I couldn't agree more--especially with #2. I was at the Ole Miss game this past weekend and it was so disheartening to see Russell, on 3rd and 7, nearly take Buster Davis' feet out from under him by throwing at his cleats after Davis pulled away from his defender on a 5-yard cross. :dis: It's almost as if our QB's are trying TOO hard. You know how when you try too hard you end up making more mistakes....
I think a lot of Russell's problems is mental. He seemed to be throwing reasonably decent balls until the interception. From that point on, he started throwing ground balls, probably reminding himself too much that he has to be "much more careful",and losing some confidence which showed in the way the ball travelled and the longer time he seemed to need before deciding to throw. He threw more decisive strikes in the earlier games before Florida when he was less diciplined and more free wheeling. He has a lot to learn, and I am still holding hope that he will be quite good when he is more confident and diciplined. ________ Fronte
I have a hunch that we'll see a lot of MR against the Hogs Friday. I suspect Randall will enter the game in the second quarter and stay in the game the rest of the way. :lsug: 30 Hogs 27 :geaux:
It's a losing proposition discussing this with SabanFan. Believe me I know. I do agree the most important thing is the W, but at the same time the poor QB play eventually catches up with you and you end up with the L. I hope to God it's not this Friday.
I heard an interesting take from an Uncle of mine today at the family Thanksgiving gathering on Russell's problems... We all know that he played five years (started in 8th grade for the Varsity) for his HS in a shotgun downfield vertical passing offense. So we know that he can throw, we know he has the skill sets to play in a passing offense, and we know that he can look downfield (though progressions are another story entirely). What we also know is that accuracy was probably not a premium in his offense in high school. The wideouts, tight ends, and backs probably did not become too polished of route runners during their time with him. Much like Rohan Davey, he probably excelled more at finding the man downfield through vision and putting the ball there for him to "go get" instead of threading the needle. My uncle seems to think that they're trying to insert him into an accuracy based passing game like the one Mauck excelled at last year as opposed to a straight vertical run-shoot pass attack that Rohan operated in '01. He's worried so much about "aiming" the ball in that he's not throwing the ball there. We've all heard of that term before-"aiming" the ball in as opposed to throwing. It seems to me a likely diagnosis for Russell short-arming and grounding some of those balls into his wide receivers and slot men. We all know he's got the arm, but some of those are more like fungoe's off of Smoke's bat in the Box for fall ball infield practice... Perhaps Russell's struggling to get the accuracy part of our passing offense set and down.
Remember though that Ro had Josh Reed to throw the ball too and no WR in college history was ever better at finding the seams on third and whatever, take a short pass and make it into a sizeable gain with his run after the catch. He was simply incredible, JR doesn't have a receiver at this time that can make those plays over and over again like Josh did.
Russell has incredible physical tools, but he seems to be a slow learner as far as mastering a pro-style offense. He reads defenses poorly, doesn't find alternative recievers when his primary is covered, and gets rattled when the pocket starts to collapse. I don't blame the line, who haven't opened up the running game but have pass protected fairly well. I think Russell played in a high school offense that had little sophistication and most plays were a variation on "Everybody Go Long". They just relied on Russell to improvise and hit receivers. But he's in the SEC now. Defenses are better and coaches are smarter. It's a long way to the NFL if he doesn't quickly become a student of the game and get his head into it.
The answer is quite simple ... NO CONFIDENCE! Russell needs something good to happen early in the game today. If not, I believe he'll be rattled on the road, just like the Florida game.
islstl and SabanFan both got horse sh!t in their stockings for Christmas. When asked what he got for Christmas islstl said "nothing but a damn pile of horsesh!t" When SabanFan was asked he said "I got a horse. I haven't seen it yet but I know it's here because he sh!t in my stocking".
Red, you're on almost 99.44% of the time, but this is the .56%... They pass protected well? You've got to be kidding me...
