Why We Support A.J.

[Avalanche of Wins]

i support aj cuz he girlfriend is hott

 

[kastofsna120]

because i think he improved a lot last year and made plays when the team around him allowed him to, so i'm going to support him until i see a valid reason not to

 

[Boone]

So basically your saying that you support AJ for no reason at all. No analysis of any skills displayed whatsoever. No proof or basis in fact that he is a good QB. That's what the people who don't have high expectations for AJ feared. That you support AJ bc/ he's a Dolphin and b/c it sure would be nice if he turned out to be good enough.

Under your theory we could put the worst QB in the league in there and you'd support him b/c every new QB deserves the benefit of the doubt.

:spit: :up: good post!

 

[rafael]

I would say after watching Feeley last year he went through the same problems other 1st year starting QBs go through. They don't know the playbook well enough which makes them unsure of where the 3rd or 4th options are. This is why rookie QBs (and I believe Feeley falls in that category, although many disagree) tend to birddog their hot receivers and panic when that option is closed to them. Palmer did it in Cincy, Eli did it in New York and Feeley did it in Miami. I agree with you that he must improve this area of his game. You can't play this position if you don't get the mental aspect of the game. Where we disagree is whether he will be able to do so. I believe he will be much improved this year. If there is no improvement this year, than I concede that he is a bust, but I didn't see anything from him that I thought was worse than expected. Perhaps we just had different expectations of how he would perform his first year on that putrid offense.

I think the difference of opinion lies not in the expectation of stats, but in the level of development. The speed of the game is the most difficult transition that young QBs face. What I look for in a QB is that ability to anticipate the development of a play. This is difficult for young QBs b/c everything happens much faster. So sure, as a rookie they will have many more failures than successes(even though AJ isn't a rookie and the speed of the game should no longer be an issue.) I expect that, but the ones with potential still show that anticipation occassionally. Palmer did, Eli did, Feeley didn't.

 

[PhinBeck]

not an aj-hater, but why does he (or anyone else) get a year as a qb, as "benefit of the doubt"? couldn't you say that one of the problems with fiedler is that he received, as you say, almost three years? so if it was a mistake with fiedler, why repeat the mistake with feeley, or anyone else for that matter? feeley hasn't started enough, last year was his first year, the o-line was bad, we have to see what he can do, we traded a first day draft choice for him, he's a bad practice player, blah blah blah. it should come down to training camp - if a.j. proves he should be the qb, then he is - frerotte's the backup, we're happy for a year or two. if frerotte proves he's the qb, then he's the qb, aj can grab some pine, and we work on getting a young qb next year, either through the draft or via trade. one of the biggest mistakes made last year was not naming a clear starter early enough. don't think it will happen this year, and you can rely on the fact that whoever is named the starter has earned the spot. of course, all of this is just an opinion.

The diff is 1st yr starting in the offense we had last year is an unfair judge. If heplayed the way he did last year had we still had Ricky and an o-line, then I would fully agree that he didnt have it. But to hold him up to the same standards when we had no o-line, no rb and an offensive coaching staff that couldnt agree from play to play what to call. Marino wouldnt have taken us to a winning seasn in his prime in that scenario.

 

[PhinBeck]

I think the difference of opinion lies not in the expectation of stats, but in the level of development. The speed of the game is the most difficult transition that young QBs face. What I look for in a QB is that ability to anticipate the development of a play. This is difficult for young QBs b/c everything happens much faster. So sure, as a rookie they will have many more failures than successes(even though AJ isn't a rookie and the speed of the game should no longer be an issue.) I expect that, but the ones with potential still show that anticipation occassionally. Palmer did, Eli did, Feeley didn't.

Feeley also didnt have rudi hjohnson, Tiki barber and an o-line. Compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges. Eli suked for all but 2 games, had as bad of stats and he had an o-line and a rb. Yes he iproved, but so did AJ and AJ took a greater beating.

 

[rafael]

You keep babbling the same rhetoric of opinion where as other show y facts.

You say he hasn't improved yet we show u areas he has improved. Then when we prove you wrong all u can say is a lousy turd analogy.

Then you say his decision making didn't change but yet acknowledged in your previous posts that he tooks more sacks and didn't make those bad decision throws.

You just contradicted yourself.

I have no problem with your opinion. Everyone is entitled to one. The problem is that you aren't excepting the fact that in every aspect of his game he improved at the end of the year. It might not have been a tremendous leap but even you yourself acknowledged it yet after saying it you go on to claim he didn't improve.

It's one thing to have an opinion it's another thing to have a blatant biased opinion that is founded solely on opinion.

The point your missing is that AJ didn't improve in areas that are predictive of future success. The only thing that matters is whether or not he displayed a "feel" for the game and enough physical ability. He has enough physical ability. We knew that. He didn't show that "feel" or "it " or anticipation. It doesn't matter if he finally learned that throwing the ball into a crowd of defenders with your eyes closed is a bad thing. Sure, it's improvement, but it's not meaningful. You might as well tell me his chess game improved. That's great, but it's not predictive of future QB success. I understand you don't get it. I don't know if you haven't watched much football or if you have and just never learned to identify what makes QBs good. It doesn't change the fact that AJ didn't display a feel for the game.

And for the record, your "blatant bias" comment makes no sense. I supported this trade. I had faith in RS and said that I hadn't noticed AJ display any feel in the couple of games I saw, but that if AJ showed that to RS then you have to go after him. I also recognize that it would be better for the team if they already had the QB of the future on the roster. But despite my hopes, we don't have that QB on our roster. It's becoming clearer every day that RS screwed up this one. That's why every report puts Gus ahead. He just IMO an above avg. backup, but he shows a greater feel for the game than AJ.

 

[rafael]

Feeley also didnt have rudi hjohnson, Tiki barber and an o-line. Compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges. Eli suked for all but 2 games, had as bad of stats and he had an o-line and a rb. Yes he iproved, but so did AJ and AJ took a greater beating.

It's not about all that stuff. You don't evaluate the team or the stats. You look to see if the QB has a feel for the game. Great QBs show that at least some of the time even under bad conditions. They show anticipation about where the holes in the D will be. They may not get it there b/c of mechanics or the rush or whatever, but that part is correctable. What you will see is the QB's head turn to where the opening should be. It's instinctive. Watch AJ's head during any of his plays. He mechanically goes to his first read and usually that's it. Sometimes (rarely) he will go to his second read, but after that he's lost. Too many times I'll predict where the hole will develop only to see AJ scanning frantically and seeing nothing. That's b/c in the NFL once you see the WR break open it's too late. You have to know it's going to happen ahead of time or you'll never be successful. The most you can hope for from AJ is that he'll get better at progressing through his reads. As long as the OC keeps calling the right plays he'll be OK. Never great, but OK. And that's the problem. SB QBs are the ones that make those plays when the OC is wrong. They use their instincts to carry the play. The only way Miami will win a SB again is if they find a QB with those instincts.

Now if a QB is around long enough he'll have seen most situations enough to become decent. That's what happened to Testaverde. Despite superior physical skills it took him ten years to show any anticipation. But he was never great. He could only be successful if it was something he'd seen before. AJ can improve when he's exposed to more situations, but he lacks the feel to ever be great.

 

[gonick1]

A lot of Feeley haters ask why people make excuses for him (such as blaming his performance on the O-Line) instead of holding him totally accountable the way we did Fiedler. This is a reasonable question, but the answer is fairly simple: Last year was Feeley’s first year as a starting QB. We gave Jay the benefit of the doubt his first year… the second year… maybe even the third. But after bumbling around for that long we lost faith. The honeymoon phase still hasn’t ended with Feeley, and it wont for another year or two. Until then he will get the benefit of the doubt, which is something every new QB deserves.

You still FAILED to gimmie a reason that little panzy is still in the NFL I saw him play well for the B-eagles 4-5 games he played the game right, we gave a #2 pick for 7th round talent, his wife is a better/tougher athlete than he & in this league if you have 3 sec. to view and throw, the line is doing thier job! and despite the Qb play I saw improvement in the O line last year and I excpect more of the same this year.
but thats cool you can go on lovin' the guy all the way to canada! A... O

 

[adamprez2003]

It's not about all that stuff. You don't evaluate the team or the stats. You look to see if the QB has a feel for the game. Great QBs show that at least some of the time even under bad conditions. They show anticipation about where the holes in the D will be. They may not get it there b/c of mechanics or the rush or whatever, but that part is correctable. What you will see is the QB's head turn to where the opening should be. It's instinctive. Watch AJ's head during any of his plays. He mechanically goes to his first read and usually that's it. Sometimes (rarely) he will go to his second read, but after that he's lost. Too many times I'll predict where the hole will develop only to see AJ scanning frantically and seeing nothing. That's b/c in the NFL once you see the WR break open it's too late. You have to know it's going to happen ahead of time or you'll never be successful. The most you can hope for from AJ is that he'll get better at progressing through his reads. As long as the OC keeps calling the right plays he'll be OK. Never great, but OK. And that's the problem. SB QBs are the ones that make those plays when the OC is wrong. They use their instincts to carry the play. The only way Miami will win a SB again is if they find a QB with those instincts.

