Weis Cop Out on Sharpley

[LOVEMYIRISH]

In all fairness, Clausen has been "wildly inaccurate" many times when the pass has been longer than 5-10 yards.

Sharpley was more innaccurate yesterday (after the first drive), but over the long haul they are the same.

The key is that Clausen takes the safe throw and Sharpley forces it a lot. And when you are on a struggling Offense, I am not sure which is worse.

 

[Master Guns]

I am cool with having him start at SC.

But I just hope people realize that instead of a flat offense where we are dying to see Golden Tate or Parris get some throws we are going to see them get thrown at...and then they are going to be chasing the INT down the field. It would be interesting to see someone on offense move up the chart for tackles made.

Clausen needs rest after all the beatings he has taken. And Sharpley needs more snaps so he can learn how to really read a D.

Agree. Sharpley will do fine in a start. Jimmy is a Freshmen and does not need to take such a beating this early. But JC is for real, but just not this year, to much crap going on with the team being so young. ES is only a Jr. and I'm glad he will be back next year too.

But damn this team is going to be awesome next year.

 

[IrishAlum1997]

Charlie needs to knock off the 'may god strike me dead' stuff. We are obviously rebuilding, and we are obviously playing Jimmy to get him some prime time game experience. The logical and sane have seen how the team and fans respond to Evan. Yet Charlie continues to jog Claussen out there to throw 25 times for 80 yards.

Crazy or calculated?

 

[johnnd05]

Charlie needs to knock off the 'may god strike me dead' stuff. We are obviously rebuilding, and we are obviously playing Jimmy to get him some prime time game experience. The logical and sane have seen how the team and fans respond to Evan. Yet Charlie continues to jog Claussen out there to throw 25 times for 80 yards.

Crazy or calculated?

Wait a minute - what Weis said in that quote was "may God strike me dead" if he had been playing Clausen just because he's "high-profile". If you have ANY reason to think that's so, please tell me about it, because IMO that would be a fireable offense. What Weis has said - that Clausen looked better in practice - seems perfectly plausible to me, and until yesterday he hadn't played badly enough in a game to deserve to be benched. What makes that so unreasonable? Why would it be more reasonable to think that Weis is sabotaging the present just to get his golden boy on national TV?

Sorry if this response seems overly harsh - like I said, I think you all were right that Sharpley is the guy for the near future, though I still think that pulling JC after the UCLA or Purdue game would have been a bad move. I just don't think we should be jumping to these sorts of conclusions about Weis's motivations for the decisions he's made.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

Charlie needs to knock off the 'may god strike me dead' stuff. We are obviously rebuilding, and we are obviously playing Jimmy to get him some prime time game experience. The logical and sane have seen how the team and fans respond to Evan. Yet Charlie continues to jog Claussen out there to throw 25 times for 80 yards.

Crazy or calculated?

Both kids are throwing 60+%... Weis is serious.

That being said, the backup QB is always the most favorite one. But when you look at production there is no difference.

Clausen is too careful, Sharpley is too wild. Clausen fits with Charlie's style the best...that's all.

That being said, I think ES is on his way to his first start this week.

 

[Epitome]

I think every body is seeing this as a Jimmy vs. Evan thing. It's not, it all has to do with the play calling. I'm sure Clausen feels comfortable throwing the ball down field. He just hasn't been afforded the opportunity.

 

[johnnd05]

I think every body is seeing this as a Jimmy vs. Evan thing. It's not, it all has to do with the play calling. I'm sure Clausen feels comfortable throwing the ball down field. He just hasn't been afforded the opportunity.

Unless you've been able to decode the signals, I'm not sure how you can say this. Weis is going to ask Clausen to do what he's capable of doing. JC had several opportunities to throw the ball downfield yesterday, and he did okay with it. But even in what was primarily a dink-and-dunk gameplan, he was SEVEN FOR TWENTY overall. That's bench-worthy, IMO. It's hard to see how the blame for that falls on Weis.

