2009 tOSU Offense Discussion

[jazzman]

I agree with the poster above, we are still very young and inexperienced at the tackle positions. I am thankful Shugarts, Hall and Adams are getting time but I think the guys out (Cordle and Miller) are a little more consistent in pass protection. This probably has a lot to do with our struggles right now on our O. TP doesn`t seem to want to hang in the pocket at all on pass plays. We are back to square one on offensive execution...too many guys messing up assignments. Guys are definately not having fun on OFFENSE.

It did not help that Adams (Ankle) and Boren (flu) had hardly practiced all week before the Wisconsin game. Throw in Ballard (flu), and you have a line that didn't get to practice all week and came into the game fairly cold. The line needs to practice as a unit all the time to get in sync, and it clearly did not happen against Wisconsin against O'brien Schofield, a guy who leads the nation in tackles for losses. Adams did not look like a guy who was fully fit and ready to play and just looked bad in the game. You are right about Cordle and Miller.....I didn't think I would ever say this but they may be our best options on the line this year to man the tackle spots.

 

[ThirdGenBuckeye]

They just need to open it up these next 3 weeks, throw some of the more difficult stuff at him (Pryor). It is as good a time as any, considering the teams tOSU is about to play. After all, he has to learn and make the next leap at some point.

I agree. Hopefully they will call some plays that will allow him to get those valuable gametime reps against a couple of pushover teams. Anything that can boost his confidence in the pocket is definitely a plus.

 

[CalvinistBuck]

I appreciate the recent discussion in this thread. Staying focused on the football discussion is therapeutic for guys like me.

Not only is the concern by the fan base regarding the consistent effectiveness of this offense reasonable (Jake's comment last week is representative: "Our offense continues to struggle in games where we cannot simply overwhelm our opponent with our overall talent level. The play calling is extremely predictable, the execution is inconsistent, and it's been that way for years."), I'm sure the coaches are concerned as well.

However, I'm not convinced that it's the playcalling. IMHO, it's coaching and execution. As I remarked last week, I still think the "adjustments we're seeing is all TP can handle right now."

Jeff Amey's weekly column (By the Numbers) on theozone.net is typically a good read. In his Wisconsin breakdown (The-Ozone, Ohio State Football, Wrestling, Softball, Basketball, Hockey, Baseball and More) he addresses the charge that Coach Tressel's playcalling is suspect. He concludes--and I agree--"I think the coaches are doing their best to work around Pryor's weaknesses."

I watch the games and wonder why it seems like TP locks in on his target too soon, notice that he doesn't utilize pump fakes, sometimes has poor mechanics on short throws, could improve his overall decision-making... but, it's not like the coaches don't notice this also.

While we wait for TP to overcome his shortcomings (or, quite possibly, grow to meet our hype-influenced expectations) and the young receivers to mature, we can continue to expect an adventure on offense when tOSU faces a tough defense.

 

[Woody1968]

It did not help that Adams (Ankle) and Boren (flu) had hardly practiced all week before the Wisconsin game. Throw in Ballard (flu), and you have a line that didn't get to practice all week and came into the game fairly cold. The line needs to practice as a unit all the time to get in sync, and it clearly did not happen against Wisconsin against O'brien Schofield, a guy who leads the nation in tackles for losses. Adams did not look like a guy who was fully fit and ready to play and just looked bad in the game. You are right about Cordle and Miller.....I didn't think I would ever say this but they may be our best options on the line this year to man the tackle spots.

I would have to say that the O-Line has played better over the course of the season as a whole than I expected them to coming in.

 

[NateG]

I would have to say that the O-Line has played better over the course of the season as a whole than I expected them to coming in.

Plus think of the line possibilities come State Penn...

Adams/Miller
Boren/Moses
Brewster/Moses
Browning/Moses
Shugarts/Cordle

With Hall able to fill for any of them except center. 3 solid players at both tackles including Hall on both sides. Browning can also play tackle. A healthy Boren is locked at Guard and the same for Brew at Center. But still almost 2 full lines that have had significant playing time with 3 games to gel even more before the stretch run.

 

[jazzman]

Plus think of the line possibilities come State Penn...

Adams/Miller
Boren/Moses
Brewster/Moses
Browning/Moses
Shugarts/Cordle

With Hall able to fill for any of them except center. 3 solid players at both tackles including Hall on both sides. Browning can also play tackle. A healthy Boren is locked at Guard and the same for Brew at Center. But still almost 2 full lines that have had significant playing time with 3 games to gel even more before the stretch run.

