How important is the QB in our offense?

[Flipper]

In the games we have won, Sheehan has completed 66% of his passes for 1193 yds, 7 TD/2INT and he's been sacked 5 times.

In games we have lost, Sheehan completed 58% of his passes for 959 yards, 4TD/8 int and he's been sacked 19 times

We started out 3-1, we've gone 1-3 since. Over those past four games, Sheehan completed 55% of his passes for 848 yards 5TD/6INT with 14 sacks.

This is where it gets particularly alarming...over the past three games against our eastern rivals, Sheehan completed 52% of his passes for 573 yards 4td/1 INT and 10 sacks.

Per the Blade today, Mick McCall has taken over calling the audibles from Sheehan. Clearly, there's a problem. Is the offense too stale and easily defended? Is Tyler hurt? Did the BC game break him mentally?...is it a combination of those things and other factors? Is the line failing Tyler, or is he taking so many more sacks becasue he's making his reads too slowly or waiting to have someone break COMPLETELY open?

I really do not know...the numbers seem to support a change though....

[BGorDeath]

I'd say the quarterback is very important to the team. Without one, the center would just be hiking the ball with no one to catch it. That would make our turnover ratio go sky high. So, I say the qb is important just for that reason. Well, unless your quarterback is Wayne from "Saving Silverman".

[h2oville rocket]

Dang it, wait a little while, OK? I was about to make the same post.

[BGorDeath]

Dang it, wait a little while, OK? I was about to make the same post.

Including the Saving Silverman part?

[JoeFalcon]

The turning point was definitely the BC game which, as I initially feared and posted about at the time, severely shook his confidence. Three interceptions on three straight drives is a jarring blow for any QB to sustain and has likely resulted in the tentitiveness and cautiousness.

It's still too early to talk about Glaud IMO. You'd just be substituting one young and inexperienced player for another. Tyler has proven he can operate the offense at a high level, and it's up to the coaches and the players around him to support his return to that form.

[h2oville rocket]

Dang it, wait a little while, OK? I was about to make the same post.

Including the Saving Silverman part?

Since I have no clue as to what that means, I'll confess that I would have left that part out.

[1987alum]

In the games we have won, Sheehan has completed 66% of his passes for 1193 yds, 7 TD/2INT and he's been sacked 5 times.

In games we have lost, Sheehan completed 58% of his passes for 959 yards, 4TD/8 int and he's been sacked 19 times

We started out 3-1, we've gone 1-3 since. Over those past four games, Sheehan completed 55% of his passes for 848 yards 5TD/6INT with 14 sacks.

This is where it gets particularly alarming...over the past three games against our eastern rivals, Sheehan completed 52% of his passes for 573 yards 4td/1 INT and 10 sacks.

Per the Blade today, Mick McCall has taken over calling the audibles from Sheehan. Clearly, there's a problem. Is the offense too stale and easily defended? Is Tyler hurt? Did the BC game break him mentally?...is it a combination of those things and other factors? Is the line failing Tyler, or is he taking so many more sacks becasue he's making his reads too slowly or waiting to have someone break COMPLETELY open?

I really do not know...the numbers seem to support a change though....

I know a lot of people hate seeing our backs and receivers look to the sidelines for the final play call, but that seems like a prudent thing to do, given what you've described here. Maybe we're asking Tyler to do too much.

[footballguy51]

Honestly, I don't think the audibles was a big problem. I think if you notice, the sack rate is huge in the losses vs. the wins. This tells me he gets sacked a couple times, starts to rush throws into coverage to get the ball off quicker, then starts to hold the ball to not force things and gets sacked again and again. Although, Tyler is missing some VERY open receivers. Against OU, I counted at least 5 different pass plays on Ohio's side of the 50 where we had a receiver wide open in the endzone, and instead we threw the ball to the short side of the field for 8 yards. Is Tyler told to look at the short routes first? Is that wide open receiver not even a designated target? Most plays have a primary, secondary, and tertiary receiver, and then 4th and 5th options basically don't count because there's no time to find those. If these receivers are the last couple options, perhaps we need to say, "Forget the progression...these guys are WIDE OPEN."

[hammb]

Reading through the excerpt of the book that was posted here a few weeks ago it looked as though the breakdown of the progressions was that each side of the field was set up to defeat a different type of coverage. i.e. if they were in zone he'd look right, if man he'd look left. After that it was up to the QB to read which of the routes on that side of the field was going to come open based on the coverage the defense had.

Of course that article was written when the staff still believed balance was an important part of the spread, so that stuff may have gone out the window as well. Still, I'm guessing that it's pretty similar now. My guess is that either A)The WRs you were seeing open were open even though the coverage would generally take away that route, thus Tyler was looking away; or B) Our Young QB is misreading coverages and not seeing things quick enough quite yet.


Quite likely it's some combination of the two.

[Flipper]

Yep...we definitely need to make a change....

(Since Tyler played so well after my initial post, I figured I'd cover all the bases for EMU)