Well, we only have one game to evaluate Mettenberger. It's pretty clear he is a different style quarterback than Lee or Jefferson. But there are certainly correlations to be made. The most obvious is experience. Both Lee and Jefferson suffered early from lack of much reserve experience and so will Mettenberger. You learn a lot in the game that practice doesn't show you. Take that nasty sack he took in this game. It was a cornerback blitz in a formation where there was no one to block him. This put the onus on Mettenberger to recognize the potential blitz, watch for it, and take advantage of it. But he was looking the other way and never saw the guy until he was flattened. Meanwhile our uncovered receiver had turned around and was waiting for the ball that never came. This is how you get experience. Mettenberger is going to remember that play. He's going to be aware of who the unblocked man is and spare a glance in his direction every play. He's going to save himself a sack and make a play to the receiver the blitzer left all alone out there. Another comparison to be made right now is Mettenberger's accuracy. The guy has an arm but he wasn't really putting them in the breadbasket with touch saturday night. He was scattering them a bit and our receivers had to make some very acrobatic catches. Several of the incompletions were very close and he threw an interception. I put this down to first-game jitters, but when he starts putting them accurately in Beckwith's, Shepard's, and Landry's hands in full stride with room to run then he's going to rise steadily on the SEC quarterback list. After one game he is #9 in passing efficiency in the SEC.
I have just been lurking recently, but this thread brought me back. Thanks to red and all the good posters!
Makes me want to puke when people discount, or worse forget, perhaps the best Lsu qb performance in history.
Certainly you jest? Greatest performance in LSU history? I don't think so. You're speaking strictly from an efficiency stand point. Why do you think he was cut from an NFL roster? Because he air mails the ball under pressure. Matt Flynn was a better QB overall. I can think of several at LSU who were better passers. Now, JL was better than JJ when he had protection. Niether were adept at reading defenses, especially JJ. We did happen to have our best record in a 13 game span ever. We got by with average to below average QB's because of our running game, play making defense, and excellent special teams play. You certainly saw what happened to JL when a pass rush up the middle happened. He would back peddle and throw off his back foot. He was fortunate he didn't have more interceptions. Our new QB will not do that but he has to work on defensive recognition and not forcing the football (aka, Jamarcus Russell) like he did on the goal line. That will come in time. Having said that, Mett will likely have more interceptions that JL because of the increase in passing attempts. But Mett has the potential to be better than JL and JJ combined.
On a encouraging note Mett did hit 7 different receivers which indicates he can spread the ball around. Other than staring down OBJ for the int he looks like he can read the D. I would like to see him set up and look over the D instead of the hurry up and bubble screens we threw all night. If we clean it up and play to the comp. we should be ok. At least I'm hoping we do better than last night when we need to.
Agree. You have to hope that he can do well reading defenses. I always like to use Tommy Hodson as an LSU example of reading a defense. Hodson was a red-shirt freshman QB that utilized the hot reciever to a tee with Wendell Davis. That was what Mett needed to do when he got tatooed Saturday night. He didn't recognize the uncovered defender.
????? Clarify that please. What are you calling the best QB performance in history? Who do you say did it and if it is either JL or JJ wake up. While I defended JJ from many attacks I never felt he was more than adequate at best and for our purposes a better fit than JL. Neither qualified as anything more than bottom of the LSU QB roster. YA Tittle, Bert Jones, Tommy Hodgson, Rohan Davy, Matt Flynn and even Jamarcus russel had better games and much better seasons than either JL or JJ. Please explain and defend.
Red, as usual a solid analysis. I haven't seen any mention of Montgomery. I know he didn't start Saturday night. Is he injured or is he in Les' doghouse?
also, Mettenberger's 19 completions tied for the second most by a Tigers' QB in his first start dating back to at least 1980. (#1 was Ryan Perrilloux who was 20-for-25 in his starting debut against Middle Tennessee in 2007.)
Right now, I'd have to agree with you LaSalle. Hopefully, there is a gradual unleashing of Mett as the first 3-5 games go by. That's what I am hoping for. I am not complaining about our success, and appreciate it greatly, but I am with you and Red, I would like to see a little more balance. That would really separate us. We need to run the ball to be successful, but we also need to pass downfield more successfully, which will make our run game even more effective and make it a little easier on our O-line. As far as play calling, I am with you, I don't see much difference since the pick 6's, despite different QBs and OCs.