Browning has improved big time this year and to me has been the surprise of the season.....he has been great playing RG (his natural position IMO). I don't know if I would consider ever moving him back to RT. I guess I am still hungover from last year's game against Penn State.

 

[BuckNut65]

Browning has improved big time this year and to me has been the surprise of the season.....he has been great playing RG (his natural position IMO). I don't know if I would consider ever moving him back to RT. I guess I am still hungover from last year's game against Penn State.

Browning can't play in space. He needs to stay at guard where he's been solid all year.

 

[Taosman]

Miller and Cordle back this week.

Does the offense want to make a statement this week?

And do we finally get Berry, bery soon?

 

[Taosman]

"Surest Way To Win" Philosophy

“Outside of (two scoring drives), we didn't put the pressure on their defense, then all of a sudden you have the game that's the score that it was (31-13) and you have to make those decisions as to what is it you want to do, practice or win the game?” Tressel said. “And we're always, I hope, going to err on the side of trying to win the game.”

JT espouses the "Surest Way to Win" philosophy. I wonder if shutting the offense down like he says he did in the Wiscy game is not the answer for an offense that is young and needs to learn and stretch itself to improve? I find this the most frustrating part of JT's coaching this year.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

“Outside of (two scoring drives), we didn't put the pressure on their defense, then all of a sudden you have the game that's the score that it was (31-13) and you have to make those decisions as to what is it you want to do, practice or win the game?” Tressel said. “And we're always, I hope, going to err on the side of trying to win the game.”

JT espouses the "Surest Way to Win" philosophy. I wonder if shutting the offense down like he says he did in the Wiscy game is not the answer for an offense that is young and needs to learn and stretch itself to improve? I find this the most frustrating part of JT's coaching this year.

4.5 years here and some folks have learned NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[morbitzerker]

4.5 years here and some folks have learned NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mike80]

4.5 years here and some folks have learned NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[cbrian815]

4.5 years here and some folks have learned NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I knew JT would run clock and I will take the win every time but why does that mean that you don`t execute on offense. Why can`t you win the game and NOT go 3 and out.....really can`t it be possible to do both. I agree not chucking the ball down the field but there has to be some safe passing plays(run option sweeps with the pass option built in) that we can try to do why securing the W.

Not calling 3 basic run plays saying that we are going to run 2 minutes of clock and gain no yards(does it really need to be that vanilla?). I realize that we had the flu and are playing new guys on the oline but we really do recruit well....better than the rest of the Big10....just seems to me we are making excuses for what we didn`t accomplish. I knew we were going to run clock but doesn`t that mean that you can`t still gain positive yards? Its not like we were on the 8 yard line of our own territory.

Again I love the W but the mindset of this offense year in and year out has to be the offense of 2006 with TS. We have to attack people and get after defenses....make them pay for playing the run. Make them pay for selling out to stop TP. Go Bucks

 

[jwinslow]

I think there are ways that JT could maintain more control of the outcome by being more aggressive/diverse in his playcalling. However so far this season, I'm not sure if Pryor can consistently make teams pay for selling out to stop the run. That will come with time, but his struggles in the passing game are well documented.

 

[BuckNut65]

I think this is one of those games you have to look at a little differently when it comes to the offense. It was just a bizarre game and the TOP was just out of whack, especially in the second half. There is no question that the offense looked bad for most of the first half but they did manage a score on a good drive at the end of the first half.

If you look at the Indiana game, we were still throwing the ball in the second half, even with the big lead. That should tell you that the coaching staff had confidence in what TP could do against the Indiana defense but did not against Wisconsin. They used the opportunity in the second half of the IU game to get TP some work that he badly needs. It was obvious that TP struggled with what was thrown at him by the Wisconsin defense in the first half. Whatever adjustments they may have made for him at the half were thrown out the window because of the way the third quarter played out.

They may have let him throw in the fourth quarter if they had the confidence in him that he could make the right reads and right throws. He has not shown that ability yet and against the better teams you aren't going to see the coaching staff take that chance.

When TS was a senior, he had the complete confidence of the coaching staff and they allowed him to throw at will. That's because he knew when and where to go with the ball. Until TP has the ability to know where he needs to go with the ball, you can expect the clamp down every time we are up in the second half of games against better competition.