A Couple Days After the Oklahoma Loss And Shawn Watson Still Sucks
by Jon Johnston on Dec 7, 2010 7:55 AM CST
in Nebraska Husker Football
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It's been a couple days and I'm still completely disgusted with Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson. At some point I mean to go back and diagram some drive charts to figure out whether my disgust is misplaced. I need to find out if I'm disgusted that because Nebraska's offense didn't execute on the field or to prove what I'm really thinking - that Shawn Watson needs to find another job.
The Omaha World Herald's Dirk Chatelain did his part in convincing me of the latter when he did some research into how Nebraska fared when their offense was behind or tied after halftime. The only "pretty" about it is that it's pretty damning as to how poorly Shawn Watson's offense did when it was needed the most.
For me the most damning part of the article comes here:
Here's another way to look at it:
The 38 Burkhead touches produced 13 first downs and the touchdown at Iowa State.
The 74 other touches produced nine first downs.
That's what Burkhead does under pressure. What about Taylor Martinez?
In the sampling of 19 drives in which NU trailed or was tied after halftime, Martinez was on the field for 12. Keep in mind that 10 of those 12 occurred against Texas A&M and OU.
Martinez's 12 drives produced seven punts, two giveaways, two turnovers on downs and one field goal.
Three points.
Ouch!
Martinez can be forgiven for his play because he's a first-year starting quarterback. Even though they're painful to watch, mistakes are to be expected.
One thing about Martinez that I still don't get. The coaches seemed so protective of Cody Green's confidence, yet when it came to the second half against Oklahoma, you could see Martinez struggling with the passing game, yet Watson left him out there - and worse yet, didn't call plays where Martinez could be successful.
You might say that Martinez failed under pressure, but I don't think that's the right conclusion. I think it's Shawn Watson that's failing under pressure.
[Site note: I have received a couple emails about the amount of profanity here lately, particularly in the comments section. I know that I have a tendency to get pretty emotional and at the same time, pretty profane, so that's on me. Let's clean it up a little - the guideline is fairly simple - if you can say it on prime time television, it's okay here.]
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Has there been any talk of fans of keeping him
Outside of the normal excuses like our record and freshman qb. I’ve yet to hear a single fan, coach, or whoever prove to me he is a great coordinator. We would be talking NC if we had a great offense
by huskermic on Dec 7, 2010 8:08 AM CST via mobile reply actions
We would be talking NC.....
….if we had an ADEQUATE offense.
Something is wrong.
Either it is Watson, or Bo telling him to be that way. Could be some of each. This issue must be addressed for us to be taken seriously as a NC contender.
Be miserable or motivate yourself. What's to be done it's always YOUR choice.
Hutch-Tech Class of '76 Buffalo born & bred. Bills fan since 1968.
by MtJulietTNBillsFan on Dec 7, 2010 8:16 AM CST reply actions
How good it the O-line?
My only caution against an all-out assault on Watson, would be to ask whether the Husker O-line is the elite unit that they were back in the day? I simply don’t know. There are times during the season in tight games when you need to just play power football and drive down the field, and in all of the games we lost this year, the offense seemed incapable of that. This is, to me, the glaring difference between winning and losing when you go to College Station and give up 9 points.
Regardless of who the OC is, I think that bringing a semblance of power football back to the offense should be a very high priority. Especially in the Big Ten. Look at the teams that have been successful in that conference in recent years. They all play good D and can line up and run the ball down hill when they need to. Michigan’s spread, on the other hand, was effective against Bowling Green and Indiana, but not so much against Iowa, Michigan St., or Ohio St.
And a bit off-topic here, but speaking of the spread, does anyone else here feel that Oregon got to the title game without having to face a truly great defense? I’m not trying to diminish what they have accomplished. They are a great team, no doubt. But I would have liked to see how they matched up against a fast, punishing defense that that lacks any glaring weaknesses at any defensive position (the Blackshirts come to mind). Looking at their schedule, I’m not sure they faced a D like that this year. Thoughts?
Interesting
article about Wats and the play calling. Watson has struggled ever since he has been here to make adjustments in the second half. This pretty much proves it.
Pretty good article
This is amazing. When the Watson offense dominates, it really dominates and everyone feels good. But when it sucks, it sucks worse than any offense ever has before, and all of the sudden our talented players start to look like a high school volleyball team trying to run some strange mix of a west-coast, zone read, wildcat. They either punt or turn the ball over.
I think what it comes down to is the difference between playing to win and playing not to lose. When Watson calls plays to win, we usually do well. Once we were up 17, I think he must have got afraid of losing so he started calling plays not to lose. That was when our offense completely changed. Plus, if Taylor Martinez is this great QB, what the crap? He has no idea how to throw the ball away!!! If he throws the ball away instead of throwing that INT in the endzone…I really think we win that game.
agreed
that INT was the most defining play of the game in my opinion. If I recall, it was 20-7 at that point, right?
