Bazooka Joe

[varaven45]

Lost in all the post-Jax carnage discussion is the fact that Joe has had to endure a very difficult path as a NFL QB for a perennial playoff team in a demanding sports City.

 

First, he came from a CAA school,- Delaware- after getting past over at Pitt. He didnt actually come from the an ideal setting or school known for grooming QBs. In other words, he was a project.

 

Second, he gets the job by default after Boller and Troy Smith go down and suddenly he's the man. No real mentorship, no holding the clipboard and watching the action from the sidelnes.

 

Next, he takes the team for the next three years into the playoffs - yes, with a top ten defense - but with no real tutor or mentor. He had Bulger last year but hes gone. He's had an OL and WR corps thta resembles a game of musicval chairs prs a

 

Fast forward to 2011, now he has Cam as his mentor and OC. Its like a junior employee working alongside, directly with his company';CEO or CFO. There is no in between guy- a buffer between Flacco and Cam. No senior QB to talk to, fraternize with, learn from, etc.

 

I'm not making excuses for Joe. He stunk up the joint Monday night and against Tennessee. He'll have a few more stinkers too- probably at Pittsburgh, Cinci and Seattle and maybe more.

 

In my opinion, without a player/mentor, Joe will gradually improve but will stub his toes along the way. In the meantime, we have to be patient with Joe and his maturation process.

 

[cravnravn]

Interesting, I want to add

 

In 2008 Dont you feel we game planned better, It was Cams first year, Joe & Ray Rices first year, It seemed we did a lot of rolling pockets, and even worked the wildcat better than Miami did...Remember the long pass Joe caught from Troy Smith, why cant we work some of that with Tyrod

[thesteelhurtin]

Im thankful ben had batch considering maddox wouldnt even really talk to him.

[varaven45]

The Steelhurtin,

 

Theres my point. Thank you !

[thesteelhurtin]

Hell ben still comes off the field and goes straight to batch. I think batch will be the steelers next qb coach.

[Spen]

Is a bazooka one of the least accurate weapons?

 

I refuse to feel bad for Top 5 or show him extra patience because he was drafted by a good team and got to play right away. He has not improved the way he should and does not look like he is at all leading me (and others) to question if this is as good as it gets. If so its not good enough.

[cravnravn]

He has improved statistically each and every year, and hes only a tad over 1/4 the way this year..

[thesteelhurtin]

Crave its the halfway point this weekend and he has the 30th passer rating in the league on 3rd down. 51.8 passer rating on third is horrible he has to bring his accuracy along.

[cravnravn]

His accuracy is off because hes going downfield, hes never went downfield his prior 3 seasons...It'll even out.

 

Dont lose sight that his security blankets are gone, Mason & Heap, he had no OTA's, shortened camp..

 

Im happy where we are at,

[yagersports]

Neither does Cam Newton. He's thrown for the 4th most passing yards in the league. Alex smith is rated above Flacco at the moment. Joe should not be doing this badly. He's a professional. I have faith in him, but he's got to get over his rift with Cam if he wants an ext and if ownership isn't going to give in.

 

To the point of 2008 gameplannning. Absolutely. We were creative and tried to take advantage of mismatches. Now all we do is line up and go.

[RavenMad]

Interesting, I want to add

 

In 2008 Dont you feel we game planned better, It was Cams first year, Joe & Ray Rices first year, It seemed we did a lot of rolling pockets, and even worked the wildcat better than Miami did...Remember the long pass Joe caught from Troy Smith, why cant we work some of that with Tyrod

 

 

I loved the way our offense played in '08 but perhaps our expectations were a lot lower back then because we had a rookie QB, rookie head coach and we didn't expect to amount to very much. Our expectations are a lot more demanding now. That said, there doesn't feel like there is any imagination to the offense anymore.