More "Insider" Insights

[Mavric]

OK. Not exactly like the other thread. But Football.com asked some questions of three media guys who've been covering the Huskers this fall for their insights.

John Gaskins, 93.7 The Ticket (KNTK-FM)

Q: Who is one player you are most interested in seeing perform in this new system?

Gaskins: Offensively, Tommy Armstrong. He's another polarizing topic among Husker fans. He's a playmaker with his feet, and his arm when he scrambles. He also struggles reading defenses, doesn't see wide open receivers, and occasionally can't hit them when he does. So far in spring and fall practice, they're still running some zone read packages from the old offense, because he thrives in the zone read option. They're putting in deep passing plays because he has a strong arm. Will they call the plays that both make it easier for him to overcome his weaknesses and an offensive line that didn't protect him nearly enough last year?

Defensively, middle linebacker Josh Banderas. He was thrown to the wolves in a complex defensive system as a true freshman, then tossed around like a rag doll by the last coaching staff. He was both moved to another linebacker position and benched. He looked confused and got burned. And he admitted he was considering transferring if the last staff was kept.

Chris Schmidt, Hail Varsity Radio

Q: Based on what youve seen and heard, Can Armstrong be the quarterback Riley and Langsdorf need him to be?

Schmidt: I think Tommy can be the guy the staff wants him to be. Tommy has put in an insane amount of personal time reviewing film and throwing with his mates. Tommy will ned to check down to his running backs instead of tucking and running. Tommy will also need to have the time to go through his reads. All that said, his Oline, its development and ability to open holes for Newby and company will make Tommy's task easier. It can't be all on Tommy with this offense and I don't think the staff will ask him to be superman. Manage the game, make some plays, hold on to the football, move the chains. Don't lose the game. From a comfort standpoint, I think this staff will also keep some of the shotgun/zone read wrinkles in play so Tommy can still at times use his legs.

Mike'l Severe, Omaha World-Herald

Q: Based on what youve seen and heard, what types of things should Husker fans outside of Nebraska be looking for come September?

Severe: You will see more downfield passes in my opinion. Riley and Langsdorf both like to stretch the field and Tommy likes to throw it down there as well. The screen game has a lot of potential with Wilbon and Newby. Add that to the jet motion game and defenses will be taxed when it comes to stretching the field from sideline to sideline. I also expect the team to be really good vs the run because of the design of the system. The front 7's job will be to stop the run first. I worry a little about the pass defense because many of those guys will be out there on an island.

 

[Mierin]

Why will Tommy need to check down to his running backs instead of tucking and running? Maybe I'm not remembering things well but it seemed like he hardly ever tucked it and ran during a pass play. What usually happened was he threw it to the WR that he intended on throwing it to before the ball was snapped. He wasn't running it instead of throwing it to a wide open Abdullah. He was throwing it to a well-covered WR instead of throwing it to a wide open Abdullah. It frustrated me because he was really good at running when he did it.

If I had to pick 3 things he could do to vastly improve in the passing game, assuming that his completion % is set in stone and doesn't improve:

1. Look for the running back if no one is open.

2. Tuck it and run if no one is open.

3. Throw the ball into the stands if no one is open.

More than his mediocre completion %, his judgement when it came to throwing to covered receivers was his biggest problem.

 

[knapplc]

OK. Not exactly like the other thread. But Football.com asked some questions of three media guys who've been covering the Huskers this fall for their insights.

Mike'l Severe, Omaha World-Herald

Q: Based on what you've seen and heard, what types of things should Husker fans outside of Nebraska be looking for come September?

Severe: I also expect the team to be really good vs the run because of the design of the system. The front 7's job will be to stop the run first.

In the Big Ten?!?! Has Riley lost his mind?!?¿!?!!??¡???!!¿?!?!??!?!?¡!!?!¡????!!?!?¿!!??!?!?!???!

I worry a little about the pass defense because many of those guys will be out there on an island.

I'm the least worried about this. Let the opponent connect on a few pass plays. I'll exchange that for not giving up chunks of ground in the run game.

I'll take 3rd-&-6 vs. 2nd-&-4 any day of the week, and twice on Saturdays.

 

[Tomhusker64]

OK. Not exactly like the other thread. But Football.com asked some questions of three media guys who've been covering the Huskers this fall for their insights.

Mike'l Severe, Omaha World-Herald

Q: Based on what you've seen and heard, what types of things should Husker fans outside of Nebraska be looking for come September?

Severe: I also expect the team to be really good vs the run because of the design of the system. The front 7's job will be to stop the run first.

