“We’ll make the decision when we feel like it’s the right time to make the decision.”

Gee, I wonder what decision Brian Schottenheimer’s referring to there.  He does manage a pretty good crack about having been in a multiple quarterback situation (“I was around it in college, obviously, playing for the Ol’ Ball Coach.”), but what’s of greater interest is what he claims to be looking for in his eventual starter:

“You want to see a guy that can move the team. Obviously we feel very good that we’re going to be able to run the football. We want guys that can throw completions. But when the opportunity presents itself, we want them to push it and go make plays. We have good skill players, so certainly they don’t have to make the perfect throw every time. But, again, what I’m used to is consistent play at quarterback. And that’s certainly what they’ve had here, a guy who takes care of the football.

“The big thing for the whole offense, and that includes the quarterbacks, is consistency. We can’t make a great play and then take a step back. We need to have multiple good practices, multiple good periods together. That’s when you know you’re becoming a good offense.”

So, it’s a playmaker who doesn’t have to be perfect, but has to be consistent that he wants.  Well, hell, don’t we all?

What he says he doesn’t want is a game manager.

“I hate the term manage the game. We’re not looking for that. We want a guy that can go out and make plays as well. Certainly there’s going to be a lot of vertical elements to what we do. At the end of the day their job is to move the team and score points.”

Now obviously how big a grain of salt you want to take with that is a matter of taste.  I don’t read that as an endorsement of, say, the kind of play Bobo got out of Hutson Mason last year, but Schottenheimer prefaced that remark by complimenting Mason for having been someone who “goes out and takes care of the football.”

My interpretation, for what it’s worth, is that this all sounds consistent with what I think I’ve heard from Richt ever since last season concluded.  The coaches want the bullet of a deep passing game in their holster, but aren’t crazy enough to risk everything for that.  There’s a cost benefit analysis being run every day with the three quarterback candidates.  It’s up to one of them to make a convincing case that he’s worth taking that risk.  If we take the coaches at face value on this, nobody to date has made that case.

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