Re: Dubois Article in Monday Advocate re: Russell Unappreciated

I don't like this type of article. Russell has been criticized for the lack of rhythm in the offense last year and when fans saw what Flynn did with the offense, many thought that the wrong guy might be starting. That was not a racist or even an especially ignorant opinion.

People say that everybody loves the back up quarterback. Yeah? Who loves Peyton Manning's back up, Brandon Cox's back up, Brady Quinn's back up, Jake Delhomme's back up, etc. I am not saying that Russell is not as talented as some of these guys. I am just saying that LSU has 3 talented quarterbacks, and Flynn seemed to run the offense better than Russell last season.

In the offseason, apparently Russell separated himself from the other two and started to develop the parts of his game that had lagged and seemed to hold the offense back. The ULL game seemed to confirm that Russell is finally starting to have the other aspects of his game catch up to his potential. Everyone (who wasn't relying on Tigervision) saw that. So, then Dubois writes an article after the fact that makes him look smart. I would have given the article more credibility if it was written at the beginning of the offseason or even three days ago. But to take Russell's excellent performance in the game coupled with his glowing reviews during the offseason and lecture to fans who clearly saw and read the same thing is intellectually dishonest. It is an old trick. Not an impressive article

 

Russell was 14-2 and single handedly pulled out more than a couple of wins with huge late game plays. He is an incredible talent and this has been obvious from the start. Anyone who wanted to replace him with Flynn based upon what they saw during Matt's minimal appearances has to be either ignorant or racist.

 

Flynn didn't "run" the offense last season. He ran the offense in the Peach Bowl, with great results--but had Russell been healthy, I feel he'd have been more than up to the challenge.

And at LSU, fans have often loved the backup. I remember when everyone wanted Mickey Guidry in more often. I don't know...somehow I feel Tommy Hodson was the better choice then.

JR is our man, and he's a winner. This will finally be the year that everyone realizes that.

 

Max, you're spot on with this analysis. We've heard and heard about how gifted JR is for years, how one day he'll fulfill his potential...and that day seems to have arrived.

Until that day arrived, it's natural, IMO, for some of us to speculate if someone else could do better since LSU has great QB depth. JR is poised to shut down the "haters", if you will, the only way he should: with his play.

End of the day, we all just want the same thing: victory.

 

http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticl...I.20060904173005&DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=591564

 

He couldn't run the offense for a huge part of last year because he was hurt and the coaches left him in for whatever reason. He couldn't throw slants and couldn't hit receivers in stride. He still was able to hit throws in crunch time, but the whole reason the offense struggled IMO was his injury and the offensive line woes.

People still think it's because he's simply inaccurate, which is not the case. If anything, the coaching staff deserves criticism for playing an injured player who couldn't lead the offense at 100% efficiency.

 

what hole did JR put LSU in?

 

Not arguing that point, but, who was behind him? Another freshman, with zero experience. And, the most obvious factor in JR's favor was that Russell won games. Fans want to pull the QB because the backup might be better. Coaches can't afford to screw around with maybes. They see the players everyday. They know what they have.

 

Nitpicking, but they were both RS Soph's last year.

The fans are understandably upset after watching our offense sputter up and down the field all last year when they saw Flynn come in and rout Miami by 37 while showing the ability to actually hit throws in the middle of the game as well as make first downs with his feet.

 

Last time I checked, a win is a win, right?

How in the heck did he put us in holes last year?

Season Recap:

We almost lost to:
1. Zona St. because of defense
2. Tennessee, because our defense wore out and gave up 20+ in a half
3. Florida, because we lost 3 fumbles
4. Auburn= well, we probably got outplayed in that one
5. Bama- we couldn't run the ball for anything in the 1st half.

In the SEC, you will have close calls, no matter how good you are. We can have Flynn, JR, Perrilloux, Jamie Howard, or even Josh Booty, and we will have some close calls. It doesn't mean that our QB is putting us in a hole.