What will change, hopefully change, or stay the same with the 2012 offense?

[Enhance]

Back to the OT: I'm really liking the sound of this:

Nebraska is exploring ways to get senior tight ends Ben Cotton and Kyler Reed on the field more together. Credit a trip from New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick with perhaps opening that door a bit. The Patriots had the NFL’s best 1-2 punch at tight end with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

“He was talking with our staff,” Reed said. “They use their two tight ends a lot. Some of our coaches may spend some time up there. We’re still trying to get used it. We’re not trying to force catches — just play within the offense.”

Said Pelini: “That’s something we’ve talked about — making a concerted effort to get those guys the football and really have those guys on the field together. Even more than we did last year. You talk about base personnel and you put Kyler Reed on a linebacker? That’s going to create problems for people. He’s really looked good the first couple days.”

Reed said he and Cotton are as healthy — at the same time — as they have been in years. Reed suffered through hamstring troubles and a high ankle sprain last year, while Ben Cotton missed a chunk of time after a right arm injury vs. Penn State.

http://sports.omaha....ice-quick-hits/

2 reliable TEs - not many drops here. Likely those are short passes that Martinez can read quickly and throw on a line as well. 3rd & 8 conversions you can count on.

Agreed. We should be able to abuse teams with Reed... but we don't.

I think this just comes down to progressions, which might help explain the use of the quarterback cam this spring. I don't know where exactly Reed sits on most of Martinez' reads, but when I played pop-warner football, tight ends were generally pretty low on the progression list. This might have just been because of the offense we ran, but that's how it was for us. Obviously, they're hoping the cam shows them where Martinez is looking, and then they'll help him to make better reads to find the open guy.

 

[bshirt]

Back to the OT: I'm really liking the sound of this:

Nebraska is exploring ways to get senior tight ends Ben Cotton and Kyler Reed on the field more together. Credit a trip from New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick with perhaps opening that door a bit. The Patriots had the NFL’s best 1-2 punch at tight end with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

“He was talking with our staff,” Reed said. “They use their two tight ends a lot. Some of our coaches may spend some time up there. We’re still trying to get used it. We’re not trying to force catches — just play within the offense.”

Said Pelini: “That’s something we’ve talked about — making a concerted effort to get those guys the football and really have those guys on the field together. Even more than we did last year. You talk about base personnel and you put Kyler Reed on a linebacker? That’s going to create problems for people. He’s really looked good the first couple days.”

Reed said he and Cotton are as healthy — at the same time — as they have been in years. Reed suffered through hamstring troubles and a high ankle sprain last year, while Ben Cotton missed a chunk of time after a right arm injury vs. Penn State.

http://sports.omaha....ice-quick-hits/

2 reliable TEs - not many drops here. Likely those are short passes that Martinez can read quickly and throw on a line as well. 3rd & 8 conversions you can count on.

Agreed. We should be able to abuse teams with Reed... but we don't.

Last year was so strange how we used those two. Critical 3rd downs had us relying on Reed to block or Cotton to catch the ball. Cotton caught the ball far better than Reed blocked (to say the least) but I hope that especially on 3rd downs this year we use them for their strengths.

 

[Hunter94]

i remember all the hype about how Reed was going to serve as a mismatch on backers and be a huge factor........didn't happen.

 

[Hunter94]

i remember all the hype last season about how Reed was going to serve as a mismatch on backers and be a huge factor........didn't happen.

 

[zoogs]

yes, that needs to change. He IS a mismatch and he needs to be used more.

He had only 15 receptions last year (including a couple big ones - 53 yards, 44 yards), averaging 17 yards a pop. In 200, the man had 22 catches, 395 yards (18.0 average), and 8 touchdowns.

 

['SkersRule]

I have often wondered why Nebraska didn't use the 30 package more last season. I've also wondered why the Huskers on offense have one two back package the i-formation with the fullback and iback. Why can't they get in the shotgun or pistol with two running backs? You know Taylor in at quarterback with Rex on one side and Ameer on the other. Or Rex and Green or even Green and Ameer? I'm all for getting Rex is touches as the featured back but it is an incredibly long season and Tim Beck needs to do a much better job at developing ways to get different people the ball. Also why can't Beck shift Taylor out to receiver, bring Brion in and then actually throw the ball? Or shift Rex out to receiver and then have Green and Ameer as the two backs? Or shift Taylor and Rex out to receiver and then have Brion as the quarterback with Ben Cotton as a FB blocking for Green? I mean the possibilitites are nearly endless it just takes a shred of imagination and that is where our current play-caller seems to struggle.

