Sheehan's happy feet

Discussion of the Falcon football team.
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hammb
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Post by hammb »

Jacobs4Heisman wrote:The thing about Sheehan is, he's not even that pure of a passer. He's extremely accurate if his first read is available within 15 yards of the LOS. If he has to progress through his reads, or throw the deep ball, he struggles. When he gets out of rhythm, he struggles. When he's in rhythm, it's a beautiful thing to watch, though. He can catch fire at any time and become unstoppable.

If he were a better runner, some of those flaws would be glossed over.
Agreed. Sheehan is a decent passer, but he's not nearly as accurate as Omar was. In fact, Tyler is probably as good of a passer now as what Harris was as a senior, and about as much of a runner as Jacobs was as a Sophomore. The difference is that Jacobs was an excellent passer to make up for being a lesser runner and Harris was an excellent runner to make up for being a lesser passer. Sheehan exemplifies the lesser attributes of both of our great QBs, IMO. I also think Tyler's biggest problem when going downfield is his confidence/field vision. He waits until guys are open to make the throw, by then it's often too late. Great QBs anticipate when a man will come open so they are open when the ball arrives.

Don't get me wrong, I do think we can win with Tyler Sheehan at QB, and I don't think that he's the sole reason for our team struggling at times this year. I also have no clue if we have a better option available to us anyhow. I'm just saying that I don't think we'll see this team excel offensively (specifically in the red zone) unless we get consistently better play from the QB spot.
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MarkL
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Post by MarkL »

As to Jim Hohfer, new QB coach as a factor, FWIW:
From an extremely reliable source, the number one thing Hohfer as worked on with Sheehan has been his footwork, but more as it relates to passing, balance, and body alignment.
I'm not sure how much of that affects his scrambling around, but I've noticed that he does scramble in the backfield less than last year. Last year, even without any sort of unblocked pressure, he'd escape the pocket and then get nailed outside of it ... it was rather senseless. He is much better about that this year.
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bgsufalcon24
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Post by bgsufalcon24 »

kdog27 wrote:
Flipper wrote:The offense was far more consistent and effective in 03 and 04 when we had a QB that functioned as a second RB. Omar was a less effective QB in 2005 (IMHO) primarily because he became less of a threat running the football.
Part of the reason we struggled so much more in 2005 IMO. In 2004 he was good at picking up yards when things broke down. He didn't have many designed runs but he would scramble and get decent yards. He had to at least have a few hundred yards and 4-5 TDS that year. In 2005 it was like they told him to never ever leave the pocket. That's when happy feet Omar became a problem. We became a much easier team to defend. Wisconsin figured that out in the second half as did pretty much everyone else.
Uh, maybe our problem in 2005 was our defense? Just maybe???
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Pete Segaard
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Post by Pete Segaard »

Thanks guys, I appreciate the insight.
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kdog27
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Post by kdog27 »

bgsufalcon24 wrote:
kdog27 wrote:
Flipper wrote:The offense was far more consistent and effective in 03 and 04 when we had a QB that functioned as a second RB. Omar was a less effective QB in 2005 (IMHO) primarily because he became less of a threat running the football.
Part of the reason we struggled so much more in 2005 IMO. In 2004 he was good at picking up yards when things broke down. He didn't have many designed runs but he would scramble and get decent yards. He had to at least have a few hundred yards and 4-5 TDS that year. In 2005 it was like they told him to never ever leave the pocket. That's when happy feet Omar became a problem. We became a much easier team to defend. Wisconsin figured that out in the second half as did pretty much everyone else.
Uh, maybe our problem in 2005 was our defense? Just maybe???
Sure. The defense was worse in 2005 but that had a lot to do with the offense being worse as well. In 2004 we would march down the field and score TDs 2 out of the first 3 drives and teams would have to play from behind.

I am in no way saying the offense stunk in 2005 but it was not nearly as successful as it was the season before. Part of that was because as someone mentioned we had better receiving options that year. I don't think we will ever see better players to throw the ball to then we did in 2004. They could have made any QB look good. Losing Pope for much of the season also hurt our outlet passing. I think he caught about 50 passes in 04. BJ Lane was not half the receiver of Pope. And like I alluded to before I thought we became too one dimensional. Teams knew we were going to throw it all over the field and they knew Omar wasn't going anywhere in the pocket.

That's how I feel about it anyway. There was something missing in 2005, it was evident long before Jacobs was injured.
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Post by cowboyjoe »

Yeah, putting Pope on the kick off return team was the most rediculous thing Brandon has ever done...and blocking no less. That's how he got hurt that season--against Wisconsin blocking on a return in the first game of the season. Let's see, where can you put a 1st team all league running back? On special teams of course!! Let's have him block while we're at it! Sheeesh!!
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Post by Flipper »

I think Pope was in the upback slot to guard against the moonball kick to the sideline.

I don't have a problem with starters playing on special teams. It's an important part of the game and yo should have your best guys out there...
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