Ganz on New QB Counter Play

[Waterloohusker26]

Ohio State last year apparently had two of them.

Yup and we aren't Ohio State and will never get the kind of recruits Ohio State does. So not a great comparison

 

[lo country]

Wish I could find the article that broke down NU's QB's through the years and their running. JLo carried the most and averaged like 18 carries per game. Injuries were relatively minor with no QB missing extended playing time. Can't remember who wrote it (maybe Dirk), but the point being that NU QB's have not gotten hurt historically so there is no precedent to be cautious with their runs. This is a "newer" phenomenon....

 

[MichiganDad3]

Wish I could find the article that broke down NU's QB's through the years and their running. JLo carried the most and averaged like 18 carries per game. Injuries were relatively minor with no QB missing extended playing time. Can't remember who wrote it (maybe Dirk), but the point being that NU QB's have not gotten hurt historically so there is no precedent to be cautious with their runs. This is a "newer" phenomenon....

Wasn't our last major QB injury caused by kicking a locker?

 

[Igetbored216]

Tommy is so much better at taking contact than Martinez ever was. I'm not too worried about him taking hits. Run him.

 

[zoogs]

Tommy is so much better at taking contact than Martinez ever was. I'm not too worried about him taking hits. Run him.

That's a good point. Taylor was a much more dynamite athlete and breakaway threat, but I was always so scared for him every time he ran. They tried to protect him but this turned into slowing down before getting rocked by a defender. Tommy drives through.

* and seems to have stopped the hurdling. which is good

One of the interesting storylines with the offense this season, to me, is how they opened the year trying to protect Tommy as much as possible by not running him. At all. They've moved pretty far away from that in recent games. I think they've realized how key his running is to the offense.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Tommy is so much better at taking contact than Martinez ever was. I'm not too worried about him taking hits. Run him.

Tommy is a good 20 pounds heavier than Martinez was. Tommy is thick. He can absorb hits better than Martinez could.

 

[Igetbored216]

Tommy is so much better at taking contact than Martinez ever was. I'm not too worried about him taking hits. Run him.

Tommy is a good 20 pounds heavier than Martinez was. Tommy is thick. He can absorb hits better than Martinez could.

Weight has something to do with it, but Martinez also always slowed up to brace for impact. This usually resulted in him getting clobbered.

Edit: I want to make it clear that I'm not criticizing Martinez; I'm just pointing out the differences in their running styles.

 

[The Dude]

I really like that play.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Tommy is so much better at taking contact than Martinez ever was. I'm not too worried about him taking hits. Run him.

Tommy is a good 20 pounds heavier than Martinez was. Tommy is thick. He can absorb hits better than Martinez could.

Weight has something to do with it, but Martinez also always slowed up to brace for impact. This usually resulted in him getting clobbered.
Edit: I want to make it clear that I'm not criticizing Martinez; I'm just pointing out the differences in their running styles.

Why do you hate the Martinez family? Just joking.
I understood what you were saying. Martinez was the track star, home run threat when he ran the ball. He had pure, straight ahead speed.

Armstrong is bigger, and has a little more moves, but doesn't have the speed that Martinez did.

 

[Elf]

I have now watched the Wisconsin game 4 times and knew there was a new look to these QB runs. Here's a very nice breakdown by Ganz and gives hope that maybe this coaching staff somewhat gets it and will get the ground game going, including running the QB.

http://studio.omaha.com/Play-Breakdown--QB-Counter-29812481?vcid=29812481&freewheel=91341&sitesection=omahawh

When Tommy goes down...which stellar back up do we put in his place?

These coaches aren't Tom Osborne and Frank Solich. These coaches are never going to bring smash mouth football back to Memorial Stadium. You will have a whole lot less angst in your life once you accept that and move on.

 

[Highway6]

I'm not really worried about him getting killed. I'm more concerned with hurting a finger or thumb on his throwing hand. I'm worried about him banging up his throwing shoulder. I don't necessarily think his size has anything to do with it. If a play breaks down and there's an opening, by all means he should take it and slide before contact. Designed runs seem a bit risky considering I'm not sure there's much faith in any of our QBs behind him.

I kind of wonder if this is the largest reason for not running Tommy as much as everyone would like. We're worried enough about the season already. If Tommy goes down for the season, we are officially screwed.

not necessarily. Riker stepped up last year against michigan state and actually got the offense to click after being stagnent for 2 and a half quarters. He seems to have better vision than Tommie. Tommie is more gifted however.