Armstrong Leading the QB Race

[True2tRA]

I don't care what Armstrong can do with his legs. Unless he's the second coming of Touchdown Tommie he needs to be able to pass at or near 60%, without throwing picks, or our offense is going to stagnate.

We have a pretty good corps of WR: Bell, Turner, Westerkamp, Allen, Burtch, Moore... all of these guys will be wasted without an effective passing QB.

Maybe it's blasphemy to say at Nebraska, but this offense may need more Zac Taylor than Tommie Frazier. Abdullah, Cross, Newby, Taylor, maybe Wilbon - these guys can handle the load on the ground. If Armstrong any quarterback can't deliver strikes downfield, what good does he do us?

100% agree.

Yep. He nailed it.

Don't care what Armstrong can do with his legs? How can you not care? We just finished watching Taylor Martinez run the zone read every other play for four years now. Beck has made it clear he wants to be able to throw the ball more, but at this point talk is cheap. We have seen wit our own two eyes that in this offense, our QB better be able to run. Now that's not saying he doesn't need to be a passer as well. If anything, Tommie is the first true dual threat we've had. The option could and maybe even should be a big part of his game next year. Why? Because he runs it well, and it works. That's the basics of it for me. 60% completion rate would be nice, but is that 15 for 25 attempts, or is it going to be more like 20 for 35 attempts? How much will we pass? More importantly, how much will we be forced to pass? I have no worries about our running game whatsoever. I like the offensive line this year. Tommie will run the ball and run it well, he's shown that. When we need him to make throws,mi think he will answer that challenge above and beyond most expectations. I just want him to play mistake free, no stupid mistakes or turnovers.

That was a bit of hyperbole on my part. Of course I care if he can run (and by all evidence, he can, just fine). All I was getting at is, with the offensive weapons we have, having a running QB is a luxury, not a necessity.

I care more that Ameer, Newby, Cross, Taylor, all those guys can run, than I care about Tommy Armstrong running. Because good thought Tommy may be, running is their specialty.

We need a QB who can, first and foremost, deliver the ball on target and on time to Kenny Bell, Jamal Turner, Alonzo Moore, Jordan Westerkamp, et al. That QB's running ability is completely secondary to that need.

In your offense and my offense, this would be the case. In this offense, I'm not sure. My point was, we just watched Taylor run, run, and run some more, even when injured. You also saw Beck trying to make a passer out of him a lot towards the end of his career. Now you have Tommy, who is a capable option QB, and a pretty good passer IMO, so I guess I don't know what to expect from Beck this season is what I'm getting at. Beck is really the puppetmaster in this show. I'm just still not sure what I'm watching.

 

[True2tRA]

Ole Miss showed Stringfellow something, but it wasn't stats. Cuba Gooding Jr. And Tom Cruise know exactly what Ole Miss showed Stringfellow.

Also, you can't say what an elite WR QE was and in the same paragraph state that Nebraska can't seem to lure elite WR's here. We are doing fine at WR. I love how we put up with TM throwing some horrific passes for four years, but TA has half a season under his belt and already he's held to some sort of higher standard. Gimme a break with that.

Taylor Martinez got ripped to shreds by Nebraska football fans for four years, in a way Tommy Armstrong never has or will experience, and still never had a game as statistically poor as several of Tommy's performances.

Taylor was elevate to levels rarely seen around here his freshman season when he ran wild like a track star all season long. His senior year he was lost only a few games into the season. Some fans never had anything good to say about him, but for many, he was and is a highly respected former Husker. So Tommy won't ever experience anything like that huh? Can I borrow that crystal ball when you're done? I have some things I'd love to know about down the road. I actually find it hilarious that Tommy is already being replaced by Johnny Stanton in the minds of many, yet according to the coaches Fyfe is most likely the back up QB at this point. So when the starter is having his job called out for a current third stringer, I'd say he may really be in for some bumps in the road when he makes a mistake. I can already hear it, and the season hasn't even started.

Taylor never had a game statistically as poor as some of Tommy's? You sure? I mean, it's obviously a fair argument anyway since the situations of how they came to be QB's here is so similar.

