Justin?

[GTMom]

Problems with Thomas are a byproduct of our OL issues. Not to say he isn't messing up otherwise, but fix the blocking and QB play will be fine.

Qb getting too much blame.....starts up front. I dont blame him for being gunshy or frustrated.

This aint on Thomas. Anyone suggesting otherwise probably has an agenda.

He is surrounded by youth and inexperience! No one sees the mistakes that occur on each play except the players and the coaches.

A lot of mistakes!
Not Justin's fault!

Wait. Let me get this straight. Thomas is supposed to be a leader and that's supposed to make the other guys play well? Do I have this right? Because if I do, that's effing absurd.

Hard to make "great" throws when under duress.

You're asking him to bat 1.000. No one can live up to that.

Just read through most of this thread and agree with these posts. It's a team effort. Can't blame JT when no one is holding their block and he's pressured, chased after or sacked on every play. Bottom line. I feel bad his talent is being wasted and not supported.

 

[upwgdrb]

I really like what Boomer said.

I think one of the keys in this offense during a long season is the number 2 qb. He has to get series almost every game. Our QB's have to be physical and take a pounding.
I know Byerly is out, but watching Jordan play I see no reason he could not take at least one series in most games. I understand when JT has a hot hand you do not want to pull him but that has not been the case.
We will heal over the bye week but it's time to do somethings differently .

And for those that think Devine is not important to our line, you saw just how important he is.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Contrary to popular belief UVA isn't awful. They have a bad record just like us. They also have some talent and pretty decent coordinators IMO. Yes I think we are better, have more talent, and should beat them. Easily? No. I expected a tough game....and that was before I knew we would be without Gotsis, Hunt, and Devine. Injuries have been unkind and we don't have the necessary depth to overcome them apparently.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

The bottom line is Justin is just not what we thought he would be. I hope Coach Johnson will open up the QB competition this coming off season and not simply annoit JT our QB. We have to show marked improvement in a lot of areas, including the QB position. If this is the best performance we can expect, 2016 will look a lot like 2015. I think the whole operation needs to be disected and cleansed.

Go Jackets!

I don't think JT will be anointed, but I expect he is probably be the best we will have next year. What I hope is that we see a lot more of 2 QBs next year so that when one isn't having a good day the other can step up. This year the plan was ruined by not having Byerly. But I still think either MJ should have played a bunch more real time or a "real" backup put in.

What I see is that we are going to go into next year with only one experienced QB (unless Byerly gets a medical) and have to live through the same stuff. Since I don't know what is wrong (I know others have their opinions some of which appear very valid) and CPJ hasn't been able to fix it this year, I don't know that he really knows how to fix it either.

I still respect the hell out of all our players for trying to do it all. And I'm proud of them succeeding at GT. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't get criticized when they don't make plays. Yesterday was very painful to watch from the end zone upper deck because we had wide open receivers all day long on different parts of the field. But didn't get it done and the better team yesterday won. Life goes on.

 

[up state jacket]

JT is making mistakes that he didn't make last year. Again though to his credit, he is working with a very young O-line which to me is making is job even tougher. Notice how many times he has zero protection even if it is an option play or a passing. He is still probably the best QB we have had under Johnson. I just wonder if it is his mistakes that are throwing off the o-line or if it is the rest of the 0-line that is causing him to make mistakes
Last year everything seemed to click together as the season progressed from JTs performance to the rest of the 0-line. That hasn't happened this year, nothing seems to mesh, and thats the thing with this option offense, its a collective effort

The OL was supposed to be the strength of the team. The OL is one of the most experienced groups we have. Maybe Shaq was just that good?

 

[GTMom]

The OL was supposed to be the strength of the team. The OL is one of the most experienced groups we have. Maybe Shaq was just that good?

Apparently so....

 

[Captain killem]

11 play on offense if 1 makes that big a difference we are a perennial 3-9 team.

 

[upwgdrb]

The OL was supposed to be the strength of the team. The OL is one of the most experienced groups we have. Maybe Shaq was just that good?

I really struggle with this concept. I cannot believe our guys just forgot how to play after the Orange Bowl.
We are hearing that they are confused about who to block and you can tell by body expression that these young men are frustrated.
To me it means one of two things
1. We are choosing to do things differently than last year i.e. Go back to cut clocking vs. drive blocking
2. The defenses are showing us something different than than last year.

