My thoughts are... its BEEN clear to me (this past week was just icing on the cake) that JT should / needs-to-be the guy. I was a "JT guy" during the pre-season & coming into this season, but then I saw Cardale's performance vs. Va Tech, and I thought the Meyer made the correct choice; that is to say... I was all convinced Cardale was the right guy. But around I'd say the Northern Illinois game, it started becoming clear to me that JT is/was the better fit for this team; especially for Meyer's offensive style. I think the Western Michigan game was really just masking tape; it masked the fact that maybe Cardale can be "the guy". But then we saw Cardale struggle again vs. Indiana, and continuing to struggle thereafter.
Here's Cardale's QBR game-by-game this season:
Week 1 vs Va Tech = 87.4
Week 2 vs Hawaii = 42.7
Week 3 vs N.Illinois = 6.3
Week 5 vs W.Michigan = 71.9
Week 6 vs Indiana = 11.5
Week 7 vs Maryland = 76.2
Week 8 vs Penn St = 14.2
I'm sorry, but that's not cutting it my any stretch of the imagination. Cardale is driving a Ferrari. It should not be that difficult. The car should practically drive itself. As I've said all along, there are simply too many weapons (almost to a fault) on this team to fail. Ohio State has / should have an MASSIVE advantage at nearly every unit. This job can't/shouldn't-be THAT hard. And yet Jones has struggled mightily. One has to wonder how much Jones cost himself by deciding to come back this year. There were talks AT BEST last year about him being a 1st round draft pick; at worst, a 5th round draft pick. I personally think 3rd round was more realistic. After this season, I'm not so sure I'd say a 3rd round pick is very realistic at this point; 1st/2nd round is surely out of the question. I still think on POTENTIAL ALONE he's at least a 5th round draft pick, but that's not really saying much.
JT proved he's the better quarterback this week. Again, I feel the writing to this was on the wall when Meyer decided two weeks ago to bring JT in for the RedZone plays. IMO, when you do that, you've essentially said JT is the better of the 2; and if that's the case, then why aren't you using JT all-day? If JT doesn't start next week, I think that has to show/prove that there's some under-the-table handshake agreement between Jones and Meyer. I have absolutely no idea how Meyer can go back to Jones, given the production woes we've seen from Cardale and how efficient JT was this past week. Meyer said after the Hawaii (or maybe it was N.Illinois) game I think it was that in order for JT to start, he had to win the job from Cardale; and at that point, neither QB had performed well enough to "win" the job. Well, guess what... JT performed well enough last week (IMO) to "win" the job. So if we don't see JT starting next week, I think it's got to be pretty obvious then that there has to be some handshake deal then between Meyer and Jones.
Looking at the schedule moving forward... it's
@ Rutgers (cupcake)
vs Minnesota (shouldn't be terrible challenging)
@ Illinois (cupcake)
If Meyer does decide to roll with Cardale, then my point is... it's going to pretty much be ride or die then with Cardale; because those 3 games are powder puffs, and Jones should be able to at least put up halfway decent #'s. And if Jones puts up halfway decent #'s, then you're not going to pull him. So (IMO) if Meyer starts Cardale next week, we're pretty much going into Michigan State then with Cardale at QB.
This why I think now is the time to make a switch if you're going to make a switch... you still have 3 "cake" games to ease JT in and build up JT's confidence pre-Michigan State and get him acclimated to the game/team. Give the keys to JT... let him beat-up on these 3 cupcakes and get any errors out of his system now, so that come Michigan State it's a well-oiled machine.
The probably is the remainder of the schedule from Michigan State on out:
vs Michigan State
@ Michigan
(IF we're fortunate enough to win both...) Big Ten Championship
Playoff
Championship
That's a murder's row of scheduling, if you ask me (granted the Big Ten Championship will likely be against Iowa, and Iowa isn't that great, but you can't underestimate those corn-fed boys).
Right now... I would never admit this to my Michigan friends, but BOTH Michigan State AND Michigan are BETTER football teams than we are. Our defense is NOT as good as theirs are (at this point in the season), and our offense is HIGHLY suspect. Yes... I do really think Michigan would beat us TODAY.
