An honest question

Donate To GopherHole
#93fanclub

#93fanclub

Active member
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
233
Reaction score
189
Points
43
for those in the know. What is the coaching staff doing to fix the offense? To me, it starts with the O-line. I had a dream the other night that they were wearing skirts - sorry, but this is true, I really did. I know the O-line coach is new and he's apparently no Gordie Shaw, but what's the plan? Nothing good is going to happen until we get this fixed. Once we fix the O-line, what offense are we going to run - the spread, a pro set, what? I mean, one game we come out guns a blazin a la Michigan State and the next, well we know what came next. I've heard and seen a lot of talk about our offense having a lack of identity, but what I'd like to hear, preferably from the coaching staff or others in the know, is that there is an internal cohesiveness and that we actually do have a plan to fix the offense. We need to be done experimenting and find something that is going to be reliable week in and week out. Something that is not overly complicated for the players. And will we ever get back to a point where we can hand the ball off to a running back 20-25 times a game?
 


#93fanclub said:
for those in the know. What is the coaching staff doing to fix the offense? To me, it starts with the O-line. I had a dream the other night that they were wearing skirts - sorry, but this is true, I really did. I know the O-line coach is new and he's apparently no Gordie Shaw, but what's the plan? Nothing good is going to happen until we get this fixed. Once we fix the O-line, what offense are we going to run - the spread, a pro set, what? I mean, one game we come out guns a blazin a la Michigan State and the next, well we know what came next. I've heard and seen a lot of talk about our offense having a lack of identity, but what I'd like to hear, preferably from the coaching staff or others in the know, is that there is an internal cohesiveness and that we actually do have a plan to fix the offense. We need to be done experimenting and find something that is going to be reliable week in and week out. Something that is not overly complicated for the players. And will we ever get back to a point where we can hand the ball off to a running back 20-25 times a game?
Click to expand...

You are kidding right? Tim Davis has coached at Alabama, USC, and in the NFL. Where has Gordie Shaw coached again?
 

OL shmoline..
What this offense is missing and needs to find is a running back that runs with aggression. Our running back corp needs the parting of the seas to get any sort of gain. When is the last time they actually broke a tackle.
Eskridge wouldn't see the field on 90% of Big Ten teams. He's bad.

I actually think we should shelve all our running backs for the bowl game and put Stoudermire or Gray back there.
 

GoGophers2005 said:
OL shmoline..
What this offense is missing and needs to find is a running back that runs with aggression. Our running back corp needs the parting of the seas to get any sort of gain. When is the last time they actually broke a tackle.
Eskridge wouldn't see the field on 90% of Big Ten teams. He's bad.

I actually think we should shelve all our running backs for the bowl game and put Stoudermire or Gray back there.
Click to expand...

Wrong on so many levels.
 


Our RB's do suck. A good running back should be able to make yards regardless of the O-line. Find a hole, turn on your jets and break some tackles and if you can't find a hole bust it outside and down the sideline. Gary Russell could do it.
 

The O-Line has been average to above average towards the end of the season. Our running backs have to do a better job of finding the holes. Adam Weber also has to get used to his throwing motion (my only reason for his performance). We'll be fine. I predict a performance similar to the Michigan state game in Tempe.
 

I am more concerned

about the offensive lines failure to protect the passer ---even more than providing a running game. If we can develop a passing game the running lanes will be open.
 

Doc1001 said:
about the offensive lines failure to protect the passer ---even more than providing a running game. If we can develop a passing game the running lanes will be open.
Click to expand...

When the O-line has protected Weber, he refuses to throw the ball and would rather take the sack, and when he does throw bad things happen.
 



The run blocking is a bigger concern than pass pro, in my opinion. good running backs can make something out of nothing and get YAC, but the oline needs to give them seams, give them the time to see holes. Whoever stated if earlier - IT ALL STARTS UP FRONT - THE O-LINE !!!
 

bankonit said:
You are kidding right? Tim Davis has coached at Alabama, USC, and in the NFL. Where has Gordie Shaw coached again?
Click to expand...

And Gordie Shaw's coached lines were rated at the top in the big ten year over year beginning with his first year coaching the line. Tim Davis' lines at Minnesota have done what exactly?

The o-line has been a huge problem since Brewster took over. They have gotten worse every year. I don't care where Davis has coached, I care about the job he's doing here and he needs to step up the coaching.
 

draftnik2 said:
The O-Line has been average to above average towards the end of the season. Our running backs have to do a better job of finding the holes. Adam Weber also has to get used to his throwing motion (my only reason for his performance). We'll be fine. I predict a performance similar to the Michigan state game in Tempe.
Click to expand...

Yeah. We only gave up 4 sacks to the vaunted SDSU (that is South Dakota State University) defensive line. The O-line was much better at the end of the season.

