Hairyducked Idiot

So was Mac Jones. Coaches don't magically turn second-tier QB prospects into good ones. (This isn't directed at you specifically. I've been frustrated all offseason by the weird belief that JJ McCarthy and Bo Nix are big-time prospects)

Doctor, it hurts when I go like this (in regards to listening to the Score)

Bo Nix sucks. Why is everyone pretending that Bo Nix doesn't suck or that it's surprising that he continues to suck?

I'm hoping that Tennessee was a uniquely bad matchup for us in that they have an insanely good interior DL to punish our interior OL. The Texas DL is solid, but it's mostly edge pressure, not crazy push up the middle, so maybe the offense wlll, you know, score a touchdown. Or even more than one.

I'm not though. It's that NT vs ND thing i talked about in another thread. It feels like whiplash because I *don't* change my opinions the way most people do. I guess what I'm supposed to do is that since I'm a person who likes Caleb Williams, I'm supposed to search for a plausible interpretation of events that supports him and emphasize it, even if that explanation goes against my previous beliefs. If you had asked me Saturday what does and doesn't worry me from rookie QBs, I would have said that splash plays and production is good, even if mixed with bad reads and mistakes. But a complete lack of production, even if it comes with few mistakes, is more concerning. You could dig up dozens of posts to that effect over the years. Maybe that belief will prove wrong, either from pre-existing data I've overlooked or future data comes in. If that happens, I'll change it. But I'm not going to change that belief because it would be more fun today to say "ok, the most important thing is he didn't have any turnovers, that's really promising for a rookie, even if he had virtually no positive production." But I get that's how 90% of the population approaches things and it feels weird to them that I don't.

It was so satisfying because it wasn't a one-off. He did that several times to try to avoid sacks and deserved to get punished for it

I honestly don't think I care about the -19 sack. You don't draft Caleb Williams to ask him to throw the ball away ever time a defensive tackle is closing on him. He panicked a bit and froze instead of taking a decisive step like he normally would. But he's perfectly capable of beating that pressure.

Yeah, I think people are being pretty consistent in acknowledging that it was just one game. As someone pointed out, imagine if the Jets game was the only game you saw of CJ Stroud last year But within the context of a single game, that was as bad as it gets. I've always believed there are good rookie issues and bad rookie issues. Good rookie issues are being able to make big plays but mixing in bad ones. Get fooled by a disguised coverage. Throw a pick because you don't notice the lb shading your throwing lane. Even the big sack where he underestimated how fast nfl DL can close, i would file that under "good rookie problem." Bad rookie problems are when you don't show the flashes. His longest completion was an 11 yard slant. He overthrew every deep ball, dirt-balled half the intermediate throws, and sailed a few out routes. I didn't see a single particularly impressive pocket escape either. "But the offensive line was terrible.". The reason Caleb Williams is a thing is because he can make good throws in bad pocket situations. That's why you take him over Drake Maye. "It looked like first-game jitters". Call me crazy but not being able to handle pressure and nerves without peeing down your leg is a bad thing for a franchise qb. That was a worse debut than i could have possibly imagined. But again, just one game. It's gonna be a loooooong week waiting for another one to get this one behind him

My opinion might definitely change when I see actual film breakdowns, but right now I'm still waiting for Odunze to not look lost and Allen to not look washed.

The only real positive I can take away from this is that he had 2 sacks against 29 throws despite the fact that he was under considerable pressure.

Yes. Or rather, the *degree* of not super great was surprising. I don't think anyone would be too surprised if he threw for 210 yards and a couple of bad INTs because he misread a coverage or something. The near-complete failure of his ability to throw footballs was a level of not great that I don't think any of us expected.

If he still looks like this at the halfway point this season, it'll be justified.

Getting out of the pocket and making plays can work in the NFL. He even had a few chances to do it today, he just either made terrible throws or didn't see wide open receivers.

I'll agree with that. He looked rattled. He was struggling to do things he's shown on tape and even in the preseason that he can definitely do.

I don't think expectations forced him to throw for 93 yards.

Caleb WIlliams' reason for existence, or at least the reason he's the number 1 pick and any of us care about him, is supposed to be his ability to get off great throws in bad conditions.

In roughly the same sense that Williams beat Levis today, which is to say that everyone involved sucked.

I was wrong about: How bad Williams could look I was right about: Not even a little scared of Will Levis

I am a firm believer that "all wins are good wins" but this might be the hardest that belief has ever been tested.

The second half has been the full "we don't trust our QB" playbook that we've seen so many times before.

Check the tape, if that pitch was even a little bit forward I want it counting as a pass

If we get the ball back with the lead, I'm betting he's handing it off 3 times.

OK I lied this is better than losing.

Levis 10000% deserves that for all the BS flings he's been trying to pull instead of just taking sacks

Odunze didn't have anyone within 10 yards of him a few plays ago and instead Williams tried to force it into a double teamed moore.