My issue is with the type of pass play that was called. Armstrong has accuracy issues trying to throw from the pocket to the sidelines 10-15 yards downfield. A straight dropback pass in four-wide with those routes is a long way from his strengths. Give him a screen pass or some shallow crossing routes. Give him a run-pass option.
I thought the shovel pass was a great call. The pass at the 1-yard line was decent but nothing brilliant. It was the same pass we tried against PSU (PI call) and Georgia ran a very risky Cover 2 zone. Yet the latter resulted in the longest play in school history and the former resulted in an incomplete pass. Go figure.
I think Beck called an average game. And not because he didn't run enough. I just don't see the attacking creativity that I see with many other teams. Where are all the perfect situational calls that exploit the other teams strategy and leave a receiver wide open? I see it 5-10 times a game with lots of teams (often our opponents) but only a couple from Beck (the play-action to Carter was nice). Even the run calls are very predictable. It's not terrible and he managed the risk pretty well, but it's a long way from elite. And part of that is his lack of confidence in the passing skills of the QBs he's had to work with, so I can cut him some slack there.
I try not to argue about play-calling because obviously no one can prove their claims and almost no one is swayed by arguments one way or the other. And it seems that about 80% of people are already decided on all the coaches and use their conclusions as their starting point. Some endlessly stick up for the defense and blame the offense. Some do it the other way around. Some stick up for all the coaches no matter what. Others can't stand the coaches no matter what (even to the point of rooting against the team to get the coaches fired). If there is interesting conversation, it's usually between the 20% that are willing to evaluate things game to game and be swayed.
I think Beck is quite average but certainly not stupid or incompetent (same goes for Bo, actually). Hopefully he loosens up and improves next year. Maybe Stanton will be that confident passer that he needs to do it.
Sorry to single you out in this discussion but this is a perfect example of how various fans view things differently. This thread has turned mostly into a discussion of one play where some think Beck should just stick with what every expects to be called on a certain play. He shouldn't try to out think the other team. Just run the dang ball.
Meanwhile, some fans have the opinion like I bolded. He isn't creative enough. He doesn't exploit the defense. He doesn't run plays in situations where the defense isn't expecting what is called.
Meanwhile, I can think of at least four situations where he did just that. I'm sure there are more and if I would rematch the game I could come up with them.
99.9 yard pass
Cethan Carter pass
Shovel pass to Newby
3rd down pass play discussed in this thread
All of these plays were exploiting what the defense was doing and Beck recognized it and ran a play that either was successful or would have been successful if executed correctly by the players.
I have the opinion that coaches simply can not win. We win the game and many in the fan base still won't be happy and find ways to criticize.
