Key Stat of the Day

'08 Football Stat of the Day86

Number of bad decisions by Russell Wilson – zero.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

'08 Football Stat of the Day

86 Responses to Key Stat of the Day

  1. sf59 09/13/2008 at 10:38 PM #

    some one gets it.

    the yank wilson crowd needs to take a breath. give the kid some time to get his feet under him. As the game slows down and the WRS grow up/ get open, RW will be able to strtech the field make his reads… but not at the expense of being careless.

    he showed marked improvement in the 2nd half alone. Im willing to bet that in 3-4 games (if the guys keep working hard and buying in)that we will have forgotten all about this discussion.

  2. PAJ 09/13/2008 at 10:39 PM #

    Cannot agree with that. Wasted too many downs with too many throws to the band / fans.

    I think the bigger stats are:

    Number of TDs: Zero
    Total Points: Three

    Play Beck or we’re looking at 1-11!

  3. RBCRowdy 09/13/2008 at 10:45 PM #

    I understand Russell isnt quite there yet, but Beck is no way what-so-ever a passer. He is a Brett Favre wanna-be who throws the deep jump ball 80% of the time.

    Wilson is the QB this year.

  4. sf59 09/13/2008 at 10:46 PM #

    “Play Beck or we’re looking at 1-11”

    Cannot agree with that. RW had an avg game. Given the opponent and his experience he did what you would expect.nothing less , nothing more.
    at this point i would rather the QB throw out of bounds than to a WR that is not open. In case you did not notice, the WRs were not running wide open down the field. The jump balls that worked lat week were not there this week.

    The fact is we were in the game in the 4th Qt with a Fr QB in his 2nd start. He looked better as the game went on… why throw the baby out with the bath water… not yet at least.

  5. blpack 09/13/2008 at 11:05 PM #

    If he can continue to grow and someone steps up at WR, then we’ll be in better shape. Red Zone offense needs some work, but how often have we been done there lately? Take care of ball next week and note to special teams – watch out for a blocked punt – and we can win that game.

  6. BJD95 09/13/2008 at 11:15 PM #

    Yeah, I really got tired of Wilson throwing the ball away so much. Why can’t he just chuck it blindly downfield off his back foot (like Beck) or fall down/throw to the other team (like Evans)?

    We are building a foundation with Russell Wilson. He is not developing bad habits. Instead, he is doing what the coaches ask him to do. As he gains in experience and confidence, he will make more and more plays – just like he did in the second half today.

    This is about building a program. TOB has a proven record of ultimately delivering results.

  7. BJD95 09/13/2008 at 11:19 PM #

    Damn straight we can win next week’s game. Clemson’s athletes were significantly bigger and faster than ours. ECU won’t have that luxury.

    I’m certainly not saying we definitely WILL win, or that we should be favored. But a win is most definitely a realistic possibility.

  8. Trip 09/13/2008 at 11:27 PM #

    I liked Wilson. People forget that he didn’t have the luxury of padding his stats in the only game we have scored in so far against a D-II opponent and that he was basically making the first career start this game since he probably doesn’t remember much about the Gamecocks other than “RUN RUSSELL RUN.”

    He made good decisions, if “good” decisions mean throwing the ball away, then I’m fine with him throwing it away. Let’s face it, our O-line was getting abused and gave him maybe 2 seconds to get a read if he wasn’t getting blitzed and being forced to run all around the field.

    Now, Beck has his place. He’ll most definitely score more if taking the same amount of snaps just because he’s riskier, the only problem is… so will the other team.

  9. PhilipRiversWannabe 09/13/2008 at 11:48 PM #

    Another key stat of the day.

    0 sacks. Clemson did an excellent jib of mixing up the snap count. We must have had 5 penalties on our DL.

    We could not get to Harper. They killed us with the bubble screen. Every time we blitzed, they ran it. We should have attacked the middle of the field more. All of our decent pass plays went to the middle of the field. And why did we run 3 draw plays on our last offensive drive? A draw is meant is a play meant to be used sparingly when a team is wants to confuse the opposing defense when our offense is throwing the ball well.

    I wish Beck would have gotten more playing time. RW is the starter, but giving Beck more PT will give our offense more confidence and a chance to stretch the field. It will help to bring some balance to our offense.

  10. caniac45 09/14/2008 at 12:03 AM #

    Is it just me or does it seem like when Beck is in our receivers actually get open. It’s like they’re thinking they should try harder when the 3rd string is in, but when Russell Wilson is in, they expect him to put it past the defense and hit them in the numbers. Just me?

  11. b 09/14/2008 at 12:29 AM #

    Its more likely that Beck sees guys that RW cannot due to his height. With a smaller QB you need to create some throwing lanes, drop deeper, or roll them out. And our O-line is just barely able to define a pocket much less clear guys out.

