While it seems there has been more of a trend in recent years towards dual threat QBs, a QB absolutely does not need to be a run threat for your offense to be successful, and some QBs simply aren't good runners and should live and die in the pocket throwing the football. Whether we like it or not, it seems like Maalik is just such a QB—he's a pocket passer, not a dual threat guy who can easily tuck and run.
Also, while I agree that running the ball can probably be taught to an extent so that the individual improves in that department, doing so requires that you take focus away from refining other techniques (and also creates the possibility that the QB becomes even
more uncertain in live game-day situations—When should I stay in the pocket? When should I tuck it and run?). Given a pure pocket passing QB, I'd be far less inclined to waste the effort trying to teach him how to run the football and more inclined to use that time and energy to refine his passing skills and work on improving the communication between him and his receivers. Placing my focus there will prevent those throws to 'wide-open, Wyoming-like spaces' because receivers and QB will be more likely to be on the same page regarding passing routes, timing, and ball placement.
As someone else stated upthread, our offense thus far has suffered somewhat from not having quite the right guys at the skill positions to take advantage of the fact that Maalik is more of a pro-style pocket passer. We need more speed on the edge, we need a stronger RB room, and we need a better offensive line. Maalik had all of these things at Texas, and posted two 100+ QBR victories in his two starts there. So he's demonstrated that when surrounded with the right talent, he's a really good QB. The challenge for our coaching staff is twofold:
- Long term, recruit the right talent to populate the offense around Maalik so he can shine in the coming couple of seasons, and [in the meantime]
- Build up an offensive playbook and weekly game-plans that effectively emphasizes the strengths of the guys we currently have available while minimizing their weaknesses as much as possible
We have seen thus far that the OL has shown improvement in their run blocking (they slightly regressed in pass blocking against UConn, but sometimes that will happen when you emphasize run blocking in practice to improve in that area—you have to take the bad with the good), which led to improved rushing from our RBs. We still need to see more improvement in communication and timing between Maalik and his receivers, more improvement from the receiving corps in blocking on short routes, and more improvement in blitz pickup and correctly reading and following blocks by the RBs (this will naturally improve when Jaquez is back in the lineup). I'm hopeful that we continue to improve in these areas offensively so that we can move the ball more consistently to give our D the ability to catch their breath in-game, because I really think our D is good enough to keep us close in pretty much every game we play.
