Steven M. Sipple: Carnes' offseason improvement key for Huskers

[bshirt]

This hurts Martinez, Carnes, Armstrong, RKIII ETC......(not arguing Martinez played smarter last year, but not athletically improved)

I'm not wholly convinced Martinez was 100% in 2011. This is purely conjecture on my part, but after watching the way he played in 2010 compared to 2011, something was off in his athleticism. And I'm not just talking defenses being wise to his act. He didn't look like he had the same speed.

You could be right about not being 100%. but I thought it looked more like he was thinking too much out there. Or maybe even being coached to play more conservative. It always seemed like when it looked like he had a lane to break one, one person always had a good angle.

I'm not sure either. At times it sure looked like he had lost a step. At other times I blinked and missed him. Or maybe it's like you mention playing so conservative, the sliding, etc. I don't know. He rarely called his own number last year making it even tougher to figure it out.

We'll need him to explode again this year as we have the talented backups ready for trial. So Beck has to unleash him and see how it goes. 1.5 years after injury should have him ready to go I would think.

We'll see.

 

[lo country]

This hurts Martinez, Carnes, Armstrong, RKIII ETC......(not arguing Martinez played smarter last year, but not athletically improved)

I'm not wholly convinced Martinez was 100% in 2011. This is purely conjecture on my part, but after watching the way he played in 2010 compared to 2011, something was off in his athleticism. And I'm not just talking defenses being wise to his act. He didn't look like he had the same speed.

You could be right about not being 100%. but I thought it looked more like he was thinking too much out there. Or maybe even being coached to play more conservative. It always seemed like when it looked like he had a lane to break one, one person always had a good angle.

I'm not sure either. At times it sure looked like he had lost a step. At other times I blinked and missed him. Or maybe it's like you mention playing so conservative, the sliding, etc. I don't know. He rarely called his own number last year making it even tougher to figure it out.

We'll need him to explode again this year as we have the talented backups ready for trial. So Beck has to unleash him and see how it goes. 1.5 years after injury should have him ready to go I would think.

We'll see.

Agree he played more conservative or tentative. I hope some was by design. I really do not think we had a plan B last year which forced the staff to play as though we only had one QB. The emergence of Carnes (hopefully) should allow the staff to play Martinez to his fullest and not have to play the "what if" game.

A kid like Martinez needs to be able to run, not be a game manager. The game manager was good in that he didn't lose any games, but he has the speed to be a game changer and by injury or design the staff appeared to use him very little in that role last year.

 

[bshirt]

This hurts Martinez, Carnes, Armstrong, RKIII ETC......(not arguing Martinez played smarter last year, but not athletically improved)

I'm not wholly convinced Martinez was 100% in 2011. This is purely conjecture on my part, but after watching the way he played in 2010 compared to 2011, something was off in his athleticism. And I'm not just talking defenses being wise to his act. He didn't look like he had the same speed.

You could be right about not being 100%. but I thought it looked more like he was thinking too much out there. Or maybe even being coached to play more conservative. It always seemed like when it looked like he had a lane to break one, one person always had a good angle.

I'm not sure either. At times it sure looked like he had lost a step. At other times I blinked and missed him. Or maybe it's like you mention playing so conservative, the sliding, etc. I don't know. He rarely called his own number last year making it even tougher to figure it out.

We'll need him to explode again this year as we have the talented backups ready for trial. So Beck has to unleash him and see how it goes. 1.5 years after injury should have him ready to go I would think.

We'll see.

Agree he played more conservative or tentative. I hope some was by design. I really do not think we had a plan B last year which forced the staff to play as though we only had one QB. The emergence of Carnes (hopefully) should allow the staff to play Martinez to his fullest and not have to play the "what if" game.

A kid like Martinez needs to be able to run, not be a game manager. The game manager was good in that he didn't lose any games, but he has the speed to be a game changer and by injury or design the staff appeared to use him very little in that role last year.

In turn I'll agree with that too.

Tmart as a game manager is way too much of a waste. It seems to me Beck has to either fully unleash him or put in someone else. I don't know but it seems there is a good chance a lot of that ultra-conservative use could be Bo/Beck sweating the load about Carnes not being ready last year. That and not being sold on Green. A lot of people I respect have stated such.

But even if true that shouldn't be a factor this year. Let the best man win!

 

[Treand3]

This hurts Martinez, Carnes, Armstrong, RKIII ETC......(not arguing Martinez played smarter last year, but not athletically improved)

I'm not wholly convinced Martinez was 100% in 2011. This is purely conjecture on my part, but after watching the way he played in 2010 compared to 2011, something was off in his athleticism. And I'm not just talking defenses being wise to his act. He didn't look like he had the same speed.

You could be right about not being 100%. but I thought it looked more like he was thinking too much out there. Or maybe even being coached to play more conservative. It always seemed like when it looked like he had a lane to break one, one person always had a good angle.

I'm not sure either. At times it sure looked like he had lost a step. At other times I blinked and missed him. Or maybe it's like you mention playing so conservative, the sliding, etc. I don't know. He rarely called his own number last year making it even tougher to figure it out.