    If you want to use Beck a as part of a Glennon-Taylor like combo, I guess it could be somewhat effective, but to me RW is clearly the better game manager. Those throw aways avoid sacks and possible Ints that Beck will throw into traffic. They likely extended the game a little longer while our defense was hanging in there. And with our line clearly better at run block versus pass block, the read option game is probably the best plan. RW is starting to see the field, and should improve markedly the next couple of weeks.

    ECU is not invulnerable, they were probably more explosive LY when we manhandled them. We need to play a LOT better to beat them though. They play solid D, but they did let Tulane run wild and Tulane’s RBs are probably not as talented Brown and Underwood.

    Sure would be nice if Eugene and Hill could get back into the line-up.

  12. Slader4881 09/14/2008 at 12:33 AM #

    I would say he made one bad choice today.. the pick late in the game. He had other guys open on the play and he forced it into coverage. Other than that he kept us in the game. You really can’t ask for much more for a RS-Frosh, coming off a serious head injury and facing a fast D. If Beck played the whole game Klempson has 12 sacks and Beck throws 3 ints and we are out of it early. The D played well for stretches, but we just couldn’t over the hump. Overall the game was much better than I expected.

  13. Dr. BadgerPack 09/14/2008 at 12:57 AM #

    I thought the key stat of the day would be the Nate Irving bad-ass coefficient… He’s good… 🙂

  14. Ismael 09/14/2008 at 2:05 AM #

    Can one of the admins mark walmart-fan comments with a walmart-fan icon so that no one responds or at least we can identify the walmart fan and offer him a choice of another hat on the shelf where they “throw it down the field” every play. I’d also submit that we somehow disable their PS3 and Xbox football games since obviously being a quaterback is THAT simple.

    If someone can’t see the 1000% improvement between what we’ve seen the last 4 years from the QB position and what we saw today, then you are a WALMART-FAN and you are not needed.

  15. Ismael 09/14/2008 at 2:24 AM #

    you know guys…reflection, in general, but specifically here, is key. The coaches, and that’s all i can go on, i don’t see these guys practice, i just see the crap that they do in games, which is indicative of how they practice…but the coaches went to great lengths to freakin CHANGE THEIR ENTIRE OFFENSIVE LOOK. I want to know the last time TOB or Bible used a spread option type offense IF EVER? They are doing that BASED ON THE PERSONNEL. Why is everyone scatching their head?? This is a serious calcululs. You have 11 offensive positions and you need at least 22 bodies for those positions. What do our 22 bodies allow us to do.

    Completely FORGET the William and Mary game. Just forget it. It never happened because they don’t have the athletes that 95% of the other Div1A schools have. Carolina (south) and Clemson do, they are the measuring stick. This means forget what Beck did against William and Mary. Instead, remember what Beck did against South Carolina, and today against Clemson (and for most of last year), that TOB offered to help him transfer to another school, get my point?

    Andre Brown and Curtis Underwood ran and caught the ball nicely today. Andre Brown (and Underwood) ran awesome against Carolina (south). Russell Wilson WAS running well and passing (But mostly running) against Carolina (south) and ran well today, extended the play, bought time, made some good reads. Complaining that he didn’t see George Bryan while you are sitting on you ___ drinking and eating something with salsa on your face, digging in your crotch is probably not a fair criticism.

    If receivers are not getting open against two of the top defensive secondary’s in the nation, then i would imagine its because those secondaries are so good is why they aren’t getting open, not some flaw in TOB/Bible’s philosophy. What all of this means, based on these two games against really good competition is that we can run the ball, our OL is really cut out to do that it seems – i’m just going on what i see and stat sheets.

    So if we never throw the ball for more than 20 yards the rest of the year, but we learn how to dink and dunk along the way and start scoring, im all for that. The big plays come because the little ones are working. We almost crossed that threshold today i think. We had an opportunity to score two touchdowns (late in the game), we blew it, it happens to young teams, it happens to teams where half the people on offense are walkons and/or from the 3 deep chart. It happens in year 2 of a major rebuilding project, it happens when its your QB’s real first game, on the road, in one of the hardest places to play in the country.

  16. midlandspack 09/14/2008 at 5:41 AM #

    agreed. RW played well. He is the guy.

  17. Dr. BadgerPack 09/14/2008 at 5:58 AM #

    No arguement about who is/isn’t a good QB… I will say I am very appreciative of the fact that Beck chose to stick around in an obvious non-starting (non playing even?) situation. We would be staring 0-3 and hugely embarassed in the face without him.

    I put him in the Dennis Horner category. He stuck with us. Beck stuck with us. So, whatever roll he plays I’ll be quite supportive, whether he stinks up the joint or not.

    That said, I hope RW stays healthy and Beck only sees the field in mop-up duty.

  18. haze 09/14/2008 at 6:58 AM #

    Beck makes sense as a change of pace or 2min offense guy. He’s high risk, high return.

