The problem isn’t that he can’t get the ball far enough downfield. Here’s a play where he overthrew a speedy Burton for a touchdown.
The problem on that play is Bennett knew where he was going from the snap and so missed Pickens coming open late and really missed Smith White leaking out late with nobody around him for fifteen yards.
I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but there were guys open all night. Bennett’s got to trust the play designs more than he’s showing.
Get The Picture 
Sure he got the ball down field but it took so much effort that he lost touch – he just heaved it as far as he could. Kind of a hope and prayer type throw.
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My point is, the play wasn’t really designed to go deep. Burton’s purpose was to clear the middle for an easier throw. And it worked, too!
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Yup. I think he wants to be the hero with long ball TD’s. It seemed he was playing to beat Jones rather than win the game. I lost count of the times he missed wide open receivers and either threw into double / triple coverage or launched balls down the field with poor accuracy.
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Definitely this. He got pulled into thinking he had to play with Jones. Absolutely.
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Sniff, that is a very interesting take. Seems plausible.
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*Spur
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Hey, Pruitt goaded Kirby into going for it on 4th down on our 38 as UT had just done the same thing at the same place a moment earlier. Even, or maybe because, an older guy can still be goaded into showing you his. (No, not a commentary on Jeffrey Tobin!)
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Tobin lol guess his mama didn’t warn him.
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Let’s hope it’s that and not that he’s deciding where he’s going pre-snap every time. Won’t matter against a lot of defenses in the regular season, but Kentucky (and Mizzou and surprisingly Miss St) could make him pay. And even 3rd and Grantham could get lucky if he keeps throwing to someone triple-covered.
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How do you think the UGA “OC” feels about those missed opportunities….
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Burton WAS open. He just missed him. Sure, there were others open too, but if he hits Burton there it may have stemmed the Tide a bit.
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There’s open and there’s OPEN. Burton was open. White was OPEN — easier throw and nobody covering him.
I love the home run ball as much as anyone, but if White catches that ball, it’s an easy 15 yards and maybe more since he’d be running with a full head of steam.
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I see every deep ball being challenged or having someone crawling over the receiver’s back. If he swings the ball to Cook or White or anyone on those short or intermediate throws, maybe defenders wouldn’t be contesting the deep pass every play…
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White is the safety valve. Pickens came open after SB committed. Burton was open and suspect they felt his speed was going to burn the safeties because of the PA. I’d critique his poor decisions throwing into coverage and INTs before this play.
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I guess we read the play differently. I saw Burton’s role there as taking the top off the coverage so that the underneath would be open, which it was.
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That may be your inner QB coach talking about a really good and effective play design, but what I see is Stetson never hesitating to go deep. The little hop step he takes after the PA is to load up the throw. Don’t see him reading the field. It would be really interesting to know what Monken really wanted there and to your bigger point…we have a more effective passing attack this year, just lacking execution.
The one play I don’t see a lot of is the back-shoulder throw…Fromm’s favorite and Picken’s specialty. Think that is by design, or another talent problem and is creating the by-product of taking PIcken out of the game on our own?
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I agree about Stetson’s read. That’s the problem.
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What a difference from last year. No options to TOO MANY OPTIONS! This is where elite QB ism kicks in. Good gosh almighty Stafford with all those looks. He could just rotate in a circle – heres a pass for you, and for you, and for you, and for you also, maybe I keep one for me now.
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Agree, he went to the right receiver….he just missed him (adrenalin?). If you are that wide open for a possible TD, you make that throw ALL day long.
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Monken gets guys open. That’s really encouraging. I think 2020 just is what it is. QB position just became a cluster.
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agree but “just became”. lol
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Another thing is; if he hits the wide open shorter throws, this extends the drive and keeps Bama’s offense off the field. At the point of this play it’s a little moot, but our defense got tired. If we have extended plays resulting in a touchdown, maybe our defense is rested and can put pressure like they did earlier in the game.
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Is no one going to mention the blitz tha necessitated a rushed throw?
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No, because (1) the blitz was slow developing and (2) the throw wasn’t rushed.
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The offense definitely has problems, but the OC isn’t one of them this season. The good news is that I don’t think it’s as bad as it appears even with Stetson running the show. The Mailman has to understand that if he just plays within Monken’s scheme, the big plays will come.
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This is where I am. I think Stetson needs to learn/trust Monken and vice versa. They have receivers open and Stetson can hit them. Just play within the system.
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I don’t think Stetson sees anything beyond what he decides before the snap.
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… like Fromm.
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Or when it isnt there and he scramble make up throws.
All those INTs that didnt happen in the previous 3 games came home to roost, and it always goes that way. People ignore the misses, then shocked when lady luck no longer smiles.
