Virginia Postgame

Heisman's Ghost

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It may be a little early to return to this board, but I will tell you guys, don't feel as good about your offense, don't feel as bad about your defense.

We are legitimately very good on offense. We are legitimately awful on defense.

I would call Techmo Bowl a coin flip game
Watching a slow white boy with a knee brace go tearing through Tech's defense like the second coming of Cam Newton was...curious.
 

Augusta_Jacket

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Touché. To be fair though, comparing interception totals without disclosing that Manning had 122 more pass attempts (~33%) is just as much of a "gotcha."

Not even close. It's obvious that Manning was a generational player in an offense built for his talents to shine, vs a true freshman QB often asked to scramble behind a patchwork line, but that's still not on the order of trotting out guys with 4-5 total college games as a QB.
 

smokey_wasp

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I agree the offense is ok. But I believe they are ok not because of coaching but because we have some stud athletes who can make plays (think UGA for the longest). Gibbs is the same electric, take it to the house, guy as he was the first day he stepped foot on campus. Sims is better than he was when he stepped foot on campus but in my opinion not because of coaching but because he has now played double digit games as QB and as an athlete he’ll get better. I think with real coaching he could take some big steps in reading defenses and those QB things beyond athleticism. But we’ll score points because we have very athletic skilled position players. But when we face DC’s who make us think we look horrible on offense.
So, when players do poorly, it's because of coaching. When they improve and do well, it is in spite of coaching. Got it.
 

Northeast Stinger

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Touché. To be fair though, comparing interception totals without disclosing that Manning had 122 more pass attempts (~33%) is just as much of a "gotcha."
Great point.

Also, the main metric for judging quarterbacks since the QB position was invented has been winning games. It’s the reason the term quarterback has become the metaphor for winning in many different areas of life.

Roger Stauback had anemic numbers compared to Sims but he won the Heisman and he won games at the college level and the pro level. I’m not taking shots at Sims, I want him to succeed, just saying that metrics that only look at passing statistics are not the whole story and can be misleading.
 

Augusta_Jacket

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Roger Stauback had anemic numbers compared to Sims but he won the Heisman and he won games at the college level and the pro level.

Babe Ruth was a great pitcher as well as a slugger. Punting on third down used to be a common practice. Sports change throughout the years. Comparing Staubach and other QBs of his era to todays QBs is a fools errand for the most part.
 

Lee

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The fact that there are people on here insinuating Sims is the issue fit our struggles is laughable.

Most of you arguing this are old (by your own admission in post I’ve seen before). We’re you calling for Joe Hamilton to be benched for a lesser QB when he was young too?

I honestly think the issues is less Sims vs Yares per se and more to do with who recruited each player.

The loudest Sims haters just happen to be the biggest CGC haters and CPJ apologists.

The OL (though the played better last week) and the defense are the issues on this team.

Through the first 21 games of his career, arguably the best GT QB in the last 59 years had the following stats:

Passing: 3656 yards. 19 tds. 20 INTs

Rushing: 726 yards. 8 tds. Avg 3.1/carry

Sims in 15 games:

Passing: 2970 yards. 22 tds. 18 INTs

Rushing: 812 yards. 10 tds. Avg 4.8/carry

Not saying Sims is going to be Joe Ham, but some of y’all need to chill out and point some of that energy towards what the defense is doing (or not doing).
 

Em_Jae20

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Good to hear Coach Thack taking responsibility and actually voicing that. Hearing how much our team "battled" and "fought" in losing efforts gets stale after hearing it so many times. Hopefully we'll start to put together complete games in all 3 fazes starting with virginia tech this Saturday

 

Northeast Stinger

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Babe Ruth was a great pitcher as well as a slugger. Punting on third down used to be a common practice. Sports change throughout the years. Comparing Staubach and other QBs of his era to todays QBs is a fools errand for the most part.
It’s not a comparison; it’s an analogy. The term quarterback has an established meaning that has survived centuries and has a definite meaning in our culture today. Statistics do not define that established meaning. Leadership and winning do.
 

Gtswifty81

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Good to hear Coach Thack taking responsibility and actually voicing that. Hearing how much our team "battled" and "fought" in losing efforts gets stale after hearing it so many times. Hopefully we'll start to put together complete games in all 3 fazes starting with virginia tech this Saturday


Any video of those statements available?
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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So, when players do poorly, it's because of coaching. When they improve and do well, it is in spite of coaching. Got it.
Dude, I never said that. The whole program is doing poorly. That, I absolutely blame on the coaches. It’s their program. They choose who plays. That they keep running certain guys out there shows us all they are fairly poor decision makers. Of course, I think they’ve been making poor decisions since they opted for Lucas Johnson over Graham in game 1.

