Martinez this year vs freshman year
- Thread starter Sodakred
- Start date
he's playing within himself and taking care of the ball. that's a recipe for success if we can get big plays from other phases.
If your quarterback cannot throw downfield. There is a serious problem with your quarterback. I dont know if its Scott or the way Adrian is reading the Packages Scott has in but his unwillingness or inability to throw downfield is a major concern.
The absence of big plays stands out. That’s not all on AM, but our offense really plods along compared to his Freshman year. Our longest play from scrimmage this year is a 47 yard run by McCaffrey. Our longest run by a true RB is 15 yards. To be fair, Robinson had a 32 yard run.
Our longest completion is 45 yards (!), and that was basically a handoff that Betts took to the house. Next is the 37 yarder to Allen that would have been longer, except that he fell down.
Look at some of the longest plays from 2018, and even last year and the difference is stark.
Our longest completion is 45 yards (!), and that was basically a handoff that Betts took to the house. Next is the 37 yarder to Allen that would have been longer, except that he fell down.
Look at some of the longest plays from 2018, and even last year and the difference is stark.
I'm not saying I disagree with you, but I'd be curious to see a really knowledgable breakdown of why we can't throw downfield. If anyone asked me my opinion would be that it has a lot to do with poor o-line play. Not only do our QBs get a lot of pressure, but they have become so ingrained that pressure WILL be coming that they probably bail on plays when guys are open. They've spent too much time scrambling and running for their lives to be calm and effective in the pocket. Anyway, it has been better the last two weeks as we have completed a few over 15yds.
Adrian the game manager is good enough to keep us in most games, especially in a conference full of mediocre game managers.
it will steady the ship, but we won't be full sail until we get a playmaker back there.
He's getting some of the accuracy back on his short passes, but the downfield passes still aren't there. He's also still not quite the runner he was his freshman year.
He hasn’t had all the explosive plays he did that year. But is playing mature and taking care of the ball. We can win games with AM at QB, if he continues to play like this. However, we are going to need guys to make plays with the ball if he is going to continue to dink and dunk.
Former NFL QB JT O'Sullivan broke down some plays from the Wisconsin game last year. It became pretty apparent Adrian couldnt hit an open receiver downfield. Whether or not he was injured who knows but regardless hes gotten worse about checking the ball down this year
Last edited:
we're always going to be run-first under Frost, whether people want to admit that or not doesn't matter. yes, it will be out of the shotgun. no, that doesn't matter.
dinking and dunking is fine so long as it's accurate and we dial up enough to get playmakers in space to run after the catch. taking occasional long shots, whether they're complete or not, keeps defenses honest.
manage the game, don't turn it over, and all of a sudden you're a B1G quarterback. this conference very rarely has transcendent playmakers at the position outside of ohio st.
UCF was a pass-first offense. Kind of why I'm surprised Frost went after run-first qb's here and didn't target guys who were more balanced. Not saying that's a bad thing if you can develop their passing game a little bit, but we haven't been able to do that.
how many pass-first offenses do you recall running (38.5 carries/game) on a higher percentage of plays than passing (32.6 attempts/game)?
again, regardless of what people choose to remember, Frost has never one time in his career thrown more than run as a percentage of plays called. Never.
we will always be run-first with him at the helm. and that's what the lion's share of posters want from him.
Keep in mind Adrian played against some pretty bad defenses in 2018: Colorado (71st in FBS total defense), Purdue (83rd), Minnesota (59th), Bethune-Cookman and Illinois (124th).
This year, he's started only four games, against defenses ranked 42nd (Ohio State), 15th (Northwestern), 16th (Iowa) and 59th (Purdue) in the country.
McCaffrey's starts came against the 17th (Penn State) and 99th (Illinois) ranked defenses.
Minnesota's defense is ranked 107th.
This year, he's started only four games, against defenses ranked 42nd (Ohio State), 15th (Northwestern), 16th (Iowa) and 59th (Purdue) in the country.
McCaffrey's starts came against the 17th (Penn State) and 99th (Illinois) ranked defenses.
Minnesota's defense is ranked 107th.
Not true, UCF under Frost was basically 50/50 run vs pass. Slightly more rushing attempts than passes in 2017. I only know this because Tuco has pointed it out many times.
