Don’t know about anyone else, but I have been very disappointed in both T. Tolliver and R. Sheppard this season. When Tolliver does catch the ball he has great moves, but he needs catch the ball first. As for Sheppard, he doesn’t seem to be able to break tackles and he doesn’t seem to see his open spots. Maybe it is just focus, but I’m not sure. ldskule:
I also cannot recall, for the life of me, the last time our QB's hit our WR's IN STRIDE, so that yards after reception start to roll up. The inaccuracy of the pass also sets the receiver up--both physically and psychologically--for nasty hits, injuries, drops, fumbles and the like. We are always hearing that these are 18-19 year old "kids;" so, we cannot expect so much from them? How old are the NFL draftees? The average age of multi-million dollar NFL players? These "kids" have played for years, have world class coaching, great training (seen the weight rooms & exercise physiology labs???), dietary and nutritional guidance, psychological counseling, etc. They are 200+ lbs of lean muscle and youth on a 6+ ft frame. They will, as senior "kids," graduate (as kids) in May, and--What!--magically become NFL draftees/players (MEN) when they report to camp in June/July? Please...........! The point is, we sideliners on the boards read hundreds of times per season that we should not be so rigorously judging these kids as adults. Um, they ARE adults--just young, healthy, not-yet-arthritic, younger than us--ADULTS. Given the level of SEC play we are seeing each week, we certainly CAN use a demanding yardstick when judging and comparing our players. (These remarks refer to Upperclassmen only, as those puppies just entering the university system really are, emotionally and chronologically, quite young).
The wide receivers were not helpful yesterday, but TT was the worse of the lot with at least 4 dropped balls. Randle missed one he should have had, but I will give any WR a pass (no pun intended) on one dropped ball. But not four.
I'm sorry but LT is right on the money with this one. If you are a receiver with a struggling quarterback, you must catch anything that hits you in the hands. It's your responsibility to help the quarterback out and make the catch. I have never seen a guy like Toliver make one handed grabs, and circus catches, then drop balls that hit him in the hands. Deangelo Peterson has been a major disappointment this season, and Shepard, I love the kid, but he has also been a disappointment. Randle has been the only steady receiver we have, and his drop on the first drive cost us 7. Say what you want, if you get both hands on the ball and don't get hit, you should catch the ball. You have to help a struggling quarterback out, and our receivers didn't. And we lost as a result, it was a total offensive loss, from the quarterbacks, to the receivers, to the play caller for abandoning Stevan Ridley.
I have to agree. Tolliver is an enigma. He has all the physical tools and certainly looks the part but crucial drops have really hurt the team. Sheppard is not anything like we hoped he would be at this point in his career. He was anointed by many as the most important recruit in LSU's history but hasnt delivered. He rarely does anything with the ball after a catch. His average has to be very low. He may come into his own at some point but he is a player who's unbelievable high school skills have not transferred to the speed and size of players in the college game. He is lacking lower body strength. His legs look like toothpicks.
Thanks for expanding on my thoughts. I agree with everything you said, especially abandoning the run. I know this won't be a popular response, but actually the QB run plays with JJ were the most effective and what we should have stuck with. We would have beat them at their own game. Just like we couldn't stop them, they were having trouble stopping JJ and Ridley. It was when we tried to use our passing game that all fell apart. AU D coaches realized our WR's weren't gonna catch the ball, so they stacked the box on run plays and blitzed 6 on passing plays. Resulting in them shutting down both attacks. Which all stems back to our WR's not holding on to the ball. Call it how you want, but that was the root of what crumbled us yesterday.
I agree with the thoughts in this thread. Our most productive play yesterday was JJ running the ball; he was breaking off 8 and 10 yards every time he ran. AND he put the ball in reasonably catchable positions. Our WR's have done him NO favors this year at all. JL didn't seem to throw the ball very well after Fairley roughed him and nearly broke his wrist. I think it was affecting his motion. However, TT, for the love of all that is holy, when you have CAUGHT the ball on 3rd and 6 FOR THE FIRST DOWN with the game on the line, HOLD ON to the d@mn ball!
The QB's need to throw to spots not to receivers and that's ONE problem. Our QB's/WR's lack chemistry imo in trusting one another. The receivers trusting that the QB knows where the ball needs to be/the QB knowing the receiver will run the route called. Even when coverage puts pressure on the QB he needs to be comfortable that the receiver will do the correct thing to get open. Without this "chemistry" by the time they take off, for example, it's often too late.
I have to disagree – when a ball hits you palms, you should be able to catch it whether or not you’ve got “chemistry” with your QB and whether or not you trust him or he trust you. Maybe our and our WRs first problem is we all seem to believe being a stud in high school equates to SEC caliber talent. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we don’t have issues at QB, just that the QB isn’t the only issue our offence has – and it is not just WRs either. Hell, on several plays, T-Bob was pushed into the backfield so fast and so hard, I thought he would knock our QB down before he had a chance to complete a three step drop back. ldskule:
