D Smith on Mac Jones/Tua
- Thread starter NYFINest
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What makes Jones so different from AJ McCarron? They seem pretty similar optically to me.
I guess Mac is a bunch better. 77% not to shabby, 41/4 wow!
MiaFins31
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To be fair thatās not a good comparison bc Saban was still running 3 yards and a cloud of dust when McCarron was the QB. He didnāt start to evolve on offense until around 2015-2016. Totally different types of offenses. Back when McCarron played under Saban the QBs job was just donāt lose it for us hand the ball off and let our defense win the game. Saban has done a complete 360 on offensive mentality since then.
Also Mac Jones is the product of a system. Whoever drafts him in round 1 is going to be sorely disappointed I believe.
Respectfully disagree
The things I like about Mac Jones are the same things I like about Tua. They are both very accurate. They both make good decisions and get the ball out on time. Tua has a quicker release. The thing that bothered me about Tua last year was he was holding the ball too long. I think that can be fixed with better receivers. If not Tua wonāt make it in this league.
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I agree with both of you. Your sense that the difference between Alabama's offense when McCarron was QB to now is like comparing the option to the air raid is correct. The fact is that Alabama only passes the football about 5 times more per game now than they did with McCarron his Senior year. The difference is how the offense is structured and more specifically, what Saban is asking his QB to do has changed. It's not about being a game manager anymore and winning with defense. The rules don't allow for that philosophy to be successful.
However, I tend to go the other way when comparing Mac10 to McCarron. There's a difference, but there's not a gulf of difference. Mac's stats are certainly more eye opening especially when you consider those aren't even Senior stats. He was a Junior and it was his first year as a starter.
But he had so much talent around him - more importantly the best offensive line and best play caller. He didn't face any pressure. Ever. People love to say that about Tua and Alabama QB's in general but in this case it's true. He was never really threatened. The few times he was, like the first play of the game against Georgia - the result was LeCounte's interception.
I think if you were to put all of the QB's in this draft in the same great situation, Mac Jones is still going to look the best. Better than Lawrence, Fields, and Wilson. Because of what you stated - his accuracy is better and he's more consistent with his mechanics. But what I think you have to do when talking about the NFL is project them all into bad situations and decide who will be able to overcome obstacles the best. Mac Jones comes in last.
It's all about the situation they land in, and there's never very many good situations in the NFL for QB's to land.
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And that was always the issue Tua was going to have to work through. He developed bad habits under Mike Locksley because he doesn't know how to develop a quarterback. All he had Tua do was execute RPO's and hold the ball waiting for Jeudy or Ruggs to get open. There was no reading defenses or checking it down.
That's what I mean by Sarkisian was really the first coach to even try to develop Tua. How many times did I say Sarkisian took the long ball out of Alabama's offense during his first season working with Tua? Its why his critics suddenly went to the 'all he does is throw short' trope. Sarkisian was teaching him how to read defenses and do something other than RPO. Mixing in his WCO concepts with staples of Bama's identity as a powerful running team. It was RPO with traditional west coast routes and concepts mixed in.
Sarkisian wanted the ball out of Tua's hands quickly to break those bad habits ingrained by Locksley. And the receivers flourished.
What Miami has to do is get an OC in there that will continue to develop Tua, provide him some legitimate options at the skill positions, and apply more WCO concepts. It's going to take all three. If they only get 2 of the 3 done then it's not going to work.
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Yeah I'm not real confident Urban Meyer is going to be great in the NFL. And it has nothing to do with his coaching. He even coaches his own special teams.
But he's going to realize he doesn't have as much control as he thinks he does or that he's used to having. Just like Saban realized it. If he decided to go to the NFL based on nothing but the shot at Trevor Lawrence, it's all going to end even more rudely than I thought.
All I know is the only thing I could possibly want less than the government picking my health care or education - is Urban Meyer picking my NFL quarterback.
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So many excuses in this thread
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For the dolphins and piss poor way they always go about trying to win football games. But that's every thread.
Just hold Tua to the 'Grier Standard'. Give it a shot. All players and coaches will look a lot better once you begin applying this strategy. It works.