In the Big Ten?!?! Has Riley lost his mind?!?¿!?!!??¡???!!¿?!?!??!?!?¡!!?!¡????!!?!?¿!!??!?!?!???!

I worry a little about the pass defense because many of those guys will be out there on an island.

I'm the least worried about this. Let the opponent connect on a few pass plays. I'll exchange that for not giving up chunks of ground in the run game.

I'll take 3rd-&-6 vs. 2nd-&-4 any day of the week, and twice on Saturdays.

^^^this^^^

Third and long beats second and short any day. They may be on an island, but that is their job. Plus you have to figure that they will blitz more than the others guys ever did.

 

[Landlord]

Tommy hasn't really had a history of tucking and running on pass plays, that I can remember anyways.

I'd look for him to probably end up with about 400-500 yards rushing max on the season - Beck really got him the ball with a lot of open space last year, despite his other faults as a playcaller.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

The zone option as run by both Martinez and Armstrong is a pain to defend.

You can't live by it alone.

Or with a substandard offensive line.

But a running quarterback is a good thing to have.

Especially if he's trusted to call his own shots.

I don't think Riley is going to pound Armstrong into a square hole. I think the HC is pretty intrigued by the weapon he didn't have at OSU.

 

[JJ Husker]

I don't think Riley is going to pound Armstrong into a square hole. I think the HC is pretty intrigued by the weapon he didn't have at OSU.

This is the exciting possibility we aren't hearing much about. Plenty of people are talking about TA's shortcomings as a passer and how he doesn't fit the prototypical QB Riley would prefer to have. But I think Tommy can and will do some things that Riley just didn't have the capability of doing with less mobile and more pure passing QB's. I gotta believe Riley and Langsdorf don't think they are in as dire of straits as many commentators seem to think. I know Bo's defenses keyed on the pass but the thing that always gave us fits (and most teams in the B1G) were the dual threat, highly mobile guys. We've kind of got one of those with Tommy. I am hopeful that our coaches have that figured out and will find some effective ways to use that weapon. If they're half as smart as we've been led to believe, I think we'll be just fine at QB and on offense.

 

[True2tRA]

I don't think Riley is going to pound Armstrong into a square hole. I think the HC is pretty intrigued by the weapon he didn't have at OSU.

This is the exciting possibility we aren't hearing much about. Plenty of people are talking about TA's shortcomings as a passer and how he doesn't fit the prototypical QB Riley would prefer to have.

JJHusker, I know people keep trying to convince some of us that Tommy doesn't "fit" the style, or can't be an efficient or effective passer, but don't let them fool you. I know I haven't been fooled.

These same people tout the USC game as the game the "Bo Handcuffs" came off. Well, Tommy threw the ball 51 times in that game, which is double his season average of attempts per game. Tommy hit 32 of those 51 passes, or 63% completion rate.

Now if Tommy erases those mistakes in reading the defense, maybe the routes become a little more clear and the offense becomes a bit more simplified, those 4 near picks aren't all anyone wants to talk about anymore when it comes to Tommy Armstrong in that game. These same people want to tell me all about how we saw Beck's offensive genius, and how that game was a credit to Beck's "true abilities". Well what about Tommy? You know, the QB who was out there executing that game?

Tommy proved in that game as he did in many others, the guy is capable of making all the throws. It just seems like people really, really don't want to remember all those great passes.

 

[Landlord]

Tommy proved in that game as he did in many others, the guy is capable of making all the throws. It just seems like people really, really don't want to remember all those great passes.

I'm always skeptical to make sweeping conclusions out of bowl games, with the extra time to rest up, scout, practice and sometimes "play with nothing to lose", but Tommy played on fire that game, no matter what:

So many solid plays by Tommy and our receiving corps that night, but here's what I'm not sure about. There was so much different about that game - no Bo, Beck on the sidelines, obviously extra practice time, etc. - what exactly are we seeing out of Tommy?

My hunch is that Beck's offense was very appropriately tailored to Tommy, handcuffed to an extent by Bo, and unleashed as fully as could be in the bowl game (one of the best plays of the night was a middle screen to Ameer, even!), and that our new offensive staff should receive all the praise in the world if they get Tommy even close to that kind of production on the year without years of chemistry/knowledge/familiarity with what he's good at.

The biggest place I see, which I said earlier, Tommy's production dropping off is in the run game. I think he'll still get some yards, but when I think back to all of his big runs last season, most of the ones I can remember were on very crafty designed keeps, usually at the perfect time and with some misdirection that left him with wide open turf.

