Offense meltdown today.....

S

statelinejacket

Damn Good Rat
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Based on what I have read on the Hive the offense got destroyed in today's scrimmage.

Oh sh*t!

While there shouldn't be any panicing, the history of the offense under Gailey/Nix/Ball creates grave concerns. It's my opinion that Reggie's performance must be reevaluated.....if he can't consistently move the offense we must put in a quarterback who can.

If Gailey and Nix fail to do so I'm afraid that the coaches will get their performance reevaluated at season's end and the outcome won't be pretty.

I read some of the excuses for the offense's performance and I just don't buy them. With an offense with this much experience throughout there is no reason for them to get manhandled in practice. Not having Calvin Johnson or 2 or 3 backup linemen is no excuse for getting your ass kicked.

Several viewers of practice bluntly said Reggie was horrible......there can be no excuses for it. Especially the comments about "Reggie couldn't run the ball today and that is a big part of his game"

Huh....say what....the fact is Reggie Ball has never been an effective player running the ball if the protection breaks down. He has been effective at running designed quarterback draws and little else. His ability to run a draw play does not offset his overthrowing his recievers time and again.

Everything depends on us finding a quarterback who can move tha ball. And if Reggie can't do it we better find someone who can.
 
I agree that it is bothersome, but it is still early. I was most concerned about the passes batted down and thrown out of bounds. It looks like the same old Reggie.

The good news is that the defense was dominating and the db's looked good.
 
Definitely too early to panic...

My feeling is though, if we had options other than Reggie, we would've used him by now. Reggie got his job because he was a freshman better than some upperclassmen - I don't think they'd hesitate to do it again if that were true now.
 
statelinejacket said:
If Gailey and Nix fail to do so I'm afraid that the coaches will get their performance reevaluated at season's end and the outcome won't be pretty.
Click to expand...

Remember that if you say "Gailey and Nix" on offense then you have to say "Gailey and Tenuta" on defense.

Gailey has completely, 100%, surrendered the offense to Nix. Gailey spends an equal amount of time at each practice for each area...actually spending a lof of time with Kelly on Special Teams.

I have to say that if Nix does not have a great year it could be one year and out for him. He does not recruit now...just like Tenuta...so he has to get it done on the field. Nix also needs to learn to handle interviews better. His 'I sleep fine every night'/'I have no concerns' comments are a bit weak yesterday given the performance on the field. Gailey followed him up by making sure it was clear that HE was concerned about what he saw!
 
Hivered: I agree. I really do. But how do you separate Coach Gailey from the performance of Coach Nix and Reggie Ball at this point?

I don't want to see Reggie left out there if he isn't getting the job done on the practice field now....and during games. Barring a huge amount of improvement from Bennett from last year I would prefer to see Garner with the first team for extensive amounts of time. I don't care if he is the reincarnation of Billy Kilmer out there in terms of style. First team against first team lets let the kid get used to some real speed and see if he can move the team....as he reportedly could do last year with the second team unit.

Bottom line: If Reggie is not improved Nix must make a move or it will reflect badly on himself and Gailey. Rightfully or not.
 
Stateline, I have to agree with you. This is a big season for Tech. What's the old saying "fish or cut bait"? After one more scrimmage maybe two let's see where they are and go from there.
 
Mover of Fridge brings up a good point on the Hive: the bickering reportedly going on by the offensive line is ridiculous. Some leadership must be exhibited by the signal caller on the line and by the quarterback.
 
Reggie Ball will never be an adequate quarterback, but 3 years into this thing the coaches have put too many chips in to fold now. If we were to change now to Bennett the fear is that our offense would totally go into the tank versus the 18 ppg we are averaging now. We can win some games by scoring 2 or 3 touchdowns, but will never win if we are shooting blanks. A lot of it in my opinion is expectations. Our offense doesn't expect to score a lot of points so they are satisfyed when they don't. I guarantee that Leinart and Bush would lose sleep at night if a team held last years Trojans to less than 30 points. One thing is for damn sure...Our defense is really good, but barring a miracle we aren't going to hold Notre Dame to 18 points or less.
 
statelinejacket said:
It's my opinion that Reggie's performance must be reevaluated.....if he can't consistently move the offense we must put in a quarterback who can.
Click to expand...

The problem from what I read is we can't do that. There's not a QB out there who apparently is anywhere close to Ball at this point, which is truly truly pathetic.
 
It's always amazing to see who reacts to what around here. First, few who are posting here evidently saw the scrimmage. So we're reacting to what other people think they saw.

Second, according to those there, the OL was a patchwork affair due to minor injuries. Someone listed 4 OL who were held out. Not sure they were all first teamers, but the numbers were limited at least. The bickering was likely as much about having a mish/mash line trying to figure out Tenuta's blitz schemes. While that's not good news, it's also not surprising given what JT does to veteran lines.

Also, several posted in that thread that the plays run in the scrimmage bore little resemblance to what they've seen in practice. We went very vanilla for the scimmage.

