Chip Towers previews Georgia’s quarterbacks this morning, and while his conclusion is nothing earthshaking (“Look for the Bulldogs to go with Lambert early but play Eason a lot until they feel comfortable with his ability to lead the offense.”), he does write one thing worth noting.
One can be sure that offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Jim Chaney will have a quick trigger if things aren’t going well.
I don’t know enough about Chaney’s career to say whether he likes to channel his inner Spurrier if his quarterbacks aren’t playing to his liking, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume he does. Who’s likely to emerge from the quarterback shuffle?
My bet would be all in on Greyson Lambert, for one reason: he’s the one quarterback at Chaney’s disposal who’s used to playing musical chairs as the starter, both at Virginia and last season at Georgia. If Ramsey blows another chance, it’s likely to be his last in red and black, while Eason will just need more time – and be given more time – to develop.
Would it be the end of the world were that to happen? Well, it would likely mean the initial five-game stretch to start the season would be a little rocky, but remember that Lambert didn’t lose a game after he regained his starting status last year and that the rest of this year’s schedule isn’t that daunting. If Chaney has a healthy Nick Chubb at his disposal for the second half of the season, the offense is manageable, if not exactly prolific.
While it may not be an optimal scenario, given that Chaney made a competent quarterback out of Nathan Peterman last season with a weaker surrounding cast than whoever is named Georgia’s starter will have to play with in 2016, if none of the three can lock down the job early, Lambert should prove serviceable.
Get The Picture 
The only game in November in which Lambert’s performance could be considered “serviceable” was against Tech. He threw for less than 70 yards vs. Kentucky and less than 100 vs. Auburn. In 4 of the 5 wins after the WLOCP Lambert was atrocious. Saying he “won” any of those four games is like giving a pitcher with 12 earned runs in 6 innings the W because his team scored 18. It may be a W, but I’m not looking forward to seeing him on the mound anytime soon.
Play Eason.
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Where did I say that Lambert won any of the last five games of the year?
Serviceable merely means that he didn’t cost the team a game. If Lambert winds up with the starting job, it likely means the coaches think the other two could cost the team a game.
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“but remember that Lambert didn’t lose a game after he regained his starting status last year”
You think you’ve been taken out of context? What does “didn’t lose” mean other than “won”? There is a direct “Lambert started and we won” correlation in the post in support of an argument. I don’t think I’ve abused the language of the post at all.
Who knows why coaches do what they do? I know that Vince didn’t start his best tailback in Knoxville in 1980. Probably thought 34 could cost us the game right? I know that Zeier was the best QB on campus the day he arrived and didn’t get to start until after we lost in Tuscaloosa 10-0. Coaches can be a conservative lot to be sure. I’d just rather see the best QB play, warts and all, than to see a tentative, inaccurate and indecisive qb out there.
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Didn’t lose means just that – he didn’t do anything to cost Georgia a game.
Not sure why this is so hard for you to grasp, other than you’ve got a rooting interest in Eason winning the job. I guess if you were the offensive coordinator, I could have saved myself the effort and not posted this.
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“…he didn’t do anything to cost Georgia a game.”
Semantics, but I would argue that he did a lot that could have cost Georgia a game, the team simply managed to win in spite of him, not because of him. Hell, it took a touchdown pass from Godwin to win our bowl game…
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Could have cost and did cost – that’s a little more than a difference in semantics, I think.
Look, I’m not trying to argue that Greyson Lambert was a great quarterback last season. But Georgia was 10-2 when he started. If you think Kirby wouldn’t take that this season, you’re kidding yourself.
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But they weren’t 10-2 BECAUSE of Lambert. They were 10-2 WITH Lambert. There is a HUGE distinction in those two things.
Hell, let’s make him the next fucking UGA mascot. It’s not like his play matters, it’s just his being around that correlates to winning.
As far as taking 10-2, of course he would. Not getting there tho with the 2016 schedule and Lambert paying like he did last year. I don’t think that we can count on Auburn, Mizzou or Tech being as anemic on offense as they were last year.
