Rate Patrick O'Brien's performance

Chatelain: Freshman QB Patrick O’Brien’s first act is forgettable, but Huskers still see a star
If all goes well in his development, O’Brien will look back at the 2016 spring game and laugh at his interception — and his emotional response. But Saturday afternoon, only his teammates and coaches saw the big picture. Defensive coordinator Mark Banker approached the “heartbroken” quarterback in the postgame scrum.

“If that’s the worst thing that happens to you while you’re here at Nebraska,” Banker said, “you’re gonna have a great life.”
 
Eric the Red said:
Defensive coordinator Mark Banker approached the “heartbroken” quarterback in the postgame scrum.

“If that’s the worst thing that happens to you while you’re here at Nebraska,” Banker said, “you’re gonna have a great life.”
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Loved that response.

 
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I thought he looked fine. He has the body type, his mechanics look WAY more fluid than any of our other QBs, and for his first snaps in front of a crowd at this level, he did all right.

He looks like a high school kid playing against guys who've had major D1-level coaching. He didn't look flashy, he's not particularly fast, but if we put him in a pocket and he's confident he won't get sacked for two/three seconds, he would probably do fine.

In a way, I'm glad he didn't light the world on fire. If he'd have hit 10/11 passes for 100-and-change yards and a score, we'd have heard NO END of hype about the guy. This way he gets to keep learning and progressing without ridiculous expectations heaped on him.

 
I've posted this in a few other threads, but my takeaway can be summed up fairly simply: I'm more confident now than ever that TA will be starter come fall. POB looked like a guy still trying to get things figured out; though, considering he should still technically be in high school, I think we saw a little of why he was so sought after. He threw some nice passes and he has good mechanics - best of the bunch.

But, to provide more context to my initial statement, I just think he's going to have to make a lot of progress even if he's going to take the #2 spot. Part of that was just from my own observations, but part of that is also based on playing time. I think they divvied up the reps at QB based heavily on their current depth chart.

 
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He made a couple dumb plays. Held the ball too long and took a sack. Plus he fired that one INT too strong. He also wasn't getting a lot of help playing with third and fourth strong offensive linemen and receivers. He was having a terrible time getting a decent snap.

But most of his passes were right on the money. Other than the last INT - which he forced because they were playing like they had to have a score before the clock ran out - he was 6 out of 9 passing. If 67% passing is getting a ho-hum from a lot of people - even 60% including the pick - I'm not sure what you've been watching the last six years. Not only was he completing passes, they were very precise. Getting a completion is only part of the story. If it's behind the receiver or low where they don't have any chance to do anything with it after the catch, that's still not a particularly good pass. I was watching all the QBs in warm-ups and obviously during the game. POB was exactly on target - hitting guys between the numbers most of the time.

I'm a little surprised at the reactions of a lot of people. My guess is they're just trying to shrug off any argument that TA shouldn't be the starter. It appears that he will be but all that's going to get us is more of the same that we've seen for three years - air mailing passes into the sidelines, missing on "easy" throws as Langsdorf said, etc.

I'd take the passing I saw from POB over what I saw from TA every day of the week and twice on Saturday. Could have done without the INT but that was definitely the out-of-character moment. I'd say a solid B overall.

 
When he threw it in rythm probably the best ball since Zach Taylor, overreaction yes but you get the point. There were about 4 passes that didn't look like any ball we've seen come out of a Huskers hands in 8 years. But still looked like a 18 year old HS senior with 14 practices under his belt.

 
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I was disappointed to see Tommy and Ryker (nothing against them at all btw) get so much of the playing time. Of course, as BTN cut off the 4th quarter and didn't even include it in the replay at 4 AM, I have not got to watch POB at all. Just reading reports and listening to the radio broadcast (of course Sharp and Davison barely do a play by play of the game as they spend more time discussing everything but the actual on the field plays) I have the feeling Patrick did OK. I was not expecting him to pass for 400 yards and 5 TDs in this spring game considering the team had barely even scrimmaged and had only about 14 total practices prior to the game and most of those didn't have pads on).

