Maryland Film Review (by Ryan Bridges)

[Daniel Seahorn]

Shane was an EE and went through spring prior to winning the job in the fall. These kids train almost year round now, so I don't buy he was a freshmen excuse. It simply doesn't mean the same thing it meant 10 years ago. Even so, it Shane's best game at was his 1st, and he got progressively worse throughout the season.

This offense doesn't require a better passer to be effective, it requires a QB who can make plays with his legs.

Moreover, any system requires that a QB be able to process information at a lightening quick pace, have we really that from Shane in his 13 games as a starter?

He doesn't throw his WRs open, he waits to see them open before he delivers the ball, if he sees them at all. You are correct that when Shane as a good pocket, and has processed the data correctly he can deliver the ball most of the time. But in reality, those things happen much quicker when the opposing team is about to knock the crap out of you.

I can't get past the first portion of this. A freshmen is still a freshmen and there is still a learning curve no matter when they enroll. I feel like folks have become way too impatient with the development process. I'd be more inclined to agree if we were talking about Shane in year three instead after week one of year two. 

 

[Daniel Seahorn]

You couldn't resist could you 

Just calling them like I see them. 

 

[Daniel Seahorn]

I agree Daniel, to an extent.  Is Shane a better passer than Heard? Yes.  But he's definitely not a better runner.  Nor do I think Shane is a better athlete and Shane definitely is not as electric with the ball in his hands.  And if our OL and our backs perform at the level we expect, I'll even say that Shane is probably better suited to run the offense.  But with all that said and from what we saw Saturday, our OL isn't performing at the the level we expect and our backs avg. 2.6 ypc which is atrocious.  And under those circumstances, I'd prefer a qb who, while may only be a decent passer, can also make plays with his feet and alleviate some of the ills of a struggling offense. 

I'm not even ready to call Heard a decent passer. Using his wheels could be helpful in theory, but what happens when teams start crowding the box, spying him,  and make him have to make the throws that are required? 

 

[Daniel Seahorn]

Daniel, I know you're tired of discussing this but I do need you to help me remember something. I'm old and  my memory isn't the best.  But, as the returning starter, wasn't Heard in competition as starting qb going into the spring?  And wasn't the job pretty much given to Shane after Heard's injury, which forced him out of the competition for the remainder of the spring while also putting him way behind entering fall camp?  And wasn't it because of this Heard asked to be moved to wr in order to get on the field?  I guess my point is if it weren't for the shoulder injury, which occurred at the worst possible time (i.e. new OC, new system, spring competition), Heard, even as just a decent passer, more than likely could have been the starting qb last year especially considering our issues across the OL.  I know if "if" was a fifth we'd all be drunk.  But just seems to me that Heard is fully capable of running this offense with his athletic ability and I definitely think he can improve as a passer if given the opportunity.  And I do remember Sterling Gilbert making the comment the he felt he could "coach Heard up".  I can only imagine what Herman the "QB Whisperer" could do with his talents...

Coachspeak. From my understanding Gilbert wasn't a believer in Heard at QB or he wouldn't have made the transition. He was given a shot and  it didn't take. The staff asked him to move to WR and he was receptive. 

And for the record, Gilbert/Baylor's offensive system is a lot simpler than what Herman/Beck are trying to install. 

 

[NLeininger]

I can't get past the first portion of this. A freshmen is still a freshmen and there is still a learning curve no matter when they enroll. I feel like folks have become way too impatient with the development process. I'd be more inclined to agree if we were talking about Shane in year three instead after week one of year two. 

Then explain how Shane's best at Texas was his 1st start, and why he got progressively worse.

That screen cap of the 1st offensive play tells the story. Shane either doesn't recognize the coverage or doesn't see is WR. At the point that pic is taken, if the ball is out on it's way to Johnson, I think, that has a chance to be a huge gain. The DB is still back pedaling as is the weak side LB. I can't see the safety on the weak side of the play, I but I believe he had already started floating to the strong side of the play. If Johnson catches the ball just out of his break, he breaks one tackle, it's a huge gain.

I have a simple question, what elite qualities has Shane shown that leads to believe he can lead this team to 10+ wins in a season?

I'm not even ready to call Heard a decent passer. Using his wheels could be helpful in theory, but what happens when teams start crowding the box, spying him,  and make him have to make the throws that are required? 

