There has been a lot of discussion on our passing game, what's wrong/right with it, etc.
Any criticisms are usually met, at least once, with it being pointed out that UF/Tebow are #1 in passing efficiency, and therefore we can't be doing all that badly. I don't know if it's down to Tebow's "look once, twice - run" mentality, Meyer's obsession with ball security, or what, but I believe that the pass efficiency rating is, at least partially, a byproduct of perhaps being too careful with the ball. That sounds like a silly concept, but consider the following: When did our offense really seem to find it's feet last year? Most point to the second half of the Arky game. And a great deal of that spark came from the long runs from Demps and Rainey, I know, but those may have been influenced to some degree by the Hogs' defenders having to concern themselves with a bolder Tebow. Bolder how? I suggest that throwing the pick that he did in the first half, which ended a long string of attempts without one, may have "freed" Tim to take more chances passing the ball. >From what I've observed, this season Tim rarely passes the ball on timing routes - he seems to need to see separation first, before he'll pass. When he doesn't, and pulls the ball down and runs, there is no chance for an INT, and the pass efficiency rating doesn't suffer, but as a result we may miss out on some big plays for the sake of staying out of bad ones. Again, that may be (and has been) ascribed to a number of reasons, from a lack of confidence/coordination with the receivers, lingering effects from his concussion, or just a conservative nature inherent to Tim or instilled in him by the coaches. I'm not saying that any of our team is playing for stats at the expense of production, I just feel that the sometimes ultra-conservative way we've seen the passing game implemented may be as big of a factor in achieving that one particular statistic, and as such it may not be the best way to judge how effective our passing game has been up to this point in time. I hope that by Sunday morning we'll all feel better about how we're passing the ball, and this post will look foolish in hindsight (ducking!). --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
