There are several viable reason why Childers makes the most sense; and it’s starts with the most basic of all; his skills are best suited to this offense. Additionally, the staff has made a significant investment. What does this mean? At the most critical point in the season, they had to pick a lane, and they choose Childers. They (the coaches) have handled Childers flawlessly. They picked the ideal time to give him the reins; and the play calling has given him the absolute best chance to succeed. Even the play calling last night was in large part based on confidence building for Childers. The dividends on this investment should start to be seen; he is quickly becoming our most experienced QB.
To date, Childers has not disappointed; especially given the fact that he is a RS freshman.
What he does well is exactly what the staff wants:
1) he limits turnovers; this has 3 elements to it: a) good decision making b) the scheme the staff uses c) blind luck...he should have at least 3 more INTs (maybe more like 5)
2) he runs well and establishes the QB position as a threat which the D has to account for; a key component to the success of this offense
3) he is quite effective at short passes; which is the second key to this offense

What he lacks (deep passing threat) is only necessary against really good teams, and the MAC has very few that qualify. To those that point to Childers deep passing struggles being due to the revievers not being open; this is simply not true. When a deep pass is thrown perfectly; the receiver never breaks stride, never having to adjust the pattern. When this (the perfect pass) happens, it looks like the receiver is more open than they are. Conversely, if a ball is under/over thrown, and /or off path; a defender who is beat now appears to have tight coverage; but this is a byproduct of a poorly thrown ball.

To me, the interesting question is what the staff does when Graham (whose skills are also we suited to this offensive scheme) becomes healthy. To me, a switch to Graham may negatively impact the speed and amount of the return on investment with Childers. The other big question is how, if at all, does Hall fit in. What is becoming clearer is the staff’s “all in” approach with Childers.

What are his skills though?

He’s no better of a runner than Graham or Santa and he certainly doesn’t have the arm santa does.

He’s playing because Carey got tired of Santa’s turnovers and Childers has done a pretty good job of taking care of the ball. That’s it.

(11-10-2017 12:47 PM)7 Wrote:  What are his skills though?

He’s no better of a runner than Graham or Santa and he certainly doesn’t have the arm santa does.

He’s playing because Carey got tired of Santa’s turnovers and Childers has done a pretty good job of taking care of the ball. That’s it.

As indicated, Childers skills are first and foremost running; and this is not necessarily specific to his ability; but how his running style suits this offense; it’s like he has been playing in this offense for years. His cadence, his reads, how he selects the right hole; when to accelerate and when to power. He also if effective at short route passing (which is directly tied to his running ability); those 5-10 yard passes that go for 70 yards are not happening by luck; it’s the system, and Childers being a viable run threat. The only time Santa had a short pass go for long yardage was to Duece last year against EMU; it’s no coincidence that this was Santa’s best running game by far. The two are tied together. Graham may be the best runner of the three. As crazy as it seems Santa may be the fastest of the 3, but unlike the others, he just does not look at all like a run first QB.

Childers was Carey's choice mostly due to his ability in decision making. And he does make good decisions. He's an adequate runner. I am just now realizing how slow he is. Maybe it's the knee brace, but Graham looked like Usain Bolt in comparison. He does do well in the short passing game, but really, every FBS QB should do well in the short game. He's managing the O nicely and making enough passes to succeed. All in all, impressive for a RsF.

The Childers/Santa thing reminds me of the Bouagnon/Huff thing last year. Childers is Bouagnon like. Does the little things well, smart, won't make big mistakes, but don't expect anything big. Santa is Huff-like. He makes a big, dynamic play. Then makes a big mistake.

(11-10-2017 01:19 PM)Djud Wrote:  

(11-10-2017 12:47 PM)7 Wrote:  What are his skills though?

He’s no better of a runner than Graham or Santa and he certainly doesn’t have the arm santa does.

He’s playing because Carey got tired of Santa’s turnovers and Childers has done a pretty good job of taking care of the ball. That’s it.

As indicated, Childers skills are first and foremost running; and this is not necessarily specific to his ability; but how his running style suits this offense; it’s like he has been playing in this offense for years. His cadence, his reads, how he selects the right hole; when to accelerate and when to power. He also if effective at short route passing (which is directly tied to his running ability); those 5-10 yard passes that go for 70 yards are not happening by luck; it’s the system, and Childers being a viable run threat. The only time Santa had a short pass go for long yardage was to Duece last year against EMU; it’s no coincidence that this was Santa’s best running game by far. The two are tied together. Graham may be the best runner of the three. As crazy as it seems Santa may be the fastest of the 3, but unlike the others, he just does not look at all like a run first QB.

I respectfully have to disagree with you. Childers often looks as if he is not running hard. I also think teams are going to start jumping his short yardage throws to the long side of the field. Those balls are in the air for a long time and with this much game film on him now that will be looked for. His long ball accuracy is a major concern! He does not hit the throw Santa hit last night. He may develop that over time but his accuracy is pretty bad.

Childers was 10-for-22 passing against a bad Ball State defense. He's not exactly making much happen out there. The offense is still inefficient. We just happened to play a very bad team and had good field position most of the night. They showed the national average for TDs in the red zone and NIU was below that.

(11-10-2017 01:35 PM)flair6 Wrote:  

(11-10-2017 01:19 PM)Djud Wrote:  

(11-10-2017 12:47 PM)7 Wrote:  What are his skills though?

He’s no better of a runner than Graham or Santa and he certainly doesn’t have the arm santa does.

He’s playing because Carey got tired of Santa’s turnovers and Childers has done a pretty good job of taking care of the ball. That’s it.

