Passing Game

[jackolantern]

I have been hearing about our lack of passing game all year. I think we have all forgotten what Mr. Fick and Mr. Parker did for our passing attack last year. Don't be too shocked when our passing game suddenly comes around starting this week with the return of Mr Fick , and fully the next week when Mr. Parker gets his big 300+ lb. body between Sumner and the defense. I think we will be amazed at how Sumner will suddenly have the time to make all the proper reads and checks. Many of us have made the assumption that pass blocking and run blocking are the same thing, and therefore our current successsful run game should equal a successful passing game, wrong!!!.....two different techniques!!!.......Am I wrong, Fick and Parker are two of our better pass protection guys??

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Passing Game

I have been hearing about our lack of passing game all year. I think we have all forgotten what Mr. Fick and Mr. Parker did for our passing attack last year. Don't be too shocked when our passing game suddenly comes around starting this week with the return of Mr Fick , and fully the next week when Mr. Parker gets his big 300+ lb. body between Sumner and the defense. I think we will be amazed at how Sumner will suddenly have the time to make all the proper reads and checks. Many of us have made the assumption that pass blocking and run blocking are the same thing, and therefore our current successsful run game should equal a successful passing game, wrong!!!.....two different techniques!!!.......Am I wrong, Fick and Parker are two of our better pass protection guys??

I hope you are right.

However, in my opinion, Sumner has had the time. They just aren't connecting, which could be due to his thumb injury.

I think our passing game is a top to bottom problem, and there is plenty of blame to share. Austin has taken quite a few sacks when he should have thrown the ball out of bounds. The coaches still call ton of 1 yard sideline passes and half-back outs that are ripe for interceptions or tackles for loss (or Austing is checking down, which means receivers aren't getting open). We have some quick/fast/tall receivers, but we rarely stretch the field beyond 10 yards. Last year Austin seemed to throw to other receivers and the running back swing was last resort, this year the running back swing pass seems to be the first option. TOB liked to dump to the running back waaay too much, hopefully it doesn't become a habit for Austin.

To be frank, I'm concerned about our passing game. Its a month after Sumner hurt his thumb, if that's the problem our bye week can't come soon enough so he can get back to 100%. I think (hope?) we are on the cusp of having a decent passing game. Maybe two more offensive lineman in the rotation will be the push to get us over the top.

[jackmd]

Re: Passing Game

Sumner has had plenty of time to throw the ball. I'm not looking for anything spectacular from the passing game this Saturday. Just a steady, 60% completion rate, and some 3rd down conversions. Maybe a couple of shots deep to keep the secondary honest and allow Zenner and Gandy to break some long runs. I think we'll see a break out game for Gandy.

My guess is that Sumner has lost a little confidence with the thumb injury. Then, Rollin goes down and Sumner has some uncertain feelings about the other receivers with the exception of Kool. Defenses are keying on Tyrel. Sumner seems to be slow making reads in progression from his primary receiver.

Doesn't help that the coaching staff jerked around with players out of position and not having Moss in the starting line-up right away last fall. The more this year develops the more it seems there is some room for improvement as it pertains to recognizing personnel and their abilities. I'd say the punt return game is a perfect example of that this year.

[Kermit]

Re: Passing Game

Dale Moss was a dude last year--tough to replace. Then Rollin went down along with two veteran offensive lineman. Oh yeah, the QB has been playing hurt. From my perspective your team has done really well under the circumstances.

[common sense rabbit]

Re: Passing Game

Sumner has had plenty of time to throw the ball. I'm not looking for anything spectacular from the passing game this Saturday. Just a steady, 60% completion rate, and some 3rd down conversions. Maybe a couple of shots deep to keep the secondary honest and allow Zenner and Gandy to break some long runs. I think we'll see a break out game for Gandy.

My guess is that Sumner has lost a little confidence with the thumb injury. Then, Rollin goes down and Sumner has some uncertain feelings about the other receivers with the exception of Kool. Defenses are keying on Tyrel. Sumner seems to be slow making reads in progression from his primary receiver.

Doesn't help that the coaching staff jerked around with players out of position and not having Moss in the starting line-up right away last fall. The more this year develops the more it seems there is some room for improvement as it pertains to recognizing personnel and their abilities. I'd say the punt return game is a perfect example of that this year.

Defenses are keying on Kool? C'mon the guy has dropped 3 passes in the first 4 games- Everyone wants to blame Sumner- give me a break! How would you know that Sumner has uncertain feelings about other Wr's? Have you talked to Austin about this? When people ASSUME things then in my opinion they become the first three letters of the word.

[Nidaros]

Re: Passing Game

I just hope our passing game gets better. It will take some pressure off ZZ and a buding Gandy. I sure there is plenty of blame to go around and our guys will step in the Missouri State game. Confidence will build from there.

[discoDancinJackrabbit]

Re: Passing Game

Defenses are keying on Kool? C'mon the guy has dropped 3 passes in the first 4 games- Everyone wants to blame Sumner- give me a break! How would you know that Sumner has uncertain feelings about other Wr's? Have you talked to Austin about this? When people ASSUME things then in my opinion they become the first three letters of the word.

