In the post game presser, Sims said he never saw the defender in front of him on the first pick. There were actually two coming at him. There was a replay from behind him and I can't figure out how he couldn't have seen them. He about stuck the ball in the defender's face mask. And I don't have a side in the Sims/Yates discussion, but there were people hollering to put Jordan in. That confused me. Sims wasn't playing bad and Jordan would not have been a game changer Saturday.
Good to great QBs develop the habit of focusing their eyes downfield and ignoring what is happening in the pocket, they "feel" the pocket while always looking downfield.
If a QB starts looking around the pocket, then he'll have trouble refocusing his eyes on WRs downfield and it will make him late and more inaccurate on downfield throws. (leading to more Ints downfield)
This proves that Sims is doing the right things fundamentally, this is why OL play is critical, this is also why they teach OLs at the NFL Level to just take the 10 yd holding penalty, it is better than exposing your QB to hits, strip fumbles, tipped passes etc that lead to turnovers while that QB has his eyes and attention downfield .
I'm still shocked that our OLs are smart enough to stay eligible at GT, but can't seem to figure out that holding is always better than letting the DL cave in the pocket - 1st of all ACC Refs miss a lot of holding - 2nd of all 10 yards is a much better tradeoff than a potential turnover, especially when we have a running QB that can break contain and pick up 15-20 yds in a blur, and then add to that skill players like Gibbs etc.
I don't know if it is poor coaching by CBK or our OLs just having brain farts under Game pressure, but we don't seem to play with street smarts on the OL.