I watched replays of a majority of our games this year, and many times we had guys open, but Relf wouldn't throw them the damn ball. If the guy wasn't running a verticle or a come back route, Relf was too scared to cut it loose. It was almost like he was scared to let it go unless it was wide open because he didn't want to throw a pick. Our WR's definitely don't run the best routes and they appear to be poorly coached, but the talent is there and they DO get open. But as long as we have a guy that is scared to let it rip because he thinks coach will pull him for the back up we will never be a decent passing team. That's the most frustrating part of the two QB thing to me...A guy like Russell, and Relf too, will play better if they get into the flow of the game and know that the coach has confidence in them leading the team into the end zone. Imagine what Russell thought when he marched us down to the red zone and then Mullen throws Brows in there at QB. I think RUssell is more than capable of being our best all around QB ever if he is given the play calls, coaches confidence, and drives to do it.
And for those that think we need Dak to be our red zone guy next year...why? What makes you think Russell can't lead us to TD's in the red zone? He never got the chance bc we always put in our running QB to stall the drives. Maybe i'm in the minority on this one though. Hell, Russell led us to a few scores when he had the chance. He threw a great ball to Green who went up and got it for the TD, and then he threw a strike to Chris Smith for a TD but he dropped it for an INT. He has proven in minimal opportunities that he can play in the red zone. But 17 it, we will always have to have a "running QB". I'm sure Dak will be good and I hope so too, but we sure as hell better start recruiting better O-linemen and more of them every year if we're always going to be pounding our QB into Bama, LSU, and the rest of the SEC.
Sorry for the Bruiser-length post