As far as rooting interests they are begin the team not any players. If I thought that Lambert could beat the teams on our schedule and challenge for an East title, I’d be behind him. Having watched him play, my conclusion is that he’s terrible and that it pressures every other phase of the game to play perfect AND a mediocre to poor opponent to win.
We may have been 10-2 with, because of or in spite of Lambert but did we beat anybody that won 8 games? Wasn’t Birmingham bowl bound auburn our best win?
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Jesus, I know they weren’t 10-2 because of Lambert. Did you read anything I posted last season?
IN THE CONTEXT OF NONE OF THE THREE QBS TAKING THE REINS AND WINNING THE JOB, what Kirby has to weigh is whether he loses more games with Lambert or one of the other two. That’s all I’m arguing here.
As far as your last point goes, this year’s schedule after game five is just as weak as last season’s.
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I read every post.
Sure if they all suck go with the one who has the most experience at it.
I don’t think Mizzou and Auburn and Tech will be as bad in 2016 as they were in 2015, but we’ll see.
Of course one would think that W’s and L’s are the issue, but I think there are other factors at play whether they should be or not:
1) recruiting. If Eason plays and looks good, that’s great for recruiting
2) if Eason is the qb of the future, the more experience the better
3) ego and control. Handing a team to a young kid can be frought with questioning from outsiders and fraught with risks of the kid getting a big head too early. Often coaches go with the easy answer to limit risks seperate and apart from the abilities of the players.
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If Eason plays well, then we’re not having this discussion.
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I wish that were true. I saw him
Eason play well once already. I’m sold. I hope Kirby is either there or close. I’m hoping for a mid-August announcement that it’s Eason so that we really are done with this.
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Potatoes or tomato’s, its the same thing
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Lol
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More happy talk please. None of this reality stuff.
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Senator, I think your take is spot on………..but I’m still going to consider poking sharp sticks in my eyes when Lambert trots out on the field at the Dome.
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Chuckle…agreed. I do not want to live through another season like the last…
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I think Lambert was in a bar last weekend and scrambled out of it because he heard loud voices on the other side.
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I heard almost the same story, but with a different ending: he threw his beer into the crowd before running away.
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Well played.
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I really don’t want to watch Lambert again this year. I’d prefer to watch Eason blow a few games while he learns. But Kirby knows anything less than 10 wins will be seen as a failure so he has to go with the guy who gives us the best chance to win.
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I don’t go to the games not minding if we lose for any purpose. Sorry, different perspective.
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I agree with Dylan (below) “My experience is that Lambert and Ramsey are both talented but make a lot of mental errors. If our QBs are going to make mistakes anyway. Let’s do that with the stud and let him learn on the job.”
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Dawg porn gone to the trash, LOL.
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Just win baby!!…honestly, I think it is either Lambert or Ramsey that starts – my money is on Lambert. Lambert’s biggest problem last year in my opinion was his receivers not getting open (losing Chubb did not help either)
. It will be a different look this year….winning with Lambert or Ramsey while Eason learns is not a bad thing – it would be ideal.
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While I would say that receivers not getting open was a problem–Lambert’s biggest problem was hitting a linebacker in the numbers 2-3 times a game. That wasn’t fun to watch and it was just dumb luck that they didn’t catch them.
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agree. I think he proved the axiom that TE’s with bad hands play defense. And he found every one of them, they just dropped it.
In addition to bad feet and poor mechanics, he has a very small range where he can be accurate, I’d say no more than 10 yards from LOS.
If SCe had any faith in their DB’s and pressed our WR’s, I don’t think we see that epic performance. Schotty drew up the one gameplan that works for GL but as soon as DC’s wised up, we were down to a Gary Hollingsworth part deux.
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Lambert also just did not have pocket presence last year. Not like he had a great line but he often went on the move for no reason; probably further hurting his accuracy. He’s not even a homeless man’s dog’s Aaron Rodgers. Flush him out of the pocket and at worst you get an incomplete pass.
