Shortell Thinking Too Much

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GopherinPhilly

GopherinPhilly

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I think Shortell is thinking too much out there...his passes are late out of his hand. He is guiding instead of throwing his down field throws. Add to it, his footwork is absolutely horrible on passes outside the numbers (see many examples of throws out of bounds, over screen receiver head).

I know he is just a SO and on most teams he would be a R-FR that doesn't see the field...but we need him to perform better.

He is probably being over Coached right now and is thinking instead of playing.

We are in a tough spot for the rest of the year.
 

I agree. On the 4th and goal it looked like he double clutched and the ball gust slipped/exploded out of his hand. Just grip it and rip it (New Hampshire game). Call me crazy, but I think he lost a lot of confidence after that INT at Iowa where the DB made a great play to wrestle the ball away from Barker. Different QB since then.
 

balds said:
I agree. On the 4th and goal it looked like he double clutched and the ball gust slipped/exploded out of his hand. Just grip it and rip it (New Hampshire game). Call me crazy, but I think he lost a lot of confidence after that INT at Iowa where the DB made a great play to wrestle the ball away from Barker. Different QB since then.
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i would say imho that we aren't entirely helping the situation and i feel bad for it. the kid seems to be lacking confidence and no doubt the negative criticism (not saying from this board in particular but from the fans as a whole) is getting to him in some way. he seems like when he plays with the opinion of that he has nothing to lose (aka in comeback situations where no one is suspecting us to win) he does much better. just needs to be playing loose.
 

The fade to Mac was there. He should have hit Isac F. before he slipped in the end zone. Max currently is a "backup" QB. Acceptable in the non-conf, but we've seen why is indeed a " backup"
in his last two games.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
The fade to Mac was there. He should have hit Isac F. before he slipped in the end zone. Max currently is a "backup" QB. Acceptable in the non-conf, but we've seen why is indeed a " backup"
in his last two games.
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Max played fine today. He was not helped out at all out there. The throw to Fruechte should have been a TD. He also should have had another TD earlier in the game where the WR played the ball terribly. If you add those TDs to Max's game, we'd all be praising him.

As far as thinking too much, that might be it. I thought he struggled a bit in the second half because he wasn't going to run (I don't think he was 100% healthy) and I think sitting in the pocket double clutching when no one is open comes across as "thinking" too much.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
Max played fine today. He was not helped out at all out there. The throw to Fruechte should have been a TD. He also should have had another TD earlier in the game where the WR played the ball terribly. If you add those TDs to Max's game, we'd all be praising him.

As far as thinking too much, that might be it. I thought he struggled a bit in the second half because he wasn't going to run (I don't think he was 100% healthy) and I think sitting in the pocket double clutching when no one is open comes across as "thinking" too much.
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Max did not play very well today. Remember, Gray scored our one touchdown. The throw to Fruechte? He was wide open. It was an underthrown, late ball. How about the fourth down pass that Max launched into the stands? It was not a good game. I will be the first to admit.....we jumped to conclusions after that western michigan game. Max is not ready. Gray is too important to our success.
 

stocker08 said:
Max did not play very well today. Remember, Gray scored our one touchdown. The throw to Fruechte? He was wide open. It was an underthrown, late ball. How about the fourth down pass that Max launched into the stands? It was not a good game. I will be the first to admit.....we jumped to conclusions after that western michigan game. Max is not ready. Gray is too important to our success.
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I've always been of the belief that Gray gave us the best chance to win games, I was on here arguing against the pro-Shortell crowd after the first three games. I actually thought that Gray played decent as well.

However, I don't think Max played bad today.

The 4th Down throw was there, but it wasn't like wide open, but you're right, that was a bad throw.

You could be right about the Fruechte throw, but man, he looked like he just slipped to me. Maybe he had to slow down a bit more than you'd want, but the pass would have been right there for a TD if he hadn't slipped. I don't see how anyone can put that on Max (again I haven't seen it on TV yet, so I could be wrong, but that was my impression at the game).

Other than that, there were two more occasions where I think he was let down by his receivers. There was another play on that same drive that should have been a TD. A Big 10 caliber WR needs to come down with that pass. Additionally, there was another play earlier (I am only about 80% sure Max was QB and not Gray on this play), that was another play where the WR should have been able to shiled off the defender.

Again, I'm not saying that Max played terrific but I don't think he played bad. If we wouldn't have had about 10 miscommunications with the C, a fumble on the opening kickoff, and caught the ball. . . we win this game and his stats would have looked pretty decent.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
You could be right about the Fruechte throw, but man, he looked like he just slipped to me. Maybe he had to slow down a bit more than you'd want, but the pass would have been right there for a TD if he hadn't slipped. I don't see how anyone can put that on Max (again I haven't seen it on TV yet, so I could be wrong, but that was my impression at the game).
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You're right, Bob, and I did watch it on TV (and multiple times on the DVR afterwards). I think Freuchte just lost his footing on a wet turf. The throw was not perfect by any means as the ball was slightly underthrown, but it was right there and he was wide open, and by all rights that should have been a touchdown, as all the elements were there, but the WR just unfortunately slipped, and so goes the razor-thin margin between success and failure.
 




