Armstrong at QB

[Danimal]

Again, NU won 3 MNC's with QB's barely above 50%.

A completely different offensive system. Making that comparison is totally irrelevant.

This

Our scheme is supposed to be rather run-oriented but still balanced, at least to where we should be able to pass consistently when teams stack up to stop the run. Part certainly goes on Beck's playcalling but Thommi was gripping Saturday and just not making the necessary plays.

 

[Hunter94]

Bo made a comment that TA had poor fundamentals in his passing game.....i guess this is the best we got? at this point in the season?? reminds me of TM...we haven't had a decent throwing QB in years........hard to run a good spread offense when your guy can't throw worth a damn!.....

 

[knapplc]

Yes, Tommy has a very strong arm and can run, but:

1. He is bad under pressure. He almost always will throw the ball to who ever he is looking at, even if he is covered, when the pressure comes. Almost never throws it away or extends the play by moving around the pocket (other then designed roll outs).

2. Routinely doesn't hit the receiver where he can run with it. Not only are the 10 yard misses hurting us, the plays where the receiver has to stretch, jump, extend, etc to catch it are very problematic, especially when he has very little pressure. How many time did a receiver basically have to catch the ball at their feet during the last game?

3. Almost always calls an option when he audibles, and it rarely works. I believe he thinks he can always get the yards from the option, but the problem is that he's calling the audible when it's not there. Ie he needs to audible to other things as well.

4. Needs to have more short passes to Abdullah. Requiring a defense to cover Abdullah out of the back field would help open up the rest of the field.

1. He's not bad under pressure. He has bad moments, at times, under pressure, but every quarterback is less effective under pressure. That's why teams bring pressure. Several times against Georgia, FAU & McNeese State Tommy faced pressure and made a bad play. Several times he made a great play, in all three games. The hope is that, as he grows into the role, the percentage of good plays increases. He's already doing well. He's just not perfect yet.

2. Not true at all. Sometimes he doesn't, but several times he does. He threw a nifty pass right over the head of the LB against FAU, Westy caught it & would have taken it to the house if the safety wasn't right there. Westy scored on a catch-and-run against McNeese State. Enunwa caught that 99-yard pass in stride on his way to the house against Georgia. Armstrong can do this, he just doesn't always.

3. Not even remotely true. Tommy's audibles are not "always options," and frequently his audibles result in good plays. Georgia, 4th & 2, he audibled to the slant pass to Kenny Bell, executed it perfectly, Kenny caught the ball and ran with it (see your point 2 above) and we had a 26-yard gain. There have been several comments about Tommy's audibles being successful already this year. If you haven't seen them, you're intentionally trying to miss them.

4. Agreed.

 

[desertshox]

we haven't had consistent play on the offensive line since barney has been the coach

John Garrison is OL coach

We havent had consistent offensive line play since 2001.

Fact.

Did I disagree with that?

he expanded the time frame to before barney round 1.

 

[SouthLincoln Husker]

You can not blame all this on Tommy. Beck's playing calling was terrible, based on the fact that Bell & Turner were on the bench. There was a lack of WR speed, which is a real concern in the future. This team was able to go one on one & double team Westercamp, while blitzing on almost every down. You have to call plays that fit your personnel.

Not that we couldn't have done things differently but there were several plays that led to a wide open receiver 10-15 yards downfield but the pass was off. That is absolutely on the quarterback when he has room and time to throw.

Tommysmlove affair with the deep ball needs to die down a bit. Not saying give up on it entirely, but he goes deep quite a bit. Checking down to Ameer is obviously a problem for Tommy according to anybody close to the situation. He has to be more willing to do that. Also, some of those short routes are there and need to be an option for him. Idmlike to see us exploit opposing linebackers more like they do to us. heck, sometimes Ameer isn't covered at all. Still, losing two of our top WR's did contribute to some missed throws.

I disagree! I think it is Beck that is in love with the deep ball. Most of our short passes are based on timing. Throw the ball where they will be. I never seen this Sat. This is play calling. I will agree that we need to get the RBs & TEs involved in the passing game. It seemed when Carter or Cotton moved to the inside the safety would come up leaving the middle open.

 

[SouthLincoln Husker]

Ricker is not the answer. I love the kid and he can run, but his passing needs a lot of work.

 

[knapplc]

The deep passes are part of the playbook to keep defenses honest. It seems like they're a great idea every time we connect a long pass, a terrible idea whenever we throw an incompletion.

 

[Count 'Bility]

we haven't had consistent play on the offensive line since barney has been the coach

John Garrison is OL coach

We havent had consistent offensive line play since 2001.

Fact.

Did I disagree with that?

he expanded the time frame to before barney round 1.

Yeah, I just wanted to note that the issues with the Oline go WEEEEELLLLLLL beyond the Pelini HC era.

Not that he's excused for not fixing it, but he's not the one that tarnished it either.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Watching the game last night, it is very apparent that Tommy isn't making his progressions and reads. I know this is something that Bo mentioned, but there were a few plays that he had pre-determined where he was going to throw before the ball was even snapped.

It's great that Tommy has chemistry with his besty-Westy, but he can't go to him every key pass play. Beck needs to emphasize to Tommy that the check-down is there. Ameer and Newby should be swing pass options on every pass play.

 

[SouthLincoln Husker]

The deep passes are part of the playbook to keep defenses honest. It seems like they're a great idea every time we connect a long pass, a terrible idea whenever we throw an incompletion.

Agreed, but some times Beck gets pass happy with the deep ball.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

The deep passes are part of the playbook to keep defenses honest. It seems like they're a great idea every time we connect a long pass, a terrible idea whenever we throw an incompletion.

