QB/WR Braxton Miller (B1G POY, National Champion, OSU HOF)

[southcampus]

I have also noticed that he is very uncomfortable sitting in the pocket to go through his progressions. It's like he's always expecting to be popped, even when the pocket is well protected. Who can blame him though, right? It's hard sometimes to remember that he's a true sophomore learning a brand new offense with a group of linemen and receivers who haven't exactly been starting for 3 years. Even a guy like Mewhort is playing a new position.

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of his completions for when he rolls right instead of left. I swear, he makes [Mark May] happen when he goes right and when he goes left, it's almost the polar opposite.

Overall, I've been extremely pleased with Braxton's play. He's an instant home run and he's a competitor. We're not eligible to win the B1G nor are we eligible to go to a bowl. I can't stand losing but I'm fine with seeing some growing pains. I fully expect him to lead us in the right direction and I have all the confidence in the world that when it's all said and done, he'll go down as one of the great ones to come through here.

 

[Mrstickball]

I have also noticed that he is very uncomfortable sitting in the pocket to go through his progressions. It's like he's always expecting to be popped, even when the pocket is well protected. Who can blame him though, right? It's hard sometimes to remember that he's a true sophomore learning a brand new offense with a group of linemen and receivers who haven't exactly been starting for 3 years. Even a guy like Mewhort is playing a new position.

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of his completions for when he rolls right instead of left. I swear, he makes [Mark May] happen when he goes right and when he goes left, it's almost the polar opposite.

Overall, I've been extremely pleased with Braxton's play. He's an instant home run and he's a competitor. We're not eligible to win the B1G nor are we eligible to go to a bowl. I can't stand losing but I'm fine with seeing some growing pains. I fully expect him to lead us in the right direction and I have all the confidence in the world that when it's all said and done, he'll go down as one of the great ones to come through here.

One can only wonder how good he's gonna be if he stays for his senior season..

 

[jlb1705]

Its not your obligation to do anything. You don't play for the Bucks nor employed by OSU. I think blame has to go on the coaches for play calling, my opinion.

While he was missing players down field, again Im not gonna criticize a kid for it. You try put your camera down or watching from your couch, head into the game and find the open receivers.

Did the kid make some mistakes? Yeah, never said he didnt. Did he play a really good game? Yeah, he did the best he could and it reflects as such with a win. Do the coaches have work to do with playcalling? Yup.

Sorry bud but none of us are coaches. Were all just fans here, some with a "moderator" tag because they posted more than others. But the bottom line is that its all debatable to us because we don't know what went on behind the scenes and what is called/said. And its fun to debate because no one is an expert.

Go Braxton, kid played with heart and never lost his cool in the 4th.

I addressed this post elsewhere, but I wanted to come back and discuss this without taking the other thread off-topic.

You keep pointing to playcalling, but I haven't seen you say what you thought was wrong with it. What would you have done differently? Maybe I missed it, so if you said it here or somewhere else, I apologize.

I think overall Braxton Miller and the offense are doing well. The overall stats bear that out. There are periods of inconsistency though - short droughts where the offense looks lost and goes nowhere. Similar to my opinion on the defense, I think there is a possibility of shared responsibility for that between players and coaches.

Miller, for all his gaudy numbers, still has plenty of bad moments. He is after all still a young player in a new system playing a difficult position. I think he has a long way to go when it comes to reading the game. He doesn't make the right decision on zone-read plays as often as I'd like to see, and he still has some missed or late reads in the passing game as well it seems.

Those are things that come with time and experience, and I'm confident that he will get better at those. Given the numbers he's putting up in spite of that at the moment, that's a scary thought.

I do think though there are moments where you can't wait for time and experience to show, and you have to do some things from the sideline to manage the game, overcome those droughts, and capture the win. That's where playcalling comes in, and I do think there were some areas where that had room for improvement this past week.

In particular, I would have liked to have seen more screen plays. Especially if the team is in one of those droughts, screen plays should be high-percentage plays that can take advantage of the opponent's aggression and help your offense re-establish a rhythm. I get particularly frustrated when I see the other team using screens effectively and Ohio State on the other side seemingly avoiding them. I mentioned it in the game thread, but that's one of the ways the Cal game reminded me of last year's Toledo game - though Cal didn't screen nearly as much as the Rockets did.

Coming back to that idea of shared responsibility though - the players have to execute those screens when they're called, and from what I've seen so far they haven't run them very well this year. It seems that there's some imprecision in those plays when they run them. Whether it's down to Miller's throws being off or the receiver not hitting their spot, they just haven't clicked yet. It seems that when they run a screen the receiver has to turn or step away from where the play is supposed to go in order to catch the ball, and by the time he gets turned back around the defense has recovered and the gain is minimal.

I'd like to see screens fixed and called more often because I think it's going to keep defenses honest and get players like Jordan Hall and Philly Brown more involved.

 

[Mrstickball]

Going off what you've said, I'm also surprised that they haven't called more screens - it seemed like they were called a few times during the spring game, and worked pretty well.

 

[Buckeye86]

You keep pointing to playcalling, but I haven't seen you say what you thought was wrong with it. What would you have done differently?

I thought the playcalling focused on attacking the edge too much (especially in the third quarter with those damn option runs, the new Dave?) and some more quick hitting passes over the middle were needed to keep the defense honest, back from the line of scrimmage and out of the flats.

I didn't read the rest of your post and I am not the person you were asking. :p

Edit: I now see that you are advocating for more screen plays. I disagree because that is yet another play that allows the defense to stay at the line of scrimmage and focusing on the flats, which is already over populated from stopping those edge option runs over and over.

 

[MD Buckeye]

https://twitter.com/TIM_MAYsports

OSU QB Braxton Miller named Big Ten offensive player of the week for the first time this season. He leads the league in rushing.

