Nice post....couldn't have said it better myself. No doubt it has been frustrating for the coaching staff and the team. If our defense plays like we did last season and our offense can have a balanced attack we will have a very good chance of landing back in the BCSNCG next season.
I don't think we have to see a true change in philosophy to see true passing game. Believe it or not, we actually ran pass plays last year, but Jefferson botched them every single time one was called with him in the game. And that is what we remember because it is what occurred most recently. We averaged 20 attempts per game last year, and that was with lots of 3 and outs by Jefferson. With a real QB and the same philosophy, I could see averaging 28 attempts and 250 yard per game by simply converting more first downs.
I agree with this too. I don't think we actually have to change a lot. We did run a fair amount of pass plays last season that were executed poorly by the QB. I think we tried to move the ball downfield more so than in previous years. Routes seemed to be further down the field, which allows the WR to work the field and the defense and get out of the congestion created by shorter routes. One BIG issue in general for both our QB's the last 4 seasons has been accuracy. Even when we had some passing attack it would take somewhat of a miraculous catch by the WR to even make the catch, which would result with no run after the catch. Our WR's very rarely were hit in the numbers, they had to go up down or behind them to even get a hand on the pass. Our same passing attack that we had last season with a better QB should make us look leaps and bounds better by game one. I would love to see a few more screen passes to the RB's or wheel routes with the RB's as well. We are loaded with talent for those plays.
You know I've been racking my brain trying to remember the last time LSU actually ran an old-fashioned RB screen instead of these tired WR bubble screens that routinely got us dumped for a 5-yd loss.
I think Keiland Wiliams cought one............... once, and took it for a great gain, but I may be wrong. May be the last time I can remtely remember one too.:wave:
I agree with most on the philosophy not having to change. We had guys open on routes, but because it was the 3rd or 4th read our qbs couldn't find them. We mostly settled for the 1st read or tuck and run with JJ. Not to leave JL out he did have trouble reading defenses too, but he did look to throw first on passing plays. In the last 3 games we played I counted multiple times we had a guy open on a curl or go route and we never found them. Clean just that up and we would look like a balanced offense.
I got a DVD of Mett's games at Butler and the two things that really stood out to me were the crispness of his possession passes and his ability to constantly put passes on the shoulder of the receiver that is away from the defender. When he would face, say, a 3rd and 7, he would throw a 9 yard out pattern that looked like a dart and only the receiver would have a chance at it. His td to int ratio was crazy. When the defenders would have to creep up to keep him from sustaining those drives, he'd hit the long gainers and td's. All this was based off a very good running game. I'm stoked, y'all.
I'm tempering expectations until he starts his first SEC game. He's never faced an SEC-caliber defense and we won't know how he'll respond until he does. I'm done buying into offseason QB hype, it's time to see some results on the field.
