Make Your Picks: Ragin' Cajuns Football 2016

[ULGrad@HOU]

Out of curiosity, what tells you that the WR's are a strength?

I don't blame the WR's one bit for the lack of a passing attack last year. J1M is right on, the problem was systemic, it was fundamentally a coaching problem along with some pretty big issues on the OL. From what I've seen on the field with these guys, I like. They have speed, are athletic and can catch when the ball is near them. Overall, as a group, I haven't been this positive about the WR's in several years. They can definitely be a strength.

[cajunhawk]

That makes a lot of sense.

[AboveAverage]

7-6

[RaginDave]

7-6

is that 6-6 with a bowl win, or 7-5 with a bowl loss?

[BeauCajun]

7-6

The numbers don't add up. Kind of hard to finish 7-6 when you only have 12 in the regular season.

[RaginDave]

The numbers don't add up. Kind of hard to finish 7-6 when you only have 12 in the regular season.

I assume he is counting a bowl win/loss in the total count.

[zephyr]

I don't blame the WR's one bit for the lack of a passing attack last year. J1M is right on, the problem was systemic, it was fundamentally a coaching problem along with some pretty big issues on the OL. From what I've seen on the field with these guys, I like. They have speed, are athletic and can catch when the ball is near them. Overall, as a group, I haven't been this positive about the WR's in several years. They can definitely be a strength.

You don't have to blame them for anything. The problem is there just isn't a whole lot of production outside of Riles there. There is a lack of big play ability and the ability to stretch a defense. We've also all but done away with the TE option in the passing game as well so defenses have adjusted. There is just no pop to this offense outside of Eli and people know it.

[Just1More]

You don't have to blame them for anything. The problem is there just isn't a whole lot of production outside of Riles there. There is a lack of big play ability and the ability to stretch a defense. We've also all but done away with the TE option in the passing game as well so defenses have adjusted. There is just no pop to this offense outside of Eli and people know it.

Are you basing WR production on last year's results? If you are, that's perfectly ok... but you're being very dismissive of the reasons for the lack of WR productivity. Even to state that Riles was an exception is wrong. He pulled apart from other better receivers last year, because he's a beast when he gets the ball. Our feature receiver was Robinson. And too much was expected of him that he didn't deliver. He's gone. If you actually studied our plays, you'd see that nothing in our passing game plan was worth a ____. We copped out on the only decent passer in the QB stalls. We kept plugging in a QB that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Our OL wasn't the least bit capable of giving a pocket passer, which our blunt headed coach wouldn't support as a read and react passer... because he loves him an athlete only behind center. There wasn't any opportunity to allow our WRs to demonstrate their skills (of the ones we have returning).

And if Eli isn't as utilized as a WR as he is a RB.. then we once again have a coaching failure. If we use these gifted athletes this year, correctly, our strength will be our passing attack. We have the hands and speed to route short, medium and long threats. It's up to our coaching to understand how to bust coverages and get our team ready for the timing that actually happens on Saturday. If you think our coaches weren't pathetic last year... and that we aren't equipped with ample athletes that can catch the ball and fly... you chose to blow off who we recruited and what they can do as athletes... and you only go by stats. I have great news. If our coaches aren't thick as winter molasses this year... you're going to see some skill players rip up some folks. If the coaches go into caveman brain waves this year... you'll think we have suck butt receivers again. It's on the staff.

[CrazyCajun]

Are you basing WR production on last year's results? If you are, that's perfectly ok... but you're being very dismissive of the reasons for the lack of WR productivity. Even to state that Riles was an exception is wrong. He pulled apart from other better receivers last year, because he's a beast when he gets the ball. Our feature receiver was Robinson. And too much was expected of him that he didn't deliver. He's gone. If you actually studied our plays, you'd see that nothing in our passing game plan was worth a ____. We copped out on the only decent passer in the QB stalls. We kept plugging in a QB that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Our OL wasn't the least bit capable of giving a pocket passer, which our blunt headed coach wouldn't support as a read and react passer... because he loves him an athlete only behind center. There wasn't any opportunity to allow our WRs to demonstrate their skills (of the ones we have returning).

