Being one of the people who thought you too harsh in your criticism of JC last week, I feel you are dead on this week. He has shown improvement, but definitely needs to be a lot quicker in his decision making.
You are dead wrong about giving Weis an F for shifting personnel. Being stubborn and not rewarding good play and not punishing poor play with more/less play time is what get coaches fired. Weis had to keep adjusting to find a winning formula. Granted it would be preferred to do this in the Spring/Summer, but often times game speeds can not be simulated in such times.
Agree with most everything else, though...
Don't remember any bad offensive playcalling? How about this...deep ball to Kamara who's completely blanketed by a defender.
Deep ball to Kamara who's completely blanketed by a defender.
Screen.
Deep ball to Kamara who's completely blanketed by a defender.
Deep ball to Kamara who's completely blanketed by a defender.
Screen.
Deep ball to Tate who's completely blanketed by a defender.
Deep ball to Kamara who's completely blanketed by a defender.
Weis' "phonebook" apparently just repeats the same 2 pass plays this year.
If you don't throw deep balls then your short passing game doesn't get respected. We found that out early in the season when the criticism was that Weis refused to let Jimmy loose to go long.
JBJ, you make a good point about flexibility. I guess there is a balance to be had there.
We should really split out halfbacks and fullbacks. Schwapp is unfairly dragging down Hughes' grade. Aside from that fumble after the catch, Robert had a tremendous game. 130+ yards behind our miserable offensive line is no small accomplishment, even against Stanford.
Surely, you need to mix in some deep passes to keep the D honest. But the exact same route? With usually the exact same guy? Why not throw deep over the middle from time to time? Why not mix in some deep outs? Jimmy's got the arm to make any throw on the field, he's shown that much. Maybe he needs more time to learn the plays, but overall I thought the play calling was poor. Too few plays.
Hulk, you had me in agreement until you said, "Jimmy's got the arm to make any throw on the field" ...
In my opinion that's simply not true. While Clausen's arm strength has improved the last couple games, his long balls are almost exclusively underthrown. The only question has been by how much. An underthrown ball over the deep middle can be a very bad thing.
But I certainly agree on route diversity in general.
Luke,
I agree about Clausen's arm. Underthrown balls that seem to be up-for-grabs is seemingly all he can throw beyond the 25-30-yard mark. Maybe I've just been missing his laser-like passes beyond the mark, but I've been less than impressed with his arm strength.
I would hardly classify the deep TD pass to Grimes (the one that was inexplicably overturned) as "underthrown." As further evidenced by the bullet he threw down the seam against Duke, arm strength is not his problem. He had injury problems earlier in the season, but he's got plenty of arm now.
His problem is decision making, and I defy you to name a true freshman qb with great decision making skills. Look at Mallet at Michigan. He can throw a ball through a brick wall but he's still god awful.
Jimmy has tremendous upside. He may not be able to sling it downfield as far as Jamarcus Russell, but who the heck cares. 95% of passes, especially in our offense, aren't long bombs. The kid is already more accurate than Brady was as a senior. If he can master the mental side of the game, he'll be special.
I agree that his arm strength has looked better the last couple games, but I still wouldn't say it's up to snuff either. The pass to Grimes was not underthrown, but I don't recall it being beyond 30 yards or so either. I'd have to check the stats to know the exact number.
Hopefully the surgery was part of the cause of the strength issue.
am i the only one who thinks that jimmy runs like a douche when he comes from the sideline to the huddle? It's like he actually has a trot. Does that knock him down half a grade?
P.S. Doesn't the fact that zibby has the most tackles out of the team show that he isn't out of position as much as everybody says?
No, it's jsut further proof that our linebackers suck.
I'm sure the elbow surgery has a lot to do with Clausen's arm strength. Moreso, I think being 18 and not having been in any kind of real strength-and-training program has a lot more to do with it.
To evaluate Jimmy's arm strength I would hope you're looking at more than a couple underthrown go routes down the sideline.
I'm looking at the pass he throws from the right hash mark over to the first down marker on the opposite sideline. Those passes have been darts and right on target. If he can make that throw, he can make any throw on the field. And frankly, those are the kinds of routes we saw too few of. More outs, more ins, more middle-of-the-field routes. Something to mix it up.
Furthermore, when your WR doesn't have any seperation from a CB covering him 1 on 1, sometimes a designed underthrow in hopes your WR will see it and come get it is a good thing.
maybe it's not lack of arm strength but just lack of timing between him and Kamara? Not knowing where he is going to be when the ball comes down?
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