Sipple: Coaches culpable in Armstrong's struggles

[StPaulHusker]

The press is realizing what some said after BYU. Square peg meet round hole........ We will be average until this experiment is ended. Maybe Riley can turn things around, but not with this staff and its current configuration.

Perhaps Tommy Armstrong is the square peg and the experiment

And TA called his own plays? This staff had 2 years of game film, spring and fall ball as well as 11 previous games to review his abilities. Anyone who thought, hmm lets get this kid to chuck the rock 40+ times a game so we can win is an idiot. Every person on this board would agree throwing from the pocket isn't his strong suit. Running is. Everyone on this board always said the hardest thing for any DC to defend is a mobile QB. What did Langs do? Hobbled our returning leader rusher. Made no team worry about his legs on designed runs. TA is a baller. This year, he got Langsed.

At what point do you begin to teach your system? At what point is it ok to do that? When Patrick O'Brien gets here? We hold up all that for one player? Or do we teach the system and hope the QB learns quickly? Why would we run Tommy all over the field on designed runs when our best back up is Ryker Fyfe? Does Tommy fit in this offense? No, but he's the best we have. At some point you have to teach your system, it's inevitable. So doesn't it make sense to teach it from the very beginning? Next year Patrick O'Brien could very well end up starting if he is the real deal. If that's the case, we're going to be glad that the rest of the offense already knows what they're doing and can help him out. If O'Brien doesn't pan out, we could be in for another long season.

There is nothing wrong with teaching the system. I don't even have a particular problem with any of the plays that we ran this year. I don't think there's any one play that I'd say we should never run.

What I do have a problem with is how often we run certain plays and what situation we choose to run them in.

You don't have to change the system for any QB we have or POB. Just make better use of it.

I'm pretty sure Riley's "system" doesn't call for Tommy Armstrong to never throw the ball away and always chuck it up for grabs despite a WR being triple teamed in coverage.

Yeah. Good call.

The fact is that the passes and reads TA is asked to make are no different than any pass Beck asked him to make. He just makes poor decisions.

 

[StPaulHusker]

The press is realizing what some said after BYU. Square peg meet round hole........ We will be average until this experiment is ended. Maybe Riley can turn things around, but not with this staff and its current configuration.

Perhaps Tommy Armstrong is the square peg and the experiment

And yet he was 17-5 as a starter coming into this season... so it's not like he was incapable of leading a team to victory on a consistent basis.

How many of those games did he "win" on the back of Ameer Abdullah, or shared with Ron Kellogg?

 

[VectorVictor]

They need to teach TA to throw the ball away when the play isn't there. How many INT's would have been eliminated by that one coachable aspect?

You would think that would be one of the first things covered when you're coaching a QB that's prone to INTs...right?...

Well you can lead a horse to water.......

Problem is, I don't think this horse was led to any sort of water. Nor do I think Langsdorf was qualified to jockey what he had in the stable.

bullsh#t

You can cling to your bull excrement, but in reality, the results on the field speak for themselves. Langsdorf doesn't know how to call an offense with the kids he has in his charge, nor does it appear he was willing (or capable?) of learning to do so effectively.

Funny how you place everything at the feet of Langsdorf when there has already been talk that Armstrong has walked out of practice pissed off because he doesn't like the way things are going. Or the obvious tension between the 2. But of course, TA carries zero responsibility.

Except that I didn't say that, and now you're resorting to creating straw men to knock down.

Tommy should be doing his part and isn't without fault. But if Tommy isn't holding up his end of the deal, or isn't getting better, then Langsdorf, as a coach, should recognize this and play call accordingly--that's the crux of what myself and others have said throughout the season, and what Sipple is correctly getting at with this piece.

No, Tommy isn't without culpability, and while Tommy is Accountable (if we want to go all RACI up in here), Langsdorf is ultimately Responsible. Or really...Tommy is Consulted, Langsdorf Accountable, and Riley Responsible.

 

[Mavric]

The press is realizing what some said after BYU. Square peg meet round hole........ We will be average until this experiment is ended. Maybe Riley can turn things around, but not with this staff and its current configuration.

Perhaps Tommy Armstrong is the square peg and the experiment

And TA called his own plays? This staff had 2 years of game film, spring and fall ball as well as 11 previous games to review his abilities. Anyone who thought, hmm lets get this kid to chuck the rock 40+ times a game so we can win is an idiot. Every person on this board would agree throwing from the pocket isn't his strong suit. Running is. Everyone on this board always said the hardest thing for any DC to defend is a mobile QB. What did Langs do? Hobbled our returning leader rusher. Made no team worry about his legs on designed runs. TA is a baller. This year, he got Langsed.

At what point do you begin to teach your system? At what point is it ok to do that? When Patrick O'Brien gets here? We hold up all that for one player? Or do we teach the system and hope the QB learns quickly? Why would we run Tommy all over the field on designed runs when our best back up is Ryker Fyfe? Does Tommy fit in this offense? No, but he's the best we have. At some point you have to teach your system, it's inevitable. So doesn't it make sense to teach it from the very beginning? Next year Patrick O'Brien could very well end up starting if he is the real deal. If that's the case, we're going to be glad that the rest of the offense already knows what they're doing and can help him out. If O'Brien doesn't pan out, we could be in for another long season.

There is nothing wrong with teaching the system. I don't even have a particular problem with any of the plays that we ran this year. I don't think there's any one play that I'd say we should never run.

