I know there are too many threads about the quarterback situation, but I wanted to get my two cents in because I think there is a bright side to Speight's performance over the past few games that is being overlooked. To be clear, I, too, have some concern and don't think he's playing at the level he should be, but this "sky is falling" mentality really overlooks a few things:
(1) Speight was outstanding against Ohio State last year. Yes, he threw an interception and a fumble that ultimately cost us the game, but the only reason we were in that game at all was because he was sharp on just about every other snap. Our run game was NOWHERE, and he was consistently driving us down the field on drive after drive, despite the fact that our O-Line was giving him very little protection and the Ohio State secondary was covering our receivers like a blanket. I'm not excusing the turnovers, but this "Speight completely sucked at the end of last year" is revisionist. He was awful against Iowa, missed the next game, and played injured versus OSU and in the bowl game, where he had some turnovers but was otherwise pretty damn effective for a quarterback with a terrible O-Line. Go back and watch those games and tell me that Speight was the weak link. He wasn't. He made a couple of bad mistakes, yes, and I am not excusing that, but by and large he played well.
(2) There is no denying that Speight was atrocious during the Spring Game. This unnerved me. He looked like a freshman walk-on out there. I don't know why, but he was genuinely terrible and it definitely got me worried about whether he would rebound to being the player he had been for most of last season, but it was just a glorified practice and I don't think it's fair to use that as a barometer for his current level of play.
(3) Speight has not completely rebounded to his previous form, in the first three games this year, there is no denying that. He was very off against Florida, but the bright side is that he has made incremental improvements in each if the past three games. You are doing yourself a disservice if you ignore this fact, and it is a fact. He was pretty raw against Florida and made a ton of overthrows, but he made fewer mistakes against Cincinnati, and even fewer this past Saturday. The offensive play calling against Air Force was lackluster, but I only saw about three passes that I would say were actually poorly thrown. There was that stupid, sloppy forward shuffle pass when he was scrambling, there was one pass that he clearly overthrew an open receiver when he shouldn't have, and there were two more over throws (including a fade that ended up out of bounds), but on those playes the receiver never got separation from the defender, and if he had thrown those any shorter they would likely have been picked off, so while those looked over thrown and ended up as incompletions, they were not really bad passes. On the other hand, Speight had a number of really nice passes that were right on the money (including the one that was dropped by Crawford). He had more good passes than bad passes for the first time this season.
My point is this: when you have a player that is struggling but you can see clear, undeniable incremental improvement game over game, why would you pull him or think the sky is falling??? If Speight had been as bad in games two and three and he was in game one, then I could understand that, but he's getting better with each game, and he proved last year that when he got his stride he can be a very good quarterback. You don't have to be happy with where he is to at least appreciate he is clearly moving in the right direction.
That's my two cents.
(1) Speight was outstanding against Ohio State last year. Yes, he threw an interception and a fumble that ultimately cost us the game, but the only reason we were in that game at all was because he was sharp on just about every other snap. Our run game was NOWHERE, and he was consistently driving us down the field on drive after drive, despite the fact that our O-Line was giving him very little protection and the Ohio State secondary was covering our receivers like a blanket. I'm not excusing the turnovers, but this "Speight completely sucked at the end of last year" is revisionist. He was awful against Iowa, missed the next game, and played injured versus OSU and in the bowl game, where he had some turnovers but was otherwise pretty damn effective for a quarterback with a terrible O-Line. Go back and watch those games and tell me that Speight was the weak link. He wasn't. He made a couple of bad mistakes, yes, and I am not excusing that, but by and large he played well.
(2) There is no denying that Speight was atrocious during the Spring Game. This unnerved me. He looked like a freshman walk-on out there. I don't know why, but he was genuinely terrible and it definitely got me worried about whether he would rebound to being the player he had been for most of last season, but it was just a glorified practice and I don't think it's fair to use that as a barometer for his current level of play.
(3) Speight has not completely rebounded to his previous form, in the first three games this year, there is no denying that. He was very off against Florida, but the bright side is that he has made incremental improvements in each if the past three games. You are doing yourself a disservice if you ignore this fact, and it is a fact. He was pretty raw against Florida and made a ton of overthrows, but he made fewer mistakes against Cincinnati, and even fewer this past Saturday. The offensive play calling against Air Force was lackluster, but I only saw about three passes that I would say were actually poorly thrown. There was that stupid, sloppy forward shuffle pass when he was scrambling, there was one pass that he clearly overthrew an open receiver when he shouldn't have, and there were two more over throws (including a fade that ended up out of bounds), but on those playes the receiver never got separation from the defender, and if he had thrown those any shorter they would likely have been picked off, so while those looked over thrown and ended up as incompletions, they were not really bad passes. On the other hand, Speight had a number of really nice passes that were right on the money (including the one that was dropped by Crawford). He had more good passes than bad passes for the first time this season.
My point is this: when you have a player that is struggling but you can see clear, undeniable incremental improvement game over game, why would you pull him or think the sky is falling??? If Speight had been as bad in games two and three and he was in game one, then I could understand that, but he's getting better with each game, and he proved last year that when he got his stride he can be a very good quarterback. You don't have to be happy with where he is to at least appreciate he is clearly moving in the right direction.
That's my two cents.
