Are you sure we can't scrape up another season of eligibility somewhere?
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 thirteenth edition of Monday Morning Quarterback here at Orange::44.
In last week’s article, I described how it was time to get Ryan Nassib in the game, to start him, to get him a ton of reps. Head Coach Doug Marrone disagreed with me. And by the end of the first quarter Saturday against Rutgers, I, too, disagreed with me.
Greg Paulus started this game, and early on, was in a clear two-QB system with Nassib. They practically traded snaps. But it was clear to the 36k in attendance that Paulus was the better of the two. By the second half, we were wondering why they even put Nassib back in.
Paulus finished the day with a great stat line: 13 of 16 for 142 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions. Nassib’s line is much more underwhelming: 4 of 6 for 69 yards. One of Nassib’s completions was a 21-yard pass to a wide open Marcus Sales just short of the end zone. It was a great catch because of what Sales had to do to catch it. As I have written in a previous article, Nassib tends to not throw the ball accurately; as if he’s purposely throwing to a spot 5 yards away from the receiver. Such was the case on the Sales reception; Nassib horrifically underthrew the ball so Sales had to come back a bit and dive for it. Due to the NCAA tackle rules, Sales’ contact with the ground meant he was down and couldn’t pick up additional yards after catch. A better thrown ball that didn’t require a diving catch, and Sales can easily walk into the end zone on this play.
And really, this is the huge difference, execution-wise, between Nassib and Paulus. Nassib is just not accurate. This is okay when there are superstars as receivers, and the superstars can make the crappy QB look good. But Syracuse’s current receiving corps just isn’t the cream of the crop. They need a good QB to make the QB look good. Hopefully you follow the logic there.
So where does this lead us? One more game left in the 2009 campaign, against the hated UConn Huskies. While there aren’t must-win games anymore, how incredibly awesome did you feel at the end of that Rutgers game, coming away with a win? All other things aside, every Syracuse fan wants Doug Marrone & Co. to walk away from Rentschler Field with a W. That said, Greg Paulus will round out the schedule having started each Syracuse game this year. Why? Because Doug Marrone knew the whole time that even though Syracuse won’t win every game it plays, Greg Paulus gives the team the greatest chance of winning. Doug, I agree. Obviously Nassib will get his share of packages, but this is Greg Paulus’ team. I think there’s some bad blood between Marrone and Nassib. Or Nassib practices like he plays – inaccurately. God, I hope, for next year’s sake, that Charley Loeb is as good playing as he is good looking (according to some, I don’t know, I don’t judge those things).
The Weekly QB Watch
Going into the final game of the 2009 season, the probability of starting is as follows:
Greg Paulus – 100%
Ryan Nassib – 0%
Cam Dantley – 0%
Charley Loeb – 0%
Other – 0%
Welcome to the thirteenth edition of Monday Morning Quarterback here at Orange::44.
In last week’s article, I described how it was time to get Ryan Nassib in the game, to start him, to get him a ton of reps. Head Coach Doug Marrone disagreed with me. And by the end of the first quarter Saturday against Rutgers, I, too, disagreed with me.
Greg Paulus started this game, and early on, was in a clear two-QB system with Nassib. They practically traded snaps. But it was clear to the 36k in attendance that Paulus was the better of the two. By the second half, we were wondering why they even put Nassib back in.
Paulus finished the day with a great stat line: 13 of 16 for 142 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions. Nassib’s line is much more underwhelming: 4 of 6 for 69 yards. One of Nassib’s completions was a 21-yard pass to a wide open Marcus Sales just short of the end zone. It was a great catch because of what Sales had to do to catch it. As I have written in a previous article, Nassib tends to not throw the ball accurately; as if he’s purposely throwing to a spot 5 yards away from the receiver. Such was the case on the Sales reception; Nassib horrifically underthrew the ball so Sales had to come back a bit and dive for it. Due to the NCAA tackle rules, Sales’ contact with the ground meant he was down and couldn’t pick up additional yards after catch. A better thrown ball that didn’t require a diving catch, and Sales can easily walk into the end zone on this play.
And really, this is the huge difference, execution-wise, between Nassib and Paulus. Nassib is just not accurate. This is okay when there are superstars as receivers, and the superstars can make the crappy QB look good. But Syracuse’s current receiving corps just isn’t the cream of the crop. They need a good QB to make the QB look good. Hopefully you follow the logic there.
So where does this lead us? One more game left in the 2009 campaign, against the hated UConn Huskies. While there aren’t must-win games anymore, how incredibly awesome did you feel at the end of that Rutgers game, coming away with a win? All other things aside, every Syracuse fan wants Doug Marrone & Co. to walk away from Rentschler Field with a W. That said, Greg Paulus will round out the schedule having started each Syracuse game this year. Why? Because Doug Marrone knew the whole time that even though Syracuse won’t win every game it plays, Greg Paulus gives the team the greatest chance of winning. Doug, I agree. Obviously Nassib will get his share of packages, but this is Greg Paulus’ team. I think there’s some bad blood between Marrone and Nassib. Or Nassib practices like he plays – inaccurately. God, I hope, for next year’s sake, that Charley Loeb is as good playing as he is good looking (according to some, I don’t know, I don’t judge those things).
The Weekly QB Watch
Going into the final game of the 2009 season, the probability of starting is as follows:
Greg Paulus – 100%
Ryan Nassib – 0%
Cam Dantley – 0%
Charley Loeb – 0%
Other – 0%
Labels: Greg Paulus, Monday Morning Quarterback, Syracuse Football
Like in the movie Dumb and Dumber...So your saying there is a chance?
Paulus is a good QB?