I bet you'll end up looking to see what I wrote because you're mentally weak. You need the ignore button to protect you from this mental weakness, but you won't be able to resist and will eventually look after much soul searching. "Should I? Shouldn't I? Oh, I'm going to look."
Do we throw deep enough?
- Thread starter Brandon
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I bet you'll end up looking to see what I wrote because you're mentally weak. You need the ignore button to protect you from this mental weakness, but you won't be able to resist and will eventually look after much soul searching. "Should I? Shouldn't I? Oh, I'm going to look."
As much as there is doubt we have the QB to go deep, there should be doubt that we have the WRs to go deep. As a group they lack speed and have not proven to consistently have great positioning or hands. When was the last time we had a WR make a catch like the KU WR along the sidelines?
The deep pass is a low percentage play, even more so with our WRs and at times SR. Sure, adding more deep routes would be good, but what we really need is more vertical routes- get these big guys moving away from the LOS when they catch the ball. We also need Sam to find the open guy on breakdown situations or use his legs to get the easy yards. Too many times when under duress he does a good job to keep the play alive, only to force something that we are not capable of completing when he has an easy 5+ yards in front of him.
The deep pass is a low percentage play, even more so with our WRs and at times SR. Sure, adding more deep routes would be good, but what we really need is more vertical routes- get these big guys moving away from the LOS when they catch the ball. We also need Sam to find the open guy on breakdown situations or use his legs to get the easy yards. Too many times when under duress he does a good job to keep the play alive, only to force something that we are not capable of completing when he has an easy 5+ yards in front of him.
The question shouldn't be "do we throw deep enough", it should be "can our QB throw accurate deep passes" and the answer is no, he cannot.
This option has it's limits when you have a quarterback that does not have that accuracy to put deep passes where they need to be, every time we tried our receivers were getting edges on the defender but along with that Sam did not put the ball where it needed to be. I think from a WR perspective I think we were getting separation, but we need a qb that can put it where it needs to be to get this fully done consistently....
In Sam's defense, he tried to go deep a few times yesterday, he just couldn't make the throws. We are opening up the playbook a little more each game but so far this year, it seems Mangino's playcalling has been handcuffed by what Sam can do. Doesn't matter what plays are called if you can't execute them. I'd say another reason we don't go deep is that Sam has shown over the last 3+ years he's definitely not a gambler. He doesn't make risky throws, a lot of the times the deep ball requires confidence and the trust that your WR will go get the ball. Sam is very cautious with his throws.
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This. On a below average team we begin to think our average to good players are great. You aren't going to see Baylor, TCU or even TT plays consistently.
The first question is "Can the OL block long enough for the WR to run a deep route?" Until yesterday, that answer has more often than not been "no".
I think we have enough receivers with speed. We just need to call the right routes and confuse the defense some.Certainly our receivers can catch the ball well. That is a major positive.
I've been saying the last 2 seasons that we don't throw deep near enough.
The TD pass to Montgomery was a prime example. Although it wasn't really a fly pattern, we still had one on one coverage and Montgomery just made the play. We have multiple WR's that can do that IMO.
We hardly ever stretch the defense vertically. IMO, we should lob it up deep to Montgomery, Lazard, Bundrage, or Daley twice per quarter or roughly 8 times a game. If we have such good WR's, let them do their thing.
And the thing is... it is not a very risky play at all. 95% of the time it's either going to be incomplete or caught by the offensive player. And on the slight chance it is intercepted, it's usually no worse than a punt anyway.
The TD pass to Montgomery was a prime example. Although it wasn't really a fly pattern, we still had one on one coverage and Montgomery just made the play. We have multiple WR's that can do that IMO.
We hardly ever stretch the defense vertically. IMO, we should lob it up deep to Montgomery, Lazard, Bundrage, or Daley twice per quarter or roughly 8 times a game. If we have such good WR's, let them do their thing.
And the thing is... it is not a very risky play at all. 95% of the time it's either going to be incomplete or caught by the offensive player. And on the slight chance it is intercepted, it's usually no worse than a punt anyway.
It's a much more risky play when you have a safety back there that is facing the QB and can see the ball the whole way and make a play on it.
AL has great hands but he hasn't learned to use his size to bully smaller DB's. He isn't going to be a deep threat WR, he's a possession guy. When you compare him to the WR groups that Baylor and TCU have, he doesn't have the top end speed to consistently burn guys deep. Our WR group may be our biggest strength but it doesn't mean it stacks up to the top teams in the league. None of our guys do.
Looking at the espn team stats this morning, we have an game average of 255.8 yards per a game, which is good for 39th in the nation. While some of you think we need to go deep more often, we seem to be doing a pretty good job in the passing game. Could it be better? Yes. But is it the most concerning thing right now, I do not think so. I think the more pressing concern is finishing a higher percentage of our drives and putting more points on the board.
That's easily fixed, though. Paging Mr. Elephant. Mr. Lazard needs to spend some quality time with you...
This is the problem... Long Drives, and Yards DO NOT equal points. Big plays equal points. I saw a stat on saturday that showed there were 9 drives of 19 plus plays this year and only 1 of those equaled a TD. We cannot score, because we are scared to make or incapable of making big plays. Thats why I would not attempt a pass under 8 yards, unless the pass was your running game.
Frankly I was thrilled we threw to the tight ends yesterday. I would like to see us throw in a few screens to the running backs.
