Why is Bajakian now calling aggressive passing plays? Where has this play calling been? What changed? Did Bajakian not call these plays int he past because he didn't have confidence the players could execute? Or was he calling these plays and the players couldn't execute? Or did Braun force Bajakian to change the play calling?
Play Calling - The Passing Game
- Thread starter rwesley264
- Start date
Keep in mind that Bryant, Henning, and Johnson are all new to the program and have had little time to work together. What I like most of what I have seen thus far (not a huge list of things to like on offense) is that Bryant seems to have found connections with Johnson and Kirtz at different times. And they keep trying to go to Henning (left a few plays on the field last night). This is a testament to Bryant's ability to read defenses and find the best options. He chewed up Minny's soft zone on that final drive last night, and then made a great read to find Henning for the tying TD.
Hopefully those throwing shade at Bryant will reconsider their opinions. They should. Give him a bit of time, and he is quite capable. Just a smart QB.
Hopefully those throwing shade at Bryant will reconsider their opinions. They should. Give him a bit of time, and he is quite capable. Just a smart QB.
Part of it is the line giving him time. They didn't need to pass for 400 against UTEP, but they did OK. Line (and RB ) blocking was/were good last night. Particularly during the tempo offense
Tbf he hadn't done anything in the first 3.5 games, but yeah, only Kirtz has any time in this offense and he's been hobbled for years. Lots of new faces
Kinda my point. They needed reps at game speed to get in sync. The matchups vs Minny helped too.
To me, it’s the personnel, specifically the WR room.
Having a legitimate burner in Henning opens things up and the top 3 options all complement each other well, stylistically speaking. Interested to know how much of an impact Binns is making.
Doesn’t hurt to have an experienced QB with a strong arm either.
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Would love to know what happened. All I know is that I haven’t seen that type of gunslinging at NU since the days of Bacher. Maybe Persa (though he was more short game) or Siemian in brief flashes, or maybe Kafka his senior year and in the bowl. But, really for the first time in forever, the O felt like what it did back in the day when we would just move down the field on teams, and in chunks. The 3 passed to Kirtz to get us to 24 felt like some Brett Basanez to me.
The three transfers are obviously huge factors. But also, Braun does seem to be more inherently aggressive.
NU let the backups pass the ball against UTEP. NU ran a fake punt on the first 4th down of the season. There was a good story last week or the week before about Braun demanding that Lausch and Himon see the field, because, backups or not, they cause trouble in practice.
Also, NU had had terrible receiver coaching for a decade.
NU let the backups pass the ball against UTEP. NU ran a fake punt on the first 4th down of the season. There was a good story last week or the week before about Braun demanding that Lausch and Himon see the field, because, backups or not, they cause trouble in practice.
Also, NU had had terrible receiver coaching for a decade.
My comment early in the game was that we need more chunk plays and fewer plays that make me want to blow chunks
It always bothered me that whenever NU's QB was scrambling to avoid pressure (which happened a lot in the last few years) our receivers rarely / if ever broke deep. They almost always came back to the ball, dragging the entire defense toward a smaller area of the field. On the long TD to Kirtz, he was the primary target on a short route but was covered, Bryant moved up and around in the pocket, Kirtz broke deep and Bryant found him. Obviously it isn't that easy, but am I wrong for thinking that we limited our improvised routes when the QB was under pressure? Or is Kirtz just more aware of how to find open space? (Like Austin Carr used to be).
This. Seemed like a combination of the Minnesota front getting gassed and our OL stepping up a bit in the second half. The OL play wasn’t nedeccasilt pretty, but better. Combined with Bryant’s willingness to step up in the pocket with his eyes downfield and it was enough (at least for one game).
I’m sure the Howard/bye weeks can’t come soon enough for Bryant. Dude has been a warrior, deserves some time to heal up.
Big parts of O-line play are individual talent, how well the unit plays together and the scheme, but an overlooked aspect is how the OC calls the game.
A good OC can make things easier for the O-line and vice versa.
I am really impressed with how Bryant hung in there and made passes under pressure. He took a lot of hits in that game, and in the past four weeks, but he does a good job of stepping up in the pocket and not baling out as soon as he feels a little pressure.
I don't necessarily disagree with you, but on that particular play, every one of the post-game interviews I heard from coaches and players said that was a double-move route which suggests it was a planned deep route.
Yes, that is what I heard later as well.
Bryant did a good job of avoiding the pass rush, stepped up and looked for Kirtz - so it wasn't improvised.
Still great to see.