What I do have a problem with is how often we run certain plays and what situation we choose to run them in.

You don't have to change the system for any QB we have or POB. Just make better use of it.

I'm pretty sure Riley's "system" doesn't call for Tommy Armstrong to never throw the ball away and always chuck it up for grabs despite a WR being triple teamed in coverage.

Yeah. Good call.

The fact is that the passes and reads TA is asked to make are no different than any pass Beck asked him to make. He just makes poor decisions.

Thus the part about how often we run certain plays and when we choose to run them.

TA's four best QB rating games this year were Minnesota (191.6 - 26 attempts), South Alabama (167.6 - 30 attempts - bad team), Southern Mississippi (167.2 - 35 attempts - bad team) and Rutgers (160.4 - 21 attempts). His five worst games were Illinois (54.3 - 31 attempts), Wisconsin (89..8 - 28 attempts), Iowa (93.0 - 45 attempts), Northwestern (103.6 - 48 attempts) and Miami (120.3 - 45 attempts). Add in Fyfe's four INTs at Purdue and it shouldn't be that surprising that five of our six worst games were the four games that we had the most pass attempts plus Illinois where we insisted on passing on a cold windy day.

TA's four best days averaged 29.25 passing attempts. Throw out the two worst teams we played and he only averaged 23.5.

That doesn't seem that hard to figure out. Makes the late-season games where we insisted on winging it 45+ times all that more mind-boggling.

 

[beorach]

The first time I think Sipple has some real football knowledge, I'll be surprised, and I'm pretty easily impressed in that regard because I don't have real football knowledge. I just like watching games and fooling with some numbers here and there when there aren't any on... The other thing that bothers me about the guy is how little he seems to commit to an opinion. E.g., reading "f Armstrong is indeed lacking in critical areas" makes me ill.

 

[MasterPulverizer]

When they said they were going to try to match their offense to Armstrong's talents, I think they meant handing the ball to Ameer Abdullah. Tommy was a running threat last year because defenders on read plays absolutely had to key on Abdullah. Since Ameer graduated, and we didn't have a baller to fill his shoes, I would imagine the coaching staff didn't see the zone read game as a steady source of offense. As a result, they had to make due with Tommy's talent as a passer, which isn't much.

 

[Elf]

They need to teach TA to throw the ball away when the play isn't there. How many INT's would have been eliminated by that one coachable aspect?

You would think that would be one of the first things covered when you're coaching a QB that's prone to INTs...right?...

Well you can lead a horse to water.......

Problem is, I don't think this horse was led to any sort of water. Nor do I think Langsdorf was qualified to jockey what he had in the stable.

He's probably far more qualified than anyone here. Far more.

 

[cm husker]

NU had highly productive backs during the past 7 years (really going back further when BC was willing to commit to it).

Suddenly with several highly rated guys in the program, no one can run among them? Comon.

I miss Ron Brown.

 

[Saunders]

They need to teach TA to throw the ball away when the play isn't there. How many INT's would have been eliminated by that one coachable aspect?

You would think that would be one of the first things covered when you're coaching a QB that's prone to INTs...right?...

Well you can lead a horse to water.......

Problem is, I don't think this horse was led to any sort of water. Nor do I think Langsdorf was qualified to jockey what he had in the stable.

bullsh#t

You can cling to your bull excrement, but in reality, the results on the field speak for themselves. Langsdorf doesn't know how to call an offense with the kids he has in his charge, nor does it appear he was willing (or capable?) of learning to do so effectively.

Funny how you place everything at the feet of Langsdorf when there has already been talk that Armstrong has walked out of practice pissed off because he doesn't like the way things are going. Or the obvious tension between the 2. But of course, TA carries zero responsibility.

There's one uncorroborated twitter report on it, and that's it. I would think if Brandon Riley not leaving a tip becomes front page news, Tommy walking out of practice because he's pissed off at the OC would as well..

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

If you had told me Tommy Armstrong would play like Peyton Manning this year, I would have thought it was a good thing.

 

[VectorVictor]

They need to teach TA to throw the ball away when the play isn't there. How many INT's would have been eliminated by that one coachable aspect?

You would think that would be one of the first things covered when you're coaching a QB that's prone to INTs...right?...

Well you can lead a horse to water.......

Problem is, I don't think this horse was led to any sort of water. Nor do I think Langsdorf was qualified to jockey what he had in the stable.

He's probably far more qualified than anyone here. Far more.

Don't be so full of yourself, strawElf--no one is saying that the next OC should come from HuskerBoard.

That still doesn't mean we can't point out what is obviously an ill-fit at best. And if POB is really a good fit for Langsdorf, I don't see why Tommy would stick around.

 

[74Hunter]

If you had told me Tommy Armstrong would play like Peyton Manning this year, I would have thought it was a good thing.

Now that's funny!

 

[Dansker]

If you had told me Tommy Armstrong would play like Peyton Manning this year, I would have thought it was a good thing.

Wrong Manning. I thought we had Eli under center this year... I mean our offensive guru did coach him too, right?

 

[Danimal]

Of course Tommy has issues. He doesn't go through his progressions and makes some crap decisions.

Of course we have to do a better job of working with what we have. Tommy was meant to be a dual-threat guy that passes like 20 times a game. Turning him into a dropback guy throwing twice that often is not a recipe for wins.

 

[Hunter94]

Pass happy Langs plus TA = too many INTs.