Nebraska notices Gopher tight ends

swingman

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from Steven M. Sipple@HuskerExtraSip:

Nebraska defensive star Darrion Daniels is asked about Minnesota's talented group of RBs and immediately steers conversation in a different direction.

"They have some big tight ends. That'll be something different for us (to defend)."

I notice Gophers with a lot of two tight end sets and even some three tight end sets, I believe. Thought Paulson and Kieft were noticeably better in run blocking. Used SpannFord for first time with great success. Witham gets some run as well. Run game has missed Beebe. TE as passing option seems like good option as opponents have to fear and respect the crossing slants from the WRs.
 

Wow. Saw that thread title and thought they were talking about our national champion dance team.
 



I wish we'd throw to the TEs more often.

Fleck mentioned on Sunday that he'd like to get better at having pass catching RB's. Passing to the TE just isn't going to be option A with the studs at WR and RB we have. Spann-Ford is really the only option to throw to out of the group and the other teams know that.
 





Why are people in general so in love with the idea of throwing the ball to the tight ends?

The subject comes up over and over, and seems (to me at least) to be brought up by quite a few posters. Vikings fans talk about it, too.

What's the fascination? I have nothing against throwing to the tight ends, but overall I don't care who catches the passes... as long as the passing game is effective.
 
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Why are people in general so in love with the idea of throwing the ball to the tight ends?

The subject comes up over and over, and seems (to me at least) to be brought up by quite a few posters. Vikings fans talk about it, too.

What's the fascination? I have nothing against throwing to the tight ends, but I don't care who catches it... as long as the passing game is effective.

Because when it works the TE usually dramatically outmatches the DB in size and typically we only notice it when the TE is wide open.....so I think it seems like it is really effective...but generally we don't notice when it doesn't work.
 

Why are people in general so in love with the idea of throwing the ball to the tight ends?

The subject comes up over and over, and seems (to me at least) to be brought up by quite a few posters. Vikings fans talk about it, too.

What's the fascination? I have nothing against throwing to the tight ends, but overall I don't care who catches the passes... as long as the passing game is effective.

Throwing to the tight ends gives the defense one more facet to have to defend. You will usually get a mismatch in size and speed with a linebacker or undersized defensive back. Imagine all the talent we have and adding in the wrinkle of a Max Williams having to be defended as well.

Rodney Smith, Tyler Johnson, Rishard Bateman, Chris Autman Bell and now you have to focus on a play making TE as well. Wow
 

Throwing to the tight ends gives the defense one more facet to have to defend. You will usually get a mismatch in size and speed with a linebacker or undersized defensive back. Imagine all the talent we have and adding in the wrinkle of a Max Williams having to be defended as well.

Rodney Smith, Tyler Johnson, Rishard Bateman, Chris Autman Bell and now you have to focus on a play making TE as well. Wow

Not to mention, a big tight end with good hands can really help you finish in tight spaces
 

Because when it works the TE usually dramatically outmatches the DB in size and typically we only notice it when the TE is wide open.....so I think it seems like it is really effective...but generally we don't notice when it doesn't work.

There are so many jokes available for this one I’m...speechless.
 




I guess I just like to see Gopher touchdowns; don't have any preference as to who scores them. Don't care which position they play.

Back in '98, when the Vikings had "Three Deep" with Moss, Carter and Reed, I remember listening to the Vikings postgame call-in show after a Viking blowout win. The Purple had just finished scoring some insane number of points against a beleaguered defense.

The very first caller asked: "Why don't they throw to the tight end near the goal line?"
 

I'm kind of with RememberMurray, I don't care who scores the touchdown.

For our current team, if we are able to run the ball well, I feel really confident that our receivers will beat their DBs, so, in most cases, I'd rather just keep the TE to block. Let's give Bateman another second to get open.

Obviously, it's nice to have it as a weapon on some plays, but I like PJ/Ciarocca's approach to protection.
 

Why are people in general so in love with the idea of throwing the ball to the tight ends?

The subject comes up over and over, and seems (to me at least) to be brought up by quite a few posters. Vikings fans talk about it, too.

What's the fascination? I have nothing against throwing to the tight ends, but overall I don't care who catches the passes... as long as the passing game is effective.

I think a big part of it comes from the past success we have had throwing to the TE with guys like Maxx Williams and Matt Spaeth among others. So some are in love with the idea of it.

I am all for incorporating the TE into the passing game as well but if we have to chose between throwing a ball to one of our RB or WR vs. throwing it to a TE I would much rather see it in the hands of the RB/WR all day.

The main key is throwing to the TE enough that defenses have to respect that you might do it. Helps open things up for the other guys. That TD pass to BSF will get the attention of Defensive Coordinators because that is something we hadn't really shown before.
 

Why are people in general so in love with the idea of throwing the ball to the tight ends?

The subject comes up over and over, and seems (to me at least) to be brought up by quite a few posters. Vikings fans talk about it, too.