Who wouldn't have uncertain feelings about the other WR's ? It's obvious Sumner's lost a lot of confidence, but the point is that we haven't needed good Sumner so far because other areas need to blossom especially considering last year. It's about timing yo and when we most need the passing game, it'll come around and the running game with start to level off a little bit.

[NebraskaJack]

Re: Passing Game

I think it comes down to the fact that it's awful difficult to be efficient at both. Whether you are talking about the offensive line and the different techniques for blocking run vs. pass.......or the reps necessary quarterback vs. running back to be able to build a rhythm to be successful. It probably goes even deeper to receivers and tight ends being asked to block 3 out of 4 plays or consistently running precise routes or evaluating how defenses are defending the pass and where their weaknesses are.

I'm pretty sure that both Zach and Austin will tell you they are in a better groove when they are running 30 times a game or in Austin's case passing 40 times a game.....but that isn't going to happen. Then there is the whole theory of passing only in long yardage situations when the defense knows it's coming vs. spreading out the play calls and keeping them guessing.

Just look at the NFL.....the teams that run well don't pass well .....and the teams that pass well aren't real good running teams. The exceptions would be Carolina and Washington and thats because they have running QB's that can inflate the running stats.

We have the nations leading rusher...celebrate it instead of wondering why we don't have the nations leading passer!!

[jackmd]

Re: Passing Game

Defenses are keying on Kool? C'mon the guy has dropped 3 passes in the first 4 games- Everyone wants to blame Sumner- give me a break! How would you know that Sumner has uncertain feelings about other Wr's? Have you talked to Austin about this? When people ASSUME things then in my opinion they become the first three letters of the word.

Okay. Call me an ass if you like, sometimes I am, allow me to explain my rationale. The passing game has been less then stellar. The QB throws the passes to the WR. They are responsible for the results. The results have been sub par. I think its fair to make some assumption on a fan board. If you don't like fans making assumptions on a fan board you might not want to participate in said board.

Perhaps I should have prefaced my post by clearly stating that I am a fan and not an adviser to the team. Please take my posts in the proper context. I guess I just assumed that was understood. Forgive me for giving you too much credit.

I don't think everyone wants to blame Sumner. Its a conversation about why the passing game has been sub par.

[jackmd]

Re: Passing Game

I do think defenses are keying on Kool as it pertains to the passing game. He had a "breakout" kind of performance at KU. Perhaps "keying" is to strong a term.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Passing Game

I think this is simple. As Sumner's thumb gets better, he'll be able to make more and more accurate throws. Nobody's mad at him for getting injured. He'll be his old self before long.

[Kemo]

Re: Passing Game

So we have threads about our passing game and our new field house/human performance center... think of how awesome our passing game would be if our quarterbacks and receivers had a field house to practice in all winter.

[Theee Catrabbit]

Re: Passing Game

Dale Moss was a dude last year--tough to replace. Then Rollin went down along with two veteran offensive lineman. Oh yeah, the QB has been playing hurt. From my perspective your team has done really well under the circumstances.

How come the voice of reason comes from the outside and does it in 3 sentences. Totally agree with this, I think people are all mentally masturbating too much over this. It only can go up. Through this adversity it could easily have been a ****storm of epic proportions.

[TailGatr]

Re: Passing Game

I have watched every game and here is my take: Sumner's thumb is bothering him, as he is uncharacteristically throwing high. It has nothing to do with personnel. This will get better, and hopefully the run game can keep us rolling until Austin is at full strength! If you want to talk passing game which this thread is about, then let's look at it. Rollin hopefully will get more involved and that will come now that he is recovered. I thought Tiefenthaler filled in well for him when he was out, in fact, I would like to see Tief more in the slot on Rollin's side. Hubert is a good blocker but just runs to a spot and catches the ball. They moved Kool to receiver, which might be his best position, but is struggling a bit. I don't see him being doubled at all. We also have some great tight-ends that are and should be getting more looks. I just see the passing game getting better once Austin's thumb recovers. We are 3-1, enjoy it!!!!

[bigticket1]

Re: Passing Game

I have watched every game and here is my take: Sumner's thumb is bothering him, as he is uncharacteristically throwing high. It has nothing to do with personnel. This will get better, and hopefully the run game can keep us rolling until Austin is at full strength! If you want to talk passing game which this thread is about, then let's look at it. Rollin hopefully will get more involved and that will come now that he is recovered. I thought Tiefenthaler filled in well for him when he was out, in fact, I would like to see Tief more in the slot on Rollin's side. Hubert is a good blocker but just runs to a spot and catches the ball. They moved Kool to receiver, which might be his best position, but is struggling a bit. I don't see him being doubled at all. We also have some great tight-ends that are and should be getting more looks. I just see the passing game getting better once Austin's thumb recovers. We are 3-1, enjoy it!!!!

I think the bye week is coming at the perfect time to get some healing done on the thumb. Hopefully the running game can carry the load again this week,and after a week off the thumb will be close to,if not at 100% on Oct 13th against the Leathernecks.