I?m gonna pause the Leach Hate for a little bit

[PikeDawg15]

I?ve watched some clips from the previous games.

Will is not playing good.

Will is actually playing awful currently and the receivers are there but he?s not seeing them because he?s terrified of any pressure.

He was better in 2021.

What happened

[CaptainObvious]

I?ve watched some clips from the previous games.

Will is not playing good.

Will is actually playing awful currently and the receivers are there but he?s not seeing them because he?s terrified of any pressure.

He was better in 2021.

What happened

He got hit hard a couple of times and realized his future is in something other than football and wants to have a few functioning brain cells after football.

[Westdawg]

He got hit hard a couple of times and realized his future is in something other than football and wants to have a few functioning brain cells after football.

If that?s the case, then it?s time to hang it up

[dawgday166]

Yea ... I've known this for a while now. But everybody wants to blame Leach's offensive system. Now Leach can be blamed for not having another QB or for the QB's performance, and also for how this offense not performing, but it's not his system that is the problem.

I also think this may be why the receivers' attitudes may not be that good too. Take Heath maybe or just some of the others. If folks are constantly open downfield somewhere and they never get the ball, they probably wanna say WTF after a while.

I also think it may not set well that Leach defends Will so much. I'm scratching my head on some of the dynamics around all of that myself. Something seems very off to me ... but I have no idea or even inkling of what it might be.

[DeltaChicagoDog]

Something seems very off to me ... but I have no idea or even inkling of what it might be.

Nicky Fitz mentioned one possibility in their latest podcast episode - The Has Been & the Never Was.

[Todd4State]

Nicky Fitz mentioned one possibility in their latest podcast episode - The Has Been & the Never Was.

If there is one QB that knew how to read a defense and throw well it was Nick Fitzgerald.**

[vindastra]

Nicky Fitz mentioned one possibility in their latest podcast episode - The Has Been & the Never Was.

Gist please?

[DownwardDawg]

Yea ... I've known this for a while now. But everybody wants to blame Leach's offensive system. Now Leach can be blamed for not having another QB or for the QB's performance, and also for how this offense not performing, but it's not his system that is the problem.

I also think this may be why the receivers' attitudes may not be that good too. Take Heath maybe or just some of the others. If folks are constantly open downfield somewhere and they never get the ball, they probably wanna say WTF after a while.

I also think it may not set well that Leach defends Will so much. I'm scratching my head on some of the dynamics around all of that myself. Something seems very off to me ... but I have no idea or even inkling of what it might be.

Leach has had plenty of opportunities to allow the backup to get some in game reps but he won't do it. The QB situation is 100% on Leach.

[starkvegasdawg]

I?ve watched some clips from the previous games.

Will is not playing good.

Will is actually playing awful currently and the receivers are there but he?s not seeing them because he?s terrified of any pressure.

He was better in 2021.

What happened

Talking to another guy (Mjoelner on this Board) who is in scoreboard and says numerous times he has seen our receivers running open and for whatever reason he checks down to the safety valve.

[Bothrops]

I'm not sure of he can't see the field very well, or is afraid to throw over the middle. He's had a high number of passes batted down too.

[Todd4State]

I'm not sure of he can't see the field very well, or is afraid to throw over the middle. He's had a high number of passes batted down too.

I think he's afraid. His completion percentage on passes over 20 yards is actually pretty good if I remember correctly. Which makes all of this more unusual.

I will say this:

I think that he got used to people rushing three and dropping 8 because everyone in the SEC thought that was how you stop Leach. Well, Will and MSU started to absolutely shred the rush three drop 8.

And then teams started to rush four and try some stunts and things like that. Will hasn't quite gotten to where he has adjusted completely to that. The middle of the field was wide open a LOT against Georgia. We actually started to attack it after awhile and had some success doing so.

Once Will adjusts to people rushing four then we will be fine. It's probably coming- hopefully sooner than later. Right now where he is at is about the same as early last year with the rush three drop 8. But he did eventually adjust.

[RiverCityDawg]

If there is one QB that knew how to read a defense and throw well it was Nick Fitzgerald.**

Nick has actually been very defensive of Rogers.

