QB questions:

[Sammich]

I thought Marc Lyons made an interesting point yesterday, that Tanner is a 'big play guy' and not a 'consistency guy,' meaning that he's not accurate enough to pull off the small-gain, march-down-the-field plays the coaches have been calling, but when put into situations where he's told to pull out big plays, he finds them and makes them happen often enough to look impressive and win games. I don't know how one measures this attribute, but if true, it means that the coaches have failed to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the quarterback (as we've seen them do with other players) and to make the most of the players we've got rather than trying to push players into their system.

This is one of the biggest concerns I have about this coaching staff (though I'm still in the "give them a little more time" camp), is that they A. don't seem to trust the players, and B. aren't flexible enough to leverage the actual strengths of the team. I don't think BYU is ever going to command the recruits necessary to be competitive with the big boys, so if there's one thing BYU HAS to be good at, it is maximizing the talent that we do have.

Hopefully seeing Tanner shine when allowed to do his thing will be a positive lesson for the coaches moving forward.

How does this offense work?

1st down = 50 yard pass attempt
2nd down = run
3rd down = 40 yard pass attempt

And so on throughout the game?

I don't think a play has to be 40 yards to be counted as a big play. For Tanner, it's probably more of a mindset thing than anything else. That said, if a 20 yard throw and a 5 yard throw each have a 50% chance of landing in the dirt, which seems to be the case with Tanner, then it seems pretty clear what we should be calling.

[pikoi]

I thought Marc Lyons made an interesting point yesterday, that Tanner is a 'big play guy' and not a 'consistency guy,' meaning that he's not accurate enough to pull off the small-gain, march-down-the-field plays the coaches have been calling, but when put into situations where he's told to pull out big plays, he finds them and makes them happen often enough to look impressive and win games. I don't know how one measures this attribute, but if true, it means that the coaches have failed to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the quarterback (as we've seen them do with other players) and to make the most of the players we've got rather than trying to push players into their system.

This is one of the biggest concerns I have about this coaching staff (though I'm still in the "give them a little more time" camp), is that they A. don't seem to trust the players, and B. aren't flexible enough to leverage the actual strengths of the team. I don't think BYU is ever going to command the recruits necessary to be competitive with the big boys, so if there's one thing BYU HAS to be good at, it is maximizing the talent that we do have.

Hopefully seeing Tanner shine when allowed to do his thing will be a positive lesson for the coaches moving forward.

How does this offense work?

1st down = 50 yard pass attempt
2nd down = run
3rd down = 40 yard pass attempt

And so on throughout the game?

I don't think a play has to be 40 yards to be counted as a big play. For Tanner, it's probably more of a mindset thing than anything else. That said, if a 20 yard throw and a 5 yard throw each have a 50% chance of landing in the dirt, which seems to be the case with Tanner, then it seems pretty clear what we should be calling.

This. The lack of accuracy, even on simple throws where he snaps and watches the single receiver the whole time, has been baffling.

[frdbtr]

I thought Marc Lyons made an interesting point yesterday, that Tanner is a 'big play guy' and not a 'consistency guy,' meaning that he's not accurate enough to pull off the small-gain, march-down-the-field plays the coaches have been calling, but when put into situations where he's told to pull out big plays, he finds them and makes them happen often enough to look impressive and win games. I don't know how one measures this attribute, but if true, it means that the coaches have failed to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the quarterback (as we've seen them do with other players) and to make the most of the players we've got rather than trying to push players into their system.

This is one of the biggest concerns I have about this coaching staff (though I'm still in the "give them a little more time" camp), is that they A. don't seem to trust the players, and B. aren't flexible enough to leverage the actual strengths of the team. I don't think BYU is ever going to command the recruits necessary to be competitive with the big boys, so if there's one thing BYU HAS to be good at, it is maximizing the talent that we do have.

Hopefully seeing Tanner shine when allowed to do his thing will be a positive lesson for the coaches moving forward.

How does this offense work?

1st down = 50 yard pass attempt
2nd down = run
3rd down = 40 yard pass attempt

And so on throughout the game?

I don't think a play has to be 40 yards to be counted as a big play. For Tanner, it's probably more of a mindset thing than anything else. That said, if a 20 yard throw and a 5 yard throw each have a 50% chance of landing in the dirt, which seems to be the case with Tanner, then it seems pretty clear what we should be calling.

This. The lack of accuracy, even on simple throws where he snaps and watches the single receiver the whole time, has been baffling.

I agree it is baffling especially because he was going through his reads as a freshman in Anae's offense. Is the offense too complicated? I don't know but IMO, it all comes back to coaching. Tanner has all the tools, they aren't being utilized.

[redneckjedi]

I think if we had the TEs Detmer wanted from before the season started, the accuracy problem gets a lot better because of spacing. I remember the offense Ty played in having a lot of vertical stuff from the WRs and TEs, and it was absolutely baffling how wide-open you could get a TE in the middle of the field. The defense only has so many guys to commit to pass coverage, and if you stretch them vertically, all the windows get bigger. If you've got a QB that likes like long ball like Tanner, that plays to his strengths. The defense is going to start not wanting to give anything up over the top, which lets you hit the TE on his seam or post pretty easy. Once they catch on, you can either go over the top, or if they've dropped additional defenders into coverage you can hit a back out of the backfield or just run with it yourself. Having two outstanding TEs makes that a pretty easy system to run, as long as you've got okay receivers with at least one that's got the speed to take the top off the defense - and due to injuries we don't have that.

Instead, if we don't have the pieces to stretch the field vertically and play to Tanner's strengths, we're making him do things he's not (yet) proficient at. He needs to be able to make those short throws into tight windows, too, but that skill isn't as honed. I'd love to see that vertical game happening more, because I think he'd benefit from it a lot.