[msqueri]

* One of the most insightful parts came on the question about Ayomanor and Reuben's mid-ball flight adjustments on deep catches. For one, you could really get a sense of Taylor's view of these WRs, which is to say tantalized but unsatisfied. He noted that moments like that are what really gets excited about them - implying pretty strongly that in other moments they aren't always showing up, which he made somewhat explicit by saying that "for a moment they'll make those plays where they're playing in a flow state, they're not thinking, they're just reacting." He then went right out and said that sometimes with those two they're thinking too much and that we all know that when we're thinking too much we're not that great at what we do. As I said, Taylor seems to see some ability in these guys but is not satisfied. Sounds like he shares my assessment that, outside of the three big plays these two had against Sacramento State, our WRs have not shown up yet. This is why in my Sunday thoughts I highlighted the big plays for Ayomanor and Reuben as by far the most positive development from Saturday. If these two can play more confidently, in a flow state as Taylor says, that opens up the offense much more than we've seen. And we should bear in mind that Ayomanor was an oft-injured, untested recruit who burst on the scene due to his size/speed combo and camps while Reuben is a former soccer player who is only in his fourth year or so playing football. Maybe some upside here.

* Another thing that was so interesting about Taylor's answer on that question was the props Taylor gave to Daniels for under-throwing the touchdown to Ayomanor. I think to most of us that looked like a hot air balloon - and to be real, it was and Taylor may be overly complimentary of his QBs, who I'm sure he's trying to instill confidence in - but Taylor went on at some length and with some passion in talking about how under throws are better than over throws. He views it as giving the receiver a chance to come down with the ball or draw a pass interference. If you couple this with Ayomanor's answer later in the press conference about remembering his coaching points about coming back to the ball, I think it's clear under throws are something we teach and Taylor was proud of his QBs' under throws on the big completions.

* The third part of that answer that shed light on Taylor's mentality was that even in that answer Taylor came back multiple times to needing to do a better job on protection so the QB has more time to make the throw. Clear what Taylor diagnoses as the number one issue for the offense. Taylor was careful to talk about protection as also involving the RBs and TEs, not just the OL. For what it's worth, PFF views Roush as essentially the one part of our pass protection that has held up so far. Among the OL, McLaughlin grades out sub-par and everybody else poorly, with Pale, Mayberry, Pogorelc, and Anderson disasters (Anderson #776 of 776 OL nationally in pass blocking).

* The fourth part of that answer that caught my attention was Taylor talking about how "connected" the offense is. This is the single comment I've heard from Taylor so far this season that to my mind most differentiates him from Shaw after an offensive under-performance. For Shaw it was all about "execution" and being a few elements away from success. Taylor similarly views football as a team game in that sense, but his concept of the offense being "connected" very self-consciously includes discussion of getting into the right play call at the right time (which he said he didn't always do, one of those examples of self-criticism/vulnerability). As I've said before I get 2002-2007 Stanford PTSD when I hear about the problems when one of the 11 guys are misfiring and I hope offensive competence going forward will not have to rely on the complete elimination of weak links, as we may be waiting a long time for that. But my main takeaway here is just that Taylor's concept of the offense being connected very explicitly includes more of a recognition on how Taylor's own play calling is pivotal. RIP all problems being "execution."

* Ok, realize I am parodying myself by highlighting so many things from one answer I found interesting but the fifth thing was that Taylor notably caveated that discussion by saying "the good thing is our guys realize that some of it is self-inflicted, we can eliminate those things, and some of it is playing against really good guys and we just got to get better." Read: I and our players have a healthy mindset and know this is a journey and that some of the failures are just because our opponents are better. Maybe others won't read this comment in that way but I don't think I'm being cynical. I think this quote evinces a mindset of steady improvement and self-awareness (one could say mindfulness) that we struggle right now because we have a young, inexperienced offense that will eventually be better than it is now.

[msqueri]

* One of the most insightful parts came on the question about Ayomanor and Reuben's mid-ball flight adjustments on deep catches. For one, you could really get a sense of Taylor's view of these WRs, which is to say tantalized but unsatisfied. He noted that moments like that are what really gets excited about them - implying pretty strongly that in other moments they aren't always showing up, which he made somewhat explicit by saying that "for a moment they'll make those plays where they're playing in a flow state, they're not thinking, they're just reacting." He then went right out and said that sometimes with those two they're thinking too much and that we all know that when we're thinking too much we're not that great at what we do. As I said, Taylor seems to see some ability in these guys but is not satisfied. Sounds like he shares my assessment that, outside of the three big plays these two had against Sacramento State, our WRs have not shown up yet. This is why in my Sunday thoughts I highlighted the big plays for Ayomanor and Reuben as by far the most positive development from Saturday. If these two can play more confidently, in a flow state as Taylor says, that opens up the offense much more than we've seen. And we should bear in mind that Ayomanor was an oft-injured, untested recruit who burst on the scene due to his size/speed combo and camps while Reuben is a former soccer player who is only in his fourth year or so playing football. Maybe some upside here.

* Another thing that was so interesting about Taylor's answer on that question was the props Taylor gave to Daniels for under-throwing the touchdown to Ayomanor. I think to most of us that looked like a hot air balloon - and to be real, it was and Taylor may be overly complimentary of his QBs, who I'm sure he's trying to instill confidence in - but Taylor went on at some length and with some passion in talking about how under throws are better than over throws. He views it as giving the receiver a chance to come down with the ball or draw a pass interference. If you couple this with Ayomanor's answer later in the press conference about remembering his coaching points about coming back to the ball, I think it's clear under throws are something we teach and Taylor was proud of his QBs' under throws on the big completions.

* The third part of that answer that shed light on Taylor's mentality was that even in that answer Taylor came back multiple times to needing to do a better job on protection so the QB has more time to make the throw. Clear what Taylor diagnoses as the number one issue for the offense. Taylor was careful to talk about protection as also involving the RBs and TEs, not just the OL. For what it's worth, PFF views Roush as essentially the one part of our pass protection that has held up so far. Among the OL, McLaughlin grades out sub-par and everybody else poorly, with Pale, Mayberry, Pogorelc, and Anderson disasters (Anderson #776 of 776 OL nationally in pass blocking).

* The fourth part of that answer that caught my attention was Taylor talking about how "connected" the offense is. This is the single comment I've heard from Taylor so far this season that to my mind most differentiates him from Shaw after an offensive under-performance. For Shaw it was all about "execution" and being a few elements away from success. Taylor similarly views football as a team game in that sense, but his concept of the offense being "connected" very self-consciously includes discussion of getting into the right play call at the right time (which he said he didn't always do, one of those examples of self-criticism/vulnerability). As I've said before I get 2002-2007 Stanford PTSD when I hear about the problems when one of the 11 guys are misfiring and I hope offensive competence going forward will not have to rely on the complete elimination of weak links, as we may be waiting a long time for that. But my main takeaway here is just that Taylor's concept of the offense being connected very explicitly includes more of a recognition on how Taylor's own play calling is pivotal. RIP all problems being "execution."

* Ok, realize I am parodying myself by highlighting so many things from one answer I found interesting but the fifth thing was that Taylor notably caveated that discussion by saying "the good thing is our guys realize that some of it is self-inflicted, we can eliminate those things, and some of it is playing against really good guys and we just got to get better." Read: I and our players have a healthy mindset and know this is a journey and that some of the failures are just because our opponents are better. Maybe others won't read this comment in that way but I don't think I'm being cynical. I think this quote evinces a mindset of steady improvement and self-awareness (one could say mindfulness) that we struggle right now because we have a young, inexperienced offense that will eventually be better than it is now.