For all of his great attributes as a runner when healthy, the frequent criticism of Nebraska sophomore quarterback Taylor Martinez are "He can't pass" or "His throwing motion is lousy."
True, Martinez will never be Tom Brady but even those who expect him to reach even the passing accuracy levels of recent former Husker quarterbacks Zac Taylor (2005-2006) or Joe Ganz (2008) are going to be sorely disappointed. Granted, Martinez is still very young and growing into his role as a passer but he hasn't really ever shown serious potential as a pocket passer or someone who can progress through four or five reads. He's never going to be throwing the pretty fade for a corner of the endzone touchdown and nor will he be expert a fitting a pass between an underneath linebacker and an over the top safety on a post route.
The promising thing about new offensive coordinator Tim Beck's scheme, at least based on what we heard throughout the offseason, is that these things shouldn't be as big of a weakness. What the offense should do is maximize Martinez's strengths, which are blinding straight-line speed and some experience with running an up-tempo, spread-option scheme.
For those who want Martinez to become Joe Montana, the Huskers don't need him to be a pinpoint passer, if the offense can get the defense to equally fear runs up the middle, options to the boundary, or screen passes to the likes of Kenny Bell or Ameer Abdullah. That's how Chip Kelly does it in Oregon. He makes defenses try to defend horizontally and vertically, while trying to catch their breath and make adjustments with minimal time against a no-huddle offense. If Martinez can get to the level of say Oregon's Darren James or Texas's Vince Young, rather than expecting he will become an NFL-caliber quarterback, that'll be fine.
Here are Nebraska quarterback statistics since 2004:
2004 - Joe Dailey - 2025 yds, 49.4%, 6.53 yds/att, 17 TDs, 19 INTs
2005 - Zac Taylor - 2653 yds, 55.1%, 6.17 yds/att, 19 TDs, 12 INTs
2006 - Zac Taylor - 3197 yds, 59.6%, 8.18 yds/att, 26 TDs, 8 INTs
2007 - Sam Keller - 2422 yds, 63.1 %, 7.45 yds/att, 14 TDs, 10 INTs
2007 - Joe Ganz - 1435 yds, 58.6%, 9.44 yds/att, 16 TDs, 7 INTs
2008 - Joe Ganz - 3568 yds, 67.9%, 8.50 yds/att, 25 TDs, 11 INTs
2009 - Zac Lee - 2143 yds, 58.6%, 7.10 yds/att, 14 TDs, 10 INTs
2010 - Taylor Martinez - 1631 yds, 59.2%, 8.32 yds/att, 10 TDs, 7 INTs
All quarterbacks listed from 2004-2009 combined for 575 rushing yards while Martinez had 965 on his own in 2010.
Other than Ganz in 2008 (67.9%), which of those years was any of the guys on this list a "more accurate passer" than Martinez last year? Obviously his yardage and touchdowns are down because he plays in a totally different offense but Keller was the only other one to really exceed Martinez's percentage last year and no one did it in their first year as a starter. Keep in mind, Keller started at Arizona State before transferring. In addition, we all remember how much help Martinez got from his wide receivers last year.
I'm not going to argue that Martinez gets any style points for how he looks in the pocket but he is serviceable as a passer. As for this business of throwing motion, people didn't like Phillip Rivers throwing motion either but that's turned out all right for him with the Sa Diego Chargers. Bernie Kosar nearly won a Heisman Trophy and started for years in the NFL throwing side-arm so I don't get hung up on how the delivery looks.
I'd like to see Martinez work through his progressions a little more as well but when he pulled the ball down and ran against Tennessee-Chattanooga, he got a first down more often than not.
Showing posts with label Joe Dailey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe Dailey. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Options would be good
I remember reading a story http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2011/03/08/4d77073d39a21
several months ago by Sam McKewon (former NebraskaStatePaper reporter who has since joined the Omaha World Herald in covering Nebraska football) about the fundamental difference in the passing philosophy of former offensive coordinator Shawn Watson as opposed to the concepts of since named OC Tim Beck.
For starters, I have great respect for McKewon’s work. He is a former cohort of mine from the mid-1990s at the Daily Nebraskan. I thought he was a bright young man then and think the same of him now. Well, he’s not so young now but you get the point.
