Armstrong at QB

[Enhance]

I think most defensive strategies will still be focused on limiting the run and forcing TA to throw. The points cg_8 brings up are valid, but there's also TA's 53% completion percentage and youth to factor in. Miami has, without question, the best athletes of any team we'll have faced so far and the most talent. If they can consistently slow the run game with 5-6 guys it could be a long day for TA. Any team would be crazy, at this point, to think they're going to beat Nebraska by limiting the Husker passing game. That's not what makes this team tick.

 

[knapplc]

There's smart football criticism and there's criticizing just to criticize. Pretty clear what we're seeing here.

Are you saying that leaving easy yards and points on the field, as well as being helped by a handful of dropped INTs isn't smart football criticism?

Every single quarterback in America, from Pop Warner to last year's Super Bowl Champions, does this. If anything you're criticizing so heavily was unique to Armstrong you'd have a point.

It isn't. You don't.

 

[Branno]

There's smart football criticism and there's criticizing just to criticize. Pretty clear what we're seeing here.

Are you saying that leaving easy yards and points on the field, as well as being helped by a handful of dropped INTs isn't smart football criticism?

Every single quarterback in America, from Pop Warner to last year's Super Bowl Champions, does this. If anything you're criticizing so heavily was unique to Armstrong you'd have a point.

It isn't. You don't.

You'd have a valid point if every other QB had a completion % in the low 50's. Are you so high on TA that you honestly think he has no room for improvement?

 

[74Hunter]

There's smart football criticism and there's criticizing just to criticize. Pretty clear what we're seeing here.

Are you saying that leaving easy yards and points on the field, as well as being helped by a handful of dropped INTs isn't smart football criticism?

Every single quarterback in America, from Pop Warner to last year's Super Bowl Champions, does this. If anything you're criticizing so heavily was unique to Armstrong you'd have a point.

It isn't. You don't.

If the super bowl winning QB only completes 52% of his passes and has a history of turnover problems, he'd earn all of the criticism he'd get. Lets not compare apples to orangutans.

 

[sd'sker]

There's smart football criticism and there's criticizing just to criticize. Pretty clear what we're seeing here.

Are you saying that leaving easy yards and points on the field, as well as being helped by a handful of dropped INTs isn't smart football criticism?

Every single quarterback in America, from Pop Warner to last year's Super Bowl Champions, does this. If anything you're criticizing so heavily was unique to Armstrong you'd have a point.

It isn't. You don't.

You'd have a valid point if every other QB had a completion % in the low 50's. Are you so high on TA that you honestly think he has no room for improvement?

that is such a silly straw man. everyone can improve.

 

[knapplc]

There's smart football criticism and there's criticizing just to criticize. Pretty clear what we're seeing here.

Are you saying that leaving easy yards and points on the field, as well as being helped by a handful of dropped INTs isn't smart football criticism?

Every single quarterback in America, from Pop Warner to last year's Super Bowl Champions, does this. If anything you're criticizing so heavily was unique to Armstrong you'd have a point.

It isn't. You don't.

You'd have a valid point if every other QB had a completion % in the low 50's. Are you so high on TA that you honestly think he has no room for improvement?

We aren't talking about completion percentage, we're talking about yards and points left on the field, and opponents dropping potential interceptions.

If we want to complain about 50% completion percentages, let's start with Tommie Frazier's career sub-.500 completion percentage, and ask ourselves why we were able to win so many games with that kind of quarterback.

Or Scott Frost's 54% completion percentage.

Or Eric Crouch's career 51% completion percentage.

 

[74Hunter]

If we want to complain about 50% completion percentages, let's start with Tommie Frazier's career sub-.500 completion percentage, and ask ourselves why we were able to win so many games with that kind of quarterback.

Or Scott Frost's 54% completion percentage.

Or Eric Crouch's career 51% completion percentage.

Again, apples and orangutans. They played in totally different systems and 50% won't cut when the coach wants a 50/50 run/pass ratio.

Frazier and Frost won MNCs. Crouch won the Big 12, the Heisman, and played in a national championship game.

