ColoradoHusk
Donor
With only 10 official passing attempts by Armstrong vs. Fresno State, there seems to be a lot of concern about Langsdorf being afraid to use Tommy in the passing game, and Tommy continuing to be poor in the passing game. I am not saying either of those opinions are wrong, but I did want to go back through the game and look at all the passing attempts by Tommy and put in my point of view. Now, I am not a QB coach or offensive coordinator, and I am not using the All-22 view which gives coaches the best view on seeing the game. But, I think this breakdown is helpful.
1st Quarter
3rd and 4 from Fresno 38. Tommy makes a simple throw to the right sideline to Morgan on an out pattern for a gain of 11. First read, and he was open, but Tommy did his job.
2nd Quarter
2nd and 10 from NU 30. Play action roll out to Tommy's right. He makes a good throw on the run on a deep out pattern to Moore for a gain of 23. Very good play IMO.
2nd and 17 from near midfield. This is the play after DPE fumbled on the end around, which put NU in a deep hole. Armstrong rolls right and throws a deep pass to Moore along right sideline. Moore has 1 on 1 coverage, but the ball was thrown late and is broken up by the DB. From the TV view, the short routes appeared to be covered. One could say that this is Tommy going for the big play too much, but I didn't think it was a terrible decision, just not great execution.
3rd and 17 near midfield The call was a screen pass to Newby, which Fresno sniffs out right away. The ball hits Newby right in the chest and he drops it. Even if it Newby catches it, the play wasn't going anywhere. I don't know how this play can be viewed as a negative for Tommy though.
3rd and 2 from NU 40. Tommy hits Cethan Carter on a quick hitter and Carter rumbles for nearly 15 yards. However, there is illegal formation penalty which nullifies a positive play by Tommy.
3rd and 7 from NU 35. Tommy sees pressure coming at him and throws a deep pass off his back foot to Westercamp. Everyone is calling this another YOLO bomb, and I don't disagree. However, Tommy didn't have a lot of time to go through his progressions, and was trying to give Westy a chance to make a play vs. 1 on 1 coverage. I don't know if others were open from the TV view.
3rd quarter
2nd and 8 from Fresno 40. Tommy tries to hit Carter on a short pass over the middle. At first glance, the ball is thrown behind Cethan and is incomplete. Looking at it again, it looks like Tommy expected Carter to stop between the 2 LB's in zone coverage, instead Carter continues to shuffle towards the LB to Tommy's right. If Tommy doesn't throw it "behind" Carter, it could have been an INT. Tommy does pass it to a spot that only his guy can catch it. Now, I don't know who's "fault" the incompletion is. IMO, it was a miscommunication between Tommy and Cethan.
3rd and 8 from Fresno 40. There is a protection bust right away by NU's o-line, but Tommy is able to avoid the pass rusher coming through free. Tommy steps up in the pocket and then scrambles left and hits a wide open Moore along the left sideline for a first down. This is a VERY GOOD play by Tommy. He does a great job of avoiding a sack, and makes the smart decision on the pass to Moore.
3rd and 2 from NU 28. Tommy tries to hit Newby, who ran an angle route out of the backfield. Newby was open, but Tommy leads him too much. Others have said that poor footwork led to a bad pass, and that is very probable. One thing I want to point out about this play, was that it was all messed up from the very beginning. Knevel got hurt in between plays, and instead of going to the ground, he runs off the field. There is a mad scramble to bring in a replacement offensive lineman, and get the play off in time. Yes, Tommy didn't execute once the play was ran, but Riley could have called timeout once he saw the mass confusion going on before the ball was snapped.
4th Quarter
2nd and 5 from NU 42. This is the first play of the 4th quarter. After running the ball all game, Langsdorf finally goes to a deep play action pass. It's a great play call, as Moore is wide open behind the coverage. Tommy has good footwork in the pocket after the play-fake, and steps into his throw nicely. Nitpickers could say that the ball was slightly underthrown and the DB almost came back to make the play. But, when Moore is that wide open, the last thing Tommy wants to do is over throw him. Great play call and execution for a 58 yard TD.
1st and 10 from NU 49. Tommy rolls out right and checks down to Ozigbo in the right flat. It's not a great throw, but Ozigbo makes a very nice catch for a gain of 5
Those are all 10 pass plays, with another pass play that was nullified by penalty. Yes, Tommy's stats of 5 of 10 for 108 yards and 1 TD aren't super impressive. But, what if Newby catches the screen pass that hit him in his chest. Then Tommy has a 60% completion rate, and I think people would be happy with that percentage. Tommy also had a completion nullified due to penalty, and the next play resulted in an incomplete pass. People want to use completion % as the best measure of accuracy, but I don't think it's that easy.
Breaking down the passes further, I saw 3 short pass attempts to RB's, and only 1 was completed. That's not great, but that did include a dropped screen pass (although it would have been no gain anyway). The missed pass to Newby on the angle route was not a good throw to an open RB.
Tommy was 2 of 3 on intermediate passes to WR/TE, and the 2 completions gained 1st downs. I think that's a good percentage rate.
On deep passes (over 15-20 yards downfield), Tommy was 2 of 4 with 1 TD pass. I think a lot of coaches would take a 50% completion rate on deep passes like this, as anything more is probably unrealistic IMO.