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I don’t think Monken escapes blame here. He does a great job designing and calling plays but he needs to do a better job coaching Bennett. They are communicating between series, so why isn’t he telling him that the middle of the field is crowded and the check downs are wide open, or to take the easier throws? Maybe he is and Bennett is just going to be Bennett. But if Bennett’s not coachable then he needs to be pulled, or Monken needs to do a better job coaching him.
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Do a better job coaching bennett? He took a 4th string walk on and made him a starter in 1 of 2 of the biggest games of the season. Thats great coaching. Come on man.
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Monken didn’t make Bennett into a starter. Bennett fell into the role because the first, second, and third choices wouldn’t/couldn’t. Bennett played well when he got his chance and the coaches rode the momentum. No doubt Monken has done a good job coaching Bennett. I’m not suggesting Monken is not a good coach, just that the in-game adjustments at QB didn’t happen in this game. Opportunities were clearly there, either Bennett wasn’t listening or Monken wasn’t helping him see them.
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In game adjustments happened. Bennett was overwhelmed. And you cant give Monken if you cant give him the credit. Bennet is where he is because monken is an amazing OC that is working with sub optimal gifted talent.
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Monken may very well be telling him – it’s possible Stetson has enough confidence or arrogance to think he knows better and will show everyone. I’m starting to think he suffers from “little man syndrome” and wants to prove something that isn’t there.
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As I put this game in the rear view mirror, I’m more convinced we’re going to see a big dose of manball between now and December. Smart can’t let SBIV throw it all over the place and wear the defense down. Every drive ends with a kick of some kind. Monken is going to be the good soldier and try to lean on the running game and use it to set up the pass. We have to face the fact that SBIV is a great story, but he isn’t an SEC championship caliber QB. We still have issues at wide receiver playing against elite talent in the secondary. We play Alabama again, and the result will be exactly the same and maybe worse because Saban will have the blueprint to shut down the offense with SBIV under center.
I’m ok with 9-2 and a NY6 bowl as a consolation prize because that will mean we’ve beaten this year’s version of the Big 3.
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I disagree. I think the first three games showed he is in fact an SEC caliber QB, and possibly even a pretty good one if he can improve on his weaknesses. He’s just inexperienced, IMO.
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And by “inexperienced” I mean playing this caliber of competition, in this offense, with this OC, with this group of receivers. He has a lot of room for growth, obviously, but it appears to me that the smarts, raw skills, and competitiveness are there. Yes, he has the skills, IMO.
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I said I didn’t think he was an SEC championship caliber quarterback. I don’t believe we can ride SBIV to a win in MBS unless a team other than Alabama represents the West this year (which isn’t going to happen because they pretty much have the West already won with LSU and Auburn’s troubles and the tiebreaker already in hand with Texas A&M). I would love to be proven wrong.
Can he be the guy who is the QB on a team that finishes the regular season 9-1? Likely yes unless we experience the same issues in Jacksonville. He is a serviceable QB1 for a team with a dominant defense that plays that way week in and week out.
The SEC championship and a playoff berth likely left Athens as soon as Jamie Newman checked out of Athens following Fromm’s head-scratching decision to declare early.
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It spoke volumes when Little Nicky was interviewed at halftime when he said something to the effect of we let #4 (Cook) get a couple of plays on us … he sounded like we aren’t worried because I know what we’re going to do. We’ll tighten things up and win the game.
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Right, you did say “championship caliber.” Gotcha.
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Also, I really would like to have more info re: Newman’s decision. I suspect think there was more to it than covid fears, myself.
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Seth has an interesting story on this in The Athletic this morning.
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Newman either saw something he didn’t like early on or he listened to the wrong voices. Possibly both. I really don’t think he improved his draft stock by running away and I’l be shocked if he is drafted in the first three rounds.
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Paid by an agent and sold a good story by an agent.
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Do you think he did in fact take agent money and was caught which left him no choice but to leave?
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Heard too many stories about his agent. I don’t think he got caught, I think the agent said how would you like some money now and train and not get hurt.
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So Bama recruits and gets 5-star receivers who look and play like it and we get 5-star receivers who don’t. Are we not as good at player evaluation? Player development? Somebody’s got some splainin’ to do.
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I’m not sure what the deal is. Coley did a darn good job with the receivers. As the last couple of years have gone on, I’m becoming more convinced Hankton is an excellent recruiter who may not be the best position coach. Just my $.02.
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I think it is QB play or lack there of.
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He just needs to run the offense and stop trying to hit the hero throws.
That was far from the worst example.
54 yards in the air isn’t terrible I suppose. If he’s going to throw those he needs to release it earlier and on a higher trajectory. Let the wr go track it down.
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Watching live I thought Stetson played fine. Watching the film, he was terrible. Throwing into double and triple coverage. Overthrowing open guys. Completely missing wide open dudes play after play and staring down his initial read instead.
It was really bad. And it wasn’t on the WRs. He also showed no mobility in the pocket to slide into throwing lanes or away from pressure. Yes he has legs when he runs but he doesn’t make the small movements the good QBs make.
awful awful game by him and I hope he returns to form. But this wasn’t on the WRs or Monken. In fact we could have scored w bama all night if we had good QB play.
