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Biggest remaining questions with Morris

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I get the impression he almost makes up his mind before the play if he's going to tuck it and run or which receiver he's going to throw to.

As has been said, very robotic.
 
mirvin88 said:
so his biggest question marks are the three most important characteristics of a good QB?

sweet
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It's not as bad as it looks right now. He looked much more comfortable when we were playing from behind against KState. As others have said, he needs to be put in position to push the ball downfield.

I'm nervous for him against GTech's front 7, though. I anticipate they'll press. They're going to send guys and drop guys, simultaneously, and the windows he likes to fit those slant throws are going to have GTech defenders jumping up in front of them like a group of ******* jack in the box toys.
 
Morris just needs to stop being so lackadaisical. It's cool that he has a clam demeanor but sometimes you got to pick up the pace dog.
 
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LuCane said:
Too early for a change, though. Barring a catastrophic mental meltdown or a physical injury, Morris is our QB for this season and likely the next two years. Like everything else on this team and in this program, it's a combination of things. I don't think he has vertical WRs that could help him exp
loit some his best attributes. I don't think Fisch is doing him any huge favors. He's being asked to be Aaron Rodgers (current scheme) when he should be asked to be Joe Flacco (current scheme).
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Ive gotta disagree with that last part. As evidenced by our horizontal passing game the staff clearly isn't asking him to be neither Aaron Rodgers nor Joe Flacco. They don't trust him and it shows.

After the BC game I posted whether or not the lateral passing game then was because of Morris checking down so much or the coaches not trusting him. Now I know. We don't go downfield because he's neither accurate, composed, or smart enough to lead a vertical passing attack.


Hes just not Miami caliber. And he was recruited as such because he was basically a last minute last ditch signing ing.
 
LuCane said:
Same as before the season, which is why I was hesitant to jump on the bandwagon. I think there'll be an overreaction to today's game, but here's what we still need to see from him:

1. Anticipation: this may be the biggest issue. It affects all of the other issues. I haven't yet seen any legitimate signs that he's a "step ahead." This is probably the most apparent in that you'll see he rarely leads WRs and he's struggling (partly due to the playcalls) to place guys in position to run after the catch.

2. Touch: This has something to do with the above, but manifests physically. I'm yet to see legitimate examples of placing the ball BETWEEN defenders instead of by them or just over them. It's great to see zip on the ball from our QB. It's something that is extremely helpful on certain routes. However, without touch + anticipation, we're missing on some crucial areas of the field.

3. Pocket presence: This is still up in the air for me because there's limited evidence. However, this one scares me the most because I feel it's rarely "learned." Part of this may be the type of offense we're running and part of it may be Morris' "inexperience," but most of his throws are timing throws. 1-2-Ball is out. Watch college and NFL football. Some of the biggest and most important plays come from stepping into a pocket or comfortably sliding within the pocket. There were a half dozen examples today where he looked totally uncomfortable. Want a positive example? Maybe our most important play of the day where Morris stepped into the pocket and hit Dorsett on the run to get inside the 10 yard line and set up our first TD. That extra tick and a half makes defenses completely break down and opens up gaping holes for the QB/WR connection.

Concerns:

The combination of Fisch's current style and Morris' question areas make an opponent's aggressive front 7 potentially problematic. I talked a little bit about that after the BC game (re: the "NIX ZONE"), but now I've seen 3 games where Morris provides evidence of the questions above. Next week is a big opportunity to show his stuff.
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It pains me to add one: accuracy.

He is just not very accurate. At all.
 
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LuCane said:
Same as before the season, which is why I was hesitant to jump on the bandwagon. I think there'll be an overreaction to today's game, but here's what we still need to see from him:

1. Anticipation: this may be the biggest issue. It affects all of the other issues. I haven't yet seen any legitimate signs that he's a "step ahead." This is probably the most apparent in that you'll see he rarely leads WRs and he's struggling (partly due to the playcalls) to place guys in position to run after the catch.

2. Touch: This has something to do with the above, but manifests physically. I'm yet to see legitimate examples of placing the ball BETWEEN defenders instead of by them or just over them. It's great to see zip on the ball from our QB. It's something that is extremely helpful on certain routes. However, without touch + anticipation, we're missing on some crucial areas of the field.

3. Pocket presence: This is still up in the air for me because there's limited evidence. However, this one scares me the most because I feel it's rarely "learned." Part of this may be the type of offense we're running and part of it may be Morris' "inexperience," but most of his throws are timing throws. 1-2-Ball is out. Watch college and NFL football. Some of the biggest and most important plays come from stepping into a pocket or comfortably sliding within the pocket. There were a half dozen examples today where he looked totally uncomfortable. Want a positive example? Maybe our most important play of the day where Morris stepped into the pocket and hit Dorsett on the run to get inside the 10 yard line and set up our first TD. That extra tick and a half makes defenses completely break down and opens up gaping holes for the QB/WR connection.

Concerns:

The combination of Fisch's current style and Morris' question areas make an opponent's aggressive front 7 potentially problematic. I talked a little bit about that after the BC game (re: the "NIX ZONE"), but now I've seen 3 games where Morris provides evidence of the questions above. Next week is a big opportunity to show his stuff.
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I somehow feel he was a little bit nervous.
 
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CanEs4life04 said:
My biggest thing with Morris is that he doesn't seem to have a feel for the game at all, he has zero instincts. He's kinda like that pitcher that can throw 100 mph but doesn't know how to set up pitches to get batters out. He's just a 'thrower.' The scary thing is that it seems as though he has gotten worse in this regard over the past few years. His freshman year he just kinda went out there and played when thrown into the fire and he looked okay. Kid needs to play more loosely.
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well said
 
CANE4LIFE said:
Larry said:
His touch on the football is good for a few drops per game from the wideouts...you can't be shooting the ball out of a cannon when the guy is running a 0 route.

Not mentioned, but he makes a few silly throws per game as well.

His happy feet are starting to get very difficult to deal with. He's a junior quarterback and he's got freshman feet.
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Yep, I just mentioned this in another thread. He's a Junior now, and has had enough playing time here that he should be looking better than this. I expected a lot more, more maturity, better pocket presence, better touch. He looks like a Frosh or Soph QB right now. Its not horrible, but he looks like a liability in the downfield passing game and we cant just live on these little quick passes, slants and screens.
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He has like 7 career starts...but he's a pretty battle tested quarterback with a lot of "snaps". He's got a lot of career snaps, worthy of a full season, and he's a junior. The inexperience excuse simply can not be used here. He's essentially had to be "game ready" for a season and a half before this season.
 
Bottom line for me is upstairs. He has the physical tools but its like he spends too much time thinking, rather than just playing. He seems to hesitate a lot and gets flustered easily. I would go as far and say he looks scared at times. To keep it short, I am not sure he has it upstairs. Just seems all mental to me which plays into some of the things that Lu mentioned.
 
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One month later: I still feel the same way. I hope people don't go crazy on his "bad" game. There are way too many overreactions re: Morris. He'll be better next year. I'm not sure he'll ever be the "excellent" QB some expect or that the stats indicate.
 
LuCane said:
One month later: I still feel the same way. I hope people don't go crazy on his "bad" game. There are way too many overreactions re: Morris. He'll be better next year. I'm not sure he'll ever be the "excellent" QB some expect or that the stats indicate.
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His number of "bad" games triples his number of "good" games at this point.
 
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