 

[Bill Lucas]

One can only wonder how good he's gonna be if he stays for his senior season..

I don't see him leaving early. 0% chance in my IMO.

 

[jlb1705]

I thought the playcalling focused on attacking the edge too much (especially in the third quarter with those damn option runs, the new Dave?) and some more quick hitting passes over the middle were needed to keep the defense honest, back from the line of scrimmage and out of the flats.

I didn't read the rest of your post and I am not the person you were asking. :p

Edit: I now see that you are advocating for more screen plays. I disagree because that is yet another play that allows the defense to stay at the line of scrimmage and focusing on the flats, which is already over populated from stopping those edge option runs over and over.

I agree to an extent about the edge... They really missed Carlos Hyde in this game, and maybe could have stood to rotate Dunn in there for more effectiveness running up the middle.

I think they were focusing on Miller more than they were focusing on the flats, it's just that that's where he often ended up because of all the option plays, rollouts and scrambles. I think the right screen play could have countered that by using that attention on Miller to draw bodies away from a receiver on the edge as the play sets up.

I will amend a bit of what I said earlier though, because I'm rewatching the 3rd quarter right now, and I am seeing some screen-type plays. I guess what's missing for me is that the plays seemed rushed. I don't know if it was down to design or execution, but I didn't see any part of those plays where there was a chance to draw defenders past or away from the intended receiver. It seems to me that the screens they were running were designed to be direct to the edge as quickly as possible - that type of play would be well suited if they're already giving you the space to honor the deep threat or otherwise ignoring the edge. Like you said though, they were keying on Miller/the edge, so they were going right into the teeth of it. I think they could have been successful with some slower-developing screen plays that misdirected or drew in defenders. Then again, maybe those plays haven't been executed in practice, or maybe they aren't in the Meyer-Herman playbook at all.

They were eventually able to exploit Cal's focus on the Miller and on the edge with some deeper passes, but in the time before that part of the game got cranked up I think there had to be a high-percentage short play that could have countered what they were doing.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Braxton is Heisman caliber right now...

Not until he levels out his game. The swings from looking like Troy Smith '06 to abysmal on a quarter-to-quarter basis need to end for him to have any realistic chance.

On a positive note, I'm more excited about him than I ever was about TP. He just needs to become more consistent.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I remember one play vividly where Braxton threw one behind Stoney as Stoney was coming across the middle. Everyone around me thought it was a terrible throw, but I thought it was a terrible route by Stoney. It was a zone, and he's got to learn to sit down in that zone, rather than continuing his route. I'm glad to see Braxton developing, but I'd like to see the team develop more chemistry on things like that.

Miller clearly saw Stoney was continuing the route...no excuse for the throw he made.

 

[southcampus]

Disagree. LBer right there. Stoney needs to recognize the defense and adjust accordingly. I'll take that incomplete pass every time over a risky throw over the middle.

 

[PlanetFrnd]

I agree with alot of the analysis here, but most with a point by southcampus (shouldn't you be working, young man? ) and followed-on by jlb... the progressions aren't there yet. He still seems to lock in fairly often, and doesn't seem to be checking down (no idea, of course, how many check-downs he's been given in the system at this point). This matter, however, I see as being the most capable of being fixed with reps... As soon as that next light comes on as far as getting from 1-3 or 4 quickly before deciding to use his feet... I think that's when we see that Leap that Troy made from being electrifying to being electrifying plus very efficient (not that Braxton has been wildly inefficient so far this season).

Saw a play that Stafford made in the Det-SF game where SF ran a corner blitz, Stafford took the snap, saw the corner, took a glimpse at his primary and then dumped off to the back to the opposite side, net of 10 yards... great read by the QB (ok, that time anyways)... reminded me that reads will likely come as Braxton gets more reps and time with the playbook...

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Disagree. LBer right there. Stoney needs to recognize the defense and adjust accordingly. I'll take that incomplete pass every time over a risky throw over the middle.

Wrong. I remember the play and there was no one within three yards of Stoney. Look at the replay. If Miller hits Stoney in stride Stoney gains a shitload more yardage. Again, Miller saw Stoney cutting across and simply threw behind him...

 

[Buckeye86]

Wrong. I remember the play and there was no one within three yards of Stoney. Look at the replay. If Miller hits Stoney in stride Stoney gains a shitload more yardage. Again, Miller saw Stoney cutting across and simply threw behind him...

Counter argument (and I don't know for sure because I don't have the film in front of me): Miller saw an opening in the zone defense that Stoneburner should have sat down in and he threw it there.

You throw it to people in stride against man coverage, you throw it to openings on the field against zone coverage.

If Braxton "hits him in stride" then the ball would be intercepted or knocked down by the LB that was 4 yards away. The LB reacting to the ball and Stoneburner continuing to run full stride would erase a lot more than three yards by the time the ball got there.

In the NFL they hit people in stride against zone coverage because they are really fucking good and they know exactly where and when the receiver is going to hit the opening in the zone before they even get there.

I don't think Braxton is quite at that level yet.

 

[southcampus]

Counter argument (and I don't know for sure because I don't have the film in front of me): Miller saw an opening in the zone defense that Stoneburner should have sat down in and he threw it there.

You throw it to people in stride against man coverage, you throw it to openings on the field against zone coverage.

If Braxton "hits him in stride" then the ball would be intercepted or knocked down by the LB that was 4 yards away. The LB reacting to the ball and Stoneburner continuing to run full stride would erase a lot more than three yards by the time the ball got there.

In the NFL they hit people in stride against zone coverage because they are really [censored]ing good and they know exactly where and when the receiver is going to hit the opening in the zone before they even get there.

I don't think Braxton is quite at that level yet.

this.