That true freshman looks a million times better executing the option than our 4th year QB
The lateral to Harris was there
- Thread starter kennyschiano
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That true freshman looks a million times better executing the option than our 4th year QB
Harris wasn't ahead, as the pix show, but even if he was, you can still pitch it - it would've then just been a forward pass as CL was well behind the line of scrimmage.
No different than a shovel pass except it's on an angle. Very safe to run if executed correctly.
Although it's freeze frame, CL actually had two chances to pitch it. Initially and it might have been a foot race to the corner. But once he kept it, the defender committed to the tackle, but CL still had a second chance to pitch it and Harris could have walked in. Unfortunately, he decided to keep it and try to run over the tackler. He just isn't suited for any option style attack and I think Ash & co know it and are just biding their time until someone else steps up. Hard to believe some of these other guys can't throw a little dinky pass on 4th and 2 !
Agree. There definitely was a 2nd chance for CL to make the pitch after he appeared to commit to keeping it himself, thereby drawing the defender to him and making an RU TD pretty much of a stroll-in for Harris had the ball been gotten to him. In fact, that's when that kind of play works best. -Many times I've seen QB's who were highly skilled in timing a pitch look as if they were keeping it, and then at the very last instant, (and I mean, at the very last instant), before the defender gets to him, flip the ball to the trailing back who's then off to the races.
Unfortunately, that sort of precise timing simply doesn't appear to be part of Laviano's skill set, so that's why I chose the opportunity in the first video capture, since that would have been the highest percentage/easiest chance for CL to get the ball to Harris via a successful pitch to then let JH use his speed to get to the pylon.
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From a coaching stand point (having coached the option in the spread heavily at one point).
1. Harris is too close. His pitch relationship is about a yard and a half too close which is one of the reasons laviano probably froze.
2. In frame two when the defenders hips are fully turned away from Laviano he should HAVE RUN. He should have gotten his shoulders square.
3. The defensive player was in no mans land and laviano froze. He made zero decision which is the worst possible things to do in the option.
I have coached running backs for years. When we see the ability to attack half a mans body you do it and laviano had the opportunity and didnt take it. I do not blame him for this. The defensive player realized he was only defender and played it perfectly and we froze.
He has a ton of faults, which you will see me on here complain about, but in my experience I do not have a ton of complaints on him on this play. I had the play calling down in the red zone this series.
1. Harris is too close. His pitch relationship is about a yard and a half too close which is one of the reasons laviano probably froze.
2. In frame two when the defenders hips are fully turned away from Laviano he should HAVE RUN. He should have gotten his shoulders square.
3. The defensive player was in no mans land and laviano froze. He made zero decision which is the worst possible things to do in the option.
I have coached running backs for years. When we see the ability to attack half a mans body you do it and laviano had the opportunity and didnt take it. I do not blame him for this. The defensive player realized he was only defender and played it perfectly and we froze.
He has a ton of faults, which you will see me on here complain about, but in my experience I do not have a ton of complaints on him on this play. I had the play calling down in the red zone this series.
My question is how often do they practice it. To the normal person it looks like an easy decision and play. In reality it Avery difficult read and play for a qb. If Laviono never played in the option then it asking too much of him to make the read and pitch if they only practice a few times during goal line situation. In that case it a horrible call and is all on the coaches. However if they do rep it a lot in practice (doubtful because it not a staple of the offense) then it is a play he should have made.
It is what it is with CL and you have to play accordingly, but not having another qb that can give you the option of running or throwing in those type of situations really hurts. You're asking someone to complete a 5-7 yard pass play ! No matter how simple, there has to be a few plays you can have in the playbook to give yourself a chance. These are qbs that have played the position and should have enough skill to complete a play.
As fans it's hard to watch a game and have someone say, oh that guy isn't very good at doing that, so we're limited. But we are..
Watching Laviano run this offense is akin to trying to run the plays designed for QB Eagles in Tecmo Super Bowl with Jim McMahon. I'm a NYG fan but I feel this classic video game reference best expresses what I'm feeling during the game.
I've said this in a few threads now. My issue is with the coaching staff for asking a kid who can clearly not run the option be the one to run the option in a big spot like that. If that's your call on 4th down it has to be with Odin. Period. Full stop.
I have been extremely critical of Chris the past few weeks. And he did not have a great first half yesterday. However we also have to hold the coaching staff to a standard in which they put the kids in the best position to succeed. He can't run a basic option with no pressure. We've all seen that. So you put him in and ask him to run that play?
Come on. That was on the coaching staff in my opinion. Even though the play was wide the f*ck open.
