Quote:
Originally Posted by ChoppedWood
Listened to AR post game. He was asked about the lack of running in situations where there is clean space and yards to be had but he instead stays in the pocket and tries to complete the pass.
He gave a very diplomatic response about being focused on the great weapons he has and wanting to make sure they get their chances. That to me is 100% coach speak- and an indication he is being coached that he must be learn to play the traditional QB position before being allowed to improvise at his discretion even when that improvisation might be the difference between winning and losing right now.
He was also VERY candid about the misses. He said he just had to play better. Spoke to seeing his guys wide open and just feeling so excited to get the ball to them and he is just throwing bad balls. Said it hurts and he hates it! Said he just needs to calm down and focus on delivering the ball.
Now- here is where you have to look at this kid and think about the overall player and how hard he will probably work to do that. They asked about the Trey Sermon push and he said- and I am probably not going to be 100% with this but close:
"Well you just have to do the things to help the team. When you aren't throwing the ball well enough to help, just looking for other ways to make positive things happen for the team". That response is a player that is way ahead of his 22 year, 2nd year (more like half of one year) self.
I think Steichen is emphasizing to him how critical it is that he develop NFL level QB skills in order to fully unleash the insane potential that is AR. It's not going to be a painless process, and it MAY NOT ever work, but I don't think it will fail for a lack of willingness. If it DOES happen, we have a weapon that may be able to carry us back to prominence in the league.
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He is easy to root for, and I think he will work as hard as anyone to get his errors fixed. It will probably take the rest of this season, and a good off-season to get it to the scary good level. I think that is why they are keeping him to the pocket passer stuff. It makes him more one-dimensional now, but as he gets comfortable with that aspect of the position, the rest will come back quickly and make him a Steve McNair/Michael Vick type of QB.