One thing most of us don't know is whether Will is working through his reads correctly. In the Air Raid system there's a saying that "the reads are sacred". You can't see the entire field at the same time, so it doesn't matter if a guy is open before or after the read gets you there. He is coached to follow the reads. It could very well be that he's following the reads he's being coached and that's why Leach hasn't been too hard on him, whereas he's been pretty vocal about the receivers. This would make the problem more if a scheme issue than a Will issue.

Clearly there's been some adjustments by defenses since the Kentucky game where no one is doing the the rush 3 drop 8 thing anymore. I'm not saying Will is playing well, only that it's very possible that he's following the reads as they're being coached, he's just not being coached well right now based on how defenses have been playing us.

[Todd4State]

Nick has actually been very defensive of Rogers.

One thing most of us don't know is whether Will is working through his reads correctly. In the Air Raid system there's a saying that "the reads are sacred". You can't see the entire field at the same time, so it doesn't matter if a guy is open before or after the read gets you there. He is coached to follow the reads. It could very well be that he's following the reads he's being coached and that's why Leach hasn't been too hard on him, whereas he's been pretty vocal about the receivers. This would make the problem more if a scheme issue than a Will issue.

Clearly there's been some adjustments by defenses since the Kentucky game where no one is doing the the rush 3 drop 8 thing anymore. I'm not saying Will is playing well, only that it's very possible that he's following the reads as they're being coached, he's just not being coached well right now based on how defenses have been playing us.

I can't imagine that the offense is designed to immediately check it down to a running back very often. I don't think the Air Raid is much different than most other offenses as far as reads go. Especially with it being based off of the BYU offense under LaVell Edwards.

People are typically rushing four most of the time and using stunts and things like that. Georgia was leaving the middle of the field wide open. Once Will started to hit that some things improved.

[MaroonFlounder]

There's no way that Mike Leach looks out there at the disfunction of this offense and thinks that he is putting his QB in the position to succeed.

You're either coaching it, or allowing it to happen (his own words)

[was21]

Maybe leech wants to be fired, collect his money and head to the beach.

[TrapGame]

I?ve watched some clips from the previous games.

Will is not playing good.

Will is actually playing awful currently and the receivers are there but he?s not seeing them because he?s terrified of any pressure.

He was better in 2021.

What happened

Leach has his problems but if Will is staring down a wide open receiver and NOT throwing the ball he needs to be benched. There was a thread over on Gene's where a couple of guys that were at AU broke down a dozen plays in the second half where we had receivers wide open. A couple of those were probably easy touchdowns. Will dumped it off to the RB on most of those plays. The others he just chunked he ball out of bounds.

[Turfdawg67]

Leach has his problems but if Will is staring down a wide open receiver and NOT throwing the ball he needs to be benched. There was a thread over on Gene's where a couple of guys that were at AU broke down a dozen plays in the second half where we had receivers wide open. A couple of those were probably easy touchdowns. Will dumped it off to the RB on most of those plays. The others he just chunked he ball out of bounds.

And you know Leach and other coaches see this in the film room too. Let Sawyer or whomever start next game and let Will come off the bench... maybe that'll restart some fire?!?

[munk_munk92]

I get the frustration with Leach but he's been as successful as any coach here. I don't like firing coaches too early. Especially when they haven't been that bad. I want to see a different QB first. I think we need to hold off another year or two unless we have a sure fire lined up.

[Goldendawg]

If Will hits a few long passes/TD bombs to wide open WR's against ETSU (FCS level), it might lend more substance to thoughts that O won't work against good SEC D, soft/disappearing WR's in SEC games, etc. If we can't get big plays against them through the air Saturday, there are really some problems. Execute in an encouraging way to hopefully play 4 quarters against OM.

[TrapGame]

If Will hits a few long passes/TD bombs to wide open WR's against ETSU (FCS level), it might lend more substance to thoughts that O won't work against good SEC D, soft/disappearing WR's in SEC games, etc. If we can't get big plays against them through the air Saturday, there is really some problems.

Bingo.