I have been extremely critical of Chris the past few weeks. And he did not have a great first half yesterday. However we also have to hold the coaching staff to a standard in which they put the kids in the best position to succeed. He can't run a basic option with no pressure. We've all seen that. So you put him in and ask him to run that play?
Come on. That was on the coaching staff in my opinion. Even though the play was wide the f*ck open.
When was the last time he DID have a great first half ?
Honestly, his passes are slow and weak and mostly off-target. His arm-strength is mostly non-existent. He's not much of a runner with the ball or a scrambler. And his decision-making isn't so impressive. I've heard all this endlessly from guys who are not Rutgers fans and can't believe that Laviano is our best option.
Have your friends tell that to Ash and Mehringer , because they keep starting CL and must think Laviano is the best that RU has, right now, at the QB position.
As for me: I wish one of the back-ups would be given more than a couple of plays to show what they can do, but am doubtful if they'll do better .
There's a reason the other QBs aren't starting and it might be time for RU FB fans to realize that.
Hopefully I'm wrong and one of the backups will step-up and prove to be better than CL,
but I won't claim any of the back-ups are better unless one of them proves it and it looks like none of them impressed the coaching staff enough to be given more than a couple of series a game.
Everyone in the stadium and on tv saw it was a play where Chris Laviano had an opportunity to pitch the ball to Harris on the goal line... how about the other 6-7 times where he missed Martin twice...Harris again twice...if ...AND THAT'S A B1G IF ...it's getting to be old news...He is just holding serve until we get a better fit.
I think they know that if two different staffs have stuck with Laviano he must clearly be better than the other qbs on the roster. I said they were surprised that Laviano is the best we've got....not that he isn't the best we've got. How unimpressive must the rest of them be......'cause Laviano is the opposite of impressive.
Try this. Try what one of these guys tried with me. Name another D1A school that Laviamo would be starting for. Good luck with that.
Just going by Pass efficiency CL has 15 D-1A QBs behind him, so that's 15 FBS schools ( he's 106 out of 121) he might be the starter and 3 of them are P-5 programs.
Not a ringing endorsement, but you asked [winking]
Passing yards per game he's ranked #95 .
Laviano isn't the worst it seems, but he needs to do far better or the other QBs need to be given a chance to show they are better playing in the game than they look in practice.
I'm not defending CL, just pointing out the coaches seem to like him better than any of the other QBs on the roster and those constantly bashing him should be knocking the backups as well, because they aren't showing enough to replace him.
This year is just a continuation of the Nova must go, Savage sucks, Dodd not the one and back to and before the Mike Teel days in which knock the QB was a favorite pastime on the RU boards beginning with the #free Chad (Schwenk) movement when Ryan Cupit was named the starter [roll]
I gotta think 106 out of 121 is quite a lot less than a ringing endorsement. It's not the worst, but 20th percentile is pretty poor.
And, MADHAT, you're so right about deifying the backup. While I'm not in that group, but why not take a look...even if might mean throwing away the season? No better time than now when you're still on your honeymoon, coach? I know it's not going to happen, as I said before it looks like the coaching staff is locked into CL come hell or high water. We just gotta hope that Ash and Mehringer can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
BTW -- How many of the anti-Nova would jump for joy to have him over CL?
And, MADHAT, you're so right about deifying the backup. While I'm not in that group, but why not take a look...even if might mean throwing away the season? No better time than now when you're still on your honeymoon, coach? I know it's not going to happen, as I said before it looks like the coaching staff is locked into CL come hell or high water. We just gotta hope that Ash and Mehringer can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
BTW -- How many of the anti-Nova would jump for joy to have him over CL?
The problem is simply this ... Chris Laviano hesitates on plays especially when under stress...he is NOT decisive in his choices ...does not see the obvious in front of him...if he were decisive he would have scored or pitched the ball to Harris...he would have completed passes to Harris and Martin several times...as Grant sees or Martin sees those little openings sadly Chris draws a blank... Tyler Oden will be playing more and more ...
I agree. So we really should have scored twice on the same play. WOW,
14 points and WE WIN ! It wasn't a good play, it was the perfect play !
Just didn't see the big picture.
Somewhat agree. I am not a big fan of CL as a Qb but this was not entirely his fault. He was not put in a situation to succeed on that goal lone stance.
Running an option to the short side of the field to his weak pitch hand is not the easiest of tasks. Probably one of the most difficult things to do as a QB specifically one that doesn't have that skill set.
They would have had better luck running the 4th down play on third and trying to power it in on 4th. The option would have given the defense something more to think about and kept a defender in the flats.