So, yes Tommy did have an uneven game in the passing department. But, he had a pretty good game running the ball, including 2 nice TD runs. He wasn't sacked and didn't have any turnovers. I think NU will need to pass more against tougher opponents/defenses, but for game 1 of the season, I am not going to say Tommy had a "bad" game. I would give Tommy a grade of a B/B- for the Fresno State game. It wasn't bad, but there is room for improvement.
1st Quarter
3rd and 4 from Fresno 38. Tommy makes a simple throw to the right sideline to Morgan on an out pattern for a gain of 11. First read, and he was open, but Tommy did his job.
2nd Quarter
2nd and 10 from NU 30. Play action roll out to Tommy's right. He makes a good throw on the run on a deep out pattern to Moore for a gain of 23. Very good play IMO.
2nd and 17 from near midfield. This is the play after DPE fumbled on the end around, which put NU in a deep hole. Armstrong rolls right and throws a deep pass to Moore along right sideline. Moore has 1 on 1 coverage, but the ball was thrown late and is broken up by the DB. From the TV view, the short routes appeared to be covered. One could say that this is Tommy going for the big play too much, but I didn't think it was a terrible decision, just not great execution.
3rd and 17 near midfield The call was a screen pass to Newby, which Fresno sniffs out right away. The ball hits Newby right in the chest and he drops it. Even if it Newby catches it, the play wasn't going anywhere. I don't know how this play can be viewed as a negative for Tommy though.
3rd and 2 from NU 40. Tommy hits Cethan Carter on a quick hitter and Carter rumbles for nearly 15 yards. However, there is illegal formation penalty which nullifies a positive play by Tommy.
3rd and 7 from NU 35. Tommy sees pressure coming at him and throws a deep pass off his back foot to Westercamp. Everyone is calling this another YOLO bomb, and I don't disagree. However, Tommy didn't have a lot of time to go through his progressions, and was trying to give Westy a chance to make a play vs. 1 on 1 coverage. I don't know if others were open from the TV view.
3rd quarter
2nd and 8 from Fresno 40. Tommy tries to hit Carter on a short pass over the middle. At first glance, the ball is thrown behind Cethan and is incomplete. Looking at it again, it looks like Tommy expected Carter to stop between the 2 LB's in zone coverage, instead Carter continues to shuffle towards the LB to Tommy's right. If Tommy doesn't throw it "behind" Carter, it could have been an INT. Tommy does pass it to a spot that only his guy can catch it. Now, I don't know who's "fault" the incompletion is. IMO, it was a miscommunication between Tommy and Cethan.
3rd and 8 from Fresno 40. There is a protection bust right away by NU's o-line, but Tommy is able to avoid the pass rusher coming through free. Tommy steps up in the pocket and then scrambles left and hits a wide open Moore along the left sideline for a first down. This is a VERY GOOD play by Tommy. He does a great job of avoiding a sack, and makes the smart decision on the pass to Moore.
3rd and 2 from NU 28. Tommy tries to hit Newby, who ran an angle route out of the backfield. Newby was open, but Tommy leads him too much. Others have said that poor footwork led to a bad pass, and that is very probable. One thing I want to point out about this play, was that it was all messed up from the very beginning. Knevel got hurt in between plays, and instead of going to the ground, he runs off the field. There is a mad scramble to bring in a replacement offensive lineman, and get the play off in time. Yes, Tommy didn't execute once the play was ran, but Riley could have called timeout once he saw the mass confusion going on before the ball was snapped.
4th Quarter
2nd and 5 from NU 42. This is the first play of the 4th quarter. After running the ball all game, Langsdorf finally goes to a deep play action pass. It's a great play call, as Moore is wide open behind the coverage. Tommy has good footwork in the pocket after the play-fake, and steps into his throw nicely. Nitpickers could say that the ball was slightly underthrown and the DB almost came back to make the play. But, when Moore is that wide open, the last thing Tommy wants to do is over throw him. Great play call and execution for a 58 yard TD.
1st and 10 from NU 49. Tommy rolls out right and checks down to Ozigbo in the right flat. It's not a great throw, but Ozigbo makes a very nice catch for a gain of 5
Those are all 10 pass plays, with another pass play that was nullified by penalty. Yes, Tommy's stats of 5 of 10 for 108 yards and 1 TD aren't super impressive. But, what if Newby catches the screen pass that hit him in his chest. Then Tommy has a 60% completion rate, and I think people would be happy with that percentage. Tommy also had a completion nullified due to penalty, and the next play resulted in an incomplete pass. People want to use completion % as the best measure of accuracy, but I don't think it's that easy.
Breaking down the passes further, I saw 3 short pass attempts to RB's, and only 1 was completed. That's not great, but that did include a dropped screen pass (although it would have been no gain anyway). The missed pass to Newby on the angle route was not a good throw to an open RB.
Tommy was 2 of 3 on intermediate passes to WR/TE, and the 2 completions gained 1st downs. I think that's a good percentage rate.
On deep passes (over 15-20 yards downfield), Tommy was 2 of 4 with 1 TD pass. I think a lot of coaches would take a 50% completion rate on deep passes like this, as anything more is probably unrealistic IMO.
So, yes Tommy did have an uneven game in the passing department. But, he had a pretty good game running the ball, including 2 nice TD runs. He wasn't sacked and didn't have any turnovers. I think NU will need to pass more against tougher opponents/defenses, but for game 1 of the season, I am not going to say Tommy had a "bad" game. I would give Tommy a grade of a B/B- for the Fresno State game. It wasn't bad, but there is room for improvement.