Particularly, it appears as though Patrick and Bush got 'mop up' duty in the last scrimmage (I don't call it a game as it was far from a game in too many ways). We can't compare the performances of any of the QBs really as they disorganized way they put teams together, substituting 1st, 2nd and 3rd stringers, etc. There is very little we can really judge about the team from the game (ooops - I mean scrimmage). Pelini never took advantage of the extra 'game' value of the spring GAME and Riley has not yet either, although I remain hopeful he will see the benefit of playing it like a true game.

I am hoping that the replay of the entire scrimmage will be available on here soone or later and I can watch to see how the young guys look. Several of the players are personal friends of the family (sons of some of my closest friends in fact) and am especially interested in watching their play in particular.

 
Mavric said:
He made a couple dumb plays. Held the ball too long and took a sack. Plus he fired that one INT too strong. He also wasn't getting a lot of help playing with third and fourth strong offensive linemen and receivers. He was having a terrible time getting a decent snap.

But most of his passes were right on the money. Other than the last INT - which he forced because they were playing like they had to have a score before the clock ran out - he was 6 out of 9 passing. If 67% passing is getting a ho-hum from a lot of people - even 60% including the pick - I'm not sure what you've been watching the last six years. Not only was he completing passes, they were very precise. Getting a completion is only part of the story. If it's behind the receiver or low where they don't have any chance to do anything with it after the catch, that's still not a particularly good pass. I was watching all the QBs in warm-ups and obviously during the game. POB was exactly on target - hitting guys between the numbers most of the time.

I'm a little surprised at the reactions of a lot of people. My guess is they're just trying to shrug off any argument that TA shouldn't be the starter. It appears that he will be but all that's going to get us is more of the same that we've seen for three years - air mailing passes into the sidelines, missing on "easy" throws as Langsdorf said, etc.

I'd take the passing I saw from POB over what I saw from TA every day of the week and twice on Saturday. Could have done without the INT but that was definitely the out-of-character moment. I'd say a solid B overall.
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Thanks for the summary. I know a lot of us don't expect him to start from day one, however I would also say seeing him was probably important to the viewers on TV. Since that didn't happen it is nice to get your insights!!!

 
Simple summary,,,Tommy dont get hurt.
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I think he played well. Has a great arm and is very accurate. He also puts the ball in the right place (so the receiver can make a play after the ball). He did initially appear nervous thought. But, after the initial nervousness, he adjusted and played well. He had to deal with A LOT of bad snaps and other issues, but played through it. Not an easy way to start your career in front of 70k+ and have a bunch of bad snaps and other issues to deal with.

 
Dagerow said:
I think he played well. Has a great arm and is very accurate. He also puts the ball in the right place (so the receiver can make a play after the ball). He did initially appear nervous thought. But, after the initial nervousness, he adjusted and played well. He had to deal with A LOT of bad snaps and other issues, but played through it. Not an easy way to start your career in front of 70k+ and have a bunch of bad snaps and other issues to deal with.
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I agree with you. I just watched the BTN link that showed the 4th quarter, and I was really impressed with many of his throws that were on target and caught his receivers in stride. I think he'll continue to accelerate up the depth chart, and the question is whether he'll pass Fyfe.

 
In all fairness, I thought Ryker did OK too. Again, I didn't get to watch POB and saw only part of Bush, but I would give all the QBs passing grades, although none would be A+ of course. But, considering the lack of scrimmaging and live action play (based on the sketchy reports and Riley's apprehension of injuries and limted contact), the play was better than one might have expected in some ways. It was not as sloppy as the spring games of last several years but far from the well oiled machine that Tom's last four or five teams showed in spring games. We lack the depth / maybe simply need another 25 or 30 walk ons to create the numbers one needs to scrimmage more?). Callahan cut the roster by a third or more. But he had the 'pro' mindset and somehow I felt never realized how much fundamental football teaching he had to do in college. He acted like he had polished professionals who needed to polish up their schemes (blocking and tackling were already mastered he thought). As time has gone by, I think the fundamentals (teaching and practicing thereof) have been under emphasized or ignored somewhat. You see a team's tackling and basic blocking improve as a season goes by but in my opinion, those things should be pretty much ready in game one. Execution of specific plays, etc, may need improvement but the basic fundamentals of blocking, tackling, faking, ball handling, throwing, catching, kicking, lining up and so on should be sharpened in the spring and ready two weeks before the season opener.

 
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