No more Weber ground game...

[cncmin]

We fans, and maybe the coaches, have seemed to have forgotten that 2 years ago, while the team won only one game, the offense seemed much more effective than it has been the past 15 games; this with arguably lesser talent. In 2007, it was the defensive sieve that cost the Gophers most of those football games.

Forward to 2008, the defense improved a lot, and kept the team in a lot of games. Unfortunately, the offense was pretty much ineffective, culminating in the axe of the OC at the end of the year and the change away from the spread offense to a more pro-style offense. But what changed between 2007 and 2008? To me, there were two main differences: (1) Weber wasn't very accurate in 2008, and (2) Weber stopped running the ball.

In 2007, Weber ran the ball very effectively, and was a dangerous two-way threat, with a large enough body to punish defenders at times. Then he got that knee injury in October 2008, had minor surgery, and has stopped running ever since; and since that time, the offense has been totally out of synch as well; which culminated in a long losing streak to end 2008.

Is there any reason why Weber is no longer running the ball? Is his knee still injured? Is he tentative? Are the coaches wary? The Gophers' offense this year remains devoid a strong running game, but certainly to me it seems that a large part of that is on Weber's transition to a pure pocket QB - and possibly that has affected his throwing as well - he does not appear to be comfortable in this type of offense. Is it time to open up the playbook a bit? Even the Cal blogger sees that our offense lacks imagination. Getting Weber out in the open and having him become that two-way threat again would be, IMO, a step in the right direction.

Nobody is going to question Weber's toughness, the guy plays hard, and we all respect him for that. But with that injury, did his ground game entirely disappear as well?

Oct. 26, 2008 - 11:30 p.m. ET

Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber's reputation as a tough guy is rapidly growing. Weber played last week against Illinois despite having arthroscopic surgery on his knee just days before. Last week Weber led the Gophers to another victory despite presumably breaking his nose.

 

[Mylometer]

It's not the injury from what the staff has said. I don't remember where I saw it (either Brewster's tv show, Rosen's Sports Sunday, ESPN, etc) but they (Fisch or Brewster) said that those called runs were taken out of the playbook. With the Pro-Style Offense, there are no designed runs in there for Weber like there were when the Spread was installed. There are supposedly a few designed runs for Gray, but that's because they think he's got more speed and can be a bigger threat with that option available.

Adam's going through a rough spot right now with his throwing motion. We also need more people to make plays. It seems like Decker's the only one who can do anything. Give it a little bit more time. I think we'll see an improvement.

 

[TubbytownUSA]

Taken out of the playbook? Bring them back damnit. Stop being stubborn.

My chili is hot.

 

[i'm batman]

Taken out of the playbook? Bring them back damnit. Stop being stubborn.

My chili is hot.

+1

 

[thailleagle]

Taken out of the playbook? Bring them back damnit. Stop being stubborn.

My chili is hot.

+2

 

[SoMplsHawkI]

Taken out of the playbook? Bring them back damnit. Stop being stubborn.

Except he's your 2nd best offensive player. Why risk the injury? IIRC he was pretty beat up at the end of last year running on his own. He can't help you from the bench.