Even a FG would have made it a three-score advantage (or 2 TDs w/ 2-pt conversions). Instead, OU got a huge momentum surge and probably didn’t have to stray from their offensive game-plan being down only two scores instead of three.
I don’t share your level of pessimism regarding Martinez as a passer, though. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him become a truly great dual-threat QB as an upperclassman. He did show some evidence of being a good passer during the season, and even threw a few impressive balls against OU (though I admit, under pressure he threw some awful ones that would have converted a few crucial 3rd downs if they had been on target). My impression of the title game was that his lack of pocket presence and inability to read defenses at the line was the major offensive liability, not his ability to throw. His only instinct under pressure is to run, but even if at 100%, that’s not going to be as effective against a speed defense like OU as it is against K-St. That seems like an inexperience issue to me.
by huskerfanindc on Dec 7, 2010 10:05 AM CST up reply actions
I think it was 17-0
when TM threw the pick in the endzone. We could have been up 20-0 and kicking off. Instead it killed the momentum and they drove the field and finished a TD with a long pass over a young safety.
Taylor's #1 offseason homework project needs to be
To learn to progress through his reads. It seems pretty obvious that as a high school QB and a healthy college QB, his plan on every passing play was as follows:
1) If first option is open, pass it to him.
2) If first option is not open, run.
When Martinez got injured, step 2 was taken away. Most decent passing QBs will respond to a covered first option and oncoming pressure by going through their reads and finding someone else to throw to. Martinez has never had to do that because he’s always been able to bail and scramble for yardage, so when he couldn’t scramble, his inability to progress through his reads was painfully exposed. Against OU especially, instead of going through reads, he freaked out and took sacks.
This needs to be Watson’s top task in the offseason – teaching Martinez to calmly progress through reads, even while he’s facing pressure. If Martinez does that, he will become an elite quarterback and Watson’s job will be saved. If Martinez can’t learn to do that, it’ll be another long season for Nebraska’s offense next year, and Watson will likely be gone.
by Cheeseandcorn on Dec 7, 2010 10:41 AM CST up reply actions
Good point. There were moments out there where TM looked truly lost, as in “I’m starting to feel sorry for the kid”. It seemed like after he got injured, he default decision of ‘take off and make something happen’ just wasn’t there.
"I'm not a psychopath, Anderson, I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research." - Sherlock Holmes
off topic, but
suh is on first take (espn2) right now.
god i missed that kid this year.
that is all.
/threadjack
I apologize
for dropping the f-bomb a time or two, maybe three times, just watching Watson call our offense when we really need it is like watching a bunch of drunk middle aged guys reliving the good ol days at the local field at 2 AM. We can’t take 5 snaps without a fumble, we’re throwing on 3rd and 1 or 2 when burkhead can pound out 3-4 yards almost automatically on 1st and 2nd down. Martinez looks like he’s had about 30 beers under pressure and can hardly stand up, let alone hang onto the football, and at what point do we just say enough’s enough?
Martinez has huge potential I’ll say that, but there were points this year where it looked like we put a RB under center and said “Run our offense and pass under pressure” in which Martinez proceeded to look young and even stupid.
Who would replace Watson?
I’m not a fan of Watson but I wonder who would be a good replacement? I know this may sound crazy but there is a guy out there who has mentioned he would like to get into coaching. He’s been to a couple Super Bowls and won one of them. He played under one of the best offensive coordinators (but also one of the worst head coach) in the game and seemed to learn a lot of his style. Anybody think Kurt Warner would be a plausible candidate?
by huskerforlife15 on Dec 7, 2010 10:43 AM CST reply actions
I would say no.
In an elite college football program, you simply do not put unproven people into important coordinating positions. You just don’t gamble in that way. You’re an elite program that doesn’t have to gamble on unproven people because, as an elite program, you have first choice of available proven and experienced coaches. Seems like you shouldn’t gamble if you don’t have to.
Kurt Warner may well turn out to be a brilliant college coach, but I would imagine that statistically speaking, it’s nearly impossible to predict this with much accuracy. Why even consider this when we have what is already a strong program moving in a promising direction?
by huskerfanindc on Dec 7, 2010 11:09 AM CST up reply actions
Strong program yes
Moving in a promising direction? debateable. With Shawn Watson our offense can be the lowest of the low, worst of the worse. 17-3 on SDSU? we can only put up 17 on a FCS school? come on. I’m not saying we hire Warner, i’m saying we consider all our options before next year and our first year in the big 10
Kurt Warner?
KURT EFFING WARNER? COME ON!
