It is becoming increasingly clear to me that Braxton could run the ball every single play, and there wouldn't be a damn thing that they opposing defense could do about it. But, watching the game this last weekend it is also becoming clear to me that this is not how he wants to play. He doesn't want to be Denard 2.0 (thank God). He is almost begging his teammates to get involved.
Where, at the beginning of the year, it seemed like he would almost never hand the ball to Hyde on his reads, now it seems he gives more that he keeps. If he's scrambling outside of the pocket and has a receiver in front of him, he'll most likely throw the ball, even if running it himself with the receiver blocking might be the bigger play.
These are not knocks on him. I love that he seems to be one of the most unselfish guys in the game, especially with the amount of athleticism and talent that he has.
His transformation this year into a leader has been a blast to watch, as much if not more so than his absolutely ridiculous highlight reel moves. I can't wait to see him play Wisconsin and Michigan. I can't wait to see him explode on the national scene next year!
Go Bucks!
One of the biggest things that he is doing now that he did not before is that he is willing to hand off the ball on Zone Reads more, and on Speed Options he is pitching the ball more when he should.
"if irony were made of strawberries, we' d all be drinking a lot of smoothies right now."
Urban said something along the lines of "we could gain 8 yards a play if we wanted to, but we don't want to expose *that* guy to so many hits" during his call in show last week.
I agree but I do hope to see 3-4 of those spectacular runs of his per game. His passing game looks like its getting better too as long the receivers dont drop alot of them anymore
O H I O is the Buckeye State
braxtons reads last week were the best I've seen all year made our offense look awesome
He is definitely starting to grasp the offense better, I still think he has a long way to go with the playbook being even more diverse and utilizing all weapons (Brax, RBs, WRs, TEs).
Still, it has been fun to watch and I think you can see when Braxton gets it, the offense clicks. Early in the year we were winning games simply because of Braxton's athletic ability. The last few games, I think we are starting to see the system work because he is grasping it better.
Very happy with his decision making of late. If Stoneburner, among others, can hold onto the ball Miller would look like a much better passer than his current numbers indicate. Those drops by Stoney made me wanna puke among other things. One can be marked up as jitters but two in the same series?
It's nice to know that if all else fails against tough competition (eg Michigan) and we need some offense, we can make it one-dimensional again. But until its necessary, I agree... get everyone else involved!
A huge part of it is trusting in Hyde now. If you remember Hall's first game, Hall was getting the ball even when he shouldn't, and Braxton or someone else on the team admitted that it was nice having Hall back there because he had built up the trust with him in the pre-season. Now Hyde deserves the trust too, so he is getting more carries. (and better reads)