Like I said, Max is a backup QB. He could very well improve on that as he is only a sophomore. But to say he didn't play bad yesterday is totally delusional. The kid that won the punt,pass, and kick event at halftime could have made both those throws.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
Like I said, Max is a backup QB. He could very well improve on that as he is only a sophomore. But to say he didn't play bad yesterday is totally delusional. The kid that won the punt,pass, and kick event at halftime could have made both those throws.
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At this point I think I agree with Flywheel about Max being a backup. Shortell played "ok"....but "ok" can not even beat Northwestern at TCF.
 


Seany said:
You're right, Bob, and I did watch it on TV (and multiple times on the DVR afterwards). I think Freuchte just lost his footing on a wet turf. The throw was not perfect by any means as the ball was slightly underthrown, but it was right there and he was wide open, and by all rights that should have been a touchdown, as all the elements were there, but the WR just unfortunately slipped, and so goes the razor-thin margin between success and failure.
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I disagree. the main thing is he didn't look for the ball immediately or he would've had a good shot. the ball was very underthrown. that should be a throw to the back of the end zone and he catches it in stride for an easy td. instead he had to try twist and contort to come back on a wet field and fell. the poor throw put him there. one bad throw there. no other way to say it.

He did make some very very nice throws, but he seems like he's trying to will the ball to the receiver in big moments, not just throw. He just seems like he so badly wants to make the play that he doesn't just do what he does best (grip and rip) and it ends up making him make the mistake. He has the arm to be a Big 10 QB, he's just not quite there yet with his head. that'll come with time.
 



I watched the game on TV a couple of times and blaming those drops/misplays on the WR (except for the drop by Mcdonald which hit him in the stomach) is a bit unfair.

The pass into the endzone on the post in the first quarter was late and behind the receiver giving the safety time to close. IF that ball is thown a half second sooner or put more out in front, it is an easy score. Same with the slipped receiver in the endzone...if you watch the replay on TV you will see Shortell see the play, shuffle his feet and then aim the ball to the endzone...resulting in a very short pass. Yes, there was a chance for a completion if the WR doesn't fall, but if the pass is 7 yards deeper it wont matter...easy TD.

If you go back to the last 3 games, Shortell has been good up the seem but not good outside the numbers and deep anywhere. Even the interception against IA was late and the receiver had to wait for the ball giving the defending to catch up and take the ball away.
 

From my vantage point, part of it looks to be simply inexperience, which leads to him not going through his reads smoothly, which leads to him holding onto the ball a microsecond or two too long, which leads to him trusting his arm too much and not stepping to his throws, which is leading to his accuracy issues. It reminds me a bit of Weber when he would go into a funk.

I don't know what his ceiling as a player is. He may not run well enough to do what Chandler Harnish did in this offensive set at Northern Illinois, but he has a nice arm and can run the ball somewhat effectively. I just think he's too much "arms and legs" to hold up as a runner if the offense calls for him to run more than a handful of times a game.
 

GopherinPhilly said:
I watched the game on TV a couple of times and blaming those drops/misplays on the WR (except for the drop by Mcdonald which hit him in the stomach) is a bit unfair.

The pass into the endzone on the post in the first quarter was late and behind the receiver giving the safety time to close. IF that ball is thown a half second sooner or put more out in front, it is an easy score. Same with the slipped receiver in the endzone...if you watch the replay on TV you will see Shortell see the play, shuffle his feet and then aim the ball to the endzone...resulting in a very short pass. Yes, there was a chance for a completion if the WR doesn't fall, but if the pass is 7 yards deeper it wont matter...easy TD.

If you go back to the last 3 games, Shortell has been good up the seem but not good outside the numbers and deep anywhere. Even the interception against IA was late and the receiver had to wait for the ball giving the defending to catch up and take the ball away.
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Yeah, I didn't realize how bad the play was to McDonald (who I thought looked good otherwise).

I watched on TV now, and I just disagree on the ball that Fruechte slipped.

First, it was an easy TD regardless of where it was thrown. Fruechte slipped, it wasn't like it was a difficult play because of the placement of the football. I don't think Fruechte had to stop abruptly, I don't think there was any more of a chance that Fruechte slips where he slipped than if it was 7 yards deeper.


I think Shortell was bad against Iowa and he was decent against Syracuse.
 

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