AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2006 > November > 13
Monday, November 13, 2006
Reasons for sticking with Ball
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As poorly as Reggie Ball played on Saturday, I didn’t expect to see Chan Gailey pull him. Here are a few reasons, I think, that he didn’t:
1) When Ball played poorly in the past, he was throwing interceptions and taking sacks. Now when he plays poorly, he’s only throwing incompletions. (There was just one interception.) As well as Tech’s defense was playing Saturday, incompletions weren’t likely to get Tech beaten. Fans look at a seven-point performance and say, try something else, because things can’t get worse. But what about the risk of turnovers if you put in a quarterback who hasn’t played since September?
2) Ball had led Tech to comebacks in three of Tech’s previous four games. History suggested Ball’s performance might improve.
3) Tech was 7-2 going on 8-2, with everyone agreeing the team has good chemistry. Change quarterbacks and you risk creating a quarterback controversy and uncertainty on a team that, judging by e-mail, anyway, is far more unified than its fan base.
