re: James Cook

Very sweet of you. Thanks.

He’s an idiot but Saturday was unbearable in this forum. The whining a crying was worse than I’ve ever seen it.

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Let's say hypothetically Kirby had given the ball last year to Fields, and went with the ups-and-downs with his first year of starting. Let's compare the stats thus far for 2019:

Fields:

4th in overall QBR, 13 TD's, 0 Ints

Fromm:
9th in oveall QBR, 6 TD's, 0 Ints

Wait a sec, I thought Fields wasn't an accurate passer? Oh, but they haven't played anyone, right? Well he beat a very good Cincinnati team that went 11-2 last year and was top 5 in terms of overall defense to boot.

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I don't recall anyone saying Fields wasn't accurate but I could be mistaken. My complaints were that he would do his typical freshman DT QB one-read-run, relying on his legs to pick up yards when his first target wasn't comfortably open. He still seems to do a bit of that now based on his film at OSU, but I've noticed that he has had a lot more time against the level of competition he's played so far. The RPO offense he runs in is great for his skill set, as well.

The comparison to Fromm is misleading, though. OSU has a completely different offensive scheme than UGA. They are fully utilizing Fields as the centerpiece of their offense and their team will live or die with him. We use Fromm as a commander who is helping get other play makers the ball and having them be successful with his decisions and leadership. Fromm is not trying to win the game on every play with his arm or legs as it seems that Fields is trying to do.

One thing stood out in watching Fields' tape: nearly 3/4 of his TD throws or big-yardage pickups were to receivers that didn't have a defender within 5 yards of them or were in single coverage without needing the ball thrown into a tight window. He threw a lot of out-routes and comebacks where his targets had a good amount of separation when they weren't already streaking down the field uncovered or with several steps on the defenders.

I don't say that to take away from what Fields is doing, but to say that he isn't making a lot of perfect throws into tight coverage. He's accurate but he has had very little need for precision. So going back to his stats; what's that quote? There are lies, damned lies, and statistics? They only tell part of the story.

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How long are we going to justify Fromm's OK games when we could've had a QB who is less polished but WAY more dangerous. Who here honestly thinks we'd be worse with Fields as our QB?

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It's really tough to say one way or the other. Last year was a battle of the known vs. the unknown. We knew what we had in Fromm because he helped us nearly win a national championship as a true freshman. We didn't know what we had in Fields because he was still so raw. No coach in his right mind would bench a proven and battle-tested starter who isn't really struggling for an unknown backup with a lot of potential. Fromm is a great QB but we wouldn't have known it without Eason getting injured. That's typically how things play out in football because it's usually a game of odds and percentages, and a coach that gets paid to win games isn't going to gamble his paycheck on an unknown unless he feels like he has to.

Fields got a lot more reps during real game-time situations than any backup should when the starter was playing well, and during that time, he didn't do anything to show that he deserved to start over Fromm from an objective standpoint. He made some good plays and showed he was quick on his feet and his big body could be used to plow into the end zone, but he had his share of mistakes and didn't provide anything to the offense as a net asset over Fromm outside of goal line situations, where Fromm has mastered the fade and Fields could simply be used as an option QB.

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The best coaches in any sport collect the best talent and then figure out a scheme to fit that talent.

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Not necessarily. Coaches recruit based on their offensive or defensive strategies and try to make adjustments as needed to accommodate talent. Look at Georgia Tech: they have a team full of players who excel at the triple-option offense but who are little better than useless with the forward pass as a primary means of moving the ball down the field. Having Tom Brady as the QB wouldn't help them if their receivers and linemen weren't suited to compliment Brady's skill set. Fields works well at OSU because the offense didn't have to be changed much to fit his skill set.

UGA has recruited to run the ball and throw off of play-action. We could air it out more, sure, but then we would likely need to reevaluate our entire recruiting strategy as we still put a large emphasis on running to set up the play-action pass rather than sending 4 WRs on go-routes every other play with an empty backfield. Alabama has been more pass-happy with the addition of Tua, but you could argue that their running game has been off at the same time, leaving them unbalanced. Their offensive success lies with their elite receivers.

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Prime example would be Lincoln Riley, I don't need to go into detail about what he's done over there.

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Yes, and our true freshman, pedestrian QB arguably outplayed his Heisman-winning QB in the Rose Bowl a few years ago. They have had success with their offense and we've had success with ours. They are just different systems.

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Also, let's consider Saban, over the years he's changed their offense depending on the talent.

He just so happened to have 5 speedy WR's emerge so he goes and turns his team into a spread offense.

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When you have 5 speedy WR's and a QB that can throw the ball to them, sure, you include them more in the game plan. It also makes them more one-dimensional as their running game has taken a hit at the expense of throwing the ball around more. We're looking for more balance in our offense. If Tua has a bad game (like he did against us in SECCG), the entire offense suffers as the result.

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UGA gets guys like James Cook/Pickens/Fields and what do we do? We get scared to give them the ball in big games, play it safe with Herrien and Swift up the gut.

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That's a matter of play calling based on matchups, not simply a matter of refusing to use our talent. Like I said before, though, it's not just about play calling as the defense can also dictate where the ball is distributed after the play comes in from the sidelines.

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Kirby doesn't know how to play to his strengths or manage his talent. We have more playmakers than Clemson does, or Ohio State or Wisconsin but they don't ever get a chance because Kirby is frightened they might fumble, so he sticks with less talented players who might not make big mistakes but they're also not going to make big plays.

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That doesn't appear to be true based on what I've seen so far this season.

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Justyn Ross probably wasn't the most polished receiver but Dabo put him out there cause he can catch the damn ball and Lawrence wasn't perfect but he was the better choice than Kelly Bryant. They had a higher ceiling with those two and they won a championship cause Dabo knows how to manage talent.

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Dabo played the players that worked for his team. They struggled with Bryant and it was obvious. His struggles prompted Lawrence to get a shot and he made the most of his opportunity just like Fromm did when Eason went down. CKS didn't play Eason when he got healthy over a hot-handed Fromm and Dabo didn't bench Lawrence later in the season to make Bryant happy; both played the players they thought would give them the best chance at victory. Period.