Seriously, people, let’s get a grip here. IF a new OC is needed due to Wats moving on to Vandy, Bo isn’t just going to throw names against the wall and see what sticks. Wats had a proven track record prior to being hired by Callahan, and his offense’s performance in 2007-2008 warrants a heavy amount of consideration going forward. For all we know he’d rather get back to that style of offense, but Bo is pressuring him to keep Martinez on the field. It’s all rumor and speculation at this point, and throwing random names out there just makes us look stupid and immature.
"...water for the corn." — petromax spambot
by Go Big Rev on Dec 7, 2010 11:34 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
Rec'd
And thank you for going off on the Kurt Warner suggestion so I didn’t have to.
by Cheeseandcorn on Dec 7, 2010 12:13 PM CST up reply actions
Maybe we need
more illusions on offense (not magic tricks)!
by Husker_in_KC on Dec 7, 2010 12:30 PM CST up reply actions
Sean Watson
offenses (arbitrary date selections alert):
2005- 24 ppg (BC)
2006 – 30 ppg (BC)
2007 – 33 ppg (BC)
2008 – 35 ppg (BP)
Then we all know how the 2009 and 2010 offenses did. My question to the board is – how much of this lack of production is Watson and how much is from the direction that Bo has given Watson? Watson’s offenses were scoring machines for the years ending Bill C. and the first year of Bo. Then they went in the toilet. Is it because Bo has asked his OC to do something that he can’t (or won’t)? Bo ultimately has to make this decision (obviously) but what if we had the Bill C. offenses with Bo P. defenses? I think a lot of posters here would be really happy. So is that all that is missing? Was the scoring actually a huge anomaly because teams were scoring so much on our D that they played loose D and we could score that much easier?
Another disclaimer: (these are raw numbers where I didn’t extract points from special teams or defense so certainly the numbers would go down slightly).
Quick correction
Shawn Watson only became OC after Jay Norvell left after the 2006 season.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
My biggest gripe...
about Watson is his lack of ingenuity and creativity. He did not invent the wildcat, but sure does like to overuse it. How many times can he run the same play, over and over and over? I thought I was going to vomit the amount of times that he would run Martinez and Burkhead in shotgun, with the QB option. Seriously, if I can see it coming, so can the opposing DC. There were quite a few plays this year that I only saw once a game or once every few games, that worked well (i.e. the same shotgun formation, fake RB handoff, bootleg pass to Reed). He does not keep defenses honest with his play calling style and seems to fall in love with certain plays. Here is the way I see it: Martinez has a few great games in the beginning of the season, then he tapers off because defenses wisen and are better than those first few he saw, and Watson did not adjust his play calling, thus setting Martinez up for failure. How much of Taylor’s poor attitude result from Watson? I am speculating, but it is a solid hypothesis. I have not been a fan of Watson for a while now and I think it is time to get some new blood in here.
I'm going to throw 2 names out there.
Scott Frost has been the WRs coach at Oregon over the past few years.
Upside: he is a coach in one of the most high-powered offenses in the country, he has Nebraska ties.
Downside: no previous OC experience, we have no idea if he can coach and entire offense or call plays.
And
Mark Mangino.
Upside: he’s unemployed, he’s shown he can be extremely creative, and he’s coached with Bo.
Downside: he’s apparently had issues with players, it might be awkward sending him on recruiting trips trying to explain to parents why he was fired from Kansas, and he’s fat.
@GochfaceKillah on Twitter
by Screwface on Dec 7, 2010 2:55 PM CST via mobile reply actions
It's not even failure to generate points, really.
If the offense can play consistently enough just keep drives alive and eat clock we probably win the last two championships.
I don’t know what the answer will be, but with or without Watson they better get it addressed this offseason. If our offense doesn’t improve a good deal we’ll be eaten alive with those first couple of Big Ten schedules.
Why Scott Frost???
I understand he’s a Nebraska kid but WTF!?!
If we are going to stay with this type of offense…why not the OC of Nevada,or BSU’s OC?
GBR!
throw dem bones!!!
Couple of things...
He’s a Nebraska guy; it may seem small, but when he co-hosted Unsportsmanlike Conduct on 1620 The Zone here in Omaha, he said something to the effect of, “All of the great players that Nebraska has had from out-of-state are very talented, but they didn’t want ‘it’ nearly as bad as the homegrown Nebraska guys, we would do anything for this program.” That last line was the most telling and why I think he would work. He adores TO and would not hesitate for one second to seek his assistance.
Huskerfanindc commented earlier that “In an elite college football program, you simply do not put unproven people into important coordinating positions.” I’m happy more people don’t think like you, Bo Pelini was hired as Nebraska’s DC in 2003 with ZERO prior coordinating experience.
@GochfaceKillah on Twitter
Everybody's gotta get their shot at some point.
That having been said, I’m not sure Frost is ready just yet. Could be I’m wrong – obviously he’s getting noticed by people who know football. But he’s not a guy who instantly jumps to mind for me.
