Confident QB play vs Not confident QB play

[Tidewater]

This is the time of year I go back and watch last year's games, to reacquaint myself with players strength's and weaknesses.
I watched the Barn game.
Then I watched the Whiskie game and the UGA game.
What struck me was the difference in the play of the QB. Against UGA, QB play was pretty confident. Against the Barn, not so much.
Hard to reflect in the stats, but the QB played with less confidence. 3 fumbles (lost 2) and 1 INT. Against UGA, no fumbles lost, 1 INT.
Maybe that was a result of losing to Vandy, UTe, and Oklahoma, but man, he looked less confident against thre Barn.


And it is not my intent to restart the praise/trash JM (please don't). Just note the player's confidence.

 

[81usaf92]

I think there is more distrust from the receivers as the season went on. You really saw it in the Oklahoma, Auburn, and Michigan games. I think when teams started to play us with a loaded box and could get away with it you started to see that he wasn’t comfortable at making reads and started to try to out talent formations. You could see Ryan and Bernard visibly frustrated when they were running wide open for nothing.

So yes. When things were going good confidence was high but when it wasn’t we were fighting for our lives and living off of talent.

 

[AlexanderFan]

Two words: Stephen Garcia.

 

[dvldog]

I know my confidence level was extremely low. I haven’t rewatched any of last year’s games. Even the wins. Once was enough. Looking forward to the start of the season. Shockingly my confidence is fairly high.

 

[JDCrimson]

We have had a our share of poor play at QB over the years. But I never want to reminisce about the 23 or 24 seasons. There are not adequate words to describe my frustration/anger...

 

[gtgilbert]

I think you are right, and I think it actually started midway through the second quarter v UGA. The staff had done an amazing job of game planning and formation analysis against UGA, such that there wasn't much, if any read/react going on. We just got to the line and ran something they were not expecting in that formation so it was all open. Once UGA figured out what we were doing and adjusted their calls, they shut those options down, and it forced us into being able to make reads and we kinda fell apart after that.

 

[Elefantman]

If you have the skills, you can be confident. Without the skills, you can only be arrogant. It requires true self awareness to know which is which.

 

[Tidewater]

I want to tie this in with the FSU QB thread.
I want my starting QB to be confident in front of the team, just not front of the media.

Anyway, the QB in the Barn game was not nearly as confident as the QB had been against UGA and Whiskie.

On the other hand, I hope I never see a Bama QB dancing like a little girl again.

 

[Krymsonman]

I want to tie this in with the FSU QB thread.
I want my starting QB to be confident in front of the team, just not front of the media.

Anyway, the QB in the Barn game was not nearly as confident as the QB had been against UGA and Whiskie.

On the other hand, I hope I never see a Bama QB dancing like a little girl again.

We all know that the QB leads the team. 2024 started out as great as it could be, but starting with Vandy the QB play went down the tubes. Was he hurt - I don't think so. Was he afraid of getting hurt - maybe. We all saw that when teams stacked the box and forced him to win thru the air, he couldn't do it. As he regressed, so did the team, probably out of frustration. But what's done is done. I am really looking forward to this season as I think we have a great "team" mindset going forward. Let's see how it plays out.

 

[Bodietide]

Once teams stopped the run, which wasn’t hard to do, the offense stalled. They could play their safeties back to limit the deep ball. We all know the struggles 4 had in the 10-15 yd range. The run game or lack there of was the Achilles heel of the ‘24 team.

 

[Tidewater]

We have had a our share of poor play at QB over the years. But I never want to reminisce about the 23 or 24 seasons. There are not adequate words to describe my frustration/anger...

I do not review last year's games to reminisce (I agree, there is more frustration than joy in watching last season), but to refresh my memory of the play of returning players. Bama has some capable players coming back. Ryan Williams could be amazing if Bama finds a way to get him the ball.

 

[CoolBreeze]

Looking forward to Fall practice. I believe Simpson has what it takes, has been with this program for a while and the receivers seem to trust him. Cast of characters around him seem to be pretty good and that starts with the OC. If we can get good line play and a homerun back that can hit the hole then QB confidence will soar.

 

[CaliforniaTide]

On the one hand, Mac Jones didn't enter his only starting season with a ton of snaps. However, he did have more meaningful snaps than Simpson has at this point. Not a slam on Simpson, just being objective. Right now, I tend to think that Simpson is much more what CKD wants to do at the QB position - it's up to Simpson to play w/i the offense as directed and go off-schedule when necessary. He'll also have to learn how to rebound from bad games (think McElroy in the season Alabama won the NC against Texas).

 

[JustNeedMe81]

I will never understand how this past season went. I've had few conversations with some of people that had sources and all I can say is that it wasn't just about Milroe and his performance. His situation was confidence related. It's not just him, the culture in the locker room, the play calling wasn't good at times. It's combination of lot of stuff and it was a storm waiting to happen.

