Receivers the Key to Utah Passing Game Success?

[Uteified]

Many people say that QB has been the missing link for the last few years. Without discounting the obvious importance of that position and the offensive line, it seems like our receivers/tight ends were more determinative of our passing success the last few years. Wilson wasn’t perfect, but it seems like more incompletions were caused by drops, lack of separation, and poor routes.

Covey was a good example of this. He would get separation and catch balls that other guys would drop, and it made a huge difference when he was on the field. When he went down our offense seemed to sputter. I have’t looked at the numbers to back this up, but it certainly felt that way.

[Onlyu]

Our receivers definitely had an impact but our QB play was very average. Appreciated Wilson’s toughness but he doesn’t throw well on the run, rarely remained calm in the pocket with his feet and couldn’t throw a “touch” ball.  His best balls were deep balls but we didn’t really have a wideout that ran really well after Dres (Butler-Byrd notwithstanding).

Rarely did we complete a ball when the receiver was in full stride.  Mostly just choice routes – slants/curls/outs.  Bottom line – Below average WR Coach in Stubblefield (heard that from a current staff member), Avg QB play, our most experienced guy – Scott – couldn’t stretch the field and Whit’s philosophy of not turning it over all contributed to an anemic passing attack.  Covey and Ty Smith starting…true freshman says all you need to now about the talent level last year.  Much better prepared to throw it this year…a little more experience and a lot higher, deeper, talent level!  Hopefully better QB play and a definite upgrade in coaching with Holliday all leads to a more productive year.

[Utah]

I think it was both. Wilson had guys open that he missed or didn’t even look for.

We had receivers that didn’t do their job.

If memory serves me correctly, I believe Fulks started at the slot receiver position last year and he had a drop. Covey came in, made a tough catch and played the rest of the year. We need more receivers to step up like Covey did.

[Anonymous]

I always felt like there were a lot of drops during games. Dres Anderson was one of the best examples, he would drop easy slant routes thrown into his numbers Then he would catch a pass that you had no idea how that stayed in his hands. A lot of receivers had their heads down a lot with dropped passes. I also recall a time when Utah would drop a lot of wide open interceptions. Maybe it is the Under Armour gloves I thought. Well Utah got plenty of picks last season.

[Anonymous]

There are QBs that make their receivers look good. And then we had Utah the last 5 years.

[Anonymous]

AND there are great QB’s with no talent around them.

[Anonymous]

It was a rare occasion when Wilson made a receiver look good. It was generally the opposite.

[rbmw263]

I dont think our WRs were good at getting off the line causing their routes to take too long to develop, which really hurt TW