"...water for the corn." — petromax spambot
Give me a break.
Prior to being hired as our DC in 2003 Pelini had spent more than a decade COACHING, mostly in the NFL. That is not what I meant by “unproven”.
Unproven is somebody with no coaching experience, i.e., Kurt Warner.
So please don’t use my statement regarding Warner to make your case for Frost. The two cases aren’t comparable.
by huskerfanindc on Dec 7, 2010 10:30 PM CST up reply actions
Not to nitpick
But Frost has spent 8 yrs coaching at various levels and programs, spent 6 years playing in the NFL and 4 years playing in NCAA ( 2 yrs at Nebraska and 2 yrs at Stanford).
He has experience.
I realize that you were probablly talking about Warner, but I wanted to point out Frost’s resume.
So I tried the Barbasol and Rotel dip and I was very dissapointed!
This is only somewhat related
But it’d be awesome if someone broke down NU’s drives in the back 3rd of the season and figured out what went wrong. Bad blocking? Penalties? Ill-timed sacks and turnovers? Poor quarterback play? Those are off the top of my head, but it would be interesting to pinpoint the problem(s).
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
People who are offended by (and whine about) profanity
should probably stay off the internet altogether. You’re in for a rude awakening.
I think some of the blame for the offensive ineptitude has to fall on Bo. Watson finally had something going akin to Joe Ganz in ‘08 in last year’s Holiday Bowl after everybody got healthy. Had they maintained that offensive direction with Zac Lee and his experience at the helm, you’d have to imagine that Nebraska could be sitting here with at least two more wins (though granted, they might not have been able to outscore OSU the way they did).
But somewhere in the offseason, Bo and Wats became so enamored with Martinez’s speed that they pulled the trigger and built their offense around him— when he’s healthy. They made their bed with that choice and it cost them a championship.
The Fickel Finger of Fate
points at the Offense for the problems. In descending order of importance: 1) play calling; 2) 0-line; and 3) quarterbacks injured or not.
PS
Maybe Martinez should be moved to a different position.
i see no problems with or offense and our plays just the o-line, really look at this season when NU faced so-so d-lines we’ve had alot of big plays and martinez was able to run and throw well but against the better d-lines of the south we get man handled. i.e. texas, atm, okst, ou. The problem is with a QB hes got to have time to make plays especially a freshmen QB he probally needs a few more seconds actually. To think of it these o-linemen are west coast offense guys they generally only need to hold their blocks for a 3 step drop and the ball should be out to a reciever.
You see no problem with our offense
You see no problem with our offense…….. Am I reading this right? Receivers who can’t hang on to the ball, QB’s (3 of them) who can barely manage a drive without turning the ball over, running backs, although good, have butter fingers, and a SLOOOOOOOW and sometimes undisciplined offensive line. (I won’t even mention the Coach, see all over this forum for that one)
I see LOTS of problems with out offense and it’s across the board – 3 years in a row..
At some point I mean to go back and diagram some drive charts to figure out whether my disgust is misplaced.
Who needs replay, it was every drive where Burkhead was moving the ball when Watson thought it would be a good plan to stall the drive by taking the ball out of his hands and puting into our calm, cool, and collective Freshman QB’s hands.
First person to find the sarcasm in my post wins a Jimmy Johns sandwich delivered to their place of residence (though, they may ask for a few bucks when it gets there)
just think
if our o-line coulda manhandled OU’s d-line like we did against say k-st ( UW,Mizzou,CU). We woulda had better offensive performance. It all starts up front. But I do agree the play calling sucked ass. And some of our skill players need to step up. If they can alot of them dont have as much talent as they were tauted as having. I think watson has the same mentality as Bill C. They always say" we call the plays we want ,not the plays they’re giving us". well sometimes you gotta take what there giving and they was giving us alot when we was in the wildcat.
Relacing Watson
I read on the UCLA board they want to get rid of Norm Chow! I wrote we would trade 2 Watsons for 1 Chow. NO TAKERS!
Guys, come on.
We need a GOOD OC! Not Rich Rodriguez. And HELL NO NOT KURT WARNER! Somebody like Gus Malzahn. Look at what he’s done his last few seasons. Had Running quarterbacks? Check! Coached high powered offenses? Check! Won a considerable amount of games WITHOUT a defence? Check! (Added note, we have a good defence) I MEAN COME ON! His
previous four quarterbacks combined to throw 125 touchdown passes!! Open your eyes. If we can get him, get him. But I at least want to see Nebraska try! Come on man!
Oh and by the way...
By the way.. I honestly think toward the end of the season, We would have been better off with burkhead running our offnece. He is fast (Though not as fast as martinez) he can throw the ball decent. what are his stats? 3 for 4 and 3 touchdowns.. Hmm. Sidenote: He played Quarterback in High School.
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