Well, I am officially off the Kevin Riley bandwagon. Tedford did what I though he would do - stick with Riley through thick and thin. I have to say that I was hoping that there would be something that started to shine through. But, frankly, he is the worst QB that Cal has had since I have been a Cal fan. Much worse than Ayoob or Longshore, the Bears the fans love to hate. 100 yards passing today on 25 attempts, after games earlier this season of 59 yards, 60 yards, etc. Jay Torchio or Steve Levy would be a much better option at this point.
Today, as well as all season long (except for the 4th quarter against the 4th string Maryland group), his play has been atrocious. He continues to take sacks at an huge rate, while he can't make a decision to save his life. His ability to scramble only matters if he is not scrambling backwards. He has no feel for the game. He had a single decent pass today that was on target, It was a drop to Morrah as he was hit when it arrived. Otherwise, everything was off.
I hope that this changes, because I do not see Nate coming in again this season. But frankly the Bears would have done much better with Nate playing all season, with Riley coming off the bench on occasion. He clearly is not ready to play in division 1. Last year, he played well in 4 quarters of the 7 that he played, and most thought that he should start based on those two games. Tedford did make a QB mistake this year - playing Riley.
What about those 4th quarter interceptions that Nate throws? Oh yeah, Riley throws them too. The only difference is that he also get's sacked, throws high and wide, and enjoys being a punching bag in the pocket.
When your defense plays their heart out to keep you in the game, when the opponents defense is bringing everyone, that is NOT the time to hold on to the ball and see what develops. That is not the time to test your young offensive lines staying power. That is the time to get rid of the ball on the quick slants, the first reads. Not hold onto it until there is five yards of separation. But because he is so inaccurate, he knows they would be picked. So he needs to hold on and hold on. He made zero decent plays today.
I do hope that he learns how to play QB before next season. I do not think the rest of the team will melt down, but it was interesting that Boatend was hoping that Nate would be playing - at least that is how I read his comments that he did not think Tedford should have switched QBs in the middle of the SC game.
It sucks when your QB can not deliver a ball to guys who are open. It sucks when your guy holds onto the ball far too long, and makes big plays for the other team. It sucks when...
Well, you get the picture,
Get ready, Beau Sweeney and Brock Mansion. Your time is coming..
GO BEARS!!
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7 comments:
Oski,
You were flat out wrong with your prediction about the OSU game and you may not be completely wrong about Riley, but I do think you are seeing the trees and not the forest.
You have never been completely on the Riley bandwagon as seen in your previous posts supporting Riley and NL. So, I can't say I'm totally surprised by your reaction.
You can point out all the problems Riley was having today, but to me after last year debacle, you can't not look at JT and the coaching staff.
1) Play-Calling: Maybe the boys are not executing and right plays are called. But then isn't it your job as coach and the OC's job to find a play that works? To make adjustments at half-time to give your team success? I have rarely seen CAL come out after half-time and beat a decent team if they are not leading. In fact, they tend to lose games they are leading at half-time? Can you say out-coached?
2) Instructions: During timeouts you have to recognize when your players are not doing their job and tell them what to do. Last year you said Riley was a big boy. He should have known what to do at the end of the OSU game and should not have tried to run the ball. But for a play of that magnitude, how could JT not tell him he has 5 seconds to make a pass, not run, then he needs to throw the ball away? These are young kids in pressure situations. The coach is supposed to settle them down and help them make plays.
3) Practice: If Riley is inaccurate, he needs time to work his receivers. Early this year all the young WR's were dropping balls. Then KR gets pulled for NL and they keep splitting reps at practice. Without consistent reps, how is Riley going to come in a game, which is totally different that practice, and then connect with his WR's? And if Riley is holding on to the ball too long, why are they not working on that in practice? Why are JT and the staff not helping him go through progressions and make sure that he gets rid of the ball quicker?
4) Flip-Flopping: Probably the single most obvious sign that the coaches are having problems making decisions. Why not stick with the QB that will do best? If KR is not getting it, aren't you as coach supposed to recognize that? If they have been working on WR timing, reading progressions, and getting rid of the ball and KR is still not getting it, why is Brock Mansion not up there with opportunities?
You can point the finger at Riley, who no doubt has been playing horrible. But you have to equally point the finger at the coaching who may not be giving him the opportunity to succeed.
