Postmortem: Nebraska's Offense, Full Circle

[Joe_5700]

Funny how an unbiased outside party looks at our season and draws a line at Martinez' injury. It's almost as if that's where all of our trouble started this year. :dunno

The writing was on the wall even during those games. Lest we forget about the offensive performace against SDSU and texa$$ when T-Mart was healthy. And even when we were hanging 40-50 points on some happiless scrub team, the majority of those scores were big plays. Rarely did this offense have 8, 10, or 12 play sustained drives end in touchdowns, even against the scrubs.

T-Marts injury did not make our offense fail. The injury just highlighted how inept this offense is when everything is not 100%.

I really do think that SDSU was a fluke. Please watch the Texas game again. Remember the poor start to that game and Gilbert running at will on our defense for that early drive? The dropped passes? That game was not lost by Martinez. Also re-watch the A&M game, there were at least 2 runs that I recall that had Martinez been healthy he would have taken it to the house. The kid needs to work on his pocket presence no doubt as well as his throwing mechanics. He knows the system now and has big time game experience to boot. The question is whether his line is going to protect him better in 2011.

 

[knapplc]

Funny how an unbiased outside party looks at our season and draws a line at Martinez' injury. It's almost as if that's where all of our trouble started this year. :dunno

The writing was on the wall even during those games. Lest we forget about the offensive performace against SDSU and texa$$ when T-Mart was healthy. And even when we were hanging 40-50 points on some happiless scrub team, the majority of those scores were big plays. Rarely did this offense have 8, 10, or 12 play sustained drives end in touchdowns, even against the scrubs.

T-Marts injury did not make our offense fail. The injury just highlighted how inept this offense is when everything is not 100%.

I know you've read this board, and these Martinez discussions, often enough to know the answers to the problems you pose. Why do you (and others) persist in throwing Martinez under the bus for SDSU? Or for Texas? Can you explain that to me?

Also, can you explain which offense doesn't look inept when everything isn't 100%? I seem to remember the 1994 Huskers struggling quite a bit in a few games when our QBs went down, yet the rest of the offense was healthy as horses. What offense doesn't struggle when their best player goes out?

 

[74Hunter]

I know you've read this board, and these Martinez discussions, often enough to know the answers to the problems you pose. Why do you (and others) persist in throwing Martinez under the bus for SDSU? Or for Texas? Can you explain that to me?

I think you misunderstood what I said. I wasn't throwing T-Mart under the bus for those 2 games. The offense under achieving was, IMO, a systematic problem, and should not be laid at the feet of T-Mart.

Also, can you explain which offense doesn't look inept when everything isn't 100%? I seem to remember the 1994 Huskers struggling quite a bit in a few games when our QBs went down, yet the rest of the offense was healthy as horses. What offense doesn't struggle when their best player goes out?

Some would venture to say that Helu was our best player this year. Or Burkhead. Heck, Paul, Reed, Kinnie, and McNeil all had playmaking ability.

Losing your top 2 qbs (both who were borderline NFL prospects) and using an undersized inexperienced walkon is not the same as losing your 3* starting qb and having (2) 4* guys waiting behind him.

Also, I don't think that I need to remind you about how those games in the 94 season ended up. We put up 32 or 33 on OSU to win that game, and against KSU, we were able to put up 17 points on a top 10 defense, running about 6 different plays with an injured I-back.

 

[knapplc]

Can you remind me how our Oklahoma game ended up? And the KSU game proves my point - when you lose your best guys, your offense suffers.

 

[Hercules]

74hunter, I'm trying to follow your arguments... Is your problem with the scheme, the spread option? Or part of the scheme? What do you think needs to change?

 

[74Hunter]

74hunter, I'm trying to follow your arguments... Is your problem with the scheme, the spread option? Or part of the scheme? What do you think needs to change?

Scheme, and the guys calling the shots.

 

[knapplc]

74hunter, I'm trying to follow your arguments... Is your problem with the scheme, the spread option? Or part of the scheme? What do you think needs to change?

Scheme, and the guys calling the shots.

Now I get what you're saying.

 

[Hercules]

74hunter, I'm trying to follow your arguments... Is your problem with the scheme, the spread option? Or part of the scheme? What do you think needs to change?

