A year later; how involved was Kyle in making the playbook?

[OttosShoes]

The Context
We all talk about how Kyle masked a lot of problems. And Steve masked a bunch too.

Last year, Fran made a big point about how Kyle was No 2 after only himself. That he was, basically, laying groundwork for the team.

And anybody that watched that segment with Kyle and Gruden knows how smart the kid is. I hope the NFL thing pans out for him, but I am sure he can fall back on his knowledge and intelligence and make a sideline career in football if he doesn't.


The Issue
Rickie has an arm, and he's got legs, but we've gotten no production. It would seem he is either unable to pick up the system as it is, or we are unable to tailor our system to him, or both. He seems to be working on limited options and Fran tacitly confirmed that in the presser when asked about simplifying things. Still, nothing meaningful has changed in a month and 3.5 games.

Then we bring Luke in and give him the most boilerplate playbook I think I've ever seen Syracuse play, and immediately change our mind. I get that he started QB3 but he's been QB2 for a bit now. Really though, that's all the more we've installed there?


My Conjecture
I don't think this is a simple "we have a QB problem." I think we had 1. a perfect match in Kyle--a quarterback that could reportedly help scheme for his own strengths, and then 2. a really good match in Steve--a quarterback that is a natural leader and fit right into the scheme Kyle left with us. It's great for a QB to take on what's tantamount to coaching responsibilities--and many of the greatest quarterbacks have--but at the same time, it's not at all fair to expect them to. We've all been hoping things click for Rickie and he and he obviously has things to work on. But after sleeping on last nights game, what I'm now really hoping for is that things click for the coaching staff. I want to see the leaders of our program better utilize our talent. Coach, we don't need you to tell us you've messed up or apologize for losing, we need you to adapt and show some progress with the resources you have.

 

[PAcuse]

I’ve been thinking about the Rickie situation quite a bit today, and the more I watch, the more I think his biggest issue comes down to game speed. The game just seems to move too fast for him right now.


A lot of his interceptions come from throwing late,not necessarily bad reads, just slow timing. When he’s locked in, you can see the talent (the touchdown to Ross is a perfect example). But those moments are too few and far between.


Coming from a baseball background, the best comparison I can make is that sense of the game “slowing down.” When I was batting, sometimes I could clearly see the ball’s rotation, read the pitch, and it looked like a beach ball coming in. Other times, it looked like a ping-pong ball, and I had no clue what was coming. The same thing applied behind the plate, at each higher level, the adjustment to increased speed and skill took time.


Rickie looks like he’s still waiting for that slowdown moment to happen. He’s a step behind more often than not, and that’s what’s worrying me three games into the season. The decision-making and timing just haven’t caught up to the pace of play yet.


There’s definitely ability there, the arm talent flashes, but until he adjusts to the speed of the game, the offense will continue to feel out of sync.