[doug]

Josh has limitations - he is very inaccurate on short throws, he throws a wobbly ball that can be difficult to catch, he locks onto his receivers and telegraphs where he is going even to the point of throwing to a receiver who is double covered. But I am beginning to think Shaw is a very big part of Josh's struggles. Shaw forces JN to play in handcuffs, especially early in games. The result is that JN plays with little confidence. He correctly interprets Shaw's priority as "don't make a mistake" and that failing to make plays will be forgiven but not mistakes. JN plays much better when we have to pass, as in Arizona game. He gets into a bit of a rhythm and looks much better.

I really, really dislike Shaw's conservative, don't go for it, don't make mistakes and "play not to lose" approach. This is now 2 games out of 6 in which the offense hasn't scored a TD. This team is strong and tough but boring to watch. Shaw's approach is going to result in crowds of ~20-25,000 soon if this doesn't change.

Another Shaw gripe: he makes the worst use of timeouts I have ever seen. We wasted 2 of our 3 TOs in the 1st half (one to avoid yet another drive-killing delay of game penalties), then had all 3 TOs in his pocket in the 2nd half. As ND was driving at the end of the 4th quarter, I was shouting at the TV "why aren't we calling TOs" to preserve some clock at the end of regulation, but no, Shaw was playing for OT. That is almost always a mistake when you are on the road, and it was again today.

Don't even get me started on the play-calling in OT.

[doug]

Josh has limitations - he is very inaccurate on short throws, he throws a wobbly ball that can be difficult to catch, he locks onto his receivers and telegraphs where he is going even to the point of throwing to a receiver who is double covered. But I am beginning to think Shaw is a very big part of Josh's struggles. Shaw forces JN to play in handcuffs, especially early in games. The result is that JN plays with little confidence. He correctly interprets Shaw's priority as "don't make a mistake" and that failing to make plays will be forgiven but not mistakes. JN plays much better when we have to pass, as in Arizona game. He gets into a bit of a rhythm and looks much better.

I really, really dislike Shaw's conservative, don't go for it, don't make mistakes and "play not to lose" approach. This is now 2 games out of 6 in which the offense hasn't scored a TD. This team is strong and tough but boring to watch. Shaw's approach is going to result in crowds of ~20-25,000 soon if this doesn't change.

Another Shaw gripe: he makes the worst use of timeouts I have ever seen. We wasted 2 of our 3 TOs in the 1st half (one to avoid yet another drive-killing delay of game penalties), then had all 3 TOs in his pocket in the 2nd half. As ND was driving at the end of the 4th quarter, I was shouting at the TV "why aren't we calling TOs" to preserve some clock at the end of regulation, but no, Shaw was playing for OT. That is almost always a mistake when you are on the road, and it was again today.

Don't even get me started on the play-calling in OT.