Benning This Morning
- Thread starter St. Anger
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IMHO every position will be improved except RB, but the RB depth will be improved. In addition, the HC , the OC, and other offensive coaches will be improved.
This season is going to come down to how TA adjusts to the new offense
Either he has the capability to be a serviceable QB in this offense and the team will perform well
Or he just doesn't have the physical and/or mental skill set to be a QB in an offense that relies on accuracy from the QB position and it is going to be a rough year
I hope he thrives under Lansdorf but I have nightmares of a Joe Dailey reincarnation
It can't be as bad as Dailey, It just can't. TA2 actually possesses some passing skills.
I think it more hinges on the running game getting going. I understand Riley and Co. want to throw but that may have to be scaled back a bit for Tommy. But if the running game struggles and we have to rely on Tommy, I don't like our chances.
One thing that needs to be mentioned here I think is what I have read and other threads... Mike Riley is adaptable on offense. At Oregon State when he didn't have a passing quarterback, the running backs got a lot more carries. What that means is if Armstrong isn't cutting it, will see more running plays than passing. This will not be a Callahan offense where he forced the past when we had a running system.
This makes sense, especially since we have one of the best punters in the nation. Use passing as an extension of the running game, safe throws, pound the rock, if we get bogged down, send in the guy who can kick it 70 yards.
Callahan probably could have gone 7-5 8-4 if he would have just run the ball and neutered Dailey. If TA can't cycle through his progressions, make good decisions AND THEN deliver an accurate ball, you are correct, he is going to be handing the ball off a great deal and we are looking at 8-4 plus or minus a game or 2. Our running game and defense isn't going to be good enough to cover for inept play at the QB position. If TA struggles we are going to be in a dog fight with Minnesota, Iowa and northwestern for also rans in the west division
It would be interesting to see what "the running backs got a lot more carries" actually means. Maybe a comparison of a high passing rate year to a high running rate year. I don't know what our offense is going to look like. I don't necessarily think a 50/50 run to pass game would be good if we can't complete passes to our own players. Will Riley adapt if players can't entirely fit the system, that is the million dollar question.
How's this for beating a dead horse. Meyer at OhSU has run the ball on yearly average 62%+. In a losing effort against VT he still ran it 57% of the time. Is OhSU hurting so much at qb, that they need to abandon a "balanced" game? We may not want to throw it 60%+ when we are down, unless we want to lose by more.
Makes me feel better that we'll have DPE running the jet sweep too. Just another run game option.
There was a reason he was offered a head of the kid from Millard West that went to Stanford. I believe he is the real deal.
That '94 roster for wr's and qb's was atrocious. TA is better than anyone on that team, but I foresee Darlington beating out TA before the year's up. TA does not have pocket presence nor field vision. Some of it is his height, some of it the porous OL. I don't think his mental processing speed is at the QB level. Many times too I saw him misread the option and keep it when he should've handed it off and vice versa.
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IQUOTE="ExxHusker, post: 532692, member: 19146"]Not every position "will be better". We loose Gregory and Bell. Likely big drop offs there.[/QUOTE]
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I meant on offense. WRs as a starting group should be improved.
IQUOTE="ExxHusker, post: 532692, member: 19146"]Not every position "will be better". We loose Gregory and Bell. Likely big drop offs there.[/QUOTE]
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I meant on offense. WRs as a starting group should be improved.
Riley's offenses at Oregon State varied widely-- from the absolute worst rushing attack in D-1 in 2004 when he had Derek Anderson at QB and nothing at running back (848 team rushing yards), to an offense that ran the ball more than it threw it just a few years later in 2007 (541 runs, 438 passes), Yvenson Bernard put up 3 straight seasons of 1,200 or more yards running.
Both teams went to, and won bowl games.
He's much more of a coach that plays to his team's strengths than one that runs his offense regardless.
D line should be better as a unit; hard too take it down to an individual level. Receivers could be better as an overall unit; I believe the deciding factor is whether a qb will be able to find and hit the open receivers - HCMR seemed the most frustrated he has been with the qb fails in the passing game; tough to build it and have to go more with a running game. Remember TA has hit a lot of passes; his weaknesses are well documented - the other young guys better mature or we are at high risk until recruits come in. Wish we could pull a Gdowski out of the hat
Sounds like we all agree. Tommy developing into a quarterback that hits open receivers and takes care of the football is a must or we need to change horses to be successful. His downside is a lot bigger than his upside if he can't make the leap.
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+1. As I stated I think TA might be a lot closer to a Joe Dailey than a Zac Taylor or even a Joe Ganz in the passing game. I don't think the running game and defense will be stellar enough to cover up a dud at QB.
Joe Dailey couldn`t carry Armstrong`s jock. Armstrong isn`t Turner Gill but he sure as hell isn`t Dailey.
