Marcus: Find Nelson a go-to WR and he'll be a much better passer

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BleedGopher

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Pioneer Press has a Nelson v Leidner debate, the writers weigh in:

PIONEER PRESS WEIGHS IN

TOM POWERS

Philip Nelson can run a little bit and throw a little bit. Mitch Leidner, at least at this stage of his career, is one-dimensional.

CHARLEY WALTERS

Philip Nelson is more experienced, even if he has only a year's worth of games under his belt.

BOB SANSEVERE

If coach Jerry Kill starts Philip Nelson, fine. But he needs to be ready to pull him out if he falters.

MARCUS FULLER

Philip Nelson has Big Ten experience, and that's worth something. Find him a go-to receiver and he'll be a much better passer.

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_24218202/gophers-qb-debate-philip-nelson-vs-mitch-leidner

Go Gophers!!
 

On the contrary, find a go to quarterback and the receivers will be much better catchers.
 

Isn't it up to the QB to help develop a go to receiver? That's the great tragedy of not having AJ Barker now, he was becoming Nelson's go to receiver before he got hurt.

I'd have thought Nelson and Fruechte would develop that same chemistry, hopefully it's coming and until then hopefully Engel keeps fulfilling that role, he seems to be the only one somewhat capable right now.
 

find an OL that actually opens running holes that woudl give either QB a chance to pass the ball to any WRs or TEs
 

Receivers are open but you must get the pass in the same zip code to have a chance to catch it.
 


We had a potential go to receiver in Andre MacDonald, until he
 

There were many open receivers Saturday.

Nelson had a receiver he could hit last year, AJ Barker.
 

afurry91 said:
On the contrary, find a go to quarterback and the receivers will be much better catchers.
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I recall that Nelson wanted to go to a QB camp this summer and was talked out of it by the coaches. They wanted him around to be an off-season leader. Summer should be a time to get outside opinions on mechanics and philosophies. They should have let him go. I know hindsight is 20/20, but IMO it would have helped.
 

The losses of MacDonald and DCT really hurt this team.
 



PiPress: Gophers football: Philip Nelson looks to make better decisions

What bothered Nelson most was his decision-making under pressure against the Hawkeyes, who sacked him four times.

"That's something I looked at, and I knew that's something I have to be able to fix," said Nelson, who completed 12 of 24 passes with a touchdown against Iowa. "I can't be taking sacks, especially when we're getting closer to the red zone and may be in field-goal range. That's definitely something that (Gophers coach Jerry Kill) kind of said to me, 'You got to just learn from that, move on and not let that happen again.' So that's a valuable lesson I learned last Saturday."

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci...nelson-looks-make-better-decisions?source=rss

Go Gophers!!
 







Tom Brady was incredible with FA rookies, late draft picks and other no name WRs this week. No Gronk, no Welker, no Moss or Hernanadez. An accurate QB can win with mediocre WRs
 

Wolitarsky runs some clean routes and should start getting some quick out balls. pic 6 risk will go through the roof but 1/2 way through MI game it may be where we are at.
 

gopherMD said:
Tom Brady was incredible with FA rookies, late draft picks and other no name WRs this week. No Gronk, no Welker, no Moss or Hernanadez. An accurate QB can win with mediocre WRs
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An Accurate QB without a good OL is one that spends a lot of time on his backside. it is not just one thing it is the whole picture and everything helps each other ou

a better OL and the QB has more time. Better running games gives the WR's more chance to get open for the QB to get the ball to them. A better more accurate QB and it opens the running game up .

right now we are not doing a good job anywhere well enough to compensate the other parts of the offense. It takes time, but will we give the program time to grow?
 

DoubleB said:
An Accurate QB without a good OL is one that spends a lot of time on his backside. it is not just one thing it is the whole picture and everything helps each other ou
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I'm not saying we will ever have one of these, but an elite quarterback will tear apart a defense if his offensive line is made up of 12 year old girls. Aaron Rodgers has had many a year where his offensive line has been non-existent and he still won a ton of games. He did spend a lot of time on his backside, but that's only 5-6 plays out of 50+. An 8 yard sack is really not that big of a deal when your quarterback is slinging it for 20 yard gains every other down.
 

In 2008, Eric Decker sprained his ankle in the Northwestern game. We don't lose that game if that doesn't happen. We probably win a couple more as well if he is healthy. One really good receiver can make a quarterback look pretty good.

Re-watching the Iowa game, I was impressed with Wolitarsky. I think it's starting to click for him. A 6'3" 215 lb. receiver who can keep the chains moving. That is a good thing!
 