A good example of down field difficulty was with seven minutes left before half Nebraska leading 20-10. NU had a first down on PU's 32. Martinez went back to pass and the end beat Benhart to come inside. Adrian rolled out to the right past the pressure and threw on the run to Robinson, completing it at the 10. Falck was also running down the sideline and was open at the goal line. It didn't really make any difference because Liewer scored on the swing pass the next play, but this was one of several examples I noticed when 2AM threw shorter into traffic when he had someone more open further. It could be argued that he was running on a rollout because he was flushed and hit a semi-open man in the excitement. But it seemed to me he had time to set his feet and make a choice to go longer. So yeah, part of not going longer was the pass protection, but it was also not seeing what was down field. And of course, it is easier for me to critique his decisions sitting in my armchair.
It was still a pass-first offense in the sense that he established the downfield pass before the run. They also went 5 wide a lot and they probably ran some qb draws out of that. They didn't just line up and run a power run game. They spread the field out with passing first and then took advantage of the spread out defense in the run game.
You are never wrong, are you, even when statistics say otherwise. That’s what causes me to respond when I don’t have an opinion one way or another. I should just keep quiet. But even when faced with evidence that says he is not a pass first guy, you have to be right.
Your opinion is wrong.
consider who those first 2 games were against. Then consider that Jurgens was pretty much perfect this last week and our young right side of the line has gotten more experience. Our O line is getting better IMO as the season wears on. Our O line play was not good to start the year and really rattled Martinez.
I watched most of their games while Frost was there and know what their offense looked like. It looked nothing like our current offense. The downfield pass was a huge part of their offense. They established the pass first to space out the defense for the run. That's by definition a pass-first offense. They ran a lot in the second half because they were blowing out opponents and had less of a reason to pass the ball.
Compelling evidence right there... definitive proof that you know better and can’t be wrong. Who can argue with that?
Stats never tell the whole story. You have to watch the games to derive any meaning from them. How many games did any of you watch of UCF? I watched just about every game that 2017 season because I knew Riley wasn't working out and that Frost would likely be our next head coach. UCF ran a lot of short passes to the sideline that year, but they also had a complete downfield passing game and that's what made their whole offense work. They spread out the defense so that when they ran the ball they were picking up 8-10 yards a carry instead of the 3-5 yards a carry we're getting now.
Allen did an amazing job just to catch the pass, it was too far in front of him
Defenses in the B1G are overall much better than what Frost saw at UCF.
Perhaps our O line has improved since the first game, but not by much. I am sick if seeing our right side drop their heads and reach to hold their man. Dumb and lazy.
Adrian had two aces his freshman year, a good RB and a dependable WR who was his go to guy along with a guy who could have set all the Husker receiving records. The O line was solid and dependable, we have not improved in that area it would seem.
I have said this many times, I am a broken record. His injury last year came late and had zero to do with anything. He cannot see the field and react quickly enough. Doesn't look like he will develop it.
It doesn't appear the Like has much better skills in the passing game. It tells us something when our top two rushers are our QBs. That is not a winning combination.
Frost can't risk the deep downfield throws that are more often than not unproductive. Sure, it helps to stretch the field vertically, but if you don't complete some you lose that advantage and you are behind the sticks. This team cannot overcome that.
I believe we are going to get pretty much the same QB play for a while until we see either a big change in our current guys or Smothers comes along and upsets the apple cart. My opinion of course.
Perhaps our O line has improved since the first game, but not by much. I am sick if seeing our right side drop their heads and reach to hold their man. Dumb and lazy.
Adrian had two aces his freshman year, a good RB and a dependable WR who was his go to guy along with a guy who could have set all the Husker receiving records. The O line was solid and dependable, we have not improved in that area it would seem.
I have said this many times, I am a broken record. His injury last year came late and had zero to do with anything. He cannot see the field and react quickly enough. Doesn't look like he will develop it.
It doesn't appear the Like has much better skills in the passing game. It tells us something when our top two rushers are our QBs. That is not a winning combination.
Frost can't risk the deep downfield throws that are more often than not unproductive. Sure, it helps to stretch the field vertically, but if you don't complete some you lose that advantage and you are behind the sticks. This team cannot overcome that.
I believe we are going to get pretty much the same QB play for a while until we see either a big change in our current guys or Smothers comes along and upsets the apple cart. My opinion of course.