I bet it's hard to be a quarterback.
Editor’s Note: The following article is a weekly feature from Orange::44 correspondent John Brennan (twitter @jbren) that runs every Monday morning called Monday Morning Quarterback, assessing the quarterback situation of Syracuse football.
Welcome to the tenth edition of Monday Morning Quarterback here at Orange::44.
I have a gripe. You don’t boo a player on your team. You just don’t. So for the fans who went to the game and stayed long enough to get pissed at Greg Paulus: poor form.
That said, I understand why they were voicing their opinion. Greg Paulus was 12 of 17 for only 85 yards, a touchdown, and a costly interception. Meanwhile, Ryan Nassib, who took many of the snaps, finished 7 of 10 for 97 yards. Not a stellar performance from either of them, really. And I think it was Greg’s INT that really irked people. I mean, he leads the team down the field, gets in the red zone and it’s looking like a score is a good possibility… and he throws into triple coverage at the back of the end zone. Similar to the INT in overtime against Minnesota. When it happened in that first game, we were heartbroken but said “Well, ok, that’s essentially a rookie mistake. Learn from it, and never do it again.”
But he didn’t learn. He’s done it again.
For someone as smart at Greg Paulus theoretically should be, he’s making some really dumb decisions out on the field. And it’s costing Syracuse some big plays and, ultimately, games. It would have been really nice if Syracuse had put up more than 7 points. Just seven. Just awful. Because this was a close game, and we could have stayed in the game with Cincinnati. Could have.
So what’s the solution? Is it time to bench Greg? I say yes. Honestly, I think we all know that Doug Marrone is gonna give tons of snaps to both Greg and Ryan, regardless of who starts. So why not let Ryan start? Give him that confidence (and hopefully Greg doesn’t lose whatever confidence he might have left) and see what Ryan can do with it. It’s worth a shot, right?
Next on the slate is Pittsburgh. And they’re really good. They always are. And this is not a game Syracuse should win. So I think it’s not a bad idea to throw Nassib in there to see if there’s anything he can do. Now is as good a time as any to do it.
The Weekly QB Watch
Going into the upcoming game against the Pittsburgh Panthers, the probability of starting is as follows:
Greg Paulus – 50%
Ryan Nassib – 50%
Cam Dantley – 0%
Charley Loeb – 0%
Other – 0%
Regardless, please don’t boo at your TV on Saturday.
Welcome to the tenth edition of Monday Morning Quarterback here at Orange::44.
I have a gripe. You don’t boo a player on your team. You just don’t. So for the fans who went to the game and stayed long enough to get pissed at Greg Paulus: poor form.
That said, I understand why they were voicing their opinion. Greg Paulus was 12 of 17 for only 85 yards, a touchdown, and a costly interception. Meanwhile, Ryan Nassib, who took many of the snaps, finished 7 of 10 for 97 yards. Not a stellar performance from either of them, really. And I think it was Greg’s INT that really irked people. I mean, he leads the team down the field, gets in the red zone and it’s looking like a score is a good possibility… and he throws into triple coverage at the back of the end zone. Similar to the INT in overtime against Minnesota. When it happened in that first game, we were heartbroken but said “Well, ok, that’s essentially a rookie mistake. Learn from it, and never do it again.”
But he didn’t learn. He’s done it again.
For someone as smart at Greg Paulus theoretically should be, he’s making some really dumb decisions out on the field. And it’s costing Syracuse some big plays and, ultimately, games. It would have been really nice if Syracuse had put up more than 7 points. Just seven. Just awful. Because this was a close game, and we could have stayed in the game with Cincinnati. Could have.
So what’s the solution? Is it time to bench Greg? I say yes. Honestly, I think we all know that Doug Marrone is gonna give tons of snaps to both Greg and Ryan, regardless of who starts. So why not let Ryan start? Give him that confidence (and hopefully Greg doesn’t lose whatever confidence he might have left) and see what Ryan can do with it. It’s worth a shot, right?
Next on the slate is Pittsburgh. And they’re really good. They always are. And this is not a game Syracuse should win. So I think it’s not a bad idea to throw Nassib in there to see if there’s anything he can do. Now is as good a time as any to do it.
The Weekly QB Watch
Going into the upcoming game against the Pittsburgh Panthers, the probability of starting is as follows:
Greg Paulus – 50%
Ryan Nassib – 50%
Cam Dantley – 0%
Charley Loeb – 0%
Other – 0%
Regardless, please don’t boo at your TV on Saturday.
I only want to argue one thing:
Go ahead and boo your TV all you want this Saturday. In fact, learn to love booing at the TV, because if you're going to boo our own players then you really shouldn't be going to the games anyway.