My, My - We got us a quarterback controversy

they will not see many defenses like last night. Miss. St. has many blitz schemes and they are difficult to stop. That makes Smith’s performance even brighter.

The presser transcript as no decision one way or the other until after Morgan’s injuries are looked at a little more. I could be wrong though.

As head coach he has already excelled in his myopic devotion to Newton, assistant coaches and the offensive scheme without regard to personnel despite obvious facts to the contrary. I’m sure he has hanging in his office a plaque for “Excellence in Round Pegging to Square Holes”.

How can he suggest there will be a quarterback competition after that performance by Smith? He should have just said something to the effect that Smith had demonstrated under game conditions that he deserves to be named a starter for the Ole Miss game. Regardless of the severity of Newton’s injury he needs to show some moxie and be decisive. While its admirable to guard against hurting a player’s ego (Newton) his job is Head Coach of a TEAM. Newton has had more than enough chances to show his talents while the team has spiraled.

He simply cannot change his mind or acknowledge he might have made a whopper of a mistake in his selection and continued promotion of Newton.

My questions are: Why does it take an injury to Newton to get enough game time for Smith to show his ability? and Why doesn’t Joker show some decisiveness, go ahead and name him next week’s starter and get the fan base buzzing? After all, this is a sport with its primary purpose to entertain the fans. A new quarterback in a loss could well be more entertaining than the old quarterback in a loss.

Not only that, in every opportunity he has had so far up until yesterday, “underwhelming” would be a galactic understatement.

Max Smith has most certainly NOT
been given the same opportunities in practice and games as Newton has. How can anyone even say this?

I have a question. Who said this? I know I didn’t. As a second-string quarterback myself in high school, I know how this works, or how it used to.

The second-string quarterback never gets the same opportunities as the starters, and if he wants to take the job, coming in under duress and succeeding is one of of the ways that happens. The other way is replacing the injured starter.

We saw the latter, but he had opportunities for the former and blew them. It’s one thing to come in and miss a couple of passes. It’s another thing to be directly responsible for three opposing touchdowns in two games and throw two consecutive interceptions in one.

So pardon me if I’m not quite sold on the idea that he should be anointed “The Man” yet that despite his performance yesterday. The reasons he is getting all these accolades has more to do with frustration and pure emotionalism that objective reality. The second-string quarterback, as Phillips has said, is always the favorite when the team is struggling.

I’m not taking a thing away from Smith’s performance yesterday, and I also think that he should be given a legitimate chance to start after his performance. I don’t think he gets the job without winning it, and one game, especially a losing one, doesn’t make him the heir apparent to Tim Couch.

But if he’s ready and Newton isn’t, or if he’s just plain better than Newton in a competition, he should replace him. My recollection is that Mike Hartline when he was a junior found out how that works. I’d be fine if Newton was done for the season as the starter based purely on his performance so far — but only if :Smith can be consistently better.

So I say start him next game — I think he’s earned it. Besides, there is room to play two quarterbacks situationally on this team, and I think that’s what we’re likely to see. That is, if Newton is healthy enough to play next week.

It seems as though Joker may be waking up to his worst nightmare. The football news will definitely be holding my attention this week.

Thanks for that, kywineman! That’s very cool to know.

The ’Cats have given me plenty of reason to drink, just not the right ones. :-)