All that said, we do have to rely on Reggie to improve over last year if we are to have the year we hope for. OR we have to be willing to pull the plug if he can't get it done. But it's way early for people to be throwing in the towel.
 
BarrelORum said:
The problem from what I read is we can't do that. There's not a QB out there who apparently is anywhere close to Ball at this point, which is truly truly pathetic.
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I don't think anyone is going to argue that our QB recruiting and development haven't been pitiful.

I don't think this scrimmage means anything, but I don't have any reason to suspect that our offense will be any better than it's been in the Gailey era.
 
We had 35 rushes for 49 yards which is 1.4 per carry

We completed 9 of 29 passes which is 31%

Hopefully the line did have a lot to do with all that because those number wont score any points on Saturdays.
 
BarrelORum said:
The problem from what I read is we can't do that. There's not a QB out there who apparently is anywhere close to Ball at this point, which is truly truly pathetic.
Click to expand...

The coaches have got to make a change if Tech continues to get the same performance out of Reggie Ball. Reggie has not been a adequate quarterback for the most part and he fails to make everyone around him better.....a very critical aspect considering Reggie is a 4 year starter.

What do the coaches have to lose in making a switch? For one I would applaud the move as a shakeup that has been a long time coming. For another it would send a signal to everyone that all jobs are up for grabs everyday! Especially on the offense.

I had hopes that Reggie would benefit from Nix taking over and Gailey stepping aside. Yesterdays performance(5-16, 43 yards) would indicate otherwise.

By the way, who was 2-5 in passing? Garner? It seems we was 9-29 yesterday overall(Reggie 5-16, Bennett 2-8 leaves someone with 2-5). Garner must have talent, he just needs a chance....a real chance to let it shine.
 
Garner is last in line!

I have been to a lot of practices both last Spring and this fall. It is my opinion that the QB rankings would fall out as follows:

1) Ball
2) Bennett
3) Manley
4) Garner
5) Ingram (definite redshirt)

The fact is that Reggie is the best quarterback we currently have at Georgia Tech. That is why he is the starter and will continue to be until he graduates or gets injured.

Bennett is making some progress but has a lot of work to be a servicable D1 level starting QB. Manley has been told he will make a fine coach some day. In other words he won't be playing QB any time soon. Garner is erratic in drills and not much better in live scrimmage.

Garner needs the most work of any of the QB's other than Ingram and he is just getting started.

I think any incoming Freshman has a valid shot at being our starting QB in 2007.

Go Jackets!
 
stateline, I'm not saying everything's okay, just that it's a little early to panic.
 
Jerry, I believe on the official depth chart Garner is ahead of Manley. Also how much live scrimmage have you seen Garner in? Last year he didn't get a snap in the scrimmage that I saw.

Let me put it this way: Do you think we made a mistake in signing Garner to a scholarship? I'll bet you would say no. And I seriously doubt all the scouts and the services was wrong about him as a high schooler.

My thinking is that while there is still a tremendous upside to Garner, talent wise Tech has probably got all it can get out of Reggie and Taylor Bennett. That doesn't mean the coaches aren't doing a good job with them, it just means that their talent has been maximized and there is no more left. Neither one was a solid Div 1 quarterback prospect. Garner was and I say still is. If he needs work then lets call him into the office, tell him he has a shot at starting or playing alot this year, it's up to him, that from now on his game will be evaluated daily in hopes of getting him some playing time.

And lets see what happens.
 
ncjacket said:
stateline, I'm not saying everything's okay, just that it's a little early to panic.
Click to expand...

ncjacket: Sticking with Reggie regardless of the outcome....which is what we have done since '03 is just as damaging.

Just how far are you willing to stick with these kind of results? You just can't give a 4th year starter anymore rope. He either moves the team now or hits the bench and we concentrate on getting someone else ready.
 
hiveredtech said:
Remember that if you say "Gailey and Nix" on offense then you have to say "Gailey and Tenuta" on defense.
Click to expand...

Not true at all! Gailey hired Nix over 3 years ago and made his bed with him being able to do the job. Tenuta has proven himself, while Nix has floundered with the development of our quarterbacks and with the 2 minute offense. If Nix can't get the job done, then both him and Gailey need to go. Nobody told Gailey he had to keep Nix, it was his decision alone.
Nix's responses in the interview about sleeping well and not being concerned are completely unacceptable. I am very concerned and damn it, he should be too!
 
I refuse to call for someone to be fired before we play a single play in a live game, but if Nix can't get it going this year we definitely need to reevaluate our offensive scheme at years end. We at least need to take a step in the right direction averaging at least 25 ppg with a Senior QB and All-American WR. Ultimately, a scrimmage is nothing more than a scrimmage and hopefully they take out the plays that blew up and tweak the plays that showed promise. We still have 3 weeks to fine tune the offense for the showdown with what many believe will be the top offense in the Nation.
 
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