We'll need him to explode again this year as we have the talented backups ready for trial. So Beck has to unleash him and see how it goes. 1.5 years after injury should have him ready to go I would think.

We'll see.

Agree he played more conservative or tentative. I hope some was by design. I really do not think we had a plan B last year which forced the staff to play as though we only had one QB. The emergence of Carnes (hopefully) should allow the staff to play Martinez to his fullest and not have to play the "what if" game.

A kid like Martinez needs to be able to run, not be a game manager. The game manager was good in that he didn't lose any games, but he has the speed to be a game changer and by injury or design the staff appeared to use him very little in that role last year.

You guys hit the nail on the head, and its frankly something I unintentionally overlooked. There weren't a lot of plays where T mart could display his speed like I envisioned against the B1G and the lack of development by Carnes most likely played a bit of a role, in addition to learning a new offense. Much like Dennard Robinson, as we seen against us in Nov, Martinez is far more effective when allowed to run fully instead of being relegated to play in the pocket, fortunately they have a capable backup in Devin Gardner.

 

[True2tRA]

Just curious? Do you think Taylor's running was limited maybe not due to the coaches holding him back, maybe more due to the fact that in Taylor's freshman year he showed everyone that he is a 90% run threat, 10% pass threat? Maybe he wasn't as tentative as you think he was. Could it be that after one year of burning through every single defense that maybe just maybe the Big 10 watched film on him and decided they would not allow themselves to be beat by his legs? Maybe they thought they may have more success making him throw the ball? Just a thought. Let's not forget, as much as we all may think Nebraska is not doing well, there is another team on the field that might just be better at stopping it.

Taylor's freshman year, not a single team we played knew what to expect from him.........they had all never seen the damn kid play before! You get a year of film on a guy, you tend to have a better idea of how to slow him down. I'd say the opponents in the Big 10 did a pretty damn good of erasing his legs.

 

[Enhance]

I think you make a valid point, TTTR...A, but I still think Martinez wasn't 100% (or, his freshman self) in terms of speed in 2011. Game plan for him as you will, he's still faster than most of the people on the field, and he got caught quite often this last year. I'd have to go back and watch the games, but I think there was a difference between his 2010 and 2011 athleticism. I know some of this can be attributed to his more tentative playstyle this year, but it was his being caught from behind and inability to evade defenders that had me question his health.

That said, and I think lo country mentioned this, Martinez has the speed to be successful, but not the agility, imho. When he's asked to to evade tackles or make cuts, he looks dreadful. But if you give him a straight line and a destination, he's like a bullet. I think this is another reason why we didn't see a lot of Martinez' bursting speed this year. Remember in 2010, he would run that zone read, see the hole in the line, and burst straight through for a large gainer. In 2011, we spent a lot more time asking him to do play action fake quarterback runs or traditional option. I'm vehemently against him running traditional option because, quite frankly, I don't think he's good at it. Shotgun option is another thing, though.

 

[True2tRA]

I think you make a valid point, TTTR...A, but I still think Martinez wasn't 100% (or, his freshman self) in terms of speed in 2011. Game plan for him as you will, he's still faster than most of the people on the field, and he got caught quite often this last year. I'd have to go back and watch the games, but I think there was a difference between his 2010 and 2011 athleticism. I know some of this can be attributed to his more tentative playstyle this year, but it was his being caught from behind and inability to evade defenders that had me question his health.

That said, and I think lo country mentioned this, Martinez has the speed to be successful, but not the agility, imho. When he's asked to to evade tackles or make cuts, he looks dreadful. But if you give him a straight line and a destination, he's like a bullet. I think this is another reason why we didn't see a lot of Martinez' bursting speed this year. Remember in 2010, he would run that zone read, see the hole in the line, and burst straight through for a large gainer. In 2011, we spent a lot more time asking him to do play action fake quarterback runs or traditional option. I'm vehemently against him running traditional option because, quite frankly, I don't think he's good at it. Shotgun option is another thing, though.

Totally agree that he definitely seemed to pull up and shy away from contact quite a bit. I don't know if he was not healthy or what that was all about. Even when healthy, everybody is right on the point that he just doesn't really have the side to side capabilities we all wish he had. It's strictly north and south with him. As much as I love the option, it doesn't look right when he does it. Like you said, out of the shotgun, its a whole other story. When he sees a hole open up, if he gets some confidence back and hits that hole like he used to then this offense can still be scary. We just can't rely on it as our only source of offense like we did in the past. It's just not gonna happen. Defenses know it. Plus, what a waste of talent at WR if we don't get these guys involved. I love Burkhead, and I don't deny TM's ability to run and run fast, but these WR's aren't blockers, they are playmakers. (okay, Enunwa is both) These guys could start for a lot of teams in this country, I hope their skills are utilized. If Taylor can break a big one here or there, hell yea go for it. But this offense seems like it has been too reliant on the all or none. The Homerun or the Strikeout. I'd like to see some nice 13 play drives, 3rd down conversions, and mixing up the playcalling a bit on 1 and 2nd downs instead of being so predictable.