You hope he can complete at least 55% of his passes with an AY/A of 8+, the same thing Herman got from Miller in his 1st season. 

 

[Daniel Seahorn]

Then explain how Shane's best at Texas was his 1st start, and why he got progressively worse.

That screen cap of the 1st offensive play tells the story. Shane either doesn't recognize the coverage or doesn't see is WR. At the point that pic is taken, if the ball is out on it's way to Johnson, I think, that has a chance to be a huge gain. The DB is still back pedaling as is the weak side LB. I can't see the safety on the weak side of the play, I but I believe he had already started floating to the strong side of the play. If Johnson catches the ball just out of his break, he breaks one tackle, it's a huge gain.

I have a simple question, what elite qualities has Shane shown that leads to believe he can lead this team to 10+ wins in a season?

You hope he can complete at least 55% of his passes with an AY/A of 8+, the same thing Herman got from Miller in his 1st season. 

I don't know how to explain it, but they didn't exactly have film on him going into that game, and as we learned ND wasn't great. He was dinged early often and he played hurt so it could explain some things, but not all. 

I didn't think Buechele the recruit had any elite qualities, so he probably hasn't developed any over the course of a year. He was always a high floor, but lower ceiling type of player because wasn't as "toolsy" as the elite guys. No QB on the roster is leading this team to 10 wins unless we stark improvement across the roster. 

If this staff saw Braxton Miller or Greg Ward in Heard he'd probably be playing right now. I don't see that kind of production getting squeezed out of Heard. 

 

[NLeininger]

I don't know how to explain it, but they didn't exactly have film on him going into that game, and as we learned ND wasn't great. He was dinged early often and he played hurt so it could explain some things, but not all. 

I didn't think Buechele the recruit had any elite qualities, so he probably hasn't developed any over the course of a year. He was always a high floor, but lower ceiling type of player because wasn't as "toolsy" as the elite guys. No QB on the roster is leading this team to 10 wins unless we stark improvement across the roster. 

If this staff saw Braxton Miller or Greg Ward in Heard he'd probably be playing right now. I don't see that kind of production getting squeezed out of Heard. 

Fair points, thanks. Could Buechele get better, absolutely. Should he be the automatic starter, absolutely not.

 

[Ryan Bridges]

While you guys are arguing about 10 wins and championship-caliber QB play, the coaches and players are trying to figure out how to rebound from losing to a mediocre team they were picked to beat by three scores.

Buechele is the QB because he's accurate, experienced (relative to the competition), mostly poised and can generally execute the passing concepts, as we saw in the spring game and more often than critics care to admit during actual games. Personally, I think Ehlinger can come close to matching his poise and a little less close to matching his accuracy, but he can't match his experience or, if the spring game is any indication, his ability to execute the passing game. That may have changed since April, but none of us know.

Heard can't match Buechele in any of those areas. He's a much better runner. How well do you expect him to run when there's no threat through the air and his offensive line is getting pushed around? You might start by watching the 2015 Iowa State game.

There are a lot of problems to fix. It's easy to start by blaming the QB because most people watch the ball, and he's usually got the ball. Getting the offensive line to give a damn, teaching the backs to identify holes, or injecting some creativity into the playcalling would do much, much more for the offensive production of this team than taking the passer off the field for a wide receiver playing running back.

 

[Daniel Seahorn]

Fair points, thanks. Could Buechele get better, absolutely. Should he be the automatic starter, absolutely not.

Fair enough. 

 

[NLeininger]

Taking anything from the 2015 season as it pertains the performance of Heard at QB is hard given that the bad OC was fired after 1 game, and the rest of the staff had no clear offensive strategy. Heard may be horrible at the position, but I'm not basing it off anything I saw that season given the visible staff infighting.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

While you guys are arguing about 10 wins and championship-caliber QB play, the coaches and players are trying to figure out how to rebound from losing to a mediocre team they were picked to beat by three scores.

Buechele is the QB because he's accurate, experienced (relative to the competition), mostly poised and can generally execute the passing concepts, as we saw in the spring game and more often than critics care to admit during actual games. Personally, I think Ehlinger can come close to matching his poise and a little less close to matching his accuracy, but he can't match his experience or, if the spring game is any indication, his ability to execute the passing game. That may have changed since April, but none of us know.