    Wilson is clearly the every down guy. He makes sure throws (in or out of bounds) and has good feet. To be really good, he will need to make more plays with his arm but I thought he was fine today given the challenges. He really didn’t have much time and when we rolled the pocket to get him time the Clemson DL showed some pretty outstanding speed. It was not an easy way to start a career.

    Perhaps best of all, when I look at Wilson as an RS-Fr, I can see how he is both the best guy now and how he can get progressively better. Never mind that he’s the only QB that can run well enough to help this OL out in pass protection.

  19. grouchomarx 09/14/2008 at 7:49 AM #

    I liked what I saw on offense in the 2nd half-the game plan fits our personnel and the execution was pretty good, at times. Continued improvement will yield a late season run like last year, we can win 3-4 more games, but will have to make field goals.
    Its obvious the coaches are planning for the long haul of the rest of the season, and RW understands what they want.

  20. tvp1 09/14/2008 at 7:53 AM #

    Meh. I understand why we are playing Wilson, and I’ll trust the coaches. But I cannot help but wonder whether Beck would not give us a better chance to win right now. Wilson attempted one downfield pass and it was intercepted. He completed, I think 3 passes to our WR. We are back into an offense where we are not forcing the defense to defend more than 10 yards downfield.

    Also, contrary to popular opinion, our OL is playing pretty well right now. We are miles ahead of last year. The problem in the passing game isn’t on them – its on the QB/WR.

  21. Wulfpack 09/14/2008 at 8:07 AM #

    Of course Wilson is the guy. However, he won’t make it through the season if we are going to keep asking him to tuck it and run, or move out of the pocket so he can throw it out of bounds, while some defensive end or linebacker puts him on his back 10 times a game. I liked what I saw from him when he made a quick decision, but I did not like his backyard football instincts, waiting too long to throw, running around looking for open receivers, diving around for a couple of extra yards, etc. I appreciate his effort, but that stuff is going to get him hurt, and it isn’t going to help us. The coaching staff knows this.

    ECU has put up 79 points. We have managed 3.

  22. ncsslim 09/14/2008 at 8:36 AM #

    My biggest problem with Russell is that when he makes a step up into the pocket (which is the probably the biggest weapon a guy of his athletic ability has and really puts himself into an advantegeous position) he seemingly only looks at the run option. Marcus Stone (without the same athletic ability) had similar tendancies and it ultimately cost him any chance of being the QB we thought he was. I assume that RW’s youth is a factor, but sometimes you fall back on natural tendancies that can be tough to break (Marcus never could). Jamie Barnett (at the time a nobody-from-nowhere thrown into the limelight – national tv against Alabama – in his first game) had good natural tendancies from the moment he took the field. Jamie also did not have Russell’s athletic ability and ultimately took too many hits over his career, but Russell appears to be significantly challenged to become the overall QB that Jamie was at this point. Hopefully that is not the case. But in the meantime, we can help ourselves dramatically by learning to tackle and making chippie kicks.

  23. cowdog 09/14/2008 at 8:52 AM #

    Think about this for a moment.

    We had 2 drives of 9 plays. One drive of 12 and a drive of 13 and only two 3 and outs.

    Granted we only put up 3 pts., but those types of drives should and will win us some football games when we figure out how to convert to six.

  24. TomCat 09/14/2008 at 9:00 AM #

    Key facts from yesterday scouting ECU:

    1. Tulane held a 2/3 time of possession advantage in first half. It fatigued the ECU defense & contributed to two deep TD passes over the top in the second half.

    2. ECU turned the ball over 5 times, 4 inside their own 40 yard line.

    3. ECU lost top linebacker & best defender (Quinton Cotton) done for the year (ACL). Best RB Jonathan Williams injured shoulder, Stanley Bryant starting OL knee injury, out 5-6 wks.

    4. Place kicking unit- extremely shaky. Had their punter try a 42 yarder at end of first half & missed.

    5. Limited to 50 yards rushing (Tulane’s defense limited Alabama to 70 yds rushing previous week)

    6. QB Pinkney freezes when forced & he can’t see the middle of the field & makes mistakes (2 fumbles, 2 INTs). Took him 2.5 quarters to adjust

    7. When it mattered, ECU drove 80 yds and won the game

  25. wufpup76 09/14/2008 at 9:48 AM #

    I’m totally w/ the BJD/Wilson camp here … Wilson manages the game very effectively for someone who had never played a D1 (FBS) game before … He’s not giving the game away, which are Priorities 1 and 1A for this particular team

    Everyone more or less agrees that Clemson is a superior team this season, yet we were in the game into the 4th quarter – and Russell led us on two drives which could have significantly changed the game had our red zone offense got us in the end zone (This will hopefully improve throughout the season)

    I believe when you don’t have a very good team you make the other team beat you by out-executing you, not by taking wild chances to hit home run balls … Some would rather take more chances and I understand that, but for me Russell is the guy

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