We can post away the problems on the o-line all we want, but the o-line play has been a huge issue. Davis was hired to fix that issue. There was minimal to no improvement at all this season even with better talent/fewer injuries than last year, older players and having been under Brewster for 3 seasons.
 

philosophy

I agree it starts up front - but the bigger issue is what is the objective of the offense? Controversy over who QB is/should be, turnover of coordinators etc. I do think Shaw did a great job with not only the running game but recruiting the right kids to fit into the running game as well.
 



caliGopher said:
And Gordie Shaw's coached lines were rated at the top in the big ten year over year beginning with his first year coaching the line. Tim Davis' lines at Minnesota have done what exactly?

The o-line has been a huge problem since Brewster took over. They have gotten worse every year. I don't care where Davis has coached, I care about the job he's doing here and he needs to step up the coaching.
Click to expand...

so if our dream coach tony d walks into town and becomes coach of the gophers one day and has a bad year in his first season as coach are you going to say it is the coach or the players which he was provided?

i dont think it matters who coaches this line. it is still going to be one of the worst in the big 10.
 

Gordie Shaw's line was based on zone scheme and the scheme made the players good, in the pro style the players make the scheme good. We need good O-linemen and Davis will be fine
 

The offensive line improved quite a bit towards the end of the season (Jackrabbits aside). They gave Weber a little time to throw in the last few games. Remember, teams will almost always bring more pressure depending on how bad the QB is. Take a look at the Vikes for example, our offensive line looks a lot better (pass blocking) because teams are afraid they could get burnt if they overblitz (they weren't afraid of TJack). I'm not giving the OL an excuse, but even that Jackrabbits game, they were bringing 5-7 guys every single play, because they knew Weber couldn't burn them deep.

That aside, the run game needs to improve. A lot of that is the lineman's fault. They didn't look accustomed to putting their hand in the dirt and driving guys off the ball. I hope that is product of scheme-change, but we'll see. The RB's hopefully can hit the holes with aggresion, and break a tackle or two.
 

i would say play calling and execution in the red zone is what they should work on most. many times this year we drove the ball down the field successfully (even ran it quite well at times) and broke down in the red zone. if we didn't have to settle for field goals, or just get completely shut down in the red zone, we would've probably beaten becky, illinois, and the hogeyes. it would've also made our win over SDSU seem much better. it's bad when we as viewers know what play is coming, that needs to change.

and as for weber, when i compared our games to others i watched from around the country, he had as much or more time than any other college QB most of the time this year... you can't blame the line for giving SDSU their lone TD. can't blame the line for giving illinois a TD. can't blame the line for horrid passes to wide open guys, can't blame the line for a lot of things he did this year that hurt the team. sure, there are other problems with the offense, but i'm sick of the pass protection being blamed for all of weber's mistakes, hence the rant.
 

The line is improving. I think they were too worried about getting big and got FAT. Whenthey get rid of the PUSS GUTS they will bd able to move and with TD tutaledge they will be ok. If they stay this fat they won't get much better.
 

Weber has shown NO improvement in accessing pocket pressure since his first start 2 years ago....Our OL has given him AMPLE time to throw the ball and more than ample time for Weber to actually GET RID of the ball out of bounds. He finally threw a ball away (was it against Iowa?) and got a intentional grounding penalty for it because he didn't get it past the line of scrimmage.
I truly think he doesn't understand the concept of throwing the ball away. He's taken so many sacks this year its not even funny. (I cannot watch another Weber 360 degree spin attempt to try and avoid a sack).

Now throw in bad running backs and you have the answer to our offensive problems.
 

It's not the OL, the RB, the QB, the OC... it's the fact they are all designed to be part of different schemes that's the problem. We need to settle on ONE offensive scheme and find recruits that fit that scheme, then coach, coach, coach them.

I hope we go back to a modified spread (with the mod being based on some run support), since Gray is the QB in a year. No use building around a senior QB.
 

the core of the problem lies with Adam Weber.

he lacks the vision/courage/confidence/timing/skill/accuracy to consistently "throw his receivers open"...meaning, throw it to a spot before the wr makes his cut. adam takes too long because he is waiting for the wr to be free and clear BEFORE he throws. add in that his accuracy is terribly inconsistent, he doesn't effectively feel pocket pressure, and so many other KEY elements to successful QB play.

he's all guts and class, and I love the kid to death, but the offensive shortcomings rest squarely on his shoulders.
 

MNWolfman said:
the core of the problem lies with Adam Weber.

he lacks the vision/courage/confidence/timing/skill/accuracy to consistently "throw his receivers open"...meaning, throw it to a spot before the wr makes his cut. adam takes too long because he is waiting for the wr to be free and clear BEFORE he throws. add in that his accuracy is terribly inconsistent, he doesn't effectively feel pocket pressure, and so many other KEY elements to successful QB play.

he's all guts and class, and I love the kid to death, but the offensive shortcomings rest squarely on his shoulders.
Click to expand...

