The passing game!

[Breakin' The Plane]

It’s definitely concerning none of our more athletic skill guys have good enough hands to be a PR.

The WR corps in general is concerning right now.

There are 16 WRs on the roster. I get that a few are walk-ons, but there's a handful of guys who were fairly highly rated that have not even seen the field.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

I'm not sure how a passing game thread turns into a punt catching thread.... That said, the punt catching issue is minor in the scheme of things yet drives a few posters here bonkers. PJ's philosophy is to minimize risk. Punt catching is risky, especially in the college game, so the Goph's err on the side of low risk. I personally don't remember any turnovers this year from punt catching (and too lazy to dig for that) which is probably unusual for most teams.

Field position is a pillar of the game. The amount of lost yardage is significant. Fair to argue for conservatism but most teams including the Gophers have benefitted from rare splash return plays and better field position at least if not much more than dropped punts.

 

[Replacement Gopher]

It bounced and rolled 6. And if it’s a difficult catch it’s better than a fumble. He fair caught multiple balls in the air yesterday. You’re being reactionary and foolish.

Bounced and rolled six, bounced and rolled ten. The additional four yards aren’t the effing point. Neither is the not catching the punt. It’s that we are conservative In EVERYTHING we do, but some idiots on here refuse to acknowledge it and argue whether it bounced six or four yards. Others are concerned about whether the post aligns to the thread title. I mean…..

 

[FormerFatOL]

Field position is a pillar of the game. The amount of lost yardage is significant. Fair to argue for conservatism but most teams including the Gophers have benefitted from rare splash return plays and better field position at least if not much more than dropped punts.

Part of the game plan vs. Iowa was obviously to minimize risk because the Hawkeye's have won this year by capitalizing on mistakes, and lost when those mistakes didn't happen. I can understand not taking chances on punts in this game. In the end, the Hawks won again by capitalizing on mistakes, this time through a couple big pass plays on offense instead of getting turnovers. That's who they are.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Well, like I said you can choose to be conservative and minimize chances of downside (and upside!) but as an example of oddity kicking the long FGs this season is definitely not the conservative choice, There is what, maybe a 10% chance of success on those? Better odds to try to convert fourth down, or punt and pin.

This staff is wierd.

 

[From the Parkinglot]

I'm not sure how a passing game thread turns into a punt catching thread.... That said, the punt catching issue is minor in the scheme of things yet drives a few posters here bonkers. PJ's philosophy is to minimize risk. Punt catching is risky, especially in the college game, so the Goph's err on the side of low risk. I personally don't remember any turnovers this year from punt catching (and too lazy to dig for that) which is probably unusual for most teams.

Yeah what’s 10-15 yards of field position for an offense that struggles to move the ball. When maybe 5% of the time a ball may bounce of the punt catcher and be fumbled.

the problem I have is they don’t do anything. They don’t send everyone to try and block the punt. They don’t set up a return as they don’t catch the pints often enough. I could see it ok we are gonna try and block every punt and as part of that game plan we won’t catch the punt. The fact that they treat it as basically a non play during a game is remarkable to me especially when teams punt around 4-5 times a game.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Bounced and rolled six, bounced and rolled ten. The additional four yards aren’t the effing point. Neither is the not catching the punt. It’s that we are conservative In EVERYTHING we do, but some idiots on here refuse to acknowledge it and argue whether it bounced six or four yards. Others are concerned about whether the post aligns to the thread title. I mean…..

You’re mad the punt bounced and rolled 10 yards. It didn’t. No matter what anyone on here feels or thinks—it doesn’t matter. PJ isn’t reading this for advice. The AD isn’t taking our recommendations. You’re over thinking it. If you don’t enjoy the team or this message board cut them from your life. You’ll be happier and can find a new hobby. I enjoy wood working.

 

[John Galt]

I'm not going to rewatch all of Iowa's punts to prove it but the ones I remember Annexstad letting bounce and roll were the shorter ones where he had to make a "Peter" call in order help our guys get out of the way so the ball didn't hit them. Returners are absolutely taught not to run up into traffic to try and catch a punt. Just like they are taught not to catch it inside the 10.

My issue with the punt return game is that we often don't even attempt a return even when there is space to do so. Way too quick to throw up the fair catch many times, and that probably is coached out of fear of something bad happening. But there is no way they are telling the return man to let easily catchable punts drop and roll.

The staff is absolutely telling them to not the catch the ball in certain situations. I remember the Nebraska game vividly in the 4th quarter. Fleck called Annexstad back to tell him something. I told the person in my group that I’d bet them any amount of money there was no way Annexstad would be fielding the punt. Sure enough, he didn’t get within 10 yards of it even though it was a completely catchable punt.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

You’re mad the punt bounced and rolled 10 yards. It didn’t. No matter what anyone on here feels or thinks—it doesn’t matter. PJ isn’t reading this for advice. The AD isn’t taking our recommendations. You’re over thinking it. If you don’t enjoy the team or this message board cut them from your life. You’ll be happier and can find a new hobby. I enjoy wood working.

It actually rolled 9 yards.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Tanner over throwing 4 open receivers, throwing late in the end zone and missing several wide open guys because he can't progress off his primary when covered and double covered and in one case triple covered is the issue with our passing game.

The difficult thing is that the "gimme" throws are no longer gimmes for us. That changes everything if you can't execute the really simple plays. It's actually why I would have ran for the 2 point conversion (probably that toss play).

If you aren't converting the gimmes at ~80%, it really clogs things up everywhere.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

The staff is absolutely telling them to not the catch the ball in certain situations. I remember the Nebraska game vividly in the 4th quarter. Fleck called Annexstad back to tell him something. I told the person in my group that I’d bet them any amount of money there was no way Annexstad would be fielding the punt. Sure enough, he didn’t get within 10 yards of it even though it was a completely catchable punt.

It really seems like they are coached that if you have to run up more than 5 yards or move back more than 5 yards, you should just let it go.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Part of the game plan vs. Iowa was obviously to minimize risk because the Hawkeye's have won this year by capitalizing on mistakes, and lost when those mistakes didn't happen. I can understand not taking chances on punts in this game. In the end, the Hawks won again by capitalizing on mistakes, this time through a couple big pass plays on offense instead of getting turnovers. That's who they are.

I am actually cool with the staff's decision to essentially forgo the punt return on most plays and to be extremely conservative with catching the punts. My biggest issue with that is then why do we only put 1 guy back?

Why don't we put two punt returners/catchers back? This would reduce the amount of space the returner has to move in order to catch the ball. You could kind of stagger them by halves of the field and also like 10 yards deeper/shallow. It would probably cut in half the number of punts that land and roll 10-15 yards.

 

[Replacement Gopher]

You’re mad the punt bounced and rolled 10 yards. It didn’t. No matter what anyone on here feels or thinks—it doesn’t matter. PJ isn’t reading this for advice. The AD isn’t taking our recommendations. You’re over thinking it. If you don’t enjoy the team or this message board cut them from your life. You’ll be happier and can find a new hobby. I enjoy wood working.

“No matter what anyone on here feels or thinks—it doesn’t matter. PJ isn’t reading this for advice.”

We all know PJ isn’t reading this for our advice. I am assuming you aren’t posting here because you think the coaches are reading your posts.

Love people who post on message boards to say posting on message boards is a waste of time.

 

[Tommyboy]

We should be able to run or pass with the most experienced line in FBS. Most of these coaches are to afraid to take some risk, they have to much money on the line. Look at the states 6A, their offenses have all copied Elk River and run the triple wishbone from the 1950's, boring. St. Thomas this year their QB's have more interceptions then TD's, they have a total of 2 passing TD's for the whole year, one on a trick play, both to RB's. Their WR's do not have one TD for the whole year. The Pioneer League overall is weaker then the MIAC. Bemidji, is in first place and they lead the nation in DII in passing. MVP of the game was Iowa's 5'11" QB out of Colorado. St. John's has a more exciting offense to watch.

 

[Polski]

Regarding the punt return team, the results from that area of special teams are maddening. How can you sit in a coach's meeting room, and explain to the rest of the staff that our best approach is to NOT bring a full rush, to NOT set-up any type of return game, and to try to fair catch virtually every ball with only one returner deep. What am I missing??

That is what is being coached. That is the scheme and design that the staff put forth. Point blank. I'd love for some to add up the hundreds of yards of field position that we've lost this season after the punts have hit the turf and rolled. In Big Ten games like yesterday, where you're fighting for every inch from the opening kickoff, those yards matter.

It's such a scared and conservative scheme. Same with our kick return game, not applying any pressure on the opposing team's coverage unit.

As for getting back on track with this thread.....the passing game. With 10 min left in the 4th qtr, Morgan's numbers were 10-21 for 72 yds. That's 3.82 yds per attempt. Even against a stout Iowa D, that's just not getting it done through the air.

At that point we were also out-rushing them 203-60 on the ground, so that's tremendous. You'd take that every day of the week.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

“No matter what anyone on here feels or thinks—it doesn’t matter. PJ isn’t reading this for advice.”

We all know PJ isn’t reading this for our advice. I am assuming you aren’t posting here because you think the coaches are reading your posts.

Love people who post on message boards to say posting on message boards is a waste of time.

It isn’t a waste of time because I enjoy it. But you said “It’s that we are conservative In EVERYTHING we do, but some idiots on here refuse to acknowledge it” which is fine but you’re awfully worked up over what people on here think. It’s ok. You’ll be ok. The sun rose this morning, albeit later than I’d prefer.

 

[BoatRacer]

Is it even legal? Asking for an OC and HC

 

[Replacement Gopher]

It isn’t a waste of time because I enjoy it. But you said “It’s that we are conservative In EVERYTHING we do, but some idiots on here refuse to acknowledge it” which is fine but you’re awfully worked up over what people on here think. It’s ok. You’ll be ok. The sun rose this morning, albeit later than I’d prefer.

Got it. You post on here because you enjoy it.

Everyone else does so with the false hope PJ is reading this for our advice.

 

[jonnyganas]

One thing that occurred to me listening to Fleck after the game: While folks on the outside question Morgan's passing or perceive a regression in his play, Fleck always puts it on the WRs. He has said after multiple games that drops and lack of separation by the wideouts, lack of execution are to blame. He mentioned that if a ball is in the catch-radius, our guys need to come down with it. While I think it's a "both and" situation, Fleck's background as a WR is possibly why he holds a higher standard for WRs than the QB. Thinking back to 2019, Bateman and Johnson ran better routes and almost always caught the ball in that catch-radius, making Morgan look better than his ability.

It's not an excuse, just a way to understand what the coach is thinking and his philosophy.

If the WRs can't haul in balls thrown high or behind, it stands to reason that we would benefit from a more talented QB. Hopefully we have one on our roster, but we likely won't find out until next season.

 

[BoatRacer]

One thing that occurred to me listening to Fleck after the game: While folks on the outside question Morgan's passing or perceive a regression in his play, Fleck always puts it on the WRs. He has said after multiple games that drops and lack of separation by the wideouts, lack of execution are to blame. He mentioned that if a ball is in the catch-radius, our guys need to come down with it. While I think it's a "both and" situation, Fleck's background as a WR is possibly why he holds a higher standard for WRs than the QB. Thinking back to 2019, Bateman and Johnson ran better routes and almost always caught the ball in that catch-radius, making Morgan look better than his ability.

It's not an excuse, just a way to understand what the coach is thinking and his philosophy.

If the WRs can't haul in balls thrown high or behind, it stands to reason that we would benefit from a more talented QB. Hopefully we have one on our roster, but we likely won't find out until next season.

Then he constantly needs to find ones that will meet his standard. It is strange to see him blaming WRs constantly. If DW is not a culture fit, why did he recruit him? Why is blaming WRs is fair game to him,but not his OC or QB ?

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Regarding the punt return team, the results from that area of special teams are maddening. How can you sit in a coach's meeting room, and explain to the rest of the staff that our best approach is to NOT bring a full rush, to NOT set-up any type of return game, and to try to fair catch virtually every ball with only one returner deep. What am I missing??

That is what is being coached. That is the scheme and design that the staff put forth. Point blank. I'd love for some to add up the hundreds of yards of field position that we've lost this season after the punts have hit the turf and rolled. In Big Ten games like yesterday, where you're fighting for every inch from the opening kickoff, those yards matter.

It's such a scared and conservative scheme. Same with our kick return game, not applying any pressure on the opposing team's coverage unit.

As for getting back on track with this thread.....the passing game. With 10 min left in the 4th qtr, Morgan's numbers were 10-21 for 72 yds. That's 3.82 yds per attempt. Even against a stout Iowa D, that's just not getting it done through the air.

At that point we were also out-rushing them 203-60 on the ground, so that's tremendous. You'd take that every day of the week.

I don’t think you’re missing anything. Either Wenger is calling the shots (and arguably wrong in our schlub opinions), or drawing on an obscure historical analogy this may be a “Hitler not listening to his generals at Stalingrad“ situation. Either PJF is overruling his coaches or they are too timid to forcefully make their case. Maybe we’re wrong . No way ha ha.

Field position has an expected points value assigned. We have enough hubris to say our prolific offense will overcome the statistics. I’m not sure that’s smart, but I’d guess they have analysts churning the numbers?

 

[jonnyganas]

Then he constantly needs to find ones that will meet his standard. It is strange to see him blaming WRs constantly. If DW is not a culture fit, why did he recruit him? Why is blaming WRs is fair game to him,but not his OC or QB ?

My take is that Fleck knows WRs better than QBs, so he is more comfortable criticizing them.

Also the transfer portal can be a gamble. Wright didn't have any game time experience at Texas A&M, so hard to project accurately whether he fits or not.

 

[BoatRacer]

My take is that Fleck knows WRs better than QBs, so he is more comfortable criticizing them.

Also the transfer portal can be a gamble. Wright didn't have any game time experience at Texas A&M, so hard to project accurately whether he fits or not.

But he is not a WR or WR coach. He is the HC. So he needs to act like one.

 

[Otis]

We pass?

 

[Dakota2]

To be fair, the coaching staff does seem to forget a lot of things. For example, they continue to be taught the same lesson, over and over and over, seemingly because they forget the lesson.

Intentionally playing for FGs at the end of halves. Not playing aggressive against your biggest rivals who have owned you. Talking your punt returner to let the ball bounce. These are all things this staff forgets in a regular basis.

Staff also forgets when a QB loses everything he once had going, good coaches give the next guy a shot.

 

[BoatRacer]

We pass?

No passing game passed out

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

There have been two things that as a fan I have seen from Wright in games that has probably put him in “the dog house”. After a big catch he started jawing and Autman-Bell ran up to him to try to correct that. Another game he got a personal foul for being chippy. I think he is going to have to adapt to the standards here before he is rewarded with a bigger role.

 

[kg21]

Any chance Autmann-Bell comes back next year?

 

[Dakota2]

Tanner over throwing 4 open receivers, throwing late in the end zone and missing several wide open guys because he can't progress off his primary when covered and double covered and in one case triple covered is the issue with our passing game.

John Elway would look panicked and frightened if he had to go through Morgan's pre-snap clown show.

 

[Otis]

I hate our offense!