Fitz

[BertleTheTurtle]

Hard to tell how Mullen will use Fitz against La Tech and the remainder of the season, based on the vanilla offensive scheme we showed last weekend. I know a lot of people were hoping we'd see something similar to the 2015 version of Dak, but I think Fitz is probably still a little less precise and accurate than the 2014 version of Dak. Having said that, Fitz seems to really settle in and throw darts after he takes a few hits in the ground game. Also, I think that Fitz's running puts more pressure on the defense to creep up to the line or keep their eyes in the backfield, which can lead to space for our WRs to work (very similar to how Dak was able to have success through the air in 2014). The dilemma with having a heavy QB run offense this year is that we only have 1, very inexperienced back-up. Obviously, none of what I'm saying is new news, but I'm curious to know what the Pack has to say about the risk/reward of Fitz running the football. Clearly the risk is an injury and having to play our true-freshman QB with walk-ons behind him, but the reward of having Fitz run 12-15 times a game is a more potent offense that will be nearly impossible to stop. I think we have to let him do what he does best and gash up defenses with his legs and have a 2014 offensive mindset. IMO, it gives us the best opportunity to win. If we limit his running like we did Dak in 2015, I'm not sure he has the accuracy yet to keep us competitive against the big boys. What say you?

 

[patdog]

He's got to run the football. He's not as good a passer as Dak was his last 2 years. I do think we'll see his rushes go from 15 per game to about 10-12 per game though, since we have better options at RB than we did last year.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

He will dramatically improve his passing over the course of the year just like he did last year.

Also, when he's more of a running threat like he will be this weekend, the play action will be a killer for La Tech. Andre Ware last week kept talking about how good Fitz is at the play action.

Dak wasn't a great passer until his Senior year. He still had accuracy issues and could not throw the deep ball at all. We saw Fitz hitting deep balls last year and Dak had a big target like Bear to throw to.

 

[Pars]

Too many passes thrown off the back foot still. He's a beast that can run. Mullen needs to open him up and worry about the injury bridge if we get to it.

 

[the dog is on the loose]

Personally from what I saw we need to run Hill a lot more. I know that it was CS but he came out running like a beast and I think he needs more carries. I believe his ceiling is a lot higher than our other running backs. As far as Fitz goes, let him run.

 

[Msubulldogfan1]

Fitz is a beast. But I don't think he'll ever be dak when it comes to passing and I think it's a little foolish to expect so.

If Fitz can somehow manage to get to 60%, and run like he's capable of, he will be nearly unstoppable.

 

[coach66]

Yep, the back foot is an issue that needs to be corrected, it's why the ball

sails on him sometimes.

 

[Sutterkane]

Fitz isn't as good a passer as probably our best QB ever. Way to go out on a limb guys.

We won't have a heavy passing offense like we did in 2015 because we don't have the receivers we did that year, and our overall running game will likely be better.

 

[MeridianDog]

Hard to tell how Mullen will use Fitz against La Tech and the remainder of the season, based on the vanilla offensive scheme we showed last weekend. I know a lot of people were hoping we'd see something similar to the 2015 version of Dak, but I think Fitz is probably still a little less precise and accurate than the 2014 version of Dak. Having said that, Fitz seems to really settle in and throw darts after he takes a few hits in the ground game. Also, I think that Fitz's running puts more pressure on the defense to creep up to the line or keep their eyes in the backfield, which can lead to space for our WRs to work (very similar to how Dak was able to have success through the air in 2014). The dilemma with having a heavy QB run offense this year is that we only have 1, very inexperienced back-up. Obviously, none of what I'm saying is new news, but I'm curious to know what the Pack has to say about the risk/reward of Fitz running the football. Clearly the risk is an injury and having to play our true-freshman QB with walk-ons behind him, but the reward of having Fitz run 12-15 times a game is a more potent offense that will be nearly impossible to stop. I think we have to let him do what he does best and gash up defenses with his legs and have a 2014 offensive mindset. IMO, it gives us the best opportunity to win. If we limit his running like we did Dak in 2015, I'm not sure he has the accuracy yet to keep us competitive against the big boys. What say you?

Paragraph Control for Dummies is what you need

 

[johnson86-1]

I think it's mostly a moot point. If you look at our schedule, I don't think even the most optimistic fan thinks we can afford to do anything other than what it takes to win the game against LSU, UGA, A&M, Arkansas, Auburn, Bama.

Are we really going to be able to do anything other than what gives us the most potent offense against BYU, La Tech, Ole Miss, UK? I would hope we end up beating a few of those teams solidly, but if we do, it will be because our offense is wide open. I don't think we'll be able to consciously decide to run Fitz less and safely beat them, unless they make a decision that they are going to make the RBs take it in the read option.

That basically leaves UMass left as a team we should be able to beat with a vanilla game plan with limited runs by Fitz.

But our RBs are better than they ahve been in a while, so maybe we will surprise on the upside with our ability to simply move the ball with non-read option run plays.

 

[MSUDawgFan86]

Fitz may not ever be the passer Dak was and that's ok. Dak Prescott was arguably the best rookie QB ever to play in NFL. He is however a better runner and is faster than Dak. He threw for 55% on Saturday and that's with a few drops. If he can get 58-60% consistently with his running ability then dear god look out.

 

[stateu1]

Yeah, but what about the OL?**

 

[57stratdawg]

It is. He missed an open TD to a TE (Johnson?) in the 2nd Q because he sail it.

Having said that, I think we're going to see that TE release down the middle of the field alot this year. That is not an easy throw, because the TE (or RB) can't adjust much to the ball with such a flat angle. Heaven forbid Fitz miss a Safety sitting there too.

 

[BlueRidgeMtns]

Call me in late October and I'll let you know***