One thing that I don’t think the Huskers have ever done (at least in recent memory) is give their wide receivers option routes. If Brandon Kinnie had the ability to break his slant route to a slant and go during the last fourth down of the Big12 title game, it could potentially been an easy first down.
I know the West Coast Offense cynics would say the WCO based on option routes but Nebraska has not run a true version since BC. However, it should also be noted that the last team that ran a pure form of the WCO was Bill Walsh’s San Francisco 49ers.
The biggest problem the last couple of years with Nebraska’s offense was the fact that you had at was the parts of the WCO mashed together with power running schemes, then last year which became largely an offense of “watch Taylor Martinez run the zone read.”
Anyway back to the original point of running patterns that feature option routes? Yes, it requires a savvy quarterback to know what route the wide receiver is going to choose based on the defensive look. The last Husker QBs that ran the WCO were Zac Taylor and Joe Ganz but it never appeared even in those days that wide receivers were ever given that degree of freedom.
In order to execute option routes, the quarterback has to have an understanding of the different route options that his intended receiver has, and also has to have a sense of which one he will take depending on the defense. So if you take that aforementioned fourth down pass in the Big 12 title game as an example, ideally the quarterback would see that Kinnie’s DB is playing tight press coverage to take away the slant or hitch, so he would anticipate that Kinnie would instead break the route into a fly pattern and hit him in stride as he passes the defender. Instead, what happened was Kinnie ran a slant, got jammed, and Martinez threw it towards him anyway even though there was no way in hell the ball was going to be caught.
Most people who gripe about playcalling and the offense late last season don’t realize that Martinez couldn’t operate any sort of offense that required decision making in the passing game. That makes you a one-route offense with no chance for audible. That makes you extremely easy to defend. The ability to spot a rush and flip out a short pass to an outlet receiver was gone. No screens to slow down the rush. No running threat from the quarterback that kept defenses honest earlier in the season.
Hopefully Martinez can develop enough to operate a competent collegiate attack this season. If not, don’t expect too much. Option routes are not exactly brain surgery. High school teams all over the country run spread offenses with option routes.
several months ago by Sam McKewon (former NebraskaStatePaper reporter who has since joined the Omaha World Herald in covering Nebraska football) about the fundamental difference in the passing philosophy of former offensive coordinator Shawn Watson as opposed to the concepts of since named OC Tim Beck.
For starters, I have great respect for McKewon’s work. He is a former cohort of mine from the mid-1990s at the Daily Nebraskan. I thought he was a bright young man then and think the same of him now. Well, he’s not so young now but you get the point.
One thing that I don’t think the Huskers have ever done (at least in recent memory) is give their wide receivers option routes. If Brandon Kinnie had the ability to break his slant route to a slant and go during the last fourth down of the Big12 title game, it could potentially been an easy first down.
I know the West Coast Offense cynics would say the WCO based on option routes but Nebraska has not run a true version since BC. However, it should also be noted that the last team that ran a pure form of the WCO was Bill Walsh’s San Francisco 49ers.
The biggest problem the last couple of years with Nebraska’s offense was the fact that you had at was the parts of the WCO mashed together with power running schemes, then last year which became largely an offense of “watch Taylor Martinez run the zone read.”
Anyway back to the original point of running patterns that feature option routes? Yes, it requires a savvy quarterback to know what route the wide receiver is going to choose based on the defensive look. The last Husker QBs that ran the WCO were Zac Taylor and Joe Ganz but it never appeared even in those days that wide receivers were ever given that degree of freedom.
In order to execute option routes, the quarterback has to have an understanding of the different route options that his intended receiver has, and also has to have a sense of which one he will take depending on the defense. So if you take that aforementioned fourth down pass in the Big 12 title game as an example, ideally the quarterback would see that Kinnie’s DB is playing tight press coverage to take away the slant or hitch, so he would anticipate that Kinnie would instead break the route into a fly pattern and hit him in stride as he passes the defender. Instead, what happened was Kinnie ran a slant, got jammed, and Martinez threw it towards him anyway even though there was no way in hell the ball was going to be caught.
