in the pocket, zone into a pass and just make an awful read that results in a pick, yet. Still, 6.2 yards per attempt is an alarming number given the opponent we faced.
But, he is a freshman. Everyone always said his passing was raw and he had a ways to go in that area. Are we acting surprised now that this turns out to be true? We got precisely what we, and Bo, wanted. An electric running quarterback, passing element be damned, because if defenses key in to take Taylor out, we end up with so many different ways to attack. A guy that is cocky and plays with intensity. A guy that is young and will make freshman mistakes.
This is the bed we asked for. It's the one that we have to live with this year. Taylor has a long ways to go, but he can make progress and we could still win a lot of games this year. I'm :facepalm: at anyone that wants to go and blame Shawn Watson for the ineffectiveness we saw today.
In fact, I think this is one of the best possible outcomes for Taylor that we could have asked for today. The last thing I wanted to see was another game where he dominated in all facets and led us to a blowout victory. He is going to face real adversity and be hit in the mouth and struggle with inconsistency at some point this season. The fact that he is taking those lumps right now, as opposed to against Kansas State or Texas, will have a positive result.
Heading into next week, it's going to be a hostile environment on the road with Washington and it is gonna be a battle. Nothing different from what was expected at the beginning of the season.
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