Scheme, and the guys calling the shots.

Ok. I think the spread option itself is pretty sound, but I think our version of it certainly needs some work. Doesn't look like any staff changes are coming, so hopefully the guys currently calling the shots can figure it out and make those adjustments this offseason.

 

[mnhusker]

I like the read .......... any evaluation that does not consider the Martinez injury is foolish and not worth reading. The post injury loses I think indicate how good this first year starter was and how much he brought to the team. I also don't think being shy and calling home does make a QB a premadona , just a kid with a great deal of talent that needs to mature. That said I would hang my hat on Martinez growing up before I would trust Watts to coach up a solid offense. Maybe I'm wrong but I like a gut that plays hurt.

 

[Enhance]

This article just further proves that we can't find depth in the offense amidst injuries and that all Martinez did this last year was mask the issues that weren't really fixed from the 2009 offense.

 

[walksalone]

Can you remind me how our Oklahoma game ended up? And the KSU game proves my point - when you lose your best guys, your offense suffers.

We were knocking the a$$ off of them for about 23 minutes or so. Then a certain individual, who will remain nameless, changed what was working, and went with something that wasn't working. Then when it was critical to change things up, there were no adjustments made.

This was evident in the OU, A&M, and UW games.

 

[bball_backer]

This article just further proves that we can't find depth in the offense amidst injuries and that all Martinez did this last year was mask the issues that weren't really fixed from the 2009 offense.

:yeah

As I was skimming the posts I was trying to figure out how I was going to say what I was thinking in a nice short sentence or two. You did it for me.

 

[bball_backer]

Can you remind me how our Oklahoma game ended up? And the KSU game proves my point - when you lose your best guys, your offense suffers.

We were knocking the a$$ off of them for about 23 minutes or so. Then a certain individual, who will remain nameless, changed what was working, and went with something that wasn't working. Then when it was critical to change things up, there were no adjustments made.

This was evident in the OU, A&M, and UW games.

You and enhance are making this easy for me, I'm gonna give another :yeah

 

[Hujan]

Funny how an unbiased outside party looks at our season and draws a line at Martinez' injury. It's almost as if that's where all of our trouble started this year. :dunno

It certainly fits into a neat little box. And when you're a writer who didn't actually watch many or any games, it is an attractive storyline. Whether it's accurate or not is another story. There are +56 players in South Dakota who would tell you that the ankle is a scapegoat.

 

[Hujan]

Funny how an unbiased outside party looks at our season and draws a line at Martinez' injury. It's almost as if that's where all of our trouble started this year. :dunno

The writing was on the wall even during those games. Lest we forget about the offensive performace against SDSU and texa$$ when T-Mart was healthy. And even when we were hanging 40-50 points on some happiless scrub team, the majority of those scores were big plays. Rarely did this offense have 8, 10, or 12 play sustained drives end in touchdowns, even against the scrubs.

T-Marts injury did not make our offense fail. The injury just highlighted how inept this offense is when everything is not 100%.

I know you've read this board, and these Martinez discussions, often enough to know the answers to the problems you pose. Why do you (and others) persist in throwing Martinez under the bus for SDSU? Or for Texas? Can you explain that to me?

Also, can you explain which offense doesn't look inept when everything isn't 100%? I seem to remember the 1994 Huskers struggling quite a bit in a few games when our QBs went down, yet the rest of the offense was healthy as horses. What offense doesn't struggle when their best player goes out?

The reason is because if you go back and look at that game (or the Texas game) you will see T-Mart floundering in EXACTLY THE SAME WAY as he did post ankle injury. If you put SDSU and Texas' defensive highlights in a reel along with the defensive highlights for A&M, Oklahoma, and Washington, you would see a consistent theme. I mean freaking identical.

Now you want to say that somehow the QB being tossed around like a rag doll in those clips had an ankle injury halfway through that montage, and that the injury had an effect on the outcome? No way. I'm sure it didn't help, but it's not the underlying problem. The real problem is that the offense depicted in that montage is being led by a coaching staff that has absolutely no idea how to put it's passing-challenged QB in the best position to succeed. All the rest in the world for T-Mart's ankle isn't going to fix that.