 

[Epitome]

We are a predictable offense. Look how many times the defense loaded up the box in preparation for the "dink-dunk". Until we become more unpredictable Jimmy will continue to struggle.

 

[johnnd05]

We are a predictable offense. Look how many times the defense loaded up the box in preparation for the "dink-dunk". Until we become more unpredictable Jimmy will continue to struggle.

You may be right. We'll see.

BTW, here's some more of the context from that Weis quote:

Weis said he told Clausen at halftime he wanted to see how he did on the first drive before he made a decision on whether to keep him in the game.

Weis said Clausen was "banged up pretty good" and he didn't have "great zip" on his throws.

Weis, however, was vague on whether Clausen had a specific injury. He missed the first game of the season recovering from surgery on his elbow and he was pulled from the Purdue game after he injured his hip.

One of the reasons Sharpley hasn't started, Weis said, is that he isn't as accurate in practice.

"I think that Evan in the game is pretty accurate," Weis said. "I think if Evan wants to be the guy, which I know he does, it's got to be an every day thing, it can't just be a game day thing."

Sharpley, who has consistently deferred to Weis when asked if he believes if he should start, admitted that practice and game days are different to him.

"I'd like to say I approach practice like it's a game," he said. "But at the same time, there is added adrenaline from playing in front of all those people that makes game day special. I suppose a game is somewhat different."

 

[IrishAlum1997]

Wait a minute - what Weis said in that quote was "may God strike me dead" if he had been playing Clausen just because he's "high-profile". If you have ANY reason to think that's so, please tell me about it, because IMO that would be a fireable offense. What Weis has said - that Clausen looked better in practice - seems perfectly plausible to me, and until yesterday he hadn't played badly enough in a game to deserve to be benched. What makes that so unreasonable? Why would it be more reasonable to think that Weis is sabotaging the present just to get his golden boy on national TV?

Sorry if this response seems overly harsh - like I said, I think you all were right that Sharpley is the guy for the near future, though I still think that pulling JC after the UCLA or Purdue game would have been a bad move. I just don't think we should be jumping to these sorts of conclusions about Weis's motivations for the decisions he's made.

I'm not implying he is doing it for max media exposure, and you don't need to apologize for your response.

But I think it's obvious Jimmy and Evan are not working with the same playbook. I would feel much better about JC right now if he would either get the opportunity to make the same throws as Evan, or this coaching staff will admit that he is hurt and let Evan get the snaps for the rest of the season. The rest of this offense will continue to lose confidence and fail to establish any type of continuity, let alone identity if Jimmy continues to play the way he has ALL season (less a half of a quarter vs. Purdue).

With young QB's like Colt McCoy, Ryan Mallett, and Sam Bradford (hell, even the kid from Nevada tonight) showing some early poise and maturity, it should be concerning to everyone that it's still not clear if Jimmy is heading towards the Brady Quinn or Gary Godsey end of the ND QB spectrum.

If his arm (probable) and/or his psyche (unlikely, IMO) are not ready to make the throws that Evan at least ATTEMPTS, PUT HIM ON THE SIDELINES. Letting him continue to struggle this season could have catastrophic ramifications on this program and this head coach.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

But even in what was primarily a dink-and-dunk gameplan, he was SEVEN FOR TWENTY overall. That's bench-worthy, IMO.

11/29 for the other fella too.

Fix the OL, save the world.

Well, save the QB anyway.

 

[Timugen]

I think some of the problem with JC may be that he's so used to seeing guys WIDE open in High School (with that team that was full of Div I-A talent) that he has not yet gotten a grasp on what an "open" receiver is now that the DB's can actually keep up with them.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

I think some of the problem with JC may be that he's so used to seeing guys WIDE open in High School (with that team that was full of Div I-A talent) that he has not yet gotten a grasp on what an "open" receiver is now that the DB's can actually keep up with them.