Heard can't match Buechele in any of those areas. He's a much better runner. How well do you expect him to run when there's no threat through the air and his offensive line is getting pushed around? You might start by watching the 2015 Iowa State game.

There are a lot of problems to fix. It's easy to start by blaming the QB because most people watch the ball, and he's usually got the ball. Getting the offensive line to give a damn, teaching the backs to identify holes, or injecting some creativity into the playcalling would do much, much more for the offensive production of this team than taking the passer off the field for a wide receiver playing running back.

There you go "cherry-picking". The experts have told me that you can't base anything off one game 

 

[DBut82]

I don't know how to explain it, but they didn't exactly have film on him going into that game, and as we learned ND wasn't great. He was dinged early often and he played hurt so it could explain some things, but not all. 

I didn't think Buechele the recruit had any elite qualities, so he probably hasn't developed any over the course of a year. He was always a high floor, but lower ceiling type of player because wasn't as "toolsy" as the elite guys. No QB on the roster is leading this team to 10 wins unless we stark improvement across the roster. 

If this staff saw Braxton Miller or Greg Ward in Heard he'd probably be playing right now. I don't see that kind of production getting squeezed out of Heard. 

Daniel, do you believe that the new staff even gave him a look?  I'm asking because I don't think they have.  And they didn't necessarily have a reason to. When this staff arrived, Shane was the returning starter and Sam was the star recruit.  Heard by this point was a converted wr.  I'm sure the staff figured that with the 2 qb's they had and the possibility of grabbing a transfer that there was no reason to even consider moving Heard back to qb.  Now after everything has shaken out and we weren't able to bring in a transfer qb, it makes sense to have Heard as an emergency qb and give him a few snaps here and there...

 

[DBut82]

And I'm not saying bench Shane in favor of Heard or Sam.  I just think every qb on the roster should be given a legit look.  And don't think that's been the case in regards to Heard...

 

[North Texas Golfer]

I don't know how to explain it, but they didn't exactly have film on him going into that game, and as we learned ND wasn't great. He was dinged early often and he played hurt so it could explain some things, but not all. 

I didn't think Buechele the recruit had any elite qualities, so he probably hasn't developed any over the course of a year. He was always a high floor, but lower ceiling type of player because wasn't as "toolsy" as the elite guys. No QB on the roster is leading this team to 10 wins unless we stark improvement across the roster. 

If this staff saw Braxton Miller or Greg Ward in Heard he'd probably be playing right now. I don't see that kind of production getting squeezed out of Heard. 

I'm with you on what it will take to get to 10 wins. 

On offense we've got to see much better play from the RB's and OL. I'm not as concerned with the WR's but I also don't hold them up to be as good as everyone thinks they are  because we simply haven't seen elite play from that position group yet. But I do think that potential is there. 

Defense is probably more concerning to me than offense. After watching Ryan's film reviews and other film reviews, I'm really not sure we have players who can play with any natural instinct. It's only one game but, man, they looked bad. 

 

[RickyFlair]