Most people who gripe about playcalling and the offense late last season don’t realize that Martinez couldn’t operate any sort of offense that required decision making in the passing game. That makes you a one-route offense with no chance for audible. That makes you extremely easy to defend. The ability to spot a rush and flip out a short pass to an outlet receiver was gone. No screens to slow down the rush. No running threat from the quarterback that kept defenses honest earlier in the season.
Hopefully Martinez can develop enough to operate a competent collegiate attack this season. If not, don’t expect too much. Option routes are not exactly brain surgery. High school teams all over the country run spread offenses with option routes.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Sizing up Zac Lee expectations
While it is commonly believed that Nebraska football is on its way back under second-year head coach Bo Pelini, if there is one thing that tempers 2009 expectations it is breaking in a new starting quarterback.
The Huskers went 9-4 in Pelini’s first season and will have a new starting quarterback (most likely Zac Lee) to replace the graduated Joe Ganz. Most preseason prognosticators seem to pick Kansas to prevail over Nebraska in the Big 12 North for 2009 in part due to the return of its quarterback Todd Reesing.
Lee is the favorite to become Nebraska’s starting quarterback but mostly by default. Lee, who is a junior college transfer from San Francisco City College, will compete with redshirt freshman Kody Spano and true freshman Cody Green for starting duties at quarterback. Lee sat out the 2005 season before enrolling in junior college in January of 2006, giving him four years to use three seasons of eligibility at Nebraska, where he redshirted in 2007 and appeared in two games in a mop-up role last season. Lee is advertised as a quarterback that has a strong arm and good mobility.
So what are the realistic expectations we should have for Lee? Assuming that he winds up the starter – and there’s every reason to think he will.
In one respect, I would save all or any expectation until the 2010 season. For this year, the biggest thing Lee needs to do is execute the basics with the other more experienced components of Husker offense taking on the big load. That means the offensive line; receivers and the backs need to carry the team most of the season.
Last season, Ganz opened the year with the return of his share of experienced supporting cast members. Sure the Huskers scored a combined 120 point in the first three games against Western Michigan, San Jose State and New Mexico State but also needed two non-offensive touchdowns to pull away from San Jose State 35-12.
One thing that bodes well for Lee is that production issues early last season had less to do with Ganz and more to do with an emphasis on a power running game which the Huskers lacked personnel to effectively run. As a result, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson began to spread defenses out which created lanes for Ganz, Roy Helu, and Marlon Lucky.
I do not expect Lee to explode but I anticipate that he will make things “look easier” because he possess more natural talent than Ganz. The hardest thing to replace about Ganz will be his leadership.
Ganz was undeniably a big reason Nebraska won nine games last season but he also helped seal the team’s fate in the four losses. I put Ganz in much the same category as Zac Taylor in that both are tough guys and gamers but also spotty in the clutch. Their mistakes often stemmed from trying to do too much.
The situation is different this year. Lee does not have to be a hero. The Huskers have a pretty solid line, proven running backs, and the makings of a stout defense. Taylor and Ganz, especially Taylor, really didn't have either of those things with any consistency.
That leads me to believe that Lee will be more than up to what is expected of him. Keep in mind, the Lee era is also coinciding with the stabilization of Nebraska’s identity on offense (multiple/balanced). As a result, we will see more of a solid running game as opposed to running the ball just for the sake of doing it.
Watson found what works found and the O-Line is no doubt getting the reps on it in practice.
Lee in a much better situation than Taylor and especially Joe Daily were in under Bill Callahan’s coaching staff. Lee has had two complete seasons and while injured his first spring, he had three springs to get an understanding of the offense and what it means to compete at the Div I-A level.
He also has offensive teammates that are totally on the same page, as much as a college program can reasonably have. Everybody around him knows what to do. The 2004 and 2005 clubs were trying to find guys who could fit and grasp the system. D-linemen were made O-linemen. You also had a fifth year senior safety (Willie Amos) moved to receiver. Taylor paid a physical price; a Nebraska QB should never again have to pay.
Lee, however, has had the same quarterback coach and coordinator throughout all three years. The biggest thing to keep in mind with Watson is that he is also more practical with college limitations, than Callahan and Norvell were. They were fully immersed in their West Coast Offensive philosophy.
