For ND's offense to be at it's best with Book...
They have to use him as they did in the series of plays from the 11-minute mark to the 7:58 mark in the 3Q.
Book is not a pocket passer. He's proven he's not and I don't know why Kelly keeps trying to force him to be one.
It's much like what the Pro's did with Michael Vick. Book has proven at his best when he can scramble around, throw on the run or pick up 4 to 12 yards with his feet. He's never going to be a pure dropback, pocket passer. Stop trying to force it and just let the kid be what he is. He'll never be a pocket guy and he doesn't have the confidence to do so either (see happy feet).
Year 1, 2018, this is how they called the offense for him - to his strengths and the offense was very productive. Scored a lot of points.
Year 2, 2019, forced him to be a pocket passer and supressed his instincts until late year he just said screw it (I believe it was the VT game).
Year 3, 2020, looks more like 2019 than 2018. Kelly needs to quit trying to force him into Kelly's offense and play with what he is which is not a dropback passer.
It will be hard to win the games we need to if this offense drifts back to slow-paced and only averages roughly 24-28 pts per game. You need to be in the mid to high 30s to have continued success in CFP, IMO.
Replies to: For ND's offense to be at it's best with Book...
Needs a true #1 WR
As of now, it didn't look like we have a true, #1 WR, who is our "go-to" guy.
Back in 2018, Miles Boykin stepped up and did a fine job as a true #1.
In 2019, Chase Claypool seized the mantle, and did an excellent job as the #1 WR.
We were all banking on Kevin Austin, Braden Lenzy, or Lawrence Keys to take that role, or maybe even Javon McKinley, but nobody was able to claim that role right out of the gate. Losing Ben Skowronek early on in the game to yet another injury didn't help either.
Now, someone will probably surprise me in this coming week, in which case I will be more than happy to eat my own words, with plenty of hot sauce.
Joe Wilkins was a pleasant, unexpected surprise. Big kid.
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He's going to need our receivers to get separation from DBs on a consistent basis. I didn't see
much of that Saturday. I also didn't see any WRs doing an effective scramble drill on those time where Book was flushed out of the pocket.
This has been an ongoing problem for ND receivers. Claypoole covered for that some last year
Getting our 2 best receivers back and healthy may help but honestly I have been very unimpressed with almost everything about the Irish passing attack against good defenses. Coaching of the receivers, play design, Book failure to see the receivers who do get open? I don’t know the answer
I agree with this. It's shocking how many times we run the same routes and the inability to get open
I have no idea why we have a problem with this and no other team in the country does.
Agree, though he also needs to be a threat to throw it downfield or elite teams will eat him up
....We are going to see every team stack the line and dare Rees to beat them.
He has to throw it down field, and he has to get way, way more accurate. Perhaps rolling him out will help, but that negates some of the OL advantage that we have. Nonetheless, I agree.
We have zero OL advantage. They've been subpar for a while. Yes, he does need to throw it deep, his
accuracy is bad deep. But by the same token you actually have to call a deep ball a fair amount too and we do not. I think I recall 1 called deep ball Saturday. And before Chip Long we rarely called it. Brian Kelly runs more of what seems like a West Coast offense than a spread.
Right now the OL is the only good part of the passing game and even there maybe some regression
I’m sure they will improve as the season goes on, but Book had a really bad first half. He looked nervous which, with his experience, should not happen.
It looks to me that the nervousness stems from doing something he's not comfortable with and that is
100% forced to stay in the pocket. The spread was designed for guys like Book. We say we run the spread but we don't at all, or maybe just occasionally.
Re: For ND's offense to be at it's best with Book...
Said the same thing to my buddy while watching. At least roll him out...he just doesn't see the field that will from the pocket anyway. Very frustrating.
Yep. Not sure why Kelly / Rees are trying to force a square peg in a round hole.
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