[Husker] Non-expert opinions

[Scott Stewart]

I love this comment

I think it is even more
> important that he improve his decision making than his throwing
> motion.  It would be a better decision to dump to Burkhead instead
> of throwing into coverage for an interception, regardless of the
> throwing motion.  To some extent, Martinez is young, only a sophomore,
> but this is the middle of his second year as a starter.  And, it is
> often the case that basic characteristics don't change.  We'd like
> to think that one improves in areas of weakness, but often weaknesses
> persist.


I attended BYU during the McMann, Young years. I recall Edwards commenting
often that teaching a QB to see the field and not get tunnel vision was one
of the most difficult things to coach. He also said some people have it and
others don't. I also like the part about persistent weaknesses. I work
everyday with people who have disabilities and the focus is not on
necessarily improving the weakness, but building on the intact abilities to
compensate for the weakness. The problem with TM is I am not clear on
his strength beyond the mind numbing speed in the open. I wonder if we are
not all a little hypnotized by the potential of that speed.

I also worry about the comment by Aaron Green, as it could suggest that TM
has not been able to be the leader he needs to be in his position. The QB
needs to be the guy the team looks to in times of adversity to rally around.
The last QB I really felt did that at NU was Joe Ganz, he may not have had
great physical abilities but the team followed him. I hope TM can develop
that quality.




On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 6:47 PM, Steve Reichenbach <reich at inetnebr.com>wrote:

> Despite the ugly loss, I thought there were both positives and negatives.
> Hopefully, the coaches will fix the problems and the team will continue
> to improve.  This is a process with humans, so there will be problems.
> Success depends on identifying problems and finding solutions.
>
> Positives:
> * Nebraska still controls its path to the conference championship game.
> This wasn't a must game for the division or conference championship.
> * Nebraska lost to a high-quality team.  At this point, it seems very
> likely that Wisconsin will have an undefeated regular season.
> * The offensive statistics weren't terrible, except for NU's own
> miscues of turnovers and penalties.  Despite so many errors, NU had
> 20 first downs, was 6/13 on 3rd & 4th down conversions, was 50%
> passing with 8 yds per pass attempted, and Burkhead averaged more than
> 5ypc.
> * There was much to like about the progress on offense.  The first
> quarter was stellar.  The O-line, receivers, and running backs seemed
> to play well.
> * NU's blitzes early in the game seemed pretty effective.
> * NU's special teams have some good elements --- Maher has great
> distance and accuracy with place kicking and is a strong punter,
> Abdullah is a threat on run backs, and NU blocked an extra point.
> * Stafford shows some flashes on defense and led the team in tackles.
> * NU is has enough strengths to win all of the teams that remain if
> the negatives are diminished.
>
> Negatives:
> * NU's front 7 didn't stop the run, contain the QB, or put much
> pressure on the QB except the early blitzes.  Pelini leans to the
> bend but don't break style of defense, but the defense needs to do
> a better job with the run and needs more big plays up front (sacks
> and hurries).  I'm a self-professed non-expert, but the defensive
> ends aren't impacting the game as they have in some years and the
> linebackers seem a mixed bag.  Ankrah and Fisher each had one
> assisted tackle.
> * NU's secondary was roasted.  Granted this was a very good QB with
> good receivers and coaching, but NU aspires to beating good teams.
> There was talk of Raymond teaching a different style with less contact
> (with talk that physical play would draw penalties in the B1G).
> Whether it is young players who need to learn the system or the new
> system itself, improvement is critical.  With Pelini's expertise and
> focus on defense, I think he will be able to assess the situation.
> * Most importantly, Martinez made many errors, especially the
> three interceptions.  Too often, he takes it on himself.  I read a
> quote by Aaron Green, the young RB, who said he understood why
> Burkhead got carries with the game on the line --- that even he
> trusted Burkhead more than himself to get the job done.  If only
> Martinez was wise enough to see the same thing.  The last play was
> one of only several that looked like Martinez tried to do it himself
> instead of looking to other players to play the roles they can play
> well.  (The same can be said of defensive players trying to go with
> the direction of the play rather than playing their role, which
> for example led to loss of containment on several plays.)  Is this
> something in which Martinez will improve?  I think it is even more
> important that he improve his decision making than his throwing
> motion.  It would be a better decision to dump to Burkhead instead
> of throwing into coverage for an interception, regardless of the
> throwing motion.  To some extent, Martinez is young, only a sophomore,
> but this is the middle of his second year as a starter.  And, it is
> often the case that basic characteristics don't change.  We'd like
> to think that one improves in areas of weakness, but often weaknesses
> persist.  If Martinez can't learn to make better decisions, NU needs
> to use another QB.
> * Fans aren't experts, but you have to wonder as many fans have asked:
> why NU didn't lean more heavily toward the run (before the game was
> out of reach) and why the blitz seemed less frequent as the game
> progressed.
>
> In closing, I think NU has enough weapons on offense that they could
> have played with Wisconsin, but poor decision making and errors were
> too much to overcome without a dominant defense (which NU doesn't
> have right now).  On offense, I think the game plan can be adjusted
> to cover somewhat for Martinez's weaknesses, but if he doesn't improve
> his decision making, then the game plan is either very limited or
> risky.  On defense, I'm half wondering if Marvin Sanders would make a
> difference (and about all the issues tied up with that unfortunate
> situation).
>
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