It was one thing to add numerous playbook volume for say Rich Gannon when the Oakland Raiders were on their way to a Super Bowl appearance in 2002 because a) Gannon was an NFL veteran and b) at the pro level, it is a full-time job. Whereas in the college game, there are limitations on how much time they can spend on football.
The Huskers went 9-4 in Pelini’s first season and will have a new starting quarterback (most likely Zac Lee) to replace the graduated Joe Ganz. Most preseason prognosticators seem to pick Kansas to prevail over Nebraska in the Big 12 North for 2009 in part due to the return of its quarterback Todd Reesing.
Lee is the favorite to become Nebraska’s starting quarterback but mostly by default. Lee, who is a junior college transfer from San Francisco City College, will compete with redshirt freshman Kody Spano and true freshman Cody Green for starting duties at quarterback. Lee sat out the 2005 season before enrolling in junior college in January of 2006, giving him four years to use three seasons of eligibility at Nebraska, where he redshirted in 2007 and appeared in two games in a mop-up role last season. Lee is advertised as a quarterback that has a strong arm and good mobility.
So what are the realistic expectations we should have for Lee? Assuming that he winds up the starter – and there’s every reason to think he will.
In one respect, I would save all or any expectation until the 2010 season. For this year, the biggest thing Lee needs to do is execute the basics with the other more experienced components of Husker offense taking on the big load. That means the offensive line; receivers and the backs need to carry the team most of the season.
Last season, Ganz opened the year with the return of his share of experienced supporting cast members. Sure the Huskers scored a combined 120 point in the first three games against Western Michigan, San Jose State and New Mexico State but also needed two non-offensive touchdowns to pull away from San Jose State 35-12.
One thing that bodes well for Lee is that production issues early last season had less to do with Ganz and more to do with an emphasis on a power running game which the Huskers lacked personnel to effectively run. As a result, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson began to spread defenses out which created lanes for Ganz, Roy Helu, and Marlon Lucky.
I do not expect Lee to explode but I anticipate that he will make things “look easier” because he possess more natural talent than Ganz. The hardest thing to replace about Ganz will be his leadership.
Ganz was undeniably a big reason Nebraska won nine games last season but he also helped seal the team’s fate in the four losses. I put Ganz in much the same category as Zac Taylor in that both are tough guys and gamers but also spotty in the clutch. Their mistakes often stemmed from trying to do too much.
The situation is different this year. Lee does not have to be a hero. The Huskers have a pretty solid line, proven running backs, and the makings of a stout defense. Taylor and Ganz, especially Taylor, really didn't have either of those things with any consistency.
That leads me to believe that Lee will be more than up to what is expected of him. Keep in mind, the Lee era is also coinciding with the stabilization of Nebraska’s identity on offense (multiple/balanced). As a result, we will see more of a solid running game as opposed to running the ball just for the sake of doing it.
Watson found what works found and the O-Line is no doubt getting the reps on it in practice.
Lee in a much better situation than Taylor and especially Joe Daily were in under Bill Callahan’s coaching staff. Lee has had two complete seasons and while injured his first spring, he had three springs to get an understanding of the offense and what it means to compete at the Div I-A level.
He also has offensive teammates that are totally on the same page, as much as a college program can reasonably have. Everybody around him knows what to do. The 2004 and 2005 clubs were trying to find guys who could fit and grasp the system. D-linemen were made O-linemen. You also had a fifth year senior safety (Willie Amos) moved to receiver. Taylor paid a physical price; a Nebraska QB should never again have to pay.
Lee, however, has had the same quarterback coach and coordinator throughout all three years. The biggest thing to keep in mind with Watson is that he is also more practical with college limitations, than Callahan and Norvell were. They were fully immersed in their West Coast Offensive philosophy.
It was one thing to add numerous playbook volume for say Rich Gannon when the Oakland Raiders were on their way to a Super Bowl appearance in 2002 because a) Gannon was an NFL veteran and b) at the pro level, it is a full-time job. Whereas in the college game, there are limitations on how much time they can spend on football.
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