As indicated, Childers skills are first and foremost running; and this is not necessarily specific to his ability; but how his running style suits this offense; it’s like he has been playing in this offense for years. His cadence, his reads, how he selects the right hole; when to accelerate and when to power. He also if effective at short route passing (which is directly tied to his running ability); those 5-10 yard passes that go for 70 yards are not happening by luck; it’s the system, and Childers being a viable run threat. The only time Santa had a short pass go for long yardage was to Duece last year against EMU; it’s no coincidence that this was Santa’s best running game by far. The two are tied together. Graham may be the best runner of the three. As crazy as it seems Santa may be the fastest of the 3, but unlike the others, he just does not look at all like a run first QB.

I respectfully have to disagree with you. Childers often looks as if he is not running hard. I also think teams are going to start jumping his short yardage throws to the long side of the field. Those balls are in the air for a long time and with this much game film on him now that will be looked for. His long ball accuracy is a major concern! He does not hit the throw Santa hit last night. He may develop that over time but his accuracy is pretty bad.

I completely agree that as it stands today, Santa is the only QB on the roster to make that throw; my point is running a read option offense requires more than simply running ability; Childers has what it takes to run that portion of the offense. I also think he must still be less than 100% which is why his read option carries were limited last night. I would love to see a passing chart (breaks down where on the field the receiver caught the ball) on all the QBs so far this season. My guess is Childers in very good at bubbles, quick slants, short curls, and short sideline passes. Conversely, Santa’s % on passes over 30 yards has to be as high (even higher) than his short yardage passes.

(11-10-2017 01:32 PM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  Childers was Carey's choice mostly due to his ability in decision making. And he does make good decisions. He's an adequate runner. I am just now realizing how slow he is. Maybe it's the knee brace, but Graham looked like Usain Bolt in comparison. He does do well in the short passing game, but really, every FBS QB should do well in the short game. He's managing the O nicely and making enough passes to succeed. All in all, impressive for a RsF.

The Childers/Santa thing reminds me of the Bouagnon/Huff thing last year. Childers is Bouagnon like. Does the little things well, smart, won't make big mistakes, but don't expect anything big. Santa is Huff-like. He makes a big, dynamic play. Then makes a big mistake.

Out of all the analogies this rb one works for me. Nice job.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

(11-10-2017 01:35 PM)flair6 Wrote:  I respectfully have to disagree with you. Childers often looks as if he is not running hard.

He looks like he's running with a bum wheel or something. Awkward and slow running on that long-ish run in the first quarter last night. He's an average running QB who should give you less turnovers/sacks then someone like Santa. It's the only reason he's playing.

Childers is good at faking the run or handoff, then throwing or keeping it himself. I guess that is what people mean by fitting into the Huskie gameplan. However, the great QBs can complete passes, even when you know its comming, like on 3rd and long.

(11-10-2017 12:47 PM)7 Wrote:  What are his skills though?

He’s no better of a runner than Graham or Santa and he certainly doesn’t have the arm santa does.

He’s playing because Carey got tired of Santa’s turnovers and Childers has done a pretty good job of taking care of the ball. That’s it.

That's it? Well that's a GREAT skill to have. You have to have the ball in footBALL to score. Do not drop or give away the damn ball. On defense, Go get the ball.

(11-10-2017 02:41 PM)NIU05 Wrote:  

(11-10-2017 12:47 PM)7 Wrote:  What are his skills though?

He’s no better of a runner than Graham or Santa and he certainly doesn’t have the arm santa does.

He’s playing because Carey got tired of Santa’s turnovers and Childers has done a pretty good job of taking care of the ball. That’s it.

That's it? Well that's a GREAT skill to have. You have to have the ball in footBALL to score. Do not drop or give away the damn ball. On defense, Go get the ball.

You are in line with Carey (and a lot of other coaches); He would rather have 14 points with zero turnovers than 35 points with 2. I do agree with previous posters, a definite factor in Childers low amount of turnovers so far has simply been dropped balls on the part of the defense.

As far as the fit argument, just to my own eye test, Childers seems to make the right decision to run earlier than Santa does. After they're on the move I'm not going to argue one is better than the other. So maybe he isn't any better at running the ball, but he seems to put himself in better spots. Which is also probably the same decision making advantage he has that leads to fewer turnovers.. but god does he make some bad throws.

I still think it's somewhat irrelevant, both would need to improve a hell of a lot before they could feel secure about holding the job going forward.

Solid points here.

Childers is not the runner I thought he was, but right now it may be a bad leg, as he seemed quicker earlier in the year. He makes fairly good decisions both in the read option and passing games, which as pointed out is essential to this kind of offense.

It seemed Graham got injured on that last run; he ran well, but he is injury prone. Santa is not as good of a runner as Childers. While he ran well last year he certainly has not run well this year. That is just not Santa's strength, and a completely different O scheme is needed with Santa.

Childers had some duds passing last night. However, I was happy to see the TD pass to Blake and the back-up tight end. Those were passes he was struggling with earlier, so that is a positive. While his long pass to was on the wrong shoulder that is a catch Tears has to make.

As I have said many times, I am good with either Santa or Childers. What I or anyone else likes/wants does not matter; the Childers type offense is what Carey wants and what we will have for the foreseeable future. Let's all hope Childers improves in his passing game.

Part of this philosophy requires a very good defense. We do, except our DBs have been exposed big-time. Smalls is getting beat like a drum regularly; Lurry is a risk taker - so while he gets picks at times he also is prone to getting burned a lot as he has been lately. The coaches need to asses the CBs; I don't know what we have on the bench, but I find it hard to believe we can't do better than at least Smalls. Embry sure looked the part last night.