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I hear what you are saying …..but he only threw 2 interceptions last year. I would be ecstatic if that is all we had this year. To his credit, he held the ball a little too long last year….but that is because his recievers were getting jammed at the LOS and not getting open when they were not. We were small as hell at that position last year, that changes some this year. My only point/points are:
1) Lambert’s biggest problem was recievers not getting open last year….this year, we have a new group (with some height), which gives me hope.
2) the best situation would be for Lambert or Ramsey to manage some wins until Eason is ready. I believe A. Murray mentioned someting similar recently.
I know that Lambert is not the long term answer. I just want to win until Eason is ready…..win ugly, I do not care. It is all the same to me.
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If we’re undefeated at the end of September with Lambert or Ramsey but Eason is “ready,” you’re suggesting that we change QBs then. If we turned around and lost 2 or 3 games with Eason (see Stafford 2006) after that, this fan base would be howling about what idiots Kirby and Chaney are.
You dance with your starter (whoever that may be) until the season’s goals are gone, then you start preparing for ’17 with Eason as the starter.
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Shhh, an opposing DC could hear this and start inserting a tight end as a linebacker when Lambert’s in the game….
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Now seems like a good time to raise a glass and toast this week’s “point-of-the-week” which made Spurrier quit! Hear, hear!!!
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I am finding myself in a position about 180 degrees from where I was 5 months ago. If Chaney can make something out of Nathan Peterman, he should be able to do the same – or better, much better – with Eason. If Eason doesn’t play early I hope the reason is that either Lambert or Ramsey has had a light come on and Eason can’t beat them out.
My experience is that Lambert and Ramsey are both talented but make a lot of mental errors. If our QBs are going to make mistakes anyway. Let’s do that with the stud and let him learn on the job.
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If Chubb is healthy enough to start versus UNC and if Chaney/Pittman/Smart are confident in their OL, and if Eason looks at least as good as Lambert and/or Ramsey the first week of September, Eason will start versus UNC.
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No, no, no! Not only does this assume a repeat of last year’s disastrous QB competition through camp, but extends it through the first several games, or perhaps the entire season.
That scenario might be a dream come true for towers & the ajc, who would love controversy and would probably prefer we struggle. But the best thing for the team is to pick a starting QB and stick with him. If Eason is anywhere near ready, it’s got to be him from the get-go. Picking Lambert is equivalent to limping through the season and hoping nobody notices our QB sucks.
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If Lambert starts any games this year then my confidence in Smart and Chaney goes to the toilet. There are no upsides to Lambert starting. He has no strengths other than some mental power preventing defenders from intercepting balls thrown right to them. Lambert has had his shot. Ramsey needs experience to get better. So does Eason. At least build the position for next year at the least which is what should have happened last year with Ramsey.
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I agree with this. We only retained 2 position coaches from last year and the rest is a clean slate. 93k came to G-Day to say ok, we’re all in, let’s move into the future!
If Lambert starts on day one, I believe that we’ll be able to actually feel all the enthusiasm being sucked out of Dawgnation. And you’ll see fans exiting in the likes of the Alabama game pretty quickly.
If Eason is half of what they say he is and he’s got a line that can give him a little protection, put his ass on the field and let him come out swinging!
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This. I believe you are both correct.
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The spring and summer may have softened my recollection and my own frustrations with Lambert, but I don’t get all the vitriol directed toward the kid. He’s surely played the best he can, he’s not groused about the QB shuffling or pouted, and seems to have taken the criticism from the fan base with quite a bit of grace, imho.
He played his position about as well as the rest of the offensive players played theirs last year, save the tailbacks and Malcolm Mitchell, of course.
The Bulldogs were 10-2 with him under center and while yes, we didn’t score a lot of points in some of the wins, the Dawgs also scored 31 points in one of those losses.
We can talk causation / correlation all day long, but either Lambert was – as the Senator suggests – the very definition of a “serviceable” quarterback or we had some genius coaches last year and didn’t know it.
