I keep going back and forth in my own mind on whether UFM should be running JT as much as he has been. 

My first concern is the obvious one:  Should we really be putting JT at risk so often?  After all, he is one of the biggest reasons the offense has been so explosive so far this season.  Probably the player we could least afford to lose offensively (with fellow captain, Pat Elflein, also in the running).

But then when I think about it a little more, I believe I understand what UFM is trying to do.  As most 11Wers are aware, the read option is a fundamental part of our offense.  Sure - there are teams we could probably beat without running it at all - but when push comes to shove in the big games, we're going to run it - a lot. 

But like every other kind of play - you can't necessarily just turn it off and turn it back on again.  This may be especially the case with the read option - as the way the QB  and the running back handle the mesh point is a finely tuned skill. 

I'm thinking UFM doesn't believe we can abandon it for a while and then just dial it back up later whenever we feel like it.  Remember that fumble at the mesh point in the Tulsa game?

Incidentally, this is also one of the concerns I have when we become unbalanced offensively as far as our run to pass ratio is concerned.  It's hard to just dial up a passing attack whenever you feel like, too.

When we run the read option, many defenses are going to try to make sure the "option" we really have to take is the quarterback carrying the ball.  That part of it is really out of our hands as long as we're running that kind of offense. 

So, as much as I hate to see JT taking those hits, I'm afraid it comes with the territory when it comes to running our entire offense successfully.  I suppose that includes the QB keepers that are not off the option as well.  I'm just glad that he's built more solidly than a lot of other elite option quarterbacks -