PJ is the best we have

[TripleB]

PJ is our best option at this point.  He has shown the ability to play a conservative QB position.  When he starts pressing is when he gets into trouble.   It is the same story in all his bad games dating back to last year.  A receiver early in the game drops a pass or 2 or worse it tips off his hand and gets intercepted, that is when PJ starts pressing.  When the early passes connect and we get out to an early lead he seems to settle in and is competent.

In the two games where we've had to try and rely on the pass to come back or keep us in the game we've seen the results.

21 for 35 with nine DROPPED balls and two td's ..... am I the only one that thinks that was a **** good game for PJ?? It was loss, yes ..... but I don't think you can hang it on Pat.

[bulls96go]

will we ever get a pure passer (instead of athletes) who can get the ball to our 6' 5" recievers. amp lee will show up and run great routs and get no catches...what a waste of WR talent!

[DENVERBULL]

21 for 35 with nine DROPPED balls and two td's ....

How many of PJ's completions this year are from screen passes or an out pass to the WR?  How many of his yards are from short passes and a long run by the rb/wr?  How many completions of 25 yds+ does PJ have this year where the ball traveled 25 yds in the air? When a defense is able to contain our running game, PJ doesn't have the tools to get it done through the air.  

[RHBullsFan]

will we ever get a pure passer (instead of athletes) who can get the ball to our 6' 5" recievers. amp lee will show up and run great routs and get no catches...what a waste of WR talent!

I agree. I would rather we recruit a statue at the QB position who can sling the rock. Let the WRs and backs take care of the running. Recruiting these "athletes" has not been working.

[TripleB]

How many of PJ's completions this year are from screen passes or an out pass to the WR?  How many of his yards are from short passes and a long run by the rb/wr?How many completions of 25 yds+ does PJ have this year where the ball traveled 25 yds in the air?

If those move the chains, isn't that what really matters? Is our offense predicated on the long ball? I don't recall him trying that many 25+ yd passes this year but, admittedly, the ones that he did weren't pretty ..... If he/they can get the medium range passes clicking like at PSU, we should be fine.

[Guest S.  Bien]

More like hes the best QB we currently have the option of playing.  He's not horrible any more, but he's nowhere near ready to play defenses like Miami's.

That's probably the fairest comparison regarding this situation i've heard yet.  Pat's clearly improving weekly, but the entire offense screwed up against Miami, that loss alone cannot be shouldered by Pat.

An interesting stat for all...do you know that before the MIami game, the UM defense had held opposing offenses to 48% completion percentage, had 4 INT's, 11 sacks, and surrendered under 200 ypc game in the air.  It isn't a shame that Pat's not quite ready to face a Miami defense.  Weatherford, who we can call agree has the stars aligned in front of him, had worse stats against Miami's D- he was 7-25 with 2 picks, and 3 more that should have been.  Check out Weatherford's stats since Miami.

Again, it's no shame to lose to Miami in the OB, at night, and UM's been making QB's look bad for decades.  There are many QB's currently playing in the NFL right now who looked awful one night against Miami.  Four good games, and one bad from Pat, if we can get that from him closing out the season we'll win out!  

[Guest S.  Bien]

PJ is our best option at this point.  He has shown the ability to play a conservative QB position.  When he starts pressing is when he gets into trouble.   It is the same story in all his bad games dating back to last year.  A receiver early in the game drops a pass or 2 or worse it tips off his hand and gets intercepted, that is when PJ starts pressing.  When the early passes connect and we get out to an early lead he seems to settle in and is competent.

The thing is do you know how many college QB's fall in that classification?  Most guys in college are good athletes, but will never sniff the NFL, and most, when forced to press, are prone to making bad throws and decisions.  The key to the game is for coaching staffs to not get their QB's in position to be forced to press, and if it does get dire make sure you're doing everything to balance the pressure and slow the slide.

Lou Holtz use to say as long as his QB's didn't lose the game he's going to win many, many football games.  Did you know that the year he beat FSU in 1993 and finished #2, Kevin McDougal only threw for over 200 yards once- it was actually for over 300 yards and it was their only loss of the season against BC- he also threw 2 picks in that game.

Few teams have QB talent where the coaches can just send them out there with carte blanche to the playbook, and tell them to go out and win the game.   We've proven that with PJ we can win, and we can win big games, we can beat bowl teams, and we can win consistently, but the point is it's not all his burden and it's not all his fault.  So long as he plays within the system we can win our remaining games.

[DENVERBULL]

If those move the chains, isn't that what really matters? Is our offense predicated on the long ball? I don't recall him trying that many 25+ yd passes this year but, admittedly, the ones that he did weren't pretty .....

No, our offense is not predicated on the deep ball.  USF rushed for 97yds agianst PSU and 105 yds against UM. Both losses.  If a team stops our run, we are done.  If we get behind and are forced to throw, we are done.  That last TD drive agianst PSU practicaly took the whole 4th quarter.  We needed to drive the field for a quick score and couldn't do it.  PJ has thrown quite a few long balls this year, but I can't recall one completion.  Nebraska almost won a NC with a qb that couldn't throw.  But I don't think USF has the horses that Nebraska had.

[Guest S.  Bien]

No, our offense is not predicated on the deep ball.  USF rushed for 97yds agianst PSU and 105 yds against UM. Both losses.  If a team stops our run, we are done.  If we get behind and are forced to throw, we are done.  That last TD drive agianst PSU practicaly took the whole 4th quarter.  We needed to drive the field for a quick score and couldn't do it.  PJ has thrown quite a few long balls this year, but I can't recall one completion.  Nebraska almost won a NC with a qb that couldn't throw.  But I don't think USF has the horses that Nebraska had.

Those losses our teams were down 17-0, and 20-0 by the end of the first quarter- kinda difficult to establish the run in those games given the score.  I am very upset with the coaching in both games because we were capable of running better against both teams and abandon the run way to early.  You abandon the run late in the 3rd when you're down by 17pts or more, you don't abandon it late in the 1st quarter, early 2nd down by that difference.  One TD and the complex of the game has changed.

As for this deep ball stuff, you realize PJ had 11 passes completed last year of 40 yards or more- and was not playing barily against TTech, USC, and missing a half against UL.  Remember the deep bombs to Peyton against UAB, or UL; how about the deep bomb to Bain against Army?   He completed the bomb to Amarri Jackson against UL.

This year my contention is we haven't thrown ENOUGH screen passes.  Few of PJ's passes have come from screen passes.  Go back and look at the UM game, he was 8 of 24, only two were a screen pases, on the TD drive he had strikes to Peyton and Hester right down the middle.  

Check out PSU, he hit Peyton, Cedric Hill, Carlton Hill, and Chambers down the middle.  

Watch the UL game, PJ goes 5-10, but he threw two beautiful deep balls to Peyton and Carlton Hill respectfully.  Both only the receiver could have caught, and Hill should have caught his, and both drew pass interference penalties and put the ball inside the 5!  

[smazza]

pat didn't have a good game against penn state

and 4 for 9 against louisville is not a good game either

he doesn't move the chains

it is friggin funny that we have these great receivers and there some plays where 5 go out in routes and we have a qb that can't hit any of them in the hands

this is now the 3rd year this has been the situation

crazy