Our rushing statistics are a little misleading. We only ran the ball 26 times the other 5 "rushing attempts" were sacks. Without the sacks Buechele ran the ball 10 times and I'm sure those were not all designed runs. Porter ran it 8 times for a whole 21 yards (2.6 avg.). Warren ran the ball 6 times for 31 yards (5.1 avg.) he had 3 attempts in the first half and 3 attempts on the first drive of the second half. Heard ran once for 4 yards and Humphrey once for 21 yards. The scouting report leading up to the game stated that Maryland's run defense was awful but they had a good pass rush. We never attempted to establish a running game. The fewest rushing attempts against Maryland last year in a game was 27. 2 teams ran the ball at least 30 times, 6 teams ran the ball at least 40 times, 3 teams ran the ball at least 50 times, and 1 ran it 60 times. The only thing we knew about our offense from last year was we could run the ball. The O-line was basically back and healthy. Foreman of course is gone and he averaged 6.3 yards per carry. The small sample for Warren last year in 4 games he averaged 5.9 yards per carry. In 8 games as a freshman he averaged 6.6 yards per carry. We don't have a TE this year but we haven't had a TE in forever. Mensa or not who goes in to a game knowing their greatest offensive strength is the opponents greatest defensive weakness and doesn't attempt to capitalize? Of course by his own admission Herman doesn't watch our game films from last year. That explains why Porter & Warren were considered even. Does he watch game film of our recruits or just go by and watch them practice? That whole scenario is ludicrous or pompous. Once again on defense one of my favorite excuses is back. The players are taking "bad angles". Most 8 year olds playing city league football take good angles. You see the guy with the ball and you run to the spot where you can meet him. Its not some calculation its an instinct. If your fat and slow you may not get there quick but you still know where you should probably aim. 99% of bad angles are created by bad positioning. Players either move themselves to a bad spot or they are told to go to a spot that ends up being bad. One play on Saturday I watched Malik leave his inside position prior to the snap and line up on the right edge to rush. Pigrome took the snap and ran right where Malik had been. I'm sure someone else was suppose to fill that spot but they probably took the long way to get there.  I watched Locke on an outside blitz from the right side take a path 3 feet to the right of Pigrome. I don't know where he was going but it sure wasn't toward the QB. Maybe Locke couldn't see him, maybe he was scared he might run in to him, or maybe he was told to blitz to an area that would force him back inside or keep him off the corner (which is what I suspect). Whatever the reason for the trajectory it was ill advised and did nothing to disrupt the play. If Locke took that angle because he thought it was the correct path to the QB all the coaching in the world won't help. As a matter of fact he needs someone to walk with him wherever he goes to make sure he isn't run over.  I find it so ironic that our coaches favorite catch phrase is "we cant get out of our own way" because obviously we never get in the opponents way. I apologize for being sooo negative but this is getting ridiculous. Coaches come in saying "I'm going fix this, I'm going to fix that, I'm going to make sure this never happens again" and the then after the game its "the players didn't do this, the players didn't do that, they need to remember this feeling" blah, blah, blah. I get it! the players are the ones that play the games. I just wish one time our coaches would take the Gundy approach "I'm a man, I'm 40 years old..." Whether its true or not just say "We (coaches) did not have a good plan, we didn't have these guys ready,"

 

[JMagana]

I like the idea of a package for Heard but nothing more than that, they will stack the box and dare him to throw.

Herman obviously doesn't think Sam is ready and regardless... If you don't fix the line and establish a running game your going to have two hurt QBs. 

USC, Oklahoma, TCU, WV, and a couple others have better defensive fronts than Maryland.

How many games has Shane cost Texas, actually cost Texas the game? One... Two... As a true freshman? He wasn't the problem Saturday and he wasn't the problem last year. Coaching, discipline, and defense  were the culprit these last two years (o-line and running game Saturday took. 

I remember Colt didn't exactly light the earth in fire as a red-shirt freshman. Texas won 10 games but it wasn't entirely because of a him, Texas had great special teams, defense, o-line and a running game. Very few QBs can have success without those components.

 

[Daniel Seahorn]

Daniel, do you believe that the new staff even gave him a look?  I'm asking because I don't think they have.  And they didn't necessarily have a reason to. When this staff arrived, Shane was the returning starter and Sam was the star recruit.  Heard by this point was a converted wr.  I'm sure the staff figured that with the 2 qb's they had and the possibility of grabbing a transfer that there was no reason to even consider moving Heard back to qb.  Now after everything has shaken out and we weren't able to bring in a transfer qb, it makes sense to have Heard as an emergency qb and give him a few snaps here and there...

As far as I know he's been working at WR full time from the moment the new staff arrived. Like you said they had a returning starter in Shane and Ehlinger arriving in January, so they never went that route. He's probably getting more reps now than he has since 2015, but is still viewed as the emergency guy. 

 

[TXHorns99]

I dont think Shane has been the same passer since he got the hell knocked out of him against Cal last year.  Against ND, his throws were on time & on the money, the start of the Cal game same thing.  After that hit, he was never the same passer.  He was probably all healed up & ready to go for the Maryland game, but taking the shot the 1st play didn't do him any favors, in fact, could've been when the shoulder injury occurred.  Makes me wonder if he played the rest of the game injured & that's why his timing was off & his throws were errant.  Hopefully he will be healed up for this week, because I think he's the best option at this point.  Hook 'em!

 

[Harrison Wier]

As Daniel stated, if Heard was truly that great of a quarterback, he would be starting right now. No question about it. But he's not because in reality, he's really not a great QB.

 

[NLeininger]

As Daniel stated, if Heard was truly that great of a quarterback, he would be starting right now. No question about it. But he's not because in reality, he's really not a great QB.

and neither is the guy we got starting now.