So converted to a percentage basis, in 2007 OrSU ran the ball 55% of the time. I wouldn't call that quite balanced attack, but far from being a "run-first" team (unless of course we are arguing semantics and anything over 50% run = "run-first). It will definitely be interesting to see how this year plays out, hopefully, our qb'ing improves dramatically from the last couple of years and adaptation becomes a moot point.
Some of you need to read the updates because your opinions are way off. Darlington is struggling too.
The OL is getting handled by the DL. That's the problem.
The short passing game has been good and so has the running game. But down field passing has struggled.
The OL is getting handled by the DL. That's the problem.
The short passing game has been good and so has the running game. But down field passing has struggled.
Tommy Armstrong's QB rating of 133 made him 52nd out of 109 qualified quarterbacks last year.
Joe Dailey's QB rating of 110 made him 86th out of 99 in 2004. Which is just terrible on a primarily passing team.
Sophomore Tommy Armstrong was a little better than sophomore Taylor Martinez (126.5). If he makes the improvement from his sophomore to his junior year that Taylor did (up 15 points) he would be a top 25 quarterback.
Joe Dailey's QB rating of 110 made him 86th out of 99 in 2004. Which is just terrible on a primarily passing team.
Sophomore Tommy Armstrong was a little better than sophomore Taylor Martinez (126.5). If he makes the improvement from his sophomore to his junior year that Taylor did (up 15 points) he would be a top 25 quarterback.
As far as I can tell we've had just a handful of practices...in one of the first ones reports were saying that TA had his best looking practice that those present had seen...now there are reports that he's had a bad one and we're jumping off a cliff. Give it some time, defense is generally ahead of the offense this time of year. Tommy is yet to be a great QB here but he's certainly won his fair share of games and if he's not put into a situation to at the very least match his previous production that's on the coaches IMO. They were brought in to get us over the hump, not completely revamp the program. That said, I'm not concerned about our staff getting the most out of TA's abilities at this point in time.
Riley's teams have usually been pass-first, but most years he wasn't pass-only. Last year we ran the ball 62% of the time and that's a given to go down but not it's not certain just how far.
I agree this offense could be better than last year. I think our OL will be much improved, we have a strong RB group and WR group, and although I am not the biggest TA4 fan, he will be a third year starter. I think it really comes down to what has already been talked about in this thread. How much will TA4 develop in the short passing game, check-downs, over the middle, etc. and how much will MR tailor the offense to his strengths and away from his weaknesses.
Dailey gets a lot of grief, but I thought he looked promising as a freshman with everyone's favorite as OC. But BC insisted on forcing a square peg into a round hole by making Dailey a west coast QB and didn't take advantage of his strengths. That's just a stupid coach imo. And then proceeded to throw him under the bus after the season. Great guy.
Dailey gets a lot of grief, but I thought he looked promising as a freshman with everyone's favorite as OC. But BC insisted on forcing a square peg into a round hole by making Dailey a west coast QB and didn't take advantage of his strengths. That's just a stupid coach imo. And then proceeded to throw him under the bus after the season. Great guy.
Riley has been a college HC for years and years. B.C. never was before here. Riley will play to the talent inherited, unlike B.C. 10 wins.
Maybe you are right.. Coach Riley has won 10 games as a college head coach before, but only one time. Maybe he is due for another.
I'm not sure that Gregory is as big of a loss as you think. He really struggled against the run.
Gregory also took 2 out of every 3 plays off. Yeah that 1 play where he would care and give effort on he was unstoppable (see running down the MSU RB during out of bounds the comeback) , but that doesn't count for much.
This is going to be a great year. We're 4 practices in and already we have a stellar thread like this. People who haven't even watched practice are claiming the offense isn't going to work... Armstrong is predicted to lose his job to Darlington... Ahhh yes this is going to be a good year.
Here you go. I know how much you guys like jumping to conclusions.
Here you go. I know how much you guys like jumping to conclusions.
YOU FORGOT THE WHITE COATS !!!This is going to be a great year. We're 4 practices in and already we have a stellar thread like this. People who haven't even watched practice are claiming the offense isn't going to work... Armstrong is predicted to lose his job to Darlington... Ahhh yes this is going to be a good year.
Here you go. I know how much you guys like jumping to conclusions.
Good insight. I think people aren't appreciating all of his experience too. Being a coach as long as he has been, he must have knowledge of lots of different systems and surely he's learned by now that you have to adapt your system to your personnel, and not the other way around.
Seriously......Riley's offense is not a great fit for Armstrong. Do you deny that? Armstrong has a 98% chance of starting game one and I would guess his chances of starting all year are pretty strong, unless he completely bombs. I think he will do well enough to win 9 games, but that is not what any of us are looking for.
I hear you. I didn't mean to put words in your mouth. I too will be thrilled beyond belief to not have said braying jackass on the sidelines.
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