Now if a QB is around long enough he'll have seen most situations enough to become decent. That's what happened to Testaverde. Despite superior physical skills it took him ten years to show any anticipation. But he was never great. He could only be successful if it was something he'd seen before. AJ can improve when he's exposed to more situations, but he lacks the feel to ever be great.

Wait a minute. Are you now saying that feeley if given the reps and game time might turn out to be a decent QB? Is your point now that he will never be great? Because that's a different argument from the one I thought you were making. I know Feeley will never be Marino but he can be at least as good as Dilfer was when the Ravens won the Super Bowl. Though rare non superstar Qbs have won the Super BOWL

 

[ckparrothead]

Wait a minute. Are you now saying that feeley if given the reps and game time might turn out to be a decent QB? Is your point now that he will never be great? Because that's a different argument from the one I thought you were making. I know Feeley will never be Marino but he can be at least as good as Dilfer was when the Ravens won the Super Bowl. Though rare non superstar Qbs have won the Super BOWL

I'm not so sure I think Feeley can even be as good as Dilfer. Besides, those teams (Baltimore and Tampa) won the super bowl with historically special defenses. You don't just build a team and a formula for success that just assumes or counts on having one of the best defenses of all time.

 

[PhinBeck]

It's not about all that stuff. You don't evaluate the team or the stats. You look to see if the QB has a feel for the game. Great QBs show that at least some of the time even under bad conditions. They show anticipation about where the holes in the D will be. They may not get it there b/c of mechanics or the rush or whatever, but that part is correctable. What you will see is the QB's head turn to where the opening should be. It's instinctive. Watch AJ's head during any of his plays. He mechanically goes to his first read and usually that's it. Sometimes (rarely) he will go to his second read, but after that he's lost. Too many times I'll predict where the hole will develop only to see AJ scanning frantically and seeing nothing. That's b/c in the NFL once you see the WR break open it's too late. You have to know it's going to happen ahead of time or you'll never be successful. The most you can hope for from AJ is that he'll get better at progressing through his reads. As long as the OC keeps calling the right plays he'll be OK. Never great, but OK. And that's the problem. SB QBs are the ones that make those plays when the OC is wrong. They use their instincts to carry the play. The only way Miami will win a SB again is if they find a QB with those instincts.

Now if a QB is around long enough he'll have seen most situations enough to become decent. That's what happened to Testaverde. Despite superior physical skills it took him ten years to show any anticipation. But he was never great. He could only be successful if it was something he'd seen before. AJ can improve when he's exposed to more situations, but he lacks the feel to ever be great.

Sorry, your wrong, ...partly. You are right great qbs show a feel for the game, a natural instinct. But to to ignore how a team can play into a developing qbs performance is ridiculous. Eli had a better system around him and he looked totally lost, he doesnt suk. Yes AJ has 3 years in the league coming into last year, but 5 games as pro and 8 games in college. He was not a seasoned vet, he was and is a project, one that needs time to adjust and gain experience. Yes the team can play into his development, like it or not. AJ may not be great, he may be very good, but NO qb will look great in the offense last year. Ignore what you wish, but the team did factor into AJ's play.

 

[PhinBeck]

I'm not so sure I think Feeley can even be as good as Dilfer. Besides, those teams (Baltimore and Tampa) won the super bowl with historically special defenses. You don't just build a team and a formula for success that just assumes or counts on having one of the best defenses of all time.

Annnd your an expert? I am not but I am not portraying one.

 

[adamprez2003]

I'm not so sure I think Feeley can even be as good as Dilfer. Besides, those teams (Baltimore and Tampa) won the super bowl with historically special defenses. You don't just build a team and a formula for success that just assumes or counts on having one of the best defenses of all time.

Why don't you build a team trying to get one of the all time best defenses? To me you always start with the defense. I want a killer defense and a strong running game and I'll settle for an adequate passing game if we get the other two

 

[rafael]

Wait a minute. Are you now saying that feeley if given the reps and game time might turn out to be a decent QB? Is your point now that he will never be great? Because that's a different argument from the one I thought you were making. I know Feeley will never be Marino but he can be at least as good as Dilfer was when the Ravens won the Super Bowl. Though rare non superstar Qbs have won the Super BOWL

No. What I have been saying is that he can't be good enough. He will not reach the level of a Dilfer.