 

[zoogs]

Beck showed a lot of imagination last year actually. It's just stuff like the diamond formation wasn't rolled out that often. Taylor did get rolled out to receiver, with Rex taking the snaps (an example is our early touchdown vs South Carolina, which I remember cause I watched it just yesterday! ) We had formations with two or three RBs on the field at the same time. We did some wacky stuff. Hopefully we really build on that creativity and make it a bigger part of the offense.

I just hope we get the base down, to enable that.

 

[Hercules]

i remember all the hype about how Reed was going to serve as a mismatch on backers and be a huge factor........didn't happen.

Wasn't he injured most of the year? Even in the practice report from the other day, Sean Callahan discussed how Reed was finally healthy after having hamstring issues limit him all last season.

 

[Saunders]

I have often wondered why Nebraska didn't use the 30 package more last season. I've also wondered why the Huskers on offense have one two back package the i-formation with the fullback and iback. Why can't they get in the shotgun or pistol with two running backs? You know Taylor in at quarterback with Rex on one side and Ameer on the other. Or Rex and Green or even Green and Ameer? I'm all for getting Rex is touches as the featured back but it is an incredibly long season and Tim Beck needs to do a much better job at developing ways to get different people the ball. Also why can't Beck shift Taylor out to receiver, bring Brion in and then actually throw the ball? Or shift Rex out to receiver and then have Green and Ameer as the two backs? Or shift Taylor and Rex out to receiver and then have Brion as the quarterback with Ben Cotton as a FB blocking for Green? I mean the possibilitites are nearly endless it just takes a shred of imagination and that is where our current play-caller seems to struggle.

Simple. Because when you have issues doing easy things, throwing sandlot football into the mix isn't a good idea.

 

[Hunter94]

I have often wondered why Nebraska didn't use the 30 package more last season. I've also wondered why the Huskers on offense have one two back package the i-formation with the fullback and iback. Why can't they get in the shotgun or pistol with two running backs? You know Taylor in at quarterback with Rex on one side and Ameer on the other. Or Rex and Green or even Green and Ameer? I'm all for getting Rex is touches as the featured back but it is an incredibly long season and Tim Beck needs to do a much better job at developing ways to get different people the ball. Also why can't Beck shift Taylor out to receiver, bring Brion in and then actually throw the ball? Or shift Rex out to receiver and then have Green and Ameer as the two backs? Or shift Taylor and Rex out to receiver and then have Brion as the quarterback with Ben Cotton as a FB blocking for Green? I mean the possibilitites are nearly endless it just takes a shred of imagination and that is where our current play-caller seems to struggle.

Simple. Because when you have issues doing easy things, throwing sandlot football into the mix isn't a good idea.

i don't think it is sandlot thinking at all, it is a matter of puts the pieces of the puzzle together effectively besides running Rex left, Rex right and zone read. it is time for Beck to step up his production on offense and show why we promoted him.

 

[Enhance]

I have often wondered why Nebraska didn't use the 30 package more last season. I've also wondered why the Huskers on offense have one two back package the i-formation with the fullback and iback. Why can't they get in the shotgun or pistol with two running backs? You know Taylor in at quarterback with Rex on one side and Ameer on the other. Or Rex and Green or even Green and Ameer? I'm all for getting Rex is touches as the featured back but it is an incredibly long season and Tim Beck needs to do a much better job at developing ways to get different people the ball. Also why can't Beck shift Taylor out to receiver, bring Brion in and then actually throw the ball? Or shift Rex out to receiver and then have Green and Ameer as the two backs? Or shift Taylor and Rex out to receiver and then have Brion as the quarterback with Ben Cotton as a FB blocking for Green? I mean the possibilitites are nearly endless it just takes a shred of imagination and that is where our current play-caller seems to struggle.

I remember seeing a two-back backfield many times last year. And the whole shifting Martinez out to receiver and bringing Carnes into throw...not sure I understand. That's basically only serving one purpose - turning Martinez in a WR/ blocker for a quarterback. People will know Carnes can throw. Putting Martinez out at WR is at best a fluke play that could only be used once. Otherwise, the wildcat serves the exact same purpose, but whoever we put in the backfield will probably be a better runner than Carnes.

I agree that we have tons of possibilities, but you have to think about application. Ben Cotton at fullback? Again, why? Practicing him at FB takes away from his time at TE. Many people on this board criticize the heck out of Reed's blocking abilities. Do we really want to take our best blocking TE, and put him at full back? All of these things are more 'aww, that's cute' rather than what we need to be doing, imho.

When it comes down to it, you need to be good at the fundamentals, not good at finding tons of different ways to get players into positions they don't usually play.

