Do you think Mertz is playing well?

He took two deep shots yesterday, and missed on both. One would have gone for a TD.

Not knocking Mertz, because for all of the talk on this board about needing to go deep, most quarterbacks, including in the NFL, don't do it nearly as often as people think. Watch what Tua did to Denver if you doubt that.

With a mediocre offensive line, going deep is a low percentage play.

 

Sure there are things Mertz can get better at but that's true for every player in the country. If I was to create a laundry list right now of issues with this team, any improvements Mertz might need would be very low on that list.

 

Yes

 

I don’t know. Not my call to make. Leave him in to what end? 4 yd swing pass? We were told he has multiple options in the plays but the safety valve is usually the option. Doesn’t have to sit but should we see a few series from someone else here and there? We had a little mo in the middle of the game so I wouldn’t interrupt that. But for stretches… why not throw Brown or Miller in for a bit. SOS would do it. Nothing wrong with that. I didn’t mean start someone else and bench him. I said he has exceeded my expectations. Just a thought.

 

He is not the problem but he isnt capable of putting the team on his shoulders and overcoming all the other offensive problems.

 

I understand your sentiment, but as to the bolded part of your post, do you think those guys, are somehow with far less experience, going to do more than Mertz? He's never having time to do much more than a swing pass, and more than likely, they'll have less because the defense will send everyone after them knowing the new guys don't have as much savvy about the offense as Mertz does. I think a potentially great solution would be for Mertz to throw as deep as he can on the first play of the game. That way the defense will have to think about more than a dive play into the line on the first play of every series of downs.

 

Mertz isn't the problem imo
His OC and coaching staff not helping him at all

 

It’s probably a good idea to support your team and keep hope. That goes for the fans, coaches, and players. There should be moves made this off-season and if they can’t get players to block, it’s futile. Great class but not great oline class. Pony up tgat cash or just hang it up and accept our place.

 

The offensive line and play calling were pretty bad last year too, guess it took Mertz being the QB this season for some people to realize it

 

Qb isn’t the glaring issue. He may not be a heisman candidate but he isn’t tge problem.

 

I agree, no doubt. I would pen ears back. That could be simulated in practice. I doubt we play prevent all week. He’s the best option. I can’t argue that. We were getting rolled and more of the same was hard to watch.

 

He is not playing well. He is playing good enough, and that gets you what we are seeing. Nothing special. He is not the guy to ride to victory, but he is also not going to lose you games. He does not see the field well, a lot of this has to do with protection. I don't think he is making the right pre-snap reads and immediately checks down if his primary target is not open. He is missing some reads for easy pickups and he needs to learn when to throw the ball away. Our problems are deeper than Mertz.

 

Even Tom Brady missed receivers, and he wasn't running for his life every play. Mertz was over 80% for just under 250 yards yesterday, and that included starting 0/3 then hitting 25/27 the rest of the game with virtually no running game or protection. He was the only bright spot of the game, and you're talking about the few times he didn't see his receivers. With as little time as he had to throw, we're lucky he completed anything.

 

Our oline has multiple issues. Last year our center got blownup in several games and yesterday on a bad wheel was like a replay of 2022. We are plodding on the oline not seeing much explosiveness. We could shed 1-2” and 10-15 lbs and get some agility, this would help in the screen game as well.

We also must be the only team in America that doesnt have a grown man to play the position. AB will get there but he may arrive too late

 

Mertz is managing to do what he can do with the system he has been given. But his ceiling is not high. He cannot throw when moving left, he misses open reads too often and his accuracy is middling at best. Too many times this season what could have been great plays became just ok plays because the receiver had to make a serious adjustment back to the ball.

I do wonder if we are limiting plays and routes in order to compensate for his limitations / fear that other sorts of throws would create too much opportunity for interceptions. Speculation that comports with Napier's obvious desire to play risk averse football.

 

I agree, but add our OL has been Swiss cheese, then there's this ball control scheme of dink and dunk passes, his aversion to throw risky passes fearing int's which has plagued him in the past, and finally I believe a remedial style of passing offense. Seems our passing game is easy for quality DC to dissect.

 

Mertz doesn't get no help at all under Napier's offense system. Napier likes to use double non catching TEs most of the time, even sometimes in third and long.

 

Yep, can't catch and don't seem to block either.

 

Couldn’t block for shxt either, our TEs are all 3-star recruits

 

A good HC adjust his system to the personnel that he has and not to the system that he likes to run, Gators TEs are all bellow average.