Is he still the best on our
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Spence, you’re a bigger man than I. I deleted the game off my DVR before I was tempted to rewatch it (plus my wife would have said, “Why are you putting yourself through that again?”). I saw that a bunch of that live as well (as did Kirby if you listened to his post-game presser).
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I signed up for Brooks Austin’s Patreon. I really learn a ton from his breakdowns and see things my non-football eyes can’t.
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^^ This. Brooks’ show (?) is becoming a must watch for me. As a football Neanderthal I find the knowledge someone like Brooks has fascinating.
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I’ll 3rd this motion — that Austin cat is an informative football source.
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ty
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I see it, but a little differently. Burton was breaking open deep and it looked like a opportunity. And maybe the idea was to show Bama there is a deep threat. If he had hit Burton, then we would be looking at the replay and singing praises.
There are some things we need to accept.
Stetson is small for an SEC QB. That won’t change. But he’s also intelligent and determined. Unless someone steps up to beat him out, he will be a hell of a lot better at these things by the time the Dawgs (hopefully) get to ATL.
Neman screwed us royally. Had Stetson or Dwan had all of that coaching, working with the ones, etc. they would be functioning at a higher level. You may be tired of hearing this, but it really is true. It takes a zillion reps to get this stuff to become instinctive vs borderline panic for the kid standing in the pocket. It’s a long learning process. Being the #1 for three weeks without the benefit of being the QB in camp isn’t going to prepare anyone for playing against Alabama’s defense.
Will Monken have him roll out more? That would combat the batts.
The receiving corps will also need to limit the drops. That’s a “head” thing that takes some coaching to fix.
IF the Dawgs can struggle through and win out (that’s a big “if”) we may see a better passing game in the SECCG.. Alabama is already about as good as it can be, so unless the Dawgs regress, the performance gap should close up at least some.
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He did NOT play intelligent on Saturday. Kirby was right that he needed to make better choices.
There were throwing lanes and Stetson didn’t bother moving to slide into them. Breese, Wilson, Flutie all slide around in the pocket. Stetson stands there until it’s time to throw or run.
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I think you meant White leaking out late, but I agree that arm strength is not the issue but rather accuracy and ability to read the field. He just doesn’t know this offense yet and is like a freshman in many ways because of that.
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Yeah… who the hell is Smith? 😉
Thanks for catching that.
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Musa?
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Devonte. Plays for Alabama. PTSD is no laughing matter, Bluto. Maybe you could sue Saban, have him send Booch over to wash the Caymen or something.
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Burton was open as well. Not as open, but we have to be able to hit on that if we’re going to throw it.
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The toughest thing about playing QB seems to be knowing the offense enough to simplify every play. Sounds dumb I know but we had under routes and backs open all night. Using those simple throws to stay ahead of the sticks creates tons of pressure on a defense. Fromm was good at this as a Freshman and Sophomore. I think this is what Coley messed up about our offense and it screwed the whole offensive ecosystem. It won’t be difficult to coach Bennett to get better at taking what is open. He has all the tools we need to succeed in a big way but he has to stay away from 50/50 balls when we have running backs that will get us 8-12 yards wide ass open.
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The problem is that checkdown forces Bennett to throw in lanes where DLs have their hands up.
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I’m fine with the 50/50 balls he threw, though he overthrew them almost every time. But he stared down WRs and threw into double/triple coverage a lot. There were open men all over the field. I’ll give him credit for standing in the pocket and taking shot after shot, but if he can learn to slide in the pocket and have a better clock, he could be decent.
He was not decent Saturday. And I was defending him to the hilt on Saturday night. The tape is terrible. Awful.
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We have ALL been hollering about not stretching the field. That time he had the deep ball open (along with everyone else). That WAS the correct read on that, just not executed. Had that been Jones, the band would have been striking up the fight song as the WR streaked in to the end zone. It does not matter how open the receiver is if you don’t get it to him.
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The point is Bennett is not seeing open receivers, whether on this play or many others. The positive I see is that our OC is designing plays that involve a lot of receivers, tight ends, and backs and they are getting open. Bennett is no puppy, so I worry why he is not seeing them, which makes me wonder whether the other QBs have failed to show in practice that they can do a better job of seeing the play develop and receivers get open. We’ll see (no pun intended)!.
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So what’s the consensus on Kirby’s 40 throws comment? Is it a lack of confidence in Bennett or is that his offensive philosophy? I haven’t heard or read the entire quote. It worries me a little either way but especially if it’s his offensive philosophy. All the title winners and contenders are still running the ball effectively but it seems you have to be really good in the passing game and be willing and able to throw it a lot.
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important to note that a signficant chunk of throws are quick wr screens and jet sweeps that inflate passing numbers but are really a run
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