 

[kchusker_chris]

I have often wondered why Nebraska didn't use the 30 package more last season. I've also wondered why the Huskers on offense have one two back package the i-formation with the fullback and iback. Why can't they get in the shotgun or pistol with two running backs? You know Taylor in at quarterback with Rex on one side and Ameer on the other. Or Rex and Green or even Green and Ameer? I'm all for getting Rex is touches as the featured back but it is an incredibly long season and Tim Beck needs to do a much better job at developing ways to get different people the ball. Also why can't Beck shift Taylor out to receiver, bring Brion in and then actually throw the ball? Or shift Rex out to receiver and then have Green and Ameer as the two backs? Or shift Taylor and Rex out to receiver and then have Brion as the quarterback with Ben Cotton as a FB blocking for Green? I mean the possibilitites are nearly endless it just takes a shred of imagination and that is where our current play-caller seems to struggle.

I remember seeing a two-back backfield many times last year. And the whole shifting Martinez out to receiver and bringing Carnes into throw...not sure I understand. That's basically only serving one purpose - turning Martinez in a WR/ blocker for a quarterback. People will know Carnes can throw. Putting Martinez out at WR is at best a fluke play that could only be used once. Otherwise, the wildcat serves the exact same purpose, but whoever we put in the backfield will probably be a better runner than Carnes.

I agree that we have tons of possibilities, but you have to think about application. Ben Cotton at fullback? Again, why? Practicing him at FB takes away from his time at TE. Many people on this board criticize the heck out of Reed's blocking abilities. Do we really want to take our best blocking TE, and put him at full back? All of these things are more 'aww, that's cute' rather than what we need to be doing, imho.

When it comes down to it, you need to be good at the fundamentals, not good at finding tons of different ways to get players into positions they don't usually play.

:yeah :

 

[Hunter94]

i think more than anything the formations and the different combinations of running backs in the backfield is what skersrule is driving at.....Cotton, yeah, he needs to stay where he is....but the point is, after this season there will be no Rexcat, no Rex right or Rex left........this offense needs to evolve and badly.

 

[Saunders]

I have often wondered why Nebraska didn't use the 30 package more last season. I've also wondered why the Huskers on offense have one two back package the i-formation with the fullback and iback. Why can't they get in the shotgun or pistol with two running backs? You know Taylor in at quarterback with Rex on one side and Ameer on the other. Or Rex and Green or even Green and Ameer? I'm all for getting Rex is touches as the featured back but it is an incredibly long season and Tim Beck needs to do a much better job at developing ways to get different people the ball. Also why can't Beck shift Taylor out to receiver, bring Brion in and then actually throw the ball? Or shift Rex out to receiver and then have Green and Ameer as the two backs? Or shift Taylor and Rex out to receiver and then have Brion as the quarterback with Ben Cotton as a FB blocking for Green? I mean the possibilitites are nearly endless it just takes a shred of imagination and that is where our current play-caller seems to struggle.

I remember seeing a two-back backfield many times last year. And the whole shifting Martinez out to receiver and bringing Carnes into throw...not sure I understand. That's basically only serving one purpose - turning Martinez in a WR/ blocker for a quarterback. People will know Carnes can throw. Putting Martinez out at WR is at best a fluke play that could only be used once. Otherwise, the wildcat serves the exact same purpose, but whoever we put in the backfield will probably be a better runner than Carnes.

I agree that we have tons of possibilities, but you have to think about application. Ben Cotton at fullback? Again, why? Practicing him at FB takes away from his time at TE. Many people on this board criticize the heck out of Reed's blocking abilities. Do we really want to take our best blocking TE, and put him at full back? All of these things are more 'aww, that's cute' rather than what we need to be doing, imho.

When it comes down to it, you need to be good at the fundamentals, not good at finding tons of different ways to get players into positions they don't usually play.

Exactly what I meant by Sandlot football. That idea boiled down to throwing ideas against the wall to see what sticks. Cotton is to tall too be a good fullback, and putting him back there just tips the D that it's a pass. Same thing with putting TM at WR and bringing Carnes in. The kid already has issues with reading D's and throwing picks, tipping off the play like that is asking for a disaster.

But I agree with wanting to see more 2 back sets from the shotgun, with TM's ZR ability, you could run a mean motion/triple option from it.

 

['SkersRule]

It's not sandlot football it's called new looks or wrinkles. Sprinkle in some new looks and plays in every game to throw the defense off balance. Every team when they play Nebraska brings a ton of new looks and things they had never shown before. How many times in postgame press conferences did we hear Bo say that? So somehow nearly every team in the FBS can do it but if Nebraska were to try it we'd be playing sandlot football? Not buying it.