Guess it depends on how much weight you want to give the snaps Mertz got last year. Certainly fair to say he needs to play better and people are entitled to be as pessimistic as they desire but it's premature to make any real judgments, IMO.
@michiganjoe posted:Guess it depends on how much weight you want to give the snaps Mertz got last year. Certainly fair to say he needs to play better and people are entitled to be as pessimistic as they desire but it's premature to make any real judgments, IMO.
As poorly as he played yesterday (and for many games last season), it's easy to see that his ceiling is higher than any Badger QB in the modern era (Alvarez and after) besides Russell Wilson. When he drops back and throws in rhythm the arm strength is obvious. As soon as he has to move off that first read, his footwork gets sloppy and he has a tendency to make poor decisions.
Mertz looked like a Sophomore. One who didn’t play much last year. He’s not seeing the field. He’s not throwing with authority. He’s not a very good QB right now.
Was very disappointed in the conservative approach by Chryst. I think those out patterns they were getting were there all game. I think short pitch/catch throws to get a rhythm were there too. There wasn’t much effort for 3 Q to get the ball to the WRs. He’s too locked-in on Ferguson… and it’s ruining their balance.
I also think that OL by committee is a bad look. And the performance showed. Their OTs didn’t look very good all game long. Missed blocks, blown assignments.
Defense did their thing, but the secondary continues to be the weakness. You can get deep on them and you can confuse them by attacking the S and creating no-win choices. 5 big long plays in the second half is going to be 10 against OSU. Of course, getting there will be a long road now…
I don't think we have to worry about Mertz declaring for the draft after this year
I go back and forth on Mertz and how he played last week. No he didn't play well at all and he looked frazzled and nervous. The one thing that made me go crazy is his mishandling the ball on hand offs. Your #1 and #1a job as a Badgers Qb is to hand the ball off. But, I will give him a bit of a break because he is a sophomore who hasn't played really that much and PSUs defense looks to be pretty nasty.
With that being said I think 2 things on offense are going haunt this team if they don't get it straightened out and that is the OL looking like it hasn't gelled at all and I am not totally sold on the RB situation.
I am one of those Badgers fans who feels like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football when they are ranked decently high and they are getting attention. Lucy always seems to pull the ball away in those years. Hope I am wrong for this season but there is so much recent history of them crapping the bed when they are supposed to be good.