And if Eli isn't as utilized as a WR as he is a RB.. then we once again have a coaching failure. If we use these gifted athletes this year, correctly, our strength will be our passing attack. We have the hands and speed to route short, medium and long threats. It's up to our coaching to understand how to bust coverages and get our team ready for the timing that actually happens on Saturday. If you think our coaches weren't pathetic last year... and that we aren't equipped with ample athletes that can catch the ball and fly... you chose to blow off who we recruited and what they can do as athletes... and you only go by stats. I have great news. If our coaches aren't thick as winter molasses this year... you're going to see some skill players rip up some folks. If the coaches go into caveman brain waves this year... you'll think we have suck butt receivers again. It's on the staff.

I'm with you on this, we have talent most positions...we have explosiveness at the WR position...we just need to use them correctly.

[zephyr]

Are you basing WR production on last year's results? If you are, that's perfectly ok... but you're being very dismissive of the reasons for the lack of WR productivity. Even to state that Riles was an exception is wrong. He pulled apart from other better receivers last year, because he's a beast when he gets the ball. Our feature receiver was Robinson. And too much was expected of him that he didn't deliver. He's gone. If you actually studied our plays, you'd see that nothing in our passing game plan was worth a ____. We copped out on the only decent passer in the QB stalls. We kept plugging in a QB that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Our OL wasn't the least bit capable of giving a pocket passer, which our blunt headed coach wouldn't support as a read and react passer... because he loves him an athlete only behind center. There wasn't any opportunity to allow our WRs to demonstrate their skills (of the ones we have returning).

And if Eli isn't as utilized as a WR as he is a RB.. then we once again have a coaching failure. If we use these gifted athletes this year, correctly, our strength will be our passing attack. We have the hands and speed to route short, medium and long threats. It's up to our coaching to understand how to bust coverages and get our team ready for the timing that actually happens on Saturday. If you think our coaches weren't pathetic last year... and that we aren't equipped with ample athletes that can catch the ball and fly... you chose to blow off who we recruited and what they can do as athletes... and you only go by stats. I have great news. If our coaches aren't thick as winter molasses this year... you're going to see some skill players rip up some folks. If the coaches go into caveman brain waves this year... you'll think we have suck butt receivers again. It's on the staff.

Well, sort of. What else is there to base your opinion on besides past performance? I'm looking at last year and recent years and I haven't seen any type of explosiveness or ability to get open. I guess I'll turn the question around to you guys and ask you what tells you we have that much talent at the WR spot? Measurables from a camp? Our sole vertical threat that we are supposed to have, Devin Scott, has been far from a vertical threat as his longest reception that I can remember is around 40 yards or so. Even when in single coverage, our receivers have not shown an ability to win balls and make plays or get behind a defense.

Couple this with a much more spread and balanced offense with no production out of the TE position and I don't have a ton of confidence that they can come close to the explosiveness of the guys we had in Surgent, Peoples, Green and Lawson.

This offense is going to have to be balanced to move the ball this year because we don't have the reliability in the passing game alone and I'm just not seeing it.

As a sidenote, I think that the reason you saw a major shift in our offensive capacity over the last couple of years is because the coaches didn't feel that we had the same type of playmaker as in the past which was why they changed things up and I agree with them. We tried to go over the top a lot at times last year and just couldn't get behind defenses.

[CrazyCajun]

You arent going over the top of any defense if your QB has about 1.3 seconds to throw the ball, run the ball or get smashed. No matter if you have the best WR's in the nation

[zephyr]

You arent going over the top of any defense if your QB has about 1.3 seconds to throw the ball, run the ball or get smashed. No matter if you have the best WR's in the nation

Line was not good. That's not a secret. However, Not every single play was dictated by quarterback pressure or hurries. However, I don't remember any plays where we were successful going over the top. Hell, even the catches we did make in the middle of the field had very little RAC which is where athletes really make their impact.

I mean, truly, how much of our young receivers have you truly seen in games that tells you they are above average athletes for the position?