Put JT in... get him some reps... and roll the dice he's good enough to win you a Big Ten Championship. I know Jason is going to shoot me, but screw the national championship hopes... I'm just playing for a Big Ten title at this point. I think we'll be lucky right now to just sneak away with that.
Here's all you need to know about this past week vs. Penn State...
Jones: 34 plays, 141 total yards, 0 TDs, 4.1 yards per play
Barrett: 32 plays, 270 yards (240 rushing), 5 TDs, 8.4 yards per play
Scoring by Quarter, 1stQ 0, 2ndQ 21, 3rdQ 0, 4thQ 17.
Guess who played 1stQ and 3rdQ; and guess who played 2ndQ and 4thQ.
Before I move off the Cardale topic, I do want to be fair and go on record that I think the offensive play-calling has been atrocious. I don't know if it's trying to 'hide' plays from MSU and Michigan or what, but they are NOT using Cardale like they when he was so successful last season. Where are the deep plays downfield? I know, I know... it's cuz we don't have anyone who can stretch the field deep - we're missing Devin Smith (Hey... who was the guy that went on record last season saying the guy we will miss most is Devin Smith... THIS GUY!) But personally, I think that's a bunch of hogwash. Sure Michael Thomas is more of a "possession" guy than a "speedster", but damnit... use him! He might not blow by the DBs, but he'll out-jump them / make a play and win you the ball I bet. I also trust Jalin Marshall and Braxton Miller to have the speed to fill the "Smith" role. And I'm not saying you have to go deep ever play, heck even every quarter; but there's no reason why we can't at least 1-2 deep-balls per game. If you're not... then why do you have Cardale in there? Everyone knows Cardale's best card is his deepball/arm-strength. So why aren't you using it? If you're going to run all this read-option stuff, then why aren't you using JT when everyone knows that's a strength of JT's. Makes no sense to me. So my point is... the play-calling has not been very fair to Cardale.
I keep trying to tell my friends (especially Ulysses) that I really do believe Meyer & co. are saving Zeke. Everyone (including myself at times) keeps crying/calling for Zeke... give the ball to Zeke... etc. No, Meyer is not going to do this because Meyer knows he doesn't need to run Zeke 25-30 times to beat Hawaii, N.Illinois, W.Michigan, Indiana, Maryland. But he IS going to need to give the ball 30-35 times to beat the likes of MSU, Michigan, win the Big Ten Championship, and if he's going to make a run into the playoffs. So... I do truly believe that Meyer is conserving Zeke.
I think it's obvious too looking at the Box Score - Zeke's carries by week
Week 1 vs Va Tech 11 carries
Week 2 vs Hawaii 27 carries
Week 3 vs N.Illinois 23 carries
Week 4 vs W.Michigan 16 carries
Week 5 vs Indiana 23 carries
Week 6 vs Maryland 21 carries
Week 7 vs Penn St 27 carries
I'm not with you on the mad hatter trick punt nor am I with you on rushing 3 or 4. 1) we have Johnston and he's been back to lights out again after a shakey start at the beginning of the year. 2) I'm a big fan of blitzing and bringing different looks (blitzes from different areas). Yeah Bosa, Washington, and Lewis can all get to the QB... but our 4th guy (Schutt) is worthless. Plus, I haven't been too happy with our safeties (namely Vonn Bell) so I don't really trust our secondary to make a play. I think we need to keep bringing pressure. We're such a different/better team, IMO, when we do.
I agree tackling - especially, or maybe even namely, in the secondary - has been horrific. Unfortunately, this is something you have to know/settle with when you're getting Meyer. Meyer has traditionally never had good tackling defenses - especially in the secondary. I honestly believe this is attributed to the style of players he recruits. Meyer's not recruiting the fundamental kids; Meyer's recruiting the pure, raw athletic kids. Meyer wants the DB who's 6'0" and runs a 4.4 and will fly to the ball and hit you. Meyer doesn't recruit the 5'10, 5'11" guy that's all heart and makes the sure-thing play. Look at Vonn Bell... the guy is IMPACT or BUST; absolutely no in-between. He's either going to make a pick for you or going to jar you hard enough to pop the ball out. He's not going to breakup the pass or tackle you by the shoe-laces. Very frustrating at times, but you just gotta know that's what you're getting when you get Meyer.
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