ShortSideOption
Guest
QB play is being underrated as an issue. I know the line has been a hot mess, but sometimes when you have a patchwork group, the QB has to make some plays and bail them out. That's exactly what AM did last year. He raised the level of play for the offense and in turn, the whole team.
I think he's been hurt all year. There is just no other logical explanation for the drop-off in performance. Even when the pocket is clean or there is 15 yards of open field for running, he's looked tentative.
I'd add that Nebraska had plenty of All-Conference lineman in the late '80s and early '90s. The offense still sputtered against Miami and FSU. It wasn't until Tommie Frazier arrived that things really started to click. He gave the whole team more confidence.
I think there's truth to a lot of this.... i'll add some because I think Martinez's play isn't up to snuff, but it's a byproduct of other things:Lebowski - he may have started the year a little dinged up but I think bigger factors are:
+ the coaches asking him to do more
+ bad snaps
When watching, I think he still has the same instincts as last year but he is fighting them, making him appear tentative. You never perform at your best when second guessing yourself.
1) Center that has literally never played OL before
2) Person for reason 1 is having erratic snaps, and like it or not it is in Martinez's head
3) With someone who has never played OL before having to fill Farmer's spot, a first time starter is having to fill Foster's spot.
4) Gaylord's injury gives us no options to help Matt Farniok and slide him down where he would have better luck
5) Lastly, all of the weapons we are trying to use now were either hurt this spring (Robinson, Spielman, Warner), hurt now (Robinson, Martinez, Warner), or not even here yet (Mills, Noa). We built zero chemistry heading into fall camp and tried playing catch-up.
So the erratic OL play combined with skill position players taking live bullets trying to find chemistry is making for some bad offensive showings.