Milroe struggled after Vandys game and he did for a while and he never got back on track. It's easy to blame him for everything but honestly, we have to look at other things as well. The play calling in Vanderbilt and Oklahoma was ugly. SC game too.

I have every confidence to believe that Ty Simpson along with new OC and new personnel (Horton, Bernard, Williams, Scott). It's gonna be fun to watch the offense being explosive this fall. One thing I do caution everyone is that do not be so quick to label Ty Simpson to previous QBs. Let him establish his own identity.

I think we will see lot of questions answered by fourth game in terms of how the playcalling is and how much it will change from last year.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

When the opposing D stacks the line with 8 or 9 in the box, with safeties cheating up, I just want us to snap the ball on a silent count and hit a quick slant for 8 yards. Or complete a quick pass to the RB / safety valve and have a TE set the edge (I'd settle for just slowing down the opposing OLB), and a WR make a block.

Do that for a couple of first downs, and you won't see a stacked box nearly so much. Which will open the running game.

Other than the silent count, none of that is more complicated than what decent HS teams run. But we haven't seen any of it in years.

 

[AlexanderFan]

When the opposing D stacks the line with 8 or 9 in the box, with safeties cheating up, I just want us to snap the ball on a silent count and hit a quick slant for 8 yards. Or complete a quick pass to the RB / safety valve and have a TE set the edge (I'd settle for just slowing down the opposing OLB), and a WR make a block.

Do that for a couple of first downs, and you won't see a stacked box nearly so much. Which will open the running game.

Other than the silent count, none of that is more complicated than what decent HS teams run. But we haven't seen any of it in years.

I love the people blaming the play calling. Starts and ends with the quarterback. It didn’t matter what was called, there were certain things he could do, and when the defense stopped it, there was no adjustment.

 

[Tidewater]

I am rewatching the USCe game.
Middle of the 1st qtr. Bama has the ball. USCe lines up with a DT lined up on the Bama left guard and a speed rusher (Kennard, who was pretty dang good) outside Proctor's left shoulder. On the snap, Proctor blocks in, doubling (along with the Bama LG) the USCe DT, and leaving Kennard completely unblocked. Kennsard takes off like shot out of cannon, and sacks the QB in about 0.8 seconds.
If I was Bama's o-line coach, in the film room, I would ask Proctor, "Who did you think was going to block Kennard on that play?"

That sack is not on the QB (although it did not do much to improve his self-confidence). It is on the left tackle. Proctor's excessive weight is and has been a problem when facing speed rushers, but that kind of obvious and egregious mental lapse can't happen.

 

[AlexanderFan]

I am rewatching the USCe game.
Middle of the 1st qtr. Bama has the ball. USCe lines up with a DT lined up on the Bama left guard and a speed rusher (Kennard, who was pretty dang good) outside Proctor's left shoulder. On the snap, Proctor blocks in, doubling (along with the Bama LG) the USCe DT, and leaving Kennard completely unblocked. Kennsard takes of like shot out of acnnor, and sacks the QB in about 0.8 seconds.
If I was Bama's o-line coach, in the film room, I would ask Proctor, "Who did you think was going to block Kennard on that play?"

That sack is not on the QB (although it did not do much to improve his self-confidence). It is on the left tackle. Proctor's excessive weight is and has been a problem when facing speed rushers, but that kind of obvious and egregious mental lapse can't happen.

It’s not that simple. There are plays within the play, and the offensive line has their own assignments depending on what protection is called. It’s usually either the center or the quarterback’s responsibility to call these protections.

Proctor absolutely could’ve done the wrong thing according to the assignment, but he also could’ve executed the protection correctly and it be a terrible protection call given the circumstances.

 

[colbysullivan]

This is the time of year I go back and watch last year's games, to reacquaint myself with players strength's and weaknesses.
I watched the Barn game.
Then I watched the Whiskie game and the UGA game.
What struck me was the difference in the play of the QB. Against UGA, QB play was pretty confident. Against the Barn, not so much.
Hard to reflect in the stats, but the QB played with less confidence. 3 fumbles (lost 2) and 1 INT. Against UGA, no fumbles lost, 1 INT.
Maybe that was a result of losing to Vandy, UTe, and Oklahoma, but man, he looked less confident against thre Barn.


And it is not my intent to restart the praise/trash JM (please don't). Just note the player's confidence.

 

[gtgilbert]

When the opposing D stacks the line with 8 or 9 in the box, with safeties cheating up, I just want us to snap the ball on a silent count and hit a quick slant for 8 yards. Or complete a quick pass to the RB / safety valve and have a TE set the edge (I'd settle for just slowing down the opposing OLB), and a WR make a block.

Do that for a couple of first downs, and you won't see a stacked box nearly so much. Which will open the running game.

Other than the silent count, none of that is more complicated than what decent HS teams run. But we haven't seen any of it in years.

Mac was lethal throwing these as was Young, so it's been just 2 years since we've seen a lot of it. They were in the playbook and being called, cause Ty actually threw them in his limited reps. They require timing and being in sync more than anything else.