My take, perhaps a little different.....Laviano, knowing he is under heat wanted to be the one that scored. He did not care that Harris had the better opportunity. While obviously I cannot know what is in his mind, I do know his decision making is pretty bad. If we had an average FBS QB we would have won that game. Also the fumble turnover play was a pass that CL should never have made because it was 3rd and long and that was a very short pass to someone who had multiple defenders right on or near him. There was no chance for anything to be gained on that play. It would have been better to toss it out of bounds. And we know what happened next......yes he did not fumble...but that pass should not have been made in the first place....again poor decisions.
Look, I don't really wanna "bash" the guy, but who the hell just goes by passing efficiency ?
Perhaps the 15 other D1A qbs are threats running the ball.
Watch a Rutgers game with someone who isn't a Rutgers diehard and ask them what they think of Laviano. I'm guessing they'll say what I always hear: he doesn't have much of an arm, he isn't much of a runner, and he isn't that great at decision-making. He isn't gonna win any games for RU. And if he's the best qb that Rutgers has.....then Rutgers isn't gonna be very good until they get someone better. And those comments were made when Laviano had Carroo and Grant to get the ball to.
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It doesn't matter in college because both were behind the LOS when the ball should have been pitched. Even is Harris was over the LOS (and Laviano was behind it), it could have only resulted in an illegal man downfield penalty.
As said: "I'm not defending CL, just pointing out the coaches seem to like him better than any of the other QBs on the roster" and this is spot on: "Rutgers isn't gonna be very good until they get someone better."
I'm just pointing out, in my opinion, the RU coaching staff doesn't feel they have anyone ( right now) on the roster that is better and I'd bet only Oden is the back-up they feel can be better .
I'm not going to disagree with this line of thinking. Had the same thought myself following the play. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if this were the case.
Scarlet Haze said: ↑
My take, perhaps a little different.....Laviano, knowing he is under heat wanted to be the one that scored. He did not care that Harris had the better opportunity. .
I won't try to say what a player is thinking just to bash him, will give him the benefit of doubt even if his decision was wrong because I don't know what he was thinking at that moment.
My scenario might be wrong, but it isn't attempting to make someone look like he didn't care about RU scoring unless he was the one that did it.
That's a low blow and very disrespectful to CL even if you feel he shouldn't be playing..
My take, perhaps a little different.....Laviano, knowing he is under heat wanted to be the one that scored. He did not care that Harris had the better opportunity. .
Another theory might be: Laviano knowing he's under heat was worried he might not be able to pitch it to Harris quick enough , worrying about a turnover and decided he had a better chance to score if he took it in.
I won't try to say what a player is thinking just to bash him, will give him the benefit of doubt even if his decision was wrong because I don't know what he was thinking at that moment.
My scenario might be wrong, but it isn't attempting to make someone look like he didn't care about RU scoring unless he was the one that did it.
That's a low blow and very disrespectful to CL even if you feel he shouldn't be playing..
I disagree; he was put in a position to succeed on that play. All he had to do with execute the pitch. The play design created a 2 on 1 and he ran right into the defender.
Nobody said he didn't "care about RU scoring." Those are your words. That being said he earned and deserves the criticism. It's not a "low blow" nor "disrespectful." Some of you guys treat him like he's an 18-year old true frosh. Well, guess what, he's not. He's a 4th year Junior and 2nd year starter WITH an attitude so the criticism is going to get heaped on by fans. It's a part of BIG-TIME college football MAD. Bottom line.
And just what does :".Laviano, knowing he is under heat wanted to be the one that scored. He did not care that Harris had the better opportunity. "
What that means is he only cared about him scoring the TD himself and not RU making the TD if Harris was the one.
That's cheap shot that isn't about big time college football but only a petty bash on a player that isn't playing well and just about every RU fan wants replaced.
Not trying to treat him with kid gloves, but not accepting BS to make his mistake look worse and make CL out to be only for himself.
That keeping the ball knowing Harris had a better chance to score doesn't sound like the team player that has the respect of his teammates that CL is supposed to be according to some articles posted on this site.
It sounds more like a disgruntled fan making up stories about him and that's not right..
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So you think running an option play to the short side of the field with a non option qb is putting a person in a position to succeed? I won't even mention the fact that it was his weak hand. I guess our definition is different.
He is not a mobile qb and does not make great decisions when he has time much less when he is on the run with limited time.
I think 3 handoffs or a roll out pass/run option would have been putting him in a position to succeed.
Take one look at photos Brodo posted. Play succeeds if he pitches. Picture is clear.
I agree the pitch was there. The pitch should have been made. CL obviously does not have the skill set to make that pitch.
CL was not put in a position to succeed.
Short side of the field option read to the weak hand pitch (left hand) side is not an easy play for the better option qb's out there much less someone who does not have that skill set.
If the pitch was there a TD would have resulted, I certainly would call a play designed for success.