And yes, Sims should be much further along in his development than he is. If we are going to be a sophisticated passing offense then you gotta teach your QB. They aren’t. I feel bad for Sims.
 

forensicbuzz

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Peyton also put up a lot more td passes to go with those interceptions. It is definitely a team issue to some degree, and I don't think anyone expects Jeff to throw zero interceptions, we just want to see the better more consistent decision making on his part, like Yates does. He's 9:5 TD-INT right now which is pretty solid, but he's gotten lucky that some of his WTF plays got cancelled out by penalties or the defense not taking advantage. If you were to put Yates' decision-making/game management with Jeff's athletic ability, you would have arguably the best qb in the country.
I think his decision-making is youth and will get better. It might not. There are plenty of upperclassmen QB's throwing a lot of picks.

I agree that combining the best of each of them would make for a phenomenal QB. But, I look around and there aren't many 1st year or 2nd year QB's absolutely killing it in college football. He's still learning to play within the system and not just improvise because he's the best player on the field, hands' down. Other than the top QB's at top-ranked programs, how many underclassmen are really tearing it up?
 

WreckinGT

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Dude, I never said that. The whole program is doing poorly. That, I absolutely blame on the coaches. It’s their program. They choose who plays. That they keep running certain guys out there shows us all they are fairly poor decision makers. Of course, I think they’ve been making poor decisions since they opted for Lucas Johnson over Graham in game 1.

And yes, Sims should be much further along in his development than he is. If we are going to be a sophisticated passing offense then you gotta teach your QB. They aren’t. I feel bad for Sims.
Not sure how I got attached to this quote. I didn’t post it. For what it’s worth though I agree.
 

GoldZ

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Passing accuracy imo is a lot like tackling ability, you either have it when you first step off da bus on campus, or you don't. Brady wasn't taught to accurately pass via a coach correcting his mechanics anymore than Tech coaches taught Roof to tackle. It's to me a lot like great hitters in baseball, in that it's all about exceptional vision, which is not typically taught.
 

Augusta_Jacket

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Passing accuracy imo is a lot like tackling ability, you either have it when you first step off da bus on campus, or you don't. Brady wasn't taught to accurately pass via a coach correcting his mechanics anymore than Tech coaches taught Roof to tackle. It's to me a lot like great hitters in baseball, in that it's all about exceptional vision, which is not typically taught.

All the vision in the world won't help a mechanically bad baseball swing. Developing a proper swing is one of the harder things in all of sports. While good vision is a great thing to have, you still have to have a fundamentally sound swing to make contact. Ultimately, good vision helps you see the spin on the ball a little sooner, which can help you determine where that ball is going to cross the plate a split second faster. Still have to make contact with it.

Also, Brady uses Tom House as a personal "throwing coach" to help him with his mechanics. I'm not sure I agree with your premise.
 

GoldZ

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All the vision in the world won't help a mechanically bad baseball swing. Developing a proper swing is one of the harder things in all of sports. While good vision is a great thing to have, you still have to have a fundamentally sound swing to make contact. Ultimately, good vision helps you see the spin on the ball a little sooner, which can help you determine where that ball is going to cross the plate a split second faster. Still have to make contact with it.

Also, Brady uses Tom House as a personal "throwing coach" to help him with his mechanics. I'm not sure I agree with your premise.
Mechanics = teachable. Vision= non-teachable. House may help Brady not fall into bad habits, but what Brady has above his shoulders, House can not and does not help him with. Brees was born with uncanny accuracy, much like Roof, Burnett, and Tillman could tackle when they arrived on campus day one. Nature>>nuture.
 

slugboy

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Mechanics = teachable. Vision= non-teachable. House may help Brady not fall into bad habits, but what Brady has above his shoulders, House can not and does not help him with. Brees was born with uncanny accuracy, much like Roof, Burnett, and Tillman could tackle when they arrived on campus day one. Nature>>nuture.
I really recommend “The Sports Gene” as a great read. Here’s an article from a few years ago about it: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/are-elite-athletes-born-or-made/

Vision and speed are teachable and trainable. There are genes out there where some athletes will have higher ceilings (Chuck Yeager actually has an unusual ability to focus, and it’s genetic). However, not every ace has that. Vision and reading defenses are as much nurture as nature, maybe even more.
 
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