Little off topic, but I recall Flynn saying in a pre-game interview, when asked about his fitness, he said he was not too worried for the team because "my backup has the strongest arm in the nation". Anybody else hear him say that? I still remember the strike for a TD that RP threw early in the second half against Tenn in the SECCG, what a thing of beauty that was, bout 30 yards to his left, hit the receiver about the 5 yard line. Looked like he zipped it pretty good into a tight spot. I'm looking forward to next season. Hopefully Mr. Lee gets some playing time in the first 3 games.
Before last season, I wasn't a big fan of the 2 QB system. But the way we ran it (like UF in '06), was pretty impressive. You put your young uy into the game in situations where he is a good position to succeed. This accomplishes 2 things: gives him the experience of a game situation at game speeds (much needed IMO), and because he is in high success situations, his confidence rises (also much needed IMO). So, when Flynn went down, we had an experienced and confident QB ready to step in. And the difference was HUGE. When Flynn replaced JR in the '05 SEC CG, you could tell he wasn't nearly experienced or confident enough to go up against an SEC defense (thanks to him only playing mop-up time against 9th stringers).
Seems to me it was very effective early on, but not during the end of SEC play. I think it has a more subtle impact - like having four or five really good RBs. Fresh legs, slightly different styles, and the psycholigical impact for the other team - "damn, the second team is as good as the first." And of course there's the experience factor. All things considered, I like this better than the system we had back in the day when the two QBs shared PT almost equally the entire game. But - hell. Who gives a crap what I like. I haven't been to a football practice for real since November, 1983... Glory days...
Didn't hear him say it but is why I said I would've liked to see RP throw more- I saw it. For the SECCG he rifled one in and UT's safety read it but couldn't get there in time cause it was a bullet- and well-placed. I think many are going to be surprised as his arm strength this year.
Well, to me, last year we didn't do any kind of 2-QB thing. It seemed to me that RP only got to play full series just like any other back-up would, just against weak adversaries that we crushed. When it came to competitive games, I remember us giving Matt Flynn the entire job of being our QB (assuming he was healthy). Sure, every now and then, we'd put RP in to run an option, and sure, everyone knew it was coming, and sure, I don't remember RP having any 50-yard TD runs, but I don't remember him getting routinely stuffed either, even though everyone knew he'd be running. As for the 2-QB thing, the last I remember us doing that at LSU, off the top of my head, was with the Davey/Booty situation, where we really couldn't decide who our QB was, and we pretty much went back-and-forth. I'm still not sure if I liked that situation or not. But last year, like I said, Flynn was THE QB, to me. There was no 2-QB thing last year, to me. In fact, I remember wondering why Miles wasn't doing the 2-QB thing last year, and I remember at one point concluding that he was just old-school, that he's going to let the 5th-year senior be THE QB, no matter what, similar to how he entrusted most of our running game to Hester, despite the fact guys like Murphy and KW were "obviously better" backs. As for the thing about "you could say the same thing for running backs"... like I said, to me, LSU hasn't run a 2-QB situation since the Booty/Davey situation, just off the top of my head. But with our running backs, I'm used to LSU having a stable of awesome running backs, and I am 100% for rotating them... like the announcers like to say, constantly having fresh legs. To me, a RB is more of a "hitman" position, a "bruiser" position, to me, it doesn't hurt at all if you rotate them in and out constantly. But with the QB thing, like I said, I'm not sure if rotating QBs is a good idea or not, like we did with Booty/Davey. But again, I don't feel we did any kind of 2-QB thing last season. Last season, Flynn was THE QB. In real games... games against competitive opponents (of course assuming Flynn was healthy at the time), RP would just come in a few times and run, just like track-star TH would come in a few times a game and run... just a little special weapon we'd throw in to see if it'd bust into a big play.
I'm okay with the way we used RP last year. The guy can run the hell out of the option, and he consistently got 5+ yards. However, I would've preferred it had he gotten more than a single snap at a time. I say put him on the field & let him direct the offense for a drive if you are really trying to get him experience. The coaches may have feared RP making poor decisions & turnovers though. As long as it isn't a Randall/JR situation where the coaches can't make up their mind who the QB is then I don't have a problem with some QB rotation. I question whether we will use it this year since our back-up will not be a real running threat.
I don't think they putting RP in for those one play runs to get him experience. They were doing it as part of the offense and it worked.
The coaches allowed RP to run more plays early in the season. I think they curtailed some of his snaps because of discipline, plus, the concern that he may make some bad decsions with the ball.
Being that is probably the hardest position to play on offense, other than left tackle. I think you should have more than 1 snap, give the guy a series, 4 downs and see what he can do. It creates experience and it lets the guy, get his nerves together. The worst thing would be putting a guy in at the crucial part of the game if hes not proven. Its different with RP, he could have started last year if he had the leadership abilities of Flynn, you know what he can do just from his pure talent, but his decision making is erratic. However, his talent is good enough to get him out of a jam.
