20-23 was a record setter and very encouraging! But, seriously, look at who it was against! MSU had all freshmen back there! He toasted them as I expected. JR has a lot of "green" to get rid of, or teams like Florida, AU & Alabama will eat him alive. He's gotta get the OK to start hitting the TEs more. I'm encouraged by the passes to Green. He's still locking in on his primaries and holding the ball too long. A road game against Vandy should help him further along. I expect somewhat similar completion stats against Vandy, 20 receptions on about thirty passes thrown. They need to let him air it out against Vandy! This is his last tune-up game. Florida will be his litmus test as a QB. He needs to get it done against the Gators. AU the week after will be no picnic for him either.
No QB toasted the MSU secondary like Russell did. MSU's freshmen are better than their secondary starters last season. Lost to many folks is how much better MSMoo was than in previous years. While I do not see them running at the title next year, State's on the right track. With bebe screwing up Ole Miss, all the quality in-state talent that stays in Mississippi will be in Starkville. Pegues is going to be a pain in the neck the next thre years. If they get quality QB play, State's back in the bowl mix.
Before he can be effective at Qb.. JR needs to be consistant from game to game. MSU was his "first" game IMHO. I'd like to see him do these things first. 1. protect the ball... i.e. leave center with it, tuck it firmly and ball transition ( hand offs ) effectively. Ball protection included knowing when to "eat" it and when to throw out of bounds. 2. "See" and read the Defense. 3. SEE more than one reciever. 4. do these things consistantly... again we don't need a Brett Farve, we just need someone who can retain posession and help get a first down every now and then. I think AFTER these things happen, the deep ball will follow. It'd be a shame not to get JR's confidance up enough to sling some deep ones. He has the talent already, just hasnt quite mastered the mental aspects. He looked alot LESS nervous agaisnt Moo U. if he can keep that relaxed, I know what I am doing attitude and DO IT, He should be fine. I'd like to see Jimbo help him get the TE's in the game more and mix it up some. I think he did that agaisnt Moo U. maybe they are working on it. It seems that Jimbo/Miles, gave JR a few more chances to add to his poise this weekend. It would seem he was up to the challenge. NOW I hope he can retain this agaisnt tougher opponents. Good luck JR.... I hope you continue to improve and distance yourself from the A. Brooks syndrome!
I think Russell's performance today shows just how important he is to our offense. When he struggles, it forces our entire offense to be inconsistent/predictable - see all of last year (under god Saban & current OC Jimbo Fisher I might add), and the Tennessee game this year. As others have pointed out, locking receivers is still a problem for him. Florida took advantage of this last year getting 2 interceptions by watching his eyes. This is a fundamental issue that the coaches really have to work on and I wish they had made further progress on it this off season. He does need to know when to throw it away & not hold on to the ball as long. Luckily, this year we have a strong Oline that is allowing him to get away with this more than other teams could. This will be a matter of experience & confidence building I think. By the end of the season, I look for this aspect to be much improved.
It could very well be that Fisher has instructed JR to focus on one route, except on busted plays. We don't know what he is told and what responsibility he has been given with audibles, etc. Every time JF talks about JR, he says he's doing well...making progress, has never been upset over him focusing on one receiver. Perhaps it is by design? It's not advisable to do it all year, but if the staff decides that the best chance to complete a play, maybe they've told him to stick with the first option. If the WR does his job and gets open, it's all good anyway (as long as he catches it doh). My point is, we don't know the ins and outs of what he's being told/instructed. What we perceive as a flaw could be the gameplan, and that goes for his taking a sack rather than throwing it and the defense allowing short passes (ie keep the ball in front of you always).
JR's physical talent potential has never been in question. His attitude, intelligence and mental grasp of the entire offense is what has been in question, and the MSU did very little to shed light on his progress in those areas. He completed the screens and short passes very well (which he struggled with last year) but he never had to progress through receivers to find the open man. Somebody said it earlier... we don't need Brett Farve we need a Matt Mauck. I am still not sold on JR's ability to lead under extreme pressure (by lead I don't mean use your athleticism to win the game. I mean utilizing and motivating the talent around you to accomplish a goal.) A drop back QB has to work within the offensive game plan and I wonder how much Fisher has had to dumb down the Offense to get JR where he is. Vandy should give him another oppurtunity to improve on his reads. I hope.
Nobody has questioned JR's physical potential, as you say, but last year he wasn't physically performing to his capabilities and he had a whole lot to learn about directing an offense. He forced throws last year, often underthrowing balls & missing receivers; he would also forget what play to do while on the field and improvise. This year, he is much much improved. He isn't yet the QB we want him to be, but this is one of the side effects of recruiting high school superstars that rely on ability - they take longer to learn the system. His throws have been pretty good this year and he's operating inside the offense much better. Despite people's short memories, Matt Mauck was not error free. He almost lost the Ole Miss game for us and prevented us from blowing out Oklahoma. One thing is certain - Mauck was a leader, and this IS what we need. So far, it's to hard for us to tell if Russell is this team's leader, but I'd guess that is not as of right now.
I feel that JR's stats were very misleading this week. Many of his completions were to Skylar at the line of scrimmage? And I agree with some of the other posters who complain that he stares down one receiver. I would love to see him progress through his reads. Plus he needs to get better at throwing the ball away. But he is sure not forcing the ball into bad situations. Maybe he will improve further. Wish we could have seen Flynn throw the ball more.
Effic------Att-Cmp-Int------Pct---Yds--TD---Lng---Avg/G 134.52-----81-51-1--------63.0--596---3----47----198.7 I'm very satisfied with where JR is in his developement so far this season. Seems to me that many are focusing on things other than what he has accomplished and he sure did a great job of leading the team vs ASU if you ask me. If you would have told me before the season that he would have thrown only one interception in his first 81 passes I would have taken that in a heartbeat. And I expecting him to keep getting better and better as he gets even more experience.