Will also be interesting to see how no Ameer might affect his run game.

 

[True2tRA]

Dude, you nailed that video, probably told you before, but nice work. You should spend more time doing that and less time arguing football with me lol.

Man those guys fought their butt's off.

Some great examples in that video of what Tommy is capable of. Just got to put the rest of the puzzle together.

 

[Landlord]

Dude, you nailed that video, probably told you before, but nice work. You should spend more time doing that and less time arguing football with me lol.

Man those guys fought their butt's off.

Some great examples in that video of what Tommy is capable of. Just got to put the rest of the puzzle together.

Rewatching it I actually saw a handful of times that made me really mad that I went a certain direction and wish I would have edited it differently. First season I did game specific videos, so I'm excited to try new things and get better this year.

Also give us back our damn fat guy touchdown. That was B.S.

 

[Enhance]

Just to play Devil's advocate a bit further: Taylor Martinez had a phenomenal passing outage against Oklahoma State his freshman year setting a passing record, completing 66 percent of his passes for 5 TD's, 323 yards.

He then completed only 59 percent of his passes on the season and had only 5 total touchdowns in the other 12 games he played combined. Yes, he was injured, of course. But, the point I'm making is to just be even more cautious when evaluating single game performances, no matter how many variables were involved that may have affected what happened.

A season of work told us what kind of passer TA was, compared to one outing against USC, whose pass defense was ranked between 90th and 100 last year IIRC. I also don't expect TA to ever throw 51 passes a game again, not that any of us are, though.

All that said, TA stands to improve quite a bit this year and I'm looking forward to it.

I don't think Riley is going to pound Armstrong into a square hole. I think the HC is pretty intrigued by the weapon he didn't have at OSU.

This is the exciting possibility we aren't hearing much about. Plenty of people are talking about TA's shortcomings as a passer and how he doesn't fit the prototypical QB Riley would prefer to have. But I think Tommy can and will do some things that Riley just didn't have the capability of doing with less mobile and more pure passing QB's. I gotta believe Riley and Langsdorf don't think they are in as dire of straits as many commentators seem to think. I know Bo's defenses keyed on the pass but the thing that always gave us fits (and most teams in the B1G) were the dual threat, highly mobile guys. We've kind of got one of those with Tommy. I am hopeful that our coaches have that figured out and will find some effective ways to use that weapon. If they're half as smart as we've been led to believe, I think we'll be just fine at QB and on offense.

Dual threats give just about every team in the country fits. I do feel pretty confident though Riley isn't going to try to manipulate TA into something TA isn't. I don't know what Riley's whole career has looked like, but, he has obviously preferred passing QB's to dual-threats, at least recently. I'm wondering if even his excitement at TA's potential is in anyway hindered by his play style preference. Or, is his excitement balanced by making sure he properly utilizes a style of player he doesn't usually work with? Is he nervous?

 

[Hunter94]

Tommy may be classified as a dual threat, but if he remains a 60% passer, or less, it won"t really matter.......he needs to make the throws that are there, if he does not, we will struggle.

 

[admo]

Why will Tommy need to check down to his running backs instead of tucking and running? Maybe I'm not remembering things well but it seemed like he hardly ever tucked it and ran during a pass play. What usually happened was he threw it to the WR that he intended on throwing it to before the ball was snapped. He wasn't running it instead of throwing it to a wide open Abdullah. He was throwing it to a well-covered WR instead of throwing it to a wide open Abdullah. It frustrated me because he was really good at running when he did it.

If I had to pick 3 things he could do to vastly improve in the passing game, assuming that his completion % is set in stone and doesn't improve:

1. Look for the running back if no one is open.

2. Tuck it and run if no one is open.

3. Throw the ball into the stands if no one is open.

More than his mediocre completion %, his judgement when it came to throwing to covered receivers was his biggest problem.

Great points. I get frustrated when he overthrows his target. It happens in the middle of the field and on deep routes. It's not too comforting that Langsdorf mentioned it in Spring and now in Fall.

I often recall Matt Davison mentioning 2nd and 3rd targets being wide open during plays when TA locks onto his primary target. Cethan Carter mentioned he was open a lot last year too. That was last year, so hopefully that will change this season.

I like Tommy's toughness and determination. He is a physical runner. He's got a strong arm. He isn't inept throwing. 50% of the time (or so) he makes pretty good throws. He just needs to shore up on his decision making and accuracy. It keeps getting preached by the staff. Maybe it will click, and hopefully it will. Just not sure how many quarters/halves/games before it happens this year.