This is like the sum of all Weber myth pushers.
 

There not going to build a scheme around any player. Get over it. They'll choose the plays within the scheme that utilize the talents on the field the most. It'll be pro style as long as fisch is here no matter who the QB is.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
The offensive line improved quite a bit towards the end of the season (Jackrabbits aside).
Click to expand...

Don't forget to put the Illinois game aside as well.....Illinois had 12 sacks in 11 games and seven against Minnesota.
 

MNWolfman said:
the core of the problem lies with Adam Weber.

he lacks the vision/courage/confidence/timing/skill/accuracy to consistently "throw his receivers open"...meaning, throw it to a spot before the wr makes his cut. adam takes too long because he is waiting for the wr to be free and clear BEFORE he throws. add in that his accuracy is terribly inconsistent, he doesn't effectively feel pocket pressure, and so many other KEY elements to successful QB play.

he's all guts and class, and I love the kid to death, but the offensive shortcomings rest squarely on his shoulders.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:
Not that this hasn't been beaten to death, but you cannot be serious!
He has had bad throws this year, that cannot be debated, he has also had great ones.
The idea that he must anticipate an open receiver and the spot to throw to ahead of time assumes that the receiver is running the correct route and the correct timing. We have no idea if that has been the case, I would guess that it has not for most of the year, minus Decker.
He very well may be waiting for the receiver to be free and clear, but the receiver easily could have already messed up the timing or rounded off the route to the point where it becomes a scramble session. Add in 2 other young receivers and a porous Oline you have a broken QB.

I will agree that his pocket pressure "spider sense" is off, IMO this is due to him having David Carr syndrome, which means he has learned to immediately expect pressure since it has come so frequently with the 08 and 09 O lines.

I think with improved WR experience and chemistry(assumption), along with improved O line play(Big assumption) and a visible running game(bigger assumption), we will see the QB that Weber can become. If after spring ball there hasn't been improvement it will all be a mute point because he will have been overtaken by one of the younger QB's provided they can step up their games as well.

I'd be careful to jump onto Weber as the core of the offensive problems however, it's simply too easy to scapegoat the starting Qb, remember that the backup QB is always the most popular guy in town, and that the starting QB will always get more credit and more blame than he is truly responsible for.
 

Ole said:
:rolleyes:
Not that this hasn't been beaten to death, but you cannot be serious!
He has had bad throws this year, that cannot be debated, he has also had great ones.
The idea that he must anticipate an open receiver and the spot to throw to ahead of time assumes that the receiver is running the correct route and the correct timing. We have no idea if that has been the case, I would guess that it has not for most of the year, minus Decker.
He very well may be waiting for the receiver to be free and clear, but the receiver easily could have already messed up the timing or rounded off the route to the point where it becomes a scramble session. Add in 2 other young receivers and a porous Oline you have a broken QB.

I will agree that his pocket pressure "spider sense" is off, IMO this is due to him having David Carr syndrome, which means he has learned to immediately expect pressure since it has come so frequently with the 08 and 09 O lines.

I think with improved WR experience and chemistry(assumption), along with improved O line play(Big assumption) and a visible running game(bigger assumption), we will see the QB that Weber can become. If after spring ball there hasn't been improvement it will all be a mute point because he will have been overtaken by one of the younger QB's provided they can step up their games as well.

I'd be careful to jump onto Weber as the core of the offensive problems however, it's simply too easy to scapegoat the starting Qb, remember that the backup QB is always the most popular guy in town, and that the starting QB will always get more credit and more blame than he is truly responsible for.
Click to expand...


the qb gets most of the blame and/or credit because he's the kid w/ the ball in his hands EVERY play. i've been defending weber to friends and family for 3 years, but the regression this year was so painful to watch. he's certainly had moments of brilliance, but they've been few and far between. the oline started EXTREMELY slow, then got a little better as the year wore on. i truly thought that losing decker LAST YEAR would force adam to see the field different (ala favre when sterling sharpe went down), but it just hasn't been the case. he is severly limited in his vision, and for whatever reason, can only throw accurately half the time.

again, i really like adam, but 3 years in as a starter, it's obvious that he has hit his ceiling. he's had far more bad throws this year than good throws.

there are many issues with this offense...and hopefully some continuity will be beneficial for next year, but Adam is NOT EFFECTIVELY MOVING THE TEAM even when he does have time. aside from the MSU game, it was PAINFULLY obvious this year that he has trouble seeing the field. that shouldn't be the case in the 3rd year.
 

It is playcalling. Horrible playcalling. The O-line was playing with great improvement and authority at the end of the year.
 

i think it's a part of it for sure. sustaining a drive is a bit of an art. Fisch has never called plays. It's reasonable to expect it could be a problem. They say he's smart, i'm guessing he'll catch on.
 


Weber sucks and the offense will suck as long as he is at the helm.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom