Really? I didn't see great QB skills last night. I was surprisingly disappointed. And I'm not talking about the final score. As much as I appreciate the "deer in the headlights" look --and the impossible situation AA was put in by a very selfish teammate-- I just didn't see
the skills I hoped to see last night. Here's what I saw:
- A weaker than expected arm. He threw too many passes too short and too late.
- A passer who finished the night with a QB rating of 30.1
- A surprisingly poor running QB who finished the night with 5 carries for -4 yds
- A QB who fumbled an ordinary hand off to Henderson
- A QB who averaged only 5 yds per completion. (Without the "down field" pass threat, MU's DB's crowded the LOS, which made things much tougher for our run game)
- A QB who made some poor decisions (e.g., Intentional Grounding call, calling unnecessary timeout when Holtz didn't want it, etc.)
- I don't know what happened on the fumbled snap, but there's THAT
I'm NOT blaming AA for this loss., I'm just trying to evaluate
his skills that you made reference to. He was put in an almost impossible situation, and I said it
before the game. This was NOT his fault.
But it WAS his opportunity. And he just didn't impress much. I know Marshall's defense is far better than an average. Also, in an effort to protect the football, I'm sure Holtz probably wouldn't let AA pass further than about 10 YDS down field. That's why we saw so many screens. (But defenses eventually catch on.) I expected a better performance with AA being surrounded by so many good, experienced teammates.
To beat UAB, AA is going to have to play much better than this.