JwgreDeux

Frankly, I doubted if Bo could play the way he did this week. I still am holding my breath if he can do it week in and week out, but that is a topic for another time. The offense-wide improvement was also due in large part to how well Bo got rid of the ball. He didn't hold it too long, and as a result his line looked good, and the receivers were in their breaks and open. It also allowed the whole offense to have a rhythm to it that we haven't seen much this season. Again well done Bo, keep it up.

I’m not sure it’s eating crow when Bondoes what he hasn’t been doing and we are successful. He played well. He stayed in the pocket, stepped