Armstrong lost us the chance to win a weak division with his play against MSU.

 

[NUpolo8]

If we want to complain about 50% completion percentages, let's start with Tommie Frazier's career sub-.500 completion percentage, and ask ourselves why we were able to win so many games with that kind of quarterback.

Or Scott Frost's 54% completion percentage.

Or Eric Crouch's career 51% completion percentage.

Again, apples and orangutans. They played in totally different systems and 50% won't cut when the coach wants a 50/50 run/pass ratio.

Frazier and Frost won MNCs. Crouch won the Big 12, the Heisman, and played in a national championship game.

Armstrong lost us the chance to win a weak division with his play against MSU.

Wow.

 

[sd'sker]

If we want to complain about 50% completion percentages, let's start with Tommie Frazier's career sub-.500 completion percentage, and ask ourselves why we were able to win so many games with that kind of quarterback.

Or Scott Frost's 54% completion percentage.

Or Eric Crouch's career 51% completion percentage.

Again, apples and orangutans. They played in totally different systems and 50% won't cut when the coach wants a 50/50 run/pass ratio.

Frazier and Frost won MNCs. Crouch won the Big 12, the Heisman, and played in a national championship game.

Armstrong lost us the chance to win a weak division with his play against MSU.

msu was in that division. msu is the last respectable team in the B1G. and if memory of people yelling at me on huskerboard serves, it was a pretty close loss.

edit: even if we beat msu, we weren't winning the division.

 

[74Hunter]

If we want to complain about 50% completion percentages, let's start with Tommie Frazier's career sub-.500 completion percentage, and ask ourselves why we were able to win so many games with that kind of quarterback.

Or Scott Frost's 54% completion percentage.

Or Eric Crouch's career 51% completion percentage.

Again, apples and orangutans. They played in totally different systems and 50% won't cut when the coach wants a 50/50 run/pass ratio.

Frazier and Frost won MNCs. Crouch won the Big 12, the Heisman, and played in a national championship game.

Armstrong lost us the chance to win a weak division with his play against MSU.

Wow.

Where was I wrong?

 

[Branno]

There's smart football criticism and there's criticizing just to criticize. Pretty clear what we're seeing here.

Are you saying that leaving easy yards and points on the field, as well as being helped by a handful of dropped INTs isn't smart football criticism?

Every single quarterback in America, from Pop Warner to last year's Super Bowl Champions, does this. If anything you're criticizing so heavily was unique to Armstrong you'd have a point.

It isn't. You don't.

You'd have a valid point if every other QB had a completion % in the low 50's. Are you so high on TA that you honestly think he has no room for improvement?

that is such a silly straw man. everyone can improve.

In a thread full of straw men that's the pot calling the kettle black.

No one is calling to replace TA with anyone just yet. But we've played 3 weeks against our weakest competition of the year, and TA has been about average as a passer. Think back to last year, you always hear the 7-1 as a starter thrown around but no one talks about his 9-8 TD/INT ratio.

TA has a history (albeit a short one) of coughing the ball up at the most inopportune time (the INT against NW last year that put us in the position to have to throw a hail mary, the multiple turnovers against MSU every time we seemed to be clawing our way back in, the INT's against Georgia that almost cost us the game, and the pick-6 against McNeese State that swung the momentum to an FCS school that we didn't get back until 20 seconds left in the game). Also remember that TA threw multiple passes that against better defenses would be interceptions.

There is a huge difference between seeing actual real shortcomings and wanting to fix them, and calling for the starting QB to change.

