Why doesn't Lee deserve a second chance?

I think the only reason JJ has not thrown as many picks is because he is too busy getting sacked. They are both great athletes and I think they both could be used to get us wins.

 

Lee must get another shot if the Tiger O looks like this against Auburn and the War Eagles take a 10-14 point lead into the half.

This scenario is not unlikely. :tigerhead

 

:geaux: True, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't have gotten in for a couple of series last night to see if he could've given the offense a spark, especially in the 4th qtr. JJ was struggling and maybe putting Lee in for a change of pace and a better option on throwing the ball down field may have helped. Might have helped in getting JJ to settle down while watching from the sidelines for a bit and talking to the coaches. Not advocating Lee replacing JJ, but I thought he should have got in the game last night. Just sayin'... :LSU231:

 

I can understand the desire to make the move with JL. Maybe it would have sparked the team and maybe it would have inspired JJ to step up his game as well. It also would have taken away an opportunity to be in this type of game situation. To me the staff has committed to a course and in order for JJ to be a Championship QB he has to go through these trials. He has to understand what happens in these situations. He has to be in the fire. These concepts cannot be taught in the film room.

Remember this is his first year as a starter.

It's a process folks ... it takes time and patience. I think overall JJ probably has more tools than JL and the investment they are making in Jefferson is going to pay off. In order for him to play confidently on the field he has to know his coaches are committed to him as well. He is a 19 year old kid. These are critical times for his development and his future as a star QB.

 

Right just like last year was Lee's learning opportunity...until this year and now what was all of that learning for? Did he go through all that just to sit on the sideline this year and is JJ going to be watching RS from the bench next year?

 

Fair point. Best case scenario, JJ is like Tyrod Taylor for Virginia Tech. After 20 games or so, Tyrod is finally starting to come around. And VTech's defense makes the Hokies the favorite to win their conference.

Trouble is, VTech plays in the ACC. LSU plays in the SEC.

 

or shep will just run the spread. i have no problem with either.

 

I still think we are seeing the lingering effects of the RP fiasco. When RP *should* have been taking the reins of a defending national champion team, he continued to be a screwup and got kicked off of the team.

That forced LSU to start Jarrett Lee when Lee *should* have been absorbing the offense as a backup and take over from RP at an appropriate time. Instead he was thrown into the wolves before he was ready and became the poster child of taint (touchdown after interception).

As a result, we inserted a 19 year old kid to start before he was ready when he *should* have been learning the playbook and becoming comfortable with terminology, formations, trends, etc.

Now we have a true freshman phenom that everyone is calling to insert into the starting role. We need to break this cycle and return to having relative maturity/seniority at the most important position on offense instead of chewing up and spitting kids out at QB.

If the staff can handle weaving both QBs (Lee and JJ) into the game plans in such a way that neither feels shafted or bruised and allow the relative strengths of each shine (while getting RS significant touches in games while being groomed), I think it would be a positive thing for the team and lead to more offensive productivity.

I know this will ignite the whole "QB by committee" debate, but why not throw off opposing defenses by having Lee play occasional series (maybe even having JJ or Shep in the backfield at the same time) or having Shep run halfback options with JJ at the helm, etc?

 

Say what you will, folks. Say that the backup QB is always the most popular guy on the team, say that there were the polar opposite types of threads as this one last year. . .it's all inconsequential cliche' bull$hit. The reality of it is that Jarret Lee has his worst days behind him, and, despite what you saw last night, Jefferson still has his in front of him. He hasn't taken enough chances to have had his worst days yet because he seems convinced that doing nothing is worse than risking it.

Last year, Lee was put into an awful position. Not only was he thrust into the heart of SEC play with no opportunity to ease into the position, but the pressure was constantly increasing by virtue of LSU's most dreadful defense in over a decade. So, more than anything, the kid was guilty of trying to do too much. The problems that he was having last year were not ones that could be fixed in the middle of the season, and everyone knew that. Any reasonable fan recognized that it would take a full offseason's worth of development for him to get past those shortcomings. He throws a beautiful ball with a very compact motion, he just couldn't put it together upstairs.

What we have now is pretty much the opposite of last year. Our defense is light years ahead of where we were in 2008. This defense simply doesn't put pressure on our QB (or the other teams QB, lol) to win the game single-handedly, and is actually strong enough to withstand a few mistakes from a green signal-caller. Yet Jefferson seems to be reliving what he saw in 2008 in his head the whole time. The problem is, the longer he refuses to take any action, the longer it will take him to progress. He simply can't learn from his mistakes until he makes them. But, much like Lee last year, the mental problems that he is suffering won't be remedied in the middle of the season.

And, quite frankly, none of us knows for certain whether or not Jarret Lee has overcome his own mental hurdles since last year. But I'd be willing to bet that he has come a very long way. And even if he hadn't come completely around, we now have the type of defense that can absorb a few mistakes. So I think it would be a lot less risky than many of you seem to think. Hell, the offense can't get anymore anemic than it is now. What are you really risking if you can't put any points on the board?