GNFP Vandy film review
- Thread starter jdh5484
- Start date
- Feb 4, 2015
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Haven’t watched the defense yet but offense breakdown makes two things clear:
1. BN does have the ability to scheme receivers open downfield repeatedly on plays that have real potential for big yardage.
2. Mertz is utterly incapable of throwing anything but overthrown or underthrown balls to wide open receivers who are more than 15 yards away, if he ever sees them at all….
BN is taking lots of heat over playcalling, but the reality seems to be that Mertz just can’t make plays. Last year AR could hit the long ball but couldn’t throw short passes to save his life. This year Mertz is the exact opposite.
We have to keep Lagway in the class and pray he develops into a well rounded leader for the offense who can make ALL the throws.
- Dec 31, 2018
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The key to keeping Lagway is going to be upping his NIL. Sorry Ox, that $10 I was going to contribute here this Christmas is going to have to go to the collective. If I can get another nine guys to join me I think we can rest easy.
- Jul 16, 2018
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This. Time and time again, Mertz screws the pooch on plays where receivers are wide open down the field. Also, his timing on the occasional pump fakes is laughably off. He's faking DBs who are bailing on the play and the WR hasn't even turned his head around for the ball.
- Jul 16, 2018
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Ive watched half the defense one. Jason Marshall is hit or miss. The schemes are sound, Coach Ham is putting the players in position to win their defensive battles. Jordan Castell is playing very well for a freshman, and Jayden Hill is the best nickel we've had since Chauncey Gardner. Not sure if that is a good thing or not....
- Jun 12, 2014
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Founding Member
I'll watch the defense tomorrow. This was the best game from a play calling/design perspective. Not perfect, but much improved. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
Mertz struggles to throw guys open and make the best reads. That's probably why we throw so many hitch routes. Hopefully, he'll improve some on his reads as he progresses in the season, but Mertz is what he is. I don't think he's hit his ceiling, but his ceiling isn't much higher. He won't play on Sundays, but he's a decent enough college QB and placeholder for DJ.
Also, Wilson makes this offense at least two scores better. Really glad he's in orange and blue.
Mertz struggles to throw guys open and make the best reads. That's probably why we throw so many hitch routes. Hopefully, he'll improve some on his reads as he progresses in the season, but Mertz is what he is. I don't think he's hit his ceiling, but his ceiling isn't much higher. He won't play on Sundays, but he's a decent enough college QB and placeholder for DJ.
Also, Wilson makes this offense at least two scores better. Really glad he's in orange and blue.
- Jun 12, 2014
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Sure these young guys are making a few mistakes on defense, but they are playing better than expected, especially considering that the scheme has some difficult concepts. All the experience, lumps included, will pay dividends the next two years. Armstrong and Raymond together are both home run hires and are a crazy good coaching duo.
- Jul 16, 2018
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- Oct 5, 2017
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I've got to bust your balls here, are you saying Billy called all those same hitches last year in prep for his hand picked QB for this season?
As a whole, Mertz can be solid and does struggle. For the thought I am seeing in some posts that it is and always has been just the QB's issue and Billy might actually be blameless, I present his 8 1/2 seasons of data that say, no he still has plenty of blame to shoulder. Mertz is actually a great metaphor for Billy's offense, it can get the job done, not always flashy but might surprise here and there, but will not consistently win games against evenly matched teams or get many upsets.
Before I get crucified for the "evenly matched teams" and people point out Sun Belt, Billy was top 2 in recruiting Sun Belt during his time there and I think in 4 years had 2, maybe 3 teams combined in his division to have a .500 or better record.
- Jun 12, 2014
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You are making some false assumptions. Never said Billy was blameless or that all of the offensive woes were on the QBs. However, in this one game, Mertz was a bigger problem than Billy. I stand by that. I still believe (as does probably everyone else here) that Billy needs to turn the offense over to an OC, since his offense, even on good days, still has several flaws. No one is arguing with you on that or at least I wasn't.
So far this season we've run an unusually high number of hitches, and while I admittedly didn't memorize the play charts from last year, it seems like there are even more this year. No doubt Billy likes hitches, but they also play more to Mertz 's strengths, which might be why they are incorporated in such a higher than normal percentage of pass plays.
- Oct 5, 2017
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Not making assumptions, I thought my as a whole and referencing other comments would show I wasn't talking about you or just you.
You are making some false assumptions. Never said Billy was blameless or that all of the offensive woes were on the QBs. However, in this one game, Mertz was a bigger problem than Billy. I stand by that. I still believe (as does probably everyone else here) that Billy needs to turn the offense over to an OC, since his offense, even on good days, still has several flaws. No one is arguing with you on that or at least I wasn't.
So far this season we've run an unusually high number of hitches, and while I admittedly didn't memorize the play charts from last year, it seems like there are even more this year. No doubt Billy likes hitches, but they also play more to Mertz 's strengths, which might be why they are incorporated in such a higher than normal percentage of pass plays.
We ran a ton of hitches last year, hence why after the Spring game there were comments about how the first three plays were (and this I have memorized) were the 2 vertical routes with a guy standing on a side, all hitches, and 4 verts. It might seem like more because you've notice it. There are many things in life we don't notice until we do and then we can't help but notice it all the time, I believe that's why you're noticing the hitches more. Maybe I'm wrong. But it was a staple last season.
- Aug 1, 2018
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Agree about keeping Lagway, obviously. I'm thinking Mertz's apparent shortcomings help with that because it appears our offense would be better, perhaps much better, with a QB that can make long throws. The illusion works in our favor.
- Nov 22, 2015
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I love these GNFP analysis flicks because they're a great teacher of football as played out on the field. What surprised me in this game was the amount of times that wide-open receivers were available for Mertz, sometimes 2 at a time and he never saw it or saw it too late to save the play. These film reviews should be required viewing for the entire team (maybe they are?) The best instructor anyone can have is a mistake that brings the AWSH!T moment. Run those in practice this week multiple times and look for the improvement.
- Jun 11, 2014
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- Jan 3, 2018
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Whatever blame people want to continue to lay on BN, it's all too clear that Mertz is missing on huge, wide open rec. downfield that have TD potential written all over them. And he's doing it multiple times in each game and when he DOES have the protection he needs to make the throw. He has to get better.......period.
- Aug 28, 2014
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- Jan 3, 2018
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- Sep 4, 2014
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We can blame Mertz all we want. The reality is this is year two, in the portal era, and every QB in that room was hand selected. If he’s the best we have on the roster then the failures go much higher up than him. He’s showing supreme toughness if nothing else and is, imo, hasn’t lost any games for us yet. He may not be winning them either, but that was how he was described all along, so we’re getting as good or better version of him than we were sold.