I love how the Riley loyalists are running out of excuses. Riley has not been helped by the WRs and crappy blocking of the OL but take a look at the SC game. To spell it out for you, Longshore worked with the same personnel and had a much better stat line vs SC. That penalty that called back a TD, I bet you're part of the crowd that says the WR and coaching was at fault for that. That INT (you know, those balls that sometimes get misthrown or are the result of a receiver screw up that people love to place all the blame on the QBs for) Riley threw and was ripped apart by Boateng, I bet you were part of the crowd that continues to think Riley is not to blame for that INT. No wait, he isn't to blame. There was a huge gust of wind that occurred at the very second Riley released the ball that caused it to hit the defender's arm and then fall into the CB's hands.
Right? My advice to you blind loyalists (yes, you guys that have your heads wedged far up his ass and applaud loud when he enters the game at home or clap like idiots at the bar when you see him warming up on the sidelines) is to accept Kevin for the QB that he is and brace yourself for the full on televised rectal exams he will continue to receive since he hasn't figured out that holding onto the ball is not good for his health. Yeah, Nate's the statue in the pocket.
I agree that the coaching could have been better. The one thing that I think the coaches should have done was start Nate this year all year long. Kevin Riley clearly was not up to the task. instead, they listened to the Fans and were swayed by public opinion. i know this is a sport where ticket sales drive the program, but when you know someone is not ready, do not play them. Nate was ready and Riley was not - all year long.
When you stand by a guy all last year as the press and everyone else is up and arms, maybe you had a good reason for it. The reason is that Tedford knew he was not ready. But he took a flyer this year. We are lucky that the rest of the team is still good enough to win most games without a decent QB. Then, you get into a situation where you start switcing back and forth, and that is not the answer. So I still consider this part of the carryover from last year. If Nate had not gotten injured, we would have won at least three more games last year, and would be going for our third 10 win season in a row. Instead, we are struggling with the QB slot, and hoping that Riley makes it over the hump - and Nate, for all his positives AND negatives, is left for dead. Not a good situation.
GO BEARS!!
So if Riley is not ready and starts anyways, whose fault would that be? The point is that everything comes from the top down. And if JT and his staff are not doing their jobs that needs to be recognized. From making that decision to the play calling to account for the personnel available due to skill level or injury.
Look what Jim Harbaugh has done in 2 years at Stanford? Are those not the same players on the team that Walt Harris had?
At some point I hope all the Tedford loyalists realize that maybe that's where the block for us is in getting over the hump. Did you ever think about that? Or are we to happy in being a middle-tier pac-10 team? That is after all better than the bottom during the Tom Holmoe era, no?
Look at what Teford did in 2 years with Tom Holmoe's recruits. That argument holds very little value. Getting over the hump and becoming a consistent, winning team is much harder than most people think.
I know people think that JT is not a good coach, that the play calling is poor.
I absolutely disagree. The Cal offense is very difficult to defend if you have a competent QB. By that I mean a QB who can connect on 60% of his passes. You can run any play from any formation, and the defense needs to play heads up most of the time. The balance makes it easy to pass and run when the scheme is running well.
Yes, you can call it coaching - the talent evaluation was not good enough to weed out Kevin Riley or Nate Longshore. But both of these guys were quality Qs and they both were highly recruited. In fact, I think getting both of these guys was quite a coup. But they actually have to develop and play well. Nate did so as advertised, until he was injured last year. But still, I think he would have come back from that this year and done an adequate job, but for the blood lust of the fans. Riley has been hot and cold - mostly cold - his career at Cal. Hopefully he advances, and plays well.
The play calling at Oregon State was fine. We passed plenty of times on first down. The screens were limited. We went downfield plenty of times. The issue was, Riley decided either not to throw, or else to make a poor throw. That is not the coaches fault. That is poor play by the QB.
It may be that he just is not able to make the plays. I know that to be wrong, since we have seen him play well. And JT has seen him play well. He just can not do it in games this year. When he got the chance to make his stand on the big stage he could not handle it. That is whey seniors in the Pac 10 win, and sophomores do not. That is the coaching issue for this year.
GO BEARS!!
Tedford hasn't recruited a decent QB since Aaron Rogers. Longshore & Riley are/were just terrible.
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