Look at QBs from a year ago

I do not think I would blame QB play on BOB or CG...particularly from Suggs or Bilbo. I will not get into particulars on either because they are still current players.

However, I DO believe that we have been tremendously spoiled by the presence of Ralph Friedgen (who coincidently was at Tech for every big year that Ross and O'Leary happened to be HC). Ralph takes any QB with a brain and leadership ability and makes them a superstar. He did it at Tech and Maryland. Unfortunately, only one team at a time can have a certain coach...and there are very few great ones out there.

It is like I tell my 3.5 yr. old....you do not have to not like everything else because you like one thing best. In other words...only one team can have the best coach for a position. However, there are plenty of good ones...and plenty of bad ones too I suppose.

In summary...I think our biggest problem right now is not necessarily who we have...it is the irresistible urge to compare to the predecessor...almost like an Alabama fan!
 
I don't know that blame is the right word, but I don't think BOB was up to the challenge of tailoring an offense to a new QB, one that didn't have the package the Goose offered. I believe the Fridge would have put together an offense that the QB of his choice would have been able to master and execute. BOB just didn't have the experience to adjust to what he had to work with. Remember, it was his first year as QB coach and only his second as OC. Gailey was sold on our belief that BOB learned at the feet of the master and was ready for to take the reins. He probably gave BOB too much room to operate, especially for a coach he hadn't worked with before. Hopefully Nix can develop somebody to run our new offensive package and Chan will have the onus directly on him to push the right buttons. If he succeeds he'll get the credit, and if he fails we'll all know where to point the finger.
 
In general I agree with the thought that BOB probably didn't do a stellar job as OC last year - partly due to inexperience and partly due to not being in synch with CG. I do believe there were ways to succeed with either Suggs or Bilbo that were not fully explored.

However, I think we also have to recognize the impact of the injuries to the running game and OLine to the quality of our QB play. For years Fridge was unparallelled at having a smart QB hide the deficiencies of the offense by smarts and/or athleticism. Last year we needed the running game to hide our deficiencies at QB and it wasn't there after Tony got hurt and the Line started to get banged up. Playing Suggs could have been a great move if he handed off 60 - 65% of the time and was able to throw play action when he wanted to - not when he had to. We either couldn't do this - or were so enamored of a pass focused offense that we didn't do it. I won't claim to know which it was.

Looking forward - our QB play will be in large part determined by the decision making ability of DBO - but it will also be determined by how well our OLine stays unhurt and opens holes for Grant or whomever to take the pressure off the QB - instead of the other way around like it was with Fridge.
 
Ineresting article. It points out the shortcomings of each of our QBs well before the season started last year. That's not bad in itself, everybody has weak points to work on. But for some reason neither ever overcame the problems they had. Hopefully a new QB coach will make the difference.
 
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