My guess it's a combination of both.

One of the areas where our offense is truly antiquated is the blocking scheme. Notice I did not say it was simple.
This is the one area where CPJ could make a change to say a zone blocking scheme like some zone read programs do , that would have ramifications on recruiting and play calling flexibility that we do not have now.

 

[Essobee]

This from Boomergump's earlier post:

"Slumps get extended because players think too hard and try too hard. The way out is to practice with GREAT INTENSITY and FOCUS to develop muscle memory and instincts and then just relax in games."

Anyone who has played golf, pitched baseball, kicked field goals, and quarterbacked a team knows how important the above statement is to on-the-field success.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I really like what Boomer said.

I think one of the keys in this offense during a long season is the number 2 qb. He has to get series almost every game. Our QB's have to be physical and take a pounding.
I know Byerly is out, but watching Jordan play I see no reason he could not take at least one series in most games. I understand when JT has a hot hand you do not want to pull him but that has not been the case.
We will heal over the bye week but it's time to do somethings differently .

And for those that think Devine is not important to our line, you saw just how important he is.

"And for those that think Devine is not important to our line, you saw just how important he is."
AMEN !!!

 

[slugboy]

If having a few series with the #2 QB is so valuable, why haven't we seen much of MJ?

 

[GTMom]

"And for those that think Devine is not important to our line, you saw just how important he is."
AMEN !!!

Preach it, brotha!

 

[stech81]

Just read through most of this thread and agree with these posts. It's a team effort. Can't blame JT when no one is holding their block and he's pressured, chased after or sacked on every play. Bottom line. I feel bad his talent is being wasted and not supported.

I agree it's a team sport can't blame one person .

 

[Declinometer]

"And for those that think Devine is not important to our line, you saw just how important he is."
AMEN !!!

Seriously I didn't the night the line played any worse than any other game. Just saying

 

[Boomergump]

JT is making mistakes that he didn't make last year. Again though to his credit, he is working with a very young O-line which to me is making is job even tougher. Notice how many times he has zero protection even if it is an option play or a passing. He is still probably the best QB we have had under Johnson. I just wonder if it is his mistakes that are throwing off the o-line or if it is the rest of the 0-line that is causing him to make mistakes
Last year everything seemed to click together as the season progressed from JTs performance to the rest of the 0-line. That hasn't happened this year, nothing seems to mesh, and thats the thing with this option offense, its a collective effort

I don't think our line is THAT young. LT (sr) LG (sr) C (jr) RG (sr) LT (fr). These numbers reflect who started in Charlottesville.

 

[Papa Doc]

Outside the two cake walk games, Justin looks more like Reggie Ball every day. His passing accuracy has taken four or five steps backward. It looks like he refuses to pass over the middle for some unknown reason and limits his throws to sidelines only. His reads this year have been suspect. I know the OL has been awful in pass protection, but he doesn't handle people being in his face very well. Don't reply about all the AB injuries because every team has them. Didn't OSU loose two QB's last year? Maybe PJ is a QB killer, I don't know, but in year 8 we have no passing game and that is ridiculous.

he's 5'8", no play makers on the outside this year, and nothing but lookout blocks in the middle of the line; he's lucky to be alive

 

[LongforDodd]

he's 5'8", no play makers on the outside this year, and nothing but lookout blocks in the middle of the line; he's lucky to be alive

This season we've essentially had only 5 blockers. And it seems we've reverted a lot this year to more cut blocking. We've had very little blocking from the WRs and ABs. The results have been ugly and responsible for the bulk of our problem. Even though Sewak doesn't coach the AB's and WR's, he should be shown the door. Those that he is responsible for have regressed to an unforgivable level.

 

[Ash]

It's not all JT. He's having to deal with trying to make something out of busted plays a lot, and he's not doing a good job of it. If we could pass protect better he does not have to scramble as much and would likely be more accurate.