I was as embarrassed as anyone by the Florida game, but in the case of the Alabama game we should have known well beforehand that we just didn’t have the horses in 2015, at QB or virtually anywhere else, and some years that’s just going to happen.
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It’s nothing personal against the kid. He isn’t SEC qb material. People keep throwing out 10-2 like he helped achieve that record. He was the worst QB of the Richt era which includes JT3. He has had 4 years of college and I’m afraid if he hasn’t learned how to be a good QB by now then he isn’t going to improve this year. Eason and Ramsey will more than likely get much better with in game repetitions.
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Lambert was not worse than JT3 who couldn’t throw the ball out of his own shadow. There’s a reason he was the punt protector up until that time. We beat Florida in 2005 with a QB with Lambert’s skills rather than JT3.
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At some point in every game Lambert decided he was playing basketball which is why he threw do many bounce passes. That places him in the JT3 category.
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I get that people aren’t thrilled about Lambert. He hasnt shown much. The thing that I can’t understand is throwing out Lambert while heaping praise on Ramsey. At least Lambert has actually won the starting job @ 2 schools. He has actually won games and thrown more TDs than INTs.
Eason is what every 5 star QB is, potential and people love them some potential.
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Potential on the bench is unrealized potential.
I do have a concern that starting a frightened Eason could do him harm psychologically, and I hope the coaches consider that and act accordingly, but right now, from what we saw last season and in the spring, that’s the only reason not to start Eason.
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Of the 31 points you reference in the UT loss, 14 were scored by defense and special teams. Let’s not give Lambert and the offense too much credit for that outpouring of points.
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Yep – there was no offensive explosion in that game
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Lambert wins that TN game if Davis catches that pass that hit him in the hands at the end of the game. But … that was Lambert throwing the INT in the Spring game that was returned for a touchdown. Right out of the “try not to make a mistake” Mason playbook.
Give me the QB that can consistently throw those back shoulder passes like Murray did. I think that’s Eason (as he grows) or Ramsey.
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Yep – forgot about that. In my defense, it was a whole 8 months ago… 😉
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Still don’t get the hate for Lambert….world beater no, game loser, surely far from that.
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Lambert early on but Eason (& Chubb) are starters by the third game
The Dawgs have a chance against Ole Miss & Tenn.
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I would want to have more in game experience before getting to the cheaters and the rapists games.
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Coaches know with this easy schedule 10 wins is a must. Eason has the skills to do that whereas Lambert has shown he might not.
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So hard the lulz…
so many people are certain and a high school kid with almost no experience against top talent has the skills and that there is simply no way for a smart kid with some experience and talent to get better with some coaching and time.
Lambert could get better, I suspect will get better. Eason could get better, but is starting out behind everyone.
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By that rationale…Ramsey could also improve. And I think he has a higher upside than Lambert. So if Eason is behind them both and Ramsey improves more than Lambert to get into a close or very close second…I say play Ramsey just because he throws harder. Even in limited, his throws were on a target (I know I know–read: our guy or theirs) noticeably faster than Lambert’s.
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I agree. Everyone can improve. I suspect that a lot of players will improve this year simply from having new eyes watching them. I hope that everyone on the team improves from last year because the team wasnt that great last year.
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Ramsey came in highly rated and took a redshirt. This is his fourth year in Athens. He could get better. But if he hasn’t been able to distinguish himself before now it’s unlikely he will. Not impossible, but unlikely. Lambert lost his job at Virginia. An also ran in the Coastal division of the ACC. You know, the division that neither Clemson nor Florida State plays in. So despite being a high school kid with no experience, the job is essentially Eason’s to lose. Let’s not forget, this was true of Ramsey at one point and he managed to lose it. To Lambert. There have been many other highly rated QB’s who never earned significant playing time. But what the heck, it’s unlikely the kid will be significantly worse than the other two. We won’t know until we give him a shot. At least that’s how I feel in June. Check back in August.
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Lambert all this time had just been hiding his talent as a QB waiting until he’s drafted by the NFL to unleash his greatness, LOL
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The Senator and Derek in a cat fight. That just made my day.
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