But just because I'm sick and tired of all of this bullsh#t here is my list of TA's plusses and minuses:

+

1. Throws a really nice long ball I actually agree with most that he has a good throwing motion, and a cannon for an arm

[*]Runs the option well
[*]Seems to be a good leader

1. I'm not in the locker room, but you hear it enough from varied sources and you have to assume where there is smoke there is fire

[*]Wants to improve

1. The guy gave himself a C rating for the season so far, I like that he recognizes he needs to IMPROVE AS QB

-

1. Overthrows wide-open receivers from time to time A good portion of his incompletions, and most likely due to his being a sophomore.
2. This should improve as he gets more experience, the game slows down for him, and he trusts his arm more

[*]Forces the big play

1. He seems to always want to make a big play, and forces passes into tight coverage
2. When it works, it's great and we get a huge gain. When it doesn't we normally go 3 and 0 resulting in a tired defense (see McNeese St)
3. These are going to be the passes that go from incompletions to interceptions once we start playing against B1G secondaries

[*]Zone-read

1. It seems that most of the time he decides whether he is going to hand off or keep it before the play starts, as good as he is in the option game he should be making the read as the play develops and not pre-snap
2. This could be the OC not trusting TA to make the read and calling it from the booth like Tmart's first 2 years

​Do I want Stanton or Fyfe to be the starter? No. But I have honest, valid criticisms of TA and it seems that anytime there is even the slightest criticism of TA, people go CRAZY.

 

[knapplc]

The mobility of goalposts is amazing. We've gone from:

points left on the field/open receivers missed : completion percentages : we lost to Sparty

 

[NUpolo8]

If we want to complain about 50% completion percentages, let's start with Tommie Frazier's career sub-.500 completion percentage, and ask ourselves why we were able to win so many games with that kind of quarterback.

Or Scott Frost's 54% completion percentage.

Or Eric Crouch's career 51% completion percentage.

Again, apples and orangutans. They played in totally different systems and 50% won't cut when the coach wants a 50/50 run/pass ratio.

Frazier and Frost won MNCs. Crouch won the Big 12, the Heisman, and played in a national championship game.

Armstrong lost us the chance to win a weak division with his play against MSU.

Wow.

Where was I wrong?

You mean besides your placement of blame for that game?

I suggest if you're upset with Nebraska's development of QB talent, and you may have good reason to be with Tommy and a former Elite 11 QB languishing in the third string, that you should ask how these kids are being coached. And why, specifically there is a dedicated coach for a position that the OC. has to be shamed into using in a press conference and not one to actually help along a QB in what appears to be an overly complicated system.

I mean, that's probably easier than demanding a 20 year old "get it", then judging him when inevitably fails.

 

[sd'sker]

I suggest if you're upset with Nebraska's development of QB talent, and you may have good reason to be with Tommy and a former Elite 11 QB languishing in the third string, that you should ask how these kids are being coached. And why, specifically there is a dedicated coach for a position that the OC. has to be shamed into using in a press conference and not one to actually help along a QB in what appears to be an overly complicated system.

I mean, that's probably easier than demanding a 20 year old "get it", then judging him when inevitably fails.

before people say, no one else has a dedicated qb coach; no one cared that much about strength and conditioning in the early 90's. sometimes it is nice to be trendsetters.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Outside of Nebraska, most college football analysts see a lot of upside in Tommy Armstrong. They see the young QB mistakes, too, but they are generally the mistakes of a competitor convinced he can make big things happen. Not the worst trait. Especially when he makes big things happen.

Apparently Tommy has also been granted a lot of authority to change plays as he sees fit, coming to the line and recognizing a defensive shift. He has the unsurprising tendancy to call his own number -- keeping the ball himself or going for the highlight reel throw -- and given his overall success rate it will be hard to talk him down from this. He's the nation's #9 leader in total offense.

But as defenses now shift to stopping Armstrong first it should open things back up for Ameer Abdullah, who hasn't been ignored as much as he's been semi-neutralized the past two games.

Armstrong gives Nebraska a lot of good options. It's nice to have a lot of good options.

not really, most defenses are going to play to stop the run and dare Tommie to throw.....they just aren't convinced that he can beat them with his arm and neither am i....

Fresno State played to stop the run, dared Tommy to throw. And he beat them with his arm.

Can he do that for a whole season?

Well that's why they play the games.

But the line between cautious and pessamistic around here is hard to read, and a lot of evidence is being ignored in order to be crabby.

e.g. if I'm reading this correctly, it's "not really" nice to have a lot of good options.