That said...my one criticism that seems like it can be fixed is his tendency to try and avoid tacklers but turning his shoulders, showing his back and changing directions. It is is killing us because when he takes the sack, it's 5-10 yards deeper than what it was before he changed direction. The tall, slow, skinny VA QB ran forward...not backward when avoiding pressure. JT could easily make a D pay with his speed for being over aggressive if he just changed his scrambling style a bit. Holding the ball in hopes of one of our receivers getting open is not a good bet this year.

 

[Josh H]

When the OP compares Ohio State's depth and Georgia Tech's depth in the same sentence, I cannot take the rest of this comment seriously. If you really think Georgia Tech and Ohio State are on the same playing field, I don't know what to say. It's a bad year. Take heart in the upset over FSU, that Tech still has a chance to beat UGA, and cheer the players who very clearly haven't given up and mailed it in.

Yes, JT missed the easy throw to Stewart. He made a pretty critical one last week. He also led the offense down the field once Virginia called off the dogs, which shows to me that given time to throw and given open receivers, he can hit them. In regards to the middle of the field, the A-backs are usually the ones running those routes. Not tight-ends. And most defenses pack about 8 or 9 players in there. When running for your life from 3 to 4 defenders, I'd imagine the 1v1 read on the sideline is a little easier to make.

I do agree with Ash above about JT scrambling. Running backward is never the best choice, and on at least one occasion yesterday he forced a throw to a covered receiver when he could have gained ten yards on his feet.

If you want to complain, complain about how Tech huddles up in an obvious hurry-up situation, how we still motion a player across the field (eating up at least a few seconds), line up A-backs instead of extra wide receivers in obvious passing situations, and in my opinion most importantly, have a separate "passing package" from the rest of the offense, minus the smoke route and play action. Defenses normally do a bit better against the run and the pass when they can guess with 95%+ certainty which one it is, and play action only truly works when defenders are afraid of the run, which has not been the case this year.

Seriously. Justin Thomas is a special player, but he's not the Nesbitt type to bounce off three defenders and get the first down. He's the special player who can make that one defender miss and take it 80 yards to the house. Get the surrounding cast playing better and we'll see more Orange Bowl performances and less performances like this year.

 

[up state jacket]

When the OP compares Ohio State's depth and Georgia Tech's depth in the same sentence, I cannot take the rest of this comment seriously. If you really think Georgia Tech and Ohio State are on the same playing field, I don't know what to say. It's a bad year. Take heart in the upset over FSU, that Tech still has a chance to beat UGA, and cheer the players who very clearly haven't given up and mailed it in.

Yes, JT missed the easy throw to Stewart. He made a pretty critical one last week. He also led the offense down the field once Virginia called off the dogs, which shows to me that given time to throw and given open receivers, he can hit them. In regards to the middle of the field, the A-backs are usually the ones running those routes. Not tight-ends. And most defenses pack about 8 or 9 players in there. When running for your life from 3 to 4 defenders, I'd imagine the 1v1 read on the sideline is a little easier to make.

I do agree with Ash above about JT scrambling. Running backward is never the best choice, and on at least one occasion yesterday he forced a throw to a covered receiver when he could have gained ten yards on his feet.

If you want to complain, complain about how Tech huddles up in an obvious hurry-up situation, how we still motion a player across the field (eating up at least a few seconds), line up A-backs instead of extra wide receivers in obvious passing situations, and in my opinion most importantly, have a separate "passing package" from the rest of the offense, minus the smoke route and play action. Defenses normally do a bit better against the run and the pass when they can guess with 95%+ certainty which one it is, and play action only truly works when defenders are afraid of the run, which has not been the case this year.

Seriously. Justin Thomas is a special player, but he's not the Nesbitt type to bounce off three defenders and get the first down. He's the special player who can make that one defender miss and take it 80 yards to the house. Get the surrounding cast playing better and we'll see more Orange Bowl performances and less performances like this year.

Not comparing Tech to OSU, just saying the injury excuse doesn't hold water. OSU did play a 3rd string QB and did win with him. I repeat a 3rd sting QB. We are complaining about Abacks being out is laughable. How is that for clarity? If a team has to call off dogs for JT to get passes off that is not a positive any way you spin it. I can hit open receivers when I have all day to throw to. How a player handles himself when the bullets are firing at you show what kind of player you are. We've seen the answer.