I think it can work both ways. A good qb and make average receivers look good but good recievers ala Decker can make an average qb look good too. An upgrade in either position would make the team as a whole better.
 

There were plenty of times when Nelson had time, an open receiver, and still missed by a mile.
 

paulser21 said:
How didn't it? DCT was going to stretch the field for us and Macdonald was probably the most talented WR we have had since Decker.
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Will give you McDonald because he seemed to have some upside. DCT was a track guy playing football, he was smart to walk away and focus on track because as a football player he was very average.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
There were plenty of times when Nelson had time, an open receiver, and still missed by a mile.
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He missed 12 of his 24 pass attempts. Can you tell me which ones account for the "plenty" that "missed by a mile". And how many in a "plenty"?
 

Unregistered User said:
He missed 12 of his 24 pass attempts. Can you tell me which ones account for the "plenty" that "missed by a mile". And how many in a "plenty"?
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You are so logical. Nothing gets by you. For all we know, Phillip's great uncle reads these boards and we wouldn't want to hurt his feelings.
 

The whole passing game needs work. That includes Nelson, the WR's, AND the offensive line in protection. It's just not clicking. When we have a WR open we'll have a breakdown in protection and Nelson will have to hurry his release and throw an inaccurate pass. Or a WR is open and Nelson's mechanics are poor and he throws an inaccurate pass. Or, the protection will be good and Nelson delivers a good pass, and the WR drops it. When you're a young team without a bunch of talented playmakers, execution is key from all parts of the passing game.
 

jaymil said:
The whole passing game needs work. That includes Nelson, the WR's, AND the offensive line in protection. It's just not clicking. When we have a WR open we'll have a breakdown in protection and Nelson will have to hurry his release and throw an inaccurate pass. Or a WR is open and Nelson's mechanics are poor and he throws an inaccurate pass. Or, the protection will be good and Nelson delivers a good pass, and the WR drops it. When you're a young team without a bunch of talented playmakers, execution is key from all parts of the passing game.
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This seems like an accurate description of our passing game.
 

Nelson is finding the open receiver. He is not suffering from "Deer in the Headlights". But he is missing his receivers. He's throwing off his back foot. He is messing up on the fundamentals.
 

jaymil said:
The whole passing game needs work. That includes Nelson, the WR's, AND the offensive line in protection. It's just not clicking. When we have a WR open we'll have a breakdown in protection and Nelson will have to hurry his release and throw an inaccurate pass. Or a WR is open and Nelson's mechanics are poor and he throws an inaccurate pass. Or, the protection will be good and Nelson delivers a good pass, and the WR drops it. When you're a young team without a bunch of talented playmakers, execution is key from all parts of the passing game.
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This, in a nutshell sums up our problem exactly. It is not just Nelson, but a collection of things that are all making it bad.
 

afurry91 said:
I'm not saying we will ever have one of these, but an elite quarterback will tear apart a defense if his offensive line is made up of 12 year old girls. Aaron Rodgers has had many a year where his offensive line has been non-existent and he still won a ton of games. He did spend a lot of time on his backside, but that's only 5-6 plays out of 50+. An 8 yard sack is really not that big of a deal when your quarterback is slinging it for 20 yard gains every other down.
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I agree. Our OL was ok in pass protection on Saturday, but Nelson got had happy feet and was indecisive. He needs to calm down and let the game come to him. He plays like he has the weight of 40 years on his shoulders.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I agree. Our OL was ok in pass protection on Saturday, but Nelson got had happy feet and was indecisive. He needs to calm down and let the game come to him. He plays like he has the weight of 40 years on his shoulders.
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Nelson was off on Sat. He wasn't clicking, he wasn't in a rhythm, part of that was playcalling which has been beaten to death, part was rust IMO.
Here's the deal though, he wasn't on at all, but he did hit a bunch of guys in the hands and they either didn't make a nice adjustment for a tough catch, or they flat out dropped balls.
I rewatched the final few drives last night, nelson was 11/16 for 100 1 TD 1 INT, then he started pressing.

I expect him to be more accurate as the season goes on, I expect Wolitarsky to take over the role Barker had last year, and I think Engel is better with another guy as a threat.
Next spring, regardless of where this season goes we'll have every player on offense back minus Engel. That's unheard of.
Think about that, 1 senior walk on is the only contributor from either the RS Sr or Sr's.
It's gonna get better this season and next.
Limegrover and Nelson will have at least 1 gem game this year IMO, mark it down.
 

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