 

[QMany]

Taylor Martinez got ripped to shreds by Nebraska football fans for four years, in a way Tommy Armstrong never has or will experience, and still never had a game as statistically poor as several of Tommy's performances.

Wisconsin 2011
Nebraska Passing

C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT QBR

T. Martinez 11/22 176 8.0 0 3 27.0

Team 11/22 176 8.0 0 3

Tommy went 6/18, 43 yards, 0/3 TD/INT, and 5.5 AQBR ... against PURDUE.

 

[Landlord]

Taylor never had a game statistically as poor as some of Tommy's? You sure? I mean, it's obviously a fair argument anyway since the situations of how they came to be QB's here is so similar.

I'm sure, but you're the one that still, almost in August of 2014, is comparing the two. If the situations aren't similar then stop comparing them when it's convenient for your boner for Tommy and then saying they can't be compared when it doesn't fit your notions.

Wisconsin 2011

Nebraska Passing

C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT QBR

T. Martinez 11/22 176 8.0 0 3 27.0

Team 11/22 176 8.0 0 3

According to sportsreference.com his rating for the Wisconsin game was 89.9 but that's besides the point. Taylor's worst game of his career against a really freaking good top 10 Wisconsin team compared to..

Purdue 2013 who finished 1-11

Armstrong - 6/18 - 43 yards - 0 TD - 3 INT - 20.1 Rating

Northwestern 2013 who finished 5-7

15/29 - 173 yards - 1 TD - 3 INT - 92.5 Rating

 

[sd'sker]

tommy had a truncated season as a freshman. he went 7-1. won a bowl against an sec team. his only loss was against an one-loss msu team who won the conference and the rose bowl. i do not understand why people feel the need to cut the kid down, especially people who get mad at those who do the same to taylor.

 

[Landlord]

tommy had a truncated season as a freshman. he went 7-1. won a bowl against an sec team. his only loss was against an one-loss msu team who won the conference and the rose bowl. i do not understand why people feel the need to cut the kid down, especially people who get mad at those who do the same to taylor.

If you're including me in that, I don't really think I'm cutting him down, I'm just responding to people who raise him up to a lofty level he hasn't gotten to (coincidentally I don't see why people feel the need to do that

).

He did some good things, he did a lot of bad things, he was a freshman and he was thrown into an opportunity he wasn't necessarily prepared for. That's about all we know at this point. 7-1 as a starter against some awful teams, some okay teams, and some teams that we beat in spite of, not because of, Tommy's play, with a good-not-great performance against a good-not-great Georgia team in January.

I have literally zero problem with anyone being excited about his future, I'm one of those people, but it seems a lot of the people who think he's going to do god things think so based off of some weird heeby-jeeby anecdotal feeling in their stomach rather than on anything we have actually seen yet.

Don't know why people have to have positions on stuff like this. Just have a perspective and let it change as you gain new insights.

 

[sd'sker]

tommy had a truncated season as a freshman. he went 7-1. won a bowl against an sec team. his only loss was against an one-loss msu team who won the conference and the rose bowl. i do not understand why people feel the need to cut the kid down, especially people who get mad at those who do the same to taylor.

If you're including me in that, I don't really think I'm cutting him down, I'm just responding to people who raise him up to a lofty level he hasn't gotten to (coincidentally I don't see why people feel the need to do that

).

He did some good things, he did a lot of bad things, he was a freshman and he was thrown into an opportunity he wasn't necessarily prepared for. That's about all we know at this point. 7-1 as a starter against some awful teams, some okay teams, and some teams that we beat in spite of, not because of, Tommy's play, with a good-not-great performance against a good-not-great Georgia team in January.

I have literally zero problem with anyone being excited about his future, I'm one of those people, but it seems a lot of the people who think he's going to do god things think so based off of some weird heeby-jeeby anecdotal feeling in their stomach rather than on anything we have actually seen yet.

Don't know why people have to have positions on stuff like this. Just have a perspective and let it change as you gain new insights.

this is, like, exactly how i feel about bo. instead of freshman, first time head coach.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I'll let you run with it... Also no I wasn't on the Taylor Martinez should have started all four years train like yourself but regardless that train has departed. I also have no qualms in admitting that I'm weird sometimes!

I'm interested in knowing who you think should have started instead of Taylor throughout those 4 years.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

tommy had a truncated season as a freshman. he went 7-1. won a bowl against an sec team. his only loss was against an one-loss msu team who won the conference and the rose bowl. i do not understand why people feel the need to cut the kid down, especially people who get mad at those who do the same to taylor.

it seems a lot of the people who think he's going to do go(o)d things think so based off of some weird heeby-jeeby anecdotal feeling in their stomach rather than on anything we have actually seen yet.

But what if the things you've actually seen give you that heeby-jeeby anecdotal feeling?

Professional scouts in all sports figure in off-the-field observations about how a player carries himself. Stats don't always tell the story, especially in terms of leadership.

Also, it's still July. The best time for optimism is always before they play any games.

 

[sd'sker]

He did some good things, he did a lot of bad things, he was a freshman and he was thrown into an opportunity he wasn't necessarily prepared for. That's about all we know at this point. 7-1 as a starter against some awful teams, some okay teams, and some teams that we beat in spite of, not because of, Tommy's play, with a good-not-great performance against a good-not-great Georgia team in January.

do not know why you have to dismiss a 7-1 record and a bowl win over an sec team. this now seems to apply to you just as well.

HEY GUYS

HEY
Look hey. hey. look.

I have developed a helpful coding primer to make better sense of NUpolo8's posts:

Losing = We got blown out.

Winning = Yeah except for exception #1, exception #2, exception #3, exception #4, exception#x, y and z, so it really wasn't that impressive!

 

[Saunders]

I'll let you run with it... Also no I wasn't on the Taylor Martinez should have started all four years train like yourself but regardless that train has departed. I also have no qualms in admitting that I'm weird sometimes!

I'm interested in knowing who you think should have started instead of Taylor throughout those 4 years.

He wanted Carnes in 2011 and 2012.

 

[Abdullah the Butcher]

Dan Hoppen@danhoppen · Kenny Bell says Neb had more than 500 hand signals to signal in plays last year before cutting down the playbook in the spring.

Talk about overkill damn, that couldn't of helped Tommy either being thrown into the fire.

 

[suh_fan93]

Bo was asked by the media how the competition will be between Armstrong and Stanton. Bo brought up Fyfe and says he (Fyfe) will have something to say. I found that interesting as Bo went out of his way to bring up Fyfe.

I think both he and Stanton are solid back ups who just need experience obviously. He split time with Kellogg and Armstrong last year. I feel like were actually going to get to see these guys even if Armstrong doesn't get injured unless he somehow magically goes lights out and limits the turn overs and looks more consistent which would be cool if it happened. They both looked really good in the spring game for not having any experience to speak of except for Fyfe who got in briefly at South Dakota State last year.

 

[True2tRA]

tommy had a truncated season as a freshman. he went 7-1. won a bowl against an sec team. his only loss was against an one-loss msu team who won the conference and the rose bowl. i do not understand why people feel the need to cut the kid down, especially people who get mad at those who do the same to taylor.

tommy had a truncated season as a freshman. he went 7-1. won a bowl against an sec team. his only loss was against an one-loss msu team who won the conference and the rose bowl. i do not understand why people feel the need to cut the kid down, especially people who get mad at those who do the same to taylor.

If you're including me in that, I don't really think I'm cutting him down, I'm just responding to people who raise him up to a lofty level he hasn't gotten to (coincidentally I don't see why people feel the need to do that

).

He did some good things, he did a lot of bad things, he was a freshman and he was thrown into an opportunity he wasn't necessarily prepared for. That's about all we know at this point. 7-1 as a starter against some awful teams, some okay teams, and some teams that we beat in spite of, not because of, Tommy's play, with a good-not-great performance against a good-not-great Georgia team in January.

I have literally zero problem with anyone being excited about his future, I'm one of those people, but it seems a lot of the people who think he's going to do god things think so based off of some weird heeby-jeeby anecdotal feeling in their stomach rather than on anything we have actually seen yet.

Don't know why people have to have positions on stuff like this. Just have a perspective and let it change as you gain new insights.

You have really difficult time seeing anything any other way than yours don't you kid? This is why you irritate the hell out of me. What in Gods name gives you the impression I like Tommy Armatrong based off some heeby jeeby feeling in my gut and what gives the notion to just take everything I've said I like about Tommy and label it just a "gut" feeling when I have literally listed at least fifty different times the multitude of things I've seen the kid do well and improve upon. It's this type of arrogance from you that really gets you nowhere with me.
Raise him to a lofty level? Who has done so? Oh, you mean the people who are excited to see what the kid can do, yea because that's the same thing as already having done it. What is the comprehension problem here? Armsteong has one season under his belt, a partial season really. One where he rotated in and out with Ron Kellogg. We literally only have the bits of information taken from that season to get pumped about, and big deal if some of us saw some things that raise expectations.

Tommy went 7-1 against some good teams, some awful teams and some okay teams? Oh, you mean the same way every other QB in the country develops a win loss record every year? The same way Taylor went 9-4 every season against good, bad, and okay teams?

If you're not cutting him down, fine, I'll give you that. You haven't outright bashed the kid. What doesn't make sense to me is why you wouldn't be 100% behind him. If all the info we've gathered thus far this offseason tells us anything, it's that Tommy will be the starter. You do support Nebraska's starting QB don't you? If not, do you at least have a valid reason why? Or even more perplexing to me is why you still feel the need to prop up Taylor so much? He's gone man. Graduated. He had a great career, and he did it all without you holding his hand. Let him go.

Perspective changing as we gain new insights. Kind of like how I said Tommy played horrible against Purdue. till we found out Purdue had completely changed their defensive scheme for that game. The coaches literally didn't practice of prepare Tommy all week based on anything Purdue did from what I heard on the radio. So a freshman QB with no preparation for an entire defensive scheme he's hardly seen on film, let alone in the heat of a game....yep, I cut him some slack. Or the Michigan game, where we saw a QB and RB tandem who multiple times said how great a level of comfort they we establishing playing with each other. Hell, how the whole team said they felt they were really rallying around Tommy as a leader. We saw that tandem, that team, execute a good old fashioned Nebraska option to beat Michigan in their house. A feat that had not been done since Hoke took over at Michigan. I believe they were 19-0. Then the Georgia game, when Tommy was feeling healthy and you could tell it. That knee didn't bug him a bit when minutes into the game on third and fourteen he scrambled for a first down. Or later in the same game when he stretched a play out, only to realize his best option was to chuck it away....he did. Maybe I got a bit excited about a guy who backs into his own endzone didn't panic, sees his boy QE cruising down the sideline and drops a damn bomb right in the bread basket. 99 yards and a score. Longest damn play you can make in football, and right there, that spark ignited that team. We needed a play and we got it and we rolled with it. What makes it even better, was knowing that a few times in the past, we had seen a team who missed some of those sparks....some of those big plays that light fires. Those fires win games and sometimes it just takes one guy to do it, but the whole team sees it. The team fuels from "it". The "it" these coaches tell us Tommy has got.

How come that isn't enough insight for me to begin developing some excitement? In my mind it is. Is that okay with you sir?

 

[Kernal]

Kenny Bell was very complimentary of Armstrong today, and I'd agree with him. I think some Husker fans are overlooking just how well Armstrong played last year under the circumstances. Also remember, he was only the starter for the Michigan State loss- two of the losses were under an injured Taylor and Iowa was RK3.

“The number one thing you’ll see this year is that he’s not a wide-eyed (freshman),” Bell said. “You’re gonna see a guy that it’s slowed down (for).”

Though it was a “raw deal” for Armstrong last season, Bell gushed over his performance last year, and the spillover he hopes to see in the fall.

“You have any idea what it takes to play Division 1 quarterback at a place like Nebraska, where the starter has been the starter for four years and is arguably one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the position at our university?” Bell asked the crowd of reporters.

“He gets hurt and you have to play our first conference game…dude. I don’t think people appreciate how difficult that is. Then the kid wins nine games and beats Georgia. I don’t care who you are, you should be impressed by that.”

http://hailvarsity.com/2014/07/on-the-offensive/