Agreed, but some times Beck gets pass happy with the deep ball.

I like the vertical passing game, when the run game is working. If the run game isn't working, Beck and TA need to get some horizontal routes for easy throws, first downs, and to stretch the defense sideways.

Against FAU, Beck pounded the ball up the middle at first, which set up the deep passing game and outside zone plays in the run game. He didn't really set anything up against McNeese.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

You can not blame all this on Tommy. Beck's playing calling was terrible, based on the fact that Bell & Turner were on the bench. There was a lack of WR speed, which is a real concern in the future. This team was able to go one on one & double team Westercamp, while blitzing on almost every down. You have to call plays that fit your personnel.

Not that we couldn't have done things differently but there were several plays that led to a wide open receiver 10-15 yards downfield but the pass was off. That is absolutely on the quarterback when he has room and time to throw.

Tommysmlove affair with the deep ball needs to die down a bit. Not saying give up on it entirely, but he goes deep quite a bit. Checking down to Ameer is obviously a problem for Tommy according to anybody close to the situation. He has to be more willing to do that. Also, some of those short routes are there and need to be an option for him. Idmlike to see us exploit opposing linebackers more like they do to us. heck, sometimes Ameer isn't covered at all. Still, losing two of our top WR's did contribute to some missed throws.

He throws a mostly great deep ball, he just needs to figure out more calculated times to do it. I think he threw bombs on two consecutive 3rd and 6/7 downs, killing the series, but then he comes back and throws that deep one to Jordan that would have been a top 10 play if not for the penalty.

I'm not sure this wasn't by design. Going into the game, Beck must have looked at what McNeese St likes to do on defense (4-2-5) and known the vertical throwing game was going to be there. The problem is this game plan took away from the running game, and not only limited Ameer's touches but added pressure to Tommy.

 

[Dagerow]

Yes, Tommy has a very strong arm and can run, but:

1. He is bad under pressure. He almost always will throw the ball to who ever he is looking at, even if he is covered, when the pressure comes. Almost never throws it away or extends the play by moving around the pocket (other then designed roll outs).

2. Routinely doesn't hit the receiver where he can run with it. Not only are the 10 yard misses hurting us, the plays where the receiver has to stretch, jump, extend, etc to catch it are very problematic, especially when he has very little pressure. How many time did a receiver basically have to catch the ball at their feet during the last game?

3. Almost always calls an option when he audibles, and it rarely works. I believe he thinks he can always get the yards from the option, but the problem is that he's calling the audible when it's not there. Ie he needs to audible to other things as well.

4. Needs to have more short passes to Abdullah. Requiring a defense to cover Abdullah out of the back field would help open up the rest of the field.

1. He's not bad under pressure. He has bad moments, at times, under pressure, but every quarterback is less effective under pressure. That's why teams bring pressure. Several times against Georgia, FAU & McNeese State Tommy faced pressure and made a bad play. Several times he made a great play, in all three games. The hope is that, as he grows into the role, the percentage of good plays increases. He's already doing well. He's just not perfect yet.

Of course pressure effects qbs. But your missing the point. He just throw it at who ever he was looking at before he is hit. He usually doesn't try to elude the hit or just throw it away. Yes, he needs to work on it.

2. Not true at all. Sometimes he doesn't, but several times he does. He threw a nifty pass right over the head of the LB against FAU, Westy caught it & would have taken it to the house if the safety wasn't right there. Westy scored on a catch-and-run against McNeese State. Enunwa caught that 99-yard pass in stride on his way to the house against Georgia. Armstrong can do this, he just doesn't always.

What's his completion percentage? Buff said, and that's with, for the most part, excellent protection. (Also, I'm looking at the film from this year, not last year).

3. Not even remotely true. Tommy's audibles are not "always options," and frequently his audibles result in good plays. Georgia, 4th & 2, he audibled to the slant pass to Kenny Bell, executed it perfectly, Kenny caught the ball and ran with it (see your point 2 above) and we had a 26-yard gain. There have been several comments about Tommy's audibles being successful already this year. If you haven't seen them, you're intentionally trying to miss them.

Again, I'm not talking about last year, and I stand by my comments. Rewatch the game again and tell me I'm wrong.

4. Agreed.

 

[teachercd]

I think the "he throws a great deep ball" is a bit of a myth, I think he throws a nice looking deep ball but its no more on target that T-mart. T-mart was short...TA is long. But T-Mart completed 65% of his passes.

 

[Count 'Bility]

I think the "he throws a great deep ball" is a bit of a myth, I think he throws a nice looking deep ball but its no more on target that T-mart. T-mart was short...TA is long. But T-Mart completed 65% of his passes.

Tommy's struggle with the deep ball are due to lack of chemistry and timing with his receivers. Taylors was simply cuz he wasnt very good at throwing the ball. Tommy is no less effective at it now than Taylor was as a senior. Tommy has LOTS of room to grow. At least Tommy appears to have a natural skill, as well as a desire to push the ball down the field. Does he and/or Beck get a little carried away with it? Sure. So far. But just that threat is going to come in handy. We just didnt have much of a deep thread with Martinez for whatever reason. Maybe he was reluctant. Maybe it was line play and not enough time. Who knows. But it wasnt there. But it's there now. Tommy has dropped in some pretty nice 30+ yard passes as well already this year that I just dont think Martinez was capable of. And it just stems back to Tommy being an actual quarterback. And sophmore passing Tommy compared to sophmore passing Taylor? I think Tommy is much farther along.