What's the fascination? I have nothing against throwing to the tight ends, but overall I don't care who catches the passes... as long as the passing game is effective.

It is a generally accepted part of modern football strategy.

A tight end, by definition, is close to the OL, so he is a blocking threat (mainly to ends and LBs), but he can also fire out and run a pass-catching route.

That duel role potential makes defensive scheming more difficult.



Defensive coaches love it when you're simple and one-dimensional. Makes their job easy. Then it's just a matter of which player is going to execute better.

Not that such a thing is an invalid philosophy. Indy Colts did this with Peyton Manning for years. Their OCoord was famous for rarely shifting.
 

It is a generally accepted part of modern football strategy.

A tight end, by definition, is close to the OL, so he is a blocking threat (mainly to ends and LBs), but he can also fire out and run a pass-catching route.

That duel role potential makes defensive scheming more difficult.



Defensive coaches love it when you're simple and one-dimensional. Makes their job easy. Then it's just a matter of which player is going to execute better.

Not that such a thing is an invalid philosophy. Indy Colts did this with Peyton Manning for years. Their OCoord was famous for rarely shifting.

I don't think throwing or not throwing to the TE makes a team one dimensional. Our offense under Kill was one dimensional, we could run....the forward pass was a mystery we just couldn't solve.

Regardless of whether we incorporate the TE into the passing game right now or not our offense if 100% not one dimensional as we can hurt teams on the ground and through the air.
 

I don't think throwing or not throwing to the TE makes a team one dimensional. Our offense under Kill was one dimensional, we could run....the forward pass was a mystery we just couldn't solve.

Regardless of whether we incorporate the TE into the passing game right now or not our offense if 100% not one dimensional as we can hurt teams on the ground and through the air.

You are correct. Apologize for my poor wording ... I actually meant to be talking in general, not implying that not throwing the ball to the TE, or not even having them go out on routes, makes you one-dimensional.


So, not one-dimensional, but it does make it simpler. Will it matter, at the end of the day, if we can run the ball well and throw it well to our talented WR? No, it may not matter at all.
 

Good, keep it that way.

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Why are people in general so in love with the idea of throwing the ball to the tight ends?

The subject comes up over and over, and seems (to me at least) to be brought up by quite a few posters. Vikings fans talk about it, too.

What's the fascination? I have nothing against throwing to the tight ends, but overall I don't care who catches the passes... as long as the passing game is effective.

I'd like to see us throw it to Spann-Ford more because he is an extremely talented pass catcher and very good at high pointing the ball.

However I have zero problem with not using Paulsen, Keift and Witham as pass catchers who are not the most fluid pass catchers or best athletes in space. When we have thrown it to those 3 in the past, it just feels like it takes a great effort to catch the ball and then turn upfield and slowly lumber for a few more yards before the defense catches up. I wouldn't say any of them are mismatch because they aren't fast enough to be.
 

I'd like to see us throw it to Spann-Ford more because he is an extremely talented pass catcher and very good at high pointing the ball.

However I have zero problem with not using Paulsen, Keift and Witham as pass catchers who are not the most fluid pass catchers or best athletes in space. When we have thrown it to those 3 in the past, it just feels like it takes a great effort to catch the ball and then turn upfield and slowly lumber for a few more yards before the defense catches up. I wouldn't say any of them are mismatch because they aren't fast enough to be.

When BSF gets good enough at both run-blocking and pass-blocking, he will be a massive, featured weapon in the Gophers passing attack.

I am pretty certain that Fleck and KC are planning for that day. Not sure if that day will occur this season, or if they're even willing to sacrifice the blocking abilities of Paulsen & co. just to get BSF some more targets, this season. Not when we have great RBs and great WRs.


But I do get excited by the idea of a base 11-personnel offense that has Bateman, CAB, Douglas or another high level WR, and BSF all on the field to run routes.
 

From Fleck presser:

I thought the tight ends were the unsung heroes of the offense, Ko Kieft and Jake played their best game up to today. I thought they deserved more credit than they got.
 

Using the TE in the passing game can be a change-up for the defense. Our our scheme doesn't really feature the TE and all but Spann-Ford seem to be in their primarily for blocking purposes (although I think the other guys can catch the ball as well as block). So, what does that make Spann-Ford? I suppose he can at least be an effective decoy because his presence on the field would seem to indicate "pass," but the Gophers' RPO would give Morgan the ability to read if, and how, the defense has adjusted to Spann-Ford and make the adjustments.

When Maxx Williams was with the Gophers in the Kill/Limegrover offense, he was by far the best receiver on the field for the team, so more TE plays were drawn up. It's different in the Fleck/Ciarocca system and our WR corps is stronger. Fleck has clearly placed a premium on recruiting WRs to fit what he wants to do. All that said, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a few more throws to the TE over the remainder of the season to give opposing defenses another wrinkle to consider.
 




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