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Thursday, August 30, 2007
Stafford grasping what QB requires
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
What Georgia needs from Matthew Stafford: Less whizbang, more wisdom. What Georgia needs Matthew Stafford to be: Less Jeff George, more David Greene.
It was the big arm, as we know, that made Stafford the people’s choice before the ballyhooed freshman had taken a collegiate snap. It was, and is, the arm that impresses most, and it was, and is, one heck of a limb. Stafford can, as the old baseball line goes, throw a strawberry through a locomotive. But an arm, as we also know, doesn’t necessarily make the man.
Jeff George, once a Falcon but never a fixture anywhere, had the arm but not the head, and for a quarterback that’s the worst package possible. A quarterback with a big arm believes he can make any old throw any old time, defenders and percentages be hanged. A quarterback with a big arm but a faulty gyroscope winds up keeping both teams in the game - his with the occasional rainbow, the opponent with the more-than-occasional jaw-dropping interception - and such quarterbacks don’t last.
Stafford was that sort of quarterback as a freshman. He authored seven touchdown passes against 13 interceptions. In the abject loss at Kentucky, he threw the ball to the Wildcats on consecutive series - first from Georgia’s 1-yard line, next from Kentucky’s 2. “There’s something in young quarterbacks,” coach Mark Richt said that gray day, “that they have a hard time burning the ball.”
Give Stafford this. He grew up in the span of seven days. He played a beautifully measured game in the upset of Auburn the next Saturday - no interceptions! - and once threw the ball out of bounds rather than risk a turnover. (“I wanted to cheer,” Richt said.) He engineered the game-winning drive against Georgia Tech and the epic rally against Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, although it must be said that another Stafford interception helped create that massive deficit in the first place.
And now he’s the unchallenged incumbent as Georgia embarks on what should be a better season. He looks more comfortable than he did this time a year ago. (You would, too.) He’s conspicuously sleeker - for a few scary months, it seemed Stafford was bound for Jared Lorenzen dimensions - and he says he’s no longer daunted by the size of the playbook.
The job is no longer his to win. From here, it can only be lost. Last season’s shuffle did none of the quarterbacks any favors, and Richt, in hindsight, concedes as much. Having a real No. 1 quarterback, the coach says, “affects everything. It affects how you design a plan. It affects the perception of the program.”
As Stafford goes, so go the Bulldogs. He’s talented enough to do all the things he needs to do; he just needs not to do those things that will undercut the whole operation. He needs to manage games the way Greene famously did - 72 touchdowns against only 32 interceptions over four distinguished seasons - and to manage himself and his big arm. He doesn’t have to complete every pass. “A punt,” Richt keeps telling him, “is not a bad play.”
There’s no reason Stafford can’t become what he was advertised to be: the next great college quarterback. He has the aptitude, and he seems to have the attitude. (Remember, he was so impressive in preseason practices after being designated the co-No. 3 quarterback that Richt scrapped any notions of redshirting him.) He appears to have a grasp on who he is and, more important, what his precious position entails.
Asked at media day if Georgia needed to find an every-down tailback, Stafford said: “I don’t think so. It’s more important that the offense have one focal point, one leader [meaning the quarterback]. Running back is more a physical position.”
And that’s the thing: Playing quarterback requires physical gifts, sure, but the mental makeup matters more. Were having a big arm the sole requirement, Jeff George would have been Joe Montana. But it isn’t, and he wasn’t.
Permalink | Comments (39) | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
Pocket this pick: Jackets straight up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
(The following is not affiliated with Q, T, P-Funk, P-Tart, D-minus, Y-Ask, I-Giveup; anybody who finds religion 12 seconds after a plea and seven seconds into their first press conference; the Notre Dame player who was suspended three games for soliciting an independent contractor named Candi, who must’ve not been tithing; and certainly not the Georgia Department of Education — because not just anybody can follow a 46th-place ranking in SAT scores with a press release that begins: “Georgia’s 2007 high school seniors held their ground versus the nation on the SAT.” Dude, when you’re 46th, nobody’s challenging your ground.)
Hello. I am back. The Altered States vs. Weekend Predictions, a/k/a J-Zzzzzzzzz.
By now, you should know how this works. Every week, I give you the winners — it’s your job to find them. Occasional “losses” will be sprinkled through our season portfolio intentionally to throw off competing investment firms and NBA referees.
This week’s main attraction finds Georgia Tech traveling to Notre Dame, which will be without the services of the Love Doctor, defensive lineman Derrell “Slow” Hand. The Irish are still gaga over coach Charlie Weis, so much so that it’s easy to forget he’s even with Ty Willingham in bowl wins (zero).