At least Evan does not waste time looking. LOL

 

[Moostache]

My unsolicited $0.02...

Sharpley - no future as a QB. He simply is nothing more than a warmed over Lovecchio or Holiday. The man is not capable of reading a defense and if he hasn't picked it up somewhat in 2 1/2 years on the sidelines, then what makes anyone think it would be different if he starts the game Saturday? 11 of 29 was not terribly impressive overall and without the first drive (which was impressive), it was a pretty crap day for Sharpley as well as Clausen.

One scoring drive, a second drive that resulted in a missed FG and a third 'drive' that was hugely assisted by penalties yet still ended in a 4th down turnover (negated TD passes due to penalty don't really count) is hardly enough to conclude that the starting QB should be benched....

HOWEVER...

Clausen looks injured. It is not so much his mechanics are off - look at the tapes of him in HS and some of them from this year....his motion is not significantly altered, but the results sure are. Whether it is residual from the elbow, the hip or a cummulative thing from taking too many hits without enough summer conditioning and working out, whatever the cause, Clausen's deep passes float and lack anything in the same area code as "zip" at the moment.

If Clausen is actually healthy, he plays and he should start. He is a better overall QB than Sharpley.

If Clausen is injured, he should sit out (and NOT dress either). He is either hurt or just not very good. I saw enough of his HS tapes and heard enough opinions on his HS performance to highly doubt that he is just not very good (though it is possible....I have not seen Marc Tyler exactly tearing it up for USC either, so maybe that whole 'competition' thing for their HS is onto something).

Bottomline though, if Sharpley is not as good in practice as Clausen, then Weis has not seen enough from Sharpley to hand the keys to him for good. And the idea that the team could switch QBs again, start the third different guy this year and then switch BACK to the so-called soft-part of the schedule is ludicrous. Weis is not announcing a move because he is trying to evaluate whether or not Clausen's injuries are enough to be out for the year or not. If he is hurt, then Sharpley can get a start without being named the starter and that semantics is a big deal.

Weis said he did not want to go through musical QBs....it is destructive long term. Sharpley will be the back-up, Clausen the starter and next year it will be the same and the following year Sharpley will be gone, Clausen the starter and Crist the back-up. The biggest difference will be that Crist sees the field for the first time in mop-up duty as a second or third year player instead of as a true freshman...

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

My unsolicited $0.02...

Sharpley - no future as a QB. He simply is nothing more than a warmed over Lovecchio or Holiday. The man is not capable of reading a defense and if he hasn't picked it up somewhat in 2 1/2 years on the sidelines, then what makes anyone think it would be different if he starts the game Saturday? 11 of 29 was not terribly impressive overall and without the first drive (which was impressive), it was a pretty crap day for Sharpley as well as Clausen.

On 'The Drive' ES went 4/7...after that he went 7-22. Ouch. And the drive would have ended, but thank god the 2 yard pass to AA ended up as a 15 yard ROUGHING THE PASSER penalty.

 

[kmoose]

it's still not clear if Jimmy is heading towards the Brady Quinn or Gary Godsey end of the ND QB spectrum.

I'm glad you used Brady Quinn as an example, since at the end of Brady's freshman year, it looked like he was not going to be able to do much, either. Look, conventional football wisdom says that a good solid running game is a Freshman QB's best friend. Until we start running the ball with at least SOME effectiveness, it really isn't going to matter much who starts under center.

 

[irish4ever]

John,
Maybe I was a bit rash, but Weiss has some questions to start answering about his so called strategic advantage of his offensive mind. Go IRISH beat SC.

Damnint, it's WEIS, not Weiss!

How's that!?!

 

[Sureal]

Damnint, it's WEIS, not Weiss!

How's that!?!

LOL

At least he is sitting KLAUSSEN down to keep him healthy...

 

[kjones]

Damnint, it's WEIS, not Weiss!

How's that!?!

You also misspelled damnit/dammit... just saying.