Watson

miamihrrcns2001 said:
We did all of that with a QB who rode the metal for 4 years and two white wide receivers who weren't the fastest, strongest, or most physically fit in the football field but made up for it with grit and determination. Not to mention a struggling running game for most of the season.
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Nice <_<

 
Agree with you OP, for the most part.

It's not all Watson, but it is partially Watson. I do feel he knows what he is doing as an OC, but at the same time he isn't doing what he should as an OC, and that is find what this team is good at and play to their strengths. We are still throwing everything except the kitchen sink into football games, and it has given us 10, 7, and 13 offensive points since MU. Obviously, something is wrong there if us being "multiple" offensively isn't resulting in points.

 
Come on -- do we have to be so politically correct? So he said white receivers. One could say that the athletic ability that Rex Burkhead has is perhaps rare for a white RB. That, of course, is open for fair debate, but why freak out if it's brought up? :koolaid2:

 
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Michael said:
I agree. Our offense is ridiculous and is set up for failure unless you have the correct personnel and they execute to near perfection every play. There is very little room for error. Time for an offensive change.
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Really? An offense that doesn't require execution to dominate. Good luck.

 
The man needs to grow some balls. We get a turnover inside of Baylor's 30, you take a kill shot for a TD. Instead we run a QB draw, fumble the ball right back and what does Baylor do? Take a shot down the middle of the field for a big gain. Watson doesn't have that killer mentality right now and seems indecisive, which is exactly what Lee is.

It also amazes me that coaches teach kids to go North and South, not East and West, but over half of the play calls on offense go East and West. Why is that?

 
Spartness said:
Come on -- do we have to be so politically correct? So he said white receivers. One could say that the athletic ability that Rex Burkhead has is perhaps rare for a white RB. That, of course, is open for fair debate, but why freak out if it's brought up? :koolaid2:
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The point is the lack of fair play when it comes to using terms, white and its right black and its not politically correct. The way I look at it white doesn't have anything to do with the point or the argument. Totally unessary! What's the difference between that comment and what Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder said??? :WTH

 
huskerstuckinmichigan said:
indianahusker said:
Saw this on another board, and I thought it was very insightful:

Watson may not have turned into a moron in one season, but he is stubborn and arrogant. For example, there were a lot of things I didn't like about the offense last season. A lot of people were calling for the changes Watson finally made after the Missouri (in 2007) game long before he implemented them last season. He insisted on starting Lucky long after it was clear Helu was the best back. Some of his comments in the media this season have been contradictory and/or outright untrue: that time in a system doesn't matter unless it's in games - and then later going with Lee because of his practice performance. Huh? He also refused to play Green last week for a single play, described Lee's management of the offense as "perfect" and then a week later yanked him for Green. Either Lee's performance wasn't "perfect" or Green won the job in practice...which Watson last week was telling us wasn't that important.

These are the contradictions of a coach not sure of himself and trying to talk his way out of it.

Further, he refuses to call zone reads for Green even though he continually called them for Lee. He has stubbornly called outside zone for two years, even though it never works, and has far too many formation tendencies that casual fans pick up on (so you can bet d-coordinators do). Watson is also a very poor play caller near his own goal line. Think about how many pick-six's (or turnovers that led to turnovers/safeties) his offense has given up since the beginning of 2007 (VaTech, Missouri, Oklahoma, Clemson, etc, etc). He stubbornly insists on calling horizontal routes that risk interception returns for 5-yard gains and is far too quick to give up on the run or rely on the pass.

If Watson's offense can only succeed with a 5th year senior QB and two 5th-year senior receivers, than his offense is worthless because having all three of those elements is rare. Just about any offense will find success with those variables...show me an offense that succeeds when hampered by injuries or inexperience...THAT is good offense.

For example, Cincinatti has been forced to play five QBs in the last two seasons due to injury...and Brian Kelly's offense continues to thrive. Texas Tech was forced to start a kid making his 2nd start in Lincoln and he did okay...and then Leach's offense was good enough to put 42 on Kansas after they lost the *2nd* string QB and was forced to start the 3rd stringer. For that matter, Iowa State was forced to start two backup freshmen in Lincoln at QB and RB and managed to escape with a win.

Those are examples of coaching. Watson needs to leave; an offense that only succeeds with 5th-year senior starters is worthless. Still, I think Nebraska can salvage this season if Watson can just improve the offense to "average"...I think they'll eventually get it done.

And then he needs to leave after the season.
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Beautifully said. I have felt all along Watson is way to stubborn for his own good. I have mentioned that before, other D coordinators must be salivating when they look at game film of our offense.
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Yes! We shift all those guys before the snap to the other side....guess where the ball is going....

 
It's not about trickery and being cute and misdirection (things we all hate, I'm aware), but executing even when the defense knows what's coming. Because they just can't stop it.

Right?

 
zoogies said:
It's not about trickery and being cute and misdirection (things we all hate, I'm aware), but executing even when the defense knows what's coming. Because they just can't stop it.

Right?
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Exactly, if it was all play-calling and no execution, then how did our option work so well in the 90's? EXECUTION, EXECUTION, EXECUTION.

 
miamihrrcns2001 said:
zoogies said:
It's not about trickery and being cute and misdirection (things we all hate, I'm aware), but executing even when the defense knows what's coming. Because they just can't stop it.

Right?
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Exactly, if it was all play-calling and no execution, then how did our option work so well in the 90's? EXECUTION, EXECUTION, EXECUTION.
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BS, you can't just single out one thing when the production is this bad. Personally I think that we have been trying to keep things simple because they feel like the execution is not there, which I can understand, and maybe it needs to go that route even more. It could be that we tried to be so multiple that we aren't very good at anything (jack of all trades, master of none). Oregon looks like they have a very small playbook when they are playing (I think it probably is more complicated than it looks like, though), but they make it work alright.

But, I just can't agree with there being no misdirection, trickery catching opponents off guard and the like in the 90's. Hell, it was a misdirection play that won the game against Miami in 94, a fullback curl or counter trap (whatever you want to call it) catching the DT (Sapp) off guard because he was getting too deep to help stop our other plays. On the other hand, that play was also executed very well, and the execution of other plays forced the D to leave themselves succeptible to that.

In other words I'm saying that on one hand it isn't going to fix things to just line up in a new magical formation or run new magical plays, but it also isn't going to work to just work on 4 plays all week in practice and then just run those four plays, let alone just run the plays we have shown so far all season. I personally lean toward being for offensive creativity and trying to do things a bit different each week or each few weeks, but you can easily screw yourself over doing this too I suppose.

 
I'm not crazy about the horizontal passing game, but I saw Pete Carroll running these plays on Saturday and half the NFL doing it on Sunday. And Tom Osborne was a lot more fond of that Incredibly Slow-Developing Screen Pass than I was. I think some coaches treat it as a misdirection play to loosen up defenses that are stacking the box. And some coaches definitely use it to get an easy completion for a young and/or shaky quarterback looking to get into rhythm.

Even Brett Favre gets a lot of mileage from the horizontal passing game.

 
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