The Jackets have a new offensive coordinator (John Bond), a new quarterback (Taylor Bennett) and a belief they can somehow get better despite losing the best player in the country (Calvin Johnson).
Don’t know about that. But I do know Weis fell significantly short of brilliant in last year’s opener when Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta had an entire off-season to prepare. And here we are again.
Notre Dame generally is overrated early in the season. So what does it say that the Irish aren’t even in the Top 25, and drew fewer votes in the “also receiving votes” category than Southern Miss?
History says Tech hasn’t won in South Bend in 48 years. The line says Irish by 2-1/2. Here’s your higher power: Grab the points, but Jackets win straight up.
Early-season specials
(Buy three picks and win a copy of, “Public Icon’s Public Rehab For Dummies ‘07.” Chapter 1: Carry copy of New, Old or even Gently Used Testament. 2. Liquidate assets and dig a nice hole under a palm tree somewhere in South America. 3. Animal Planet, 24/7.)
Okie State at Georgia: The last time Athens was shaking this much about a season opener, Boise State lost by 35. Save your angst. You’ll need it in Jacksonville. This is Mike Bobo vs. a defense that ranked 89th last season and Matthew Stafford vs. a secondary that allowed opposing QBs a rating of 136.98. I got your rhinestone, Cowboys. Dogs cover 6.
Western Carolina at Liar Liar: Know why Nick Saban really left the Dolphins? He couldn’t get Western Carolina on the schedule. Saban’s first game at LSU was a 58-0, sand-kick over the Catamounts. His first opponent at Alabama: The carcass. Bama fans are asked to bring a used textbook to the game since there’s no money left in the state school system, thanks to the new Czar. No line. But let’s say Tide goes under-58.
Tennessee at Cal: Hate to hammer on Phil Fulmer so early (not really). But in the past two years, the Vowels are 8-8 in the SEC (14-10 overall), and they play Cal and Florida in the season’s first three weeks. The starting QB, Erik Ainge, has four good fingers on his throwing hand. Not so good. Berkeley covers 6.
Kansas State at Auburn: Actual facts (hey, it happens): K-State had six 11-win seasons in a seven-year span (1997-03) but is only 16-19 since. Should’ve kept scheduling Western Kentucky. Tigers cover 13-1/2.
Florida State at Clemson: Bobby Bowden has helped saved Tommy’s job three times in the past four years. Isn’t it about time he save his own job? Pecking order restored in the family and the conference: Noles cover 3-1/2.
Wake Forest at Boston College: Wake is determined to repeat as ACC champions. Mallet, meet head. B.C. covers 6-1/2.
Scoreboard
Last season: 119-16-2 against the spread (computer hard drive damaged but results committed to memory).
This season: Profits almost guaranteed.
Lock of the week: Deadbolt.
Permalink | Comments (63) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
Braves need pitcher more than Tex
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Trading for Mark Teixeira was the right move — he’s the first-rate first baseman the Braves haven’t had this century, and he provides middle-of-the-lineup cover when Andruw Jones takes his leave — but it wasn’t the right move at the right time. The Braves needed, and still need, a starting pitcher more.
It’s a funny thing. The Braves are convinced they could win the World Series with this splendid everyday eight and these two great starting pitchers. (I wouldn’t disagree, and I’ve written as much.) Indeed, you can win 11 postseason games with two big-time starters — the Diamondbacks did it in 2001 with Johnson and Schilling, and the Marlins did much the same in 2003 with Penny and Beckett. Trouble is, you can’t get to the postseason without a back end of a rotation.
And that’s why the Braves are where they are, as far back in the wild-card race as they are in the NL East. They’ve lost 4 1/2 games in the wild-card standings in two weeks and have been reduced to trotting out a 40-year-old on three days’ rest, and here it is not yet September. And here we are, realizing yet again that the most important stat in baseball isn’t runs scored or runs allowed or anything Bill James dreamed up. It’s innings pitched.
The Braves won those 14 division titles because their starting pitchers worked more good innings than any other team’s. Their starting pitchers gave them more chances to win than did the opposition’s. Their back end of the rotation — some years John Smoltz was, if you can believe this now, the No. 4 starter — outclassed most front ends.
And now it doesn’t. The back end is the reason the Braves are five back in both pursuits with 28 games remaining. Teixeira has done all anyone could have asked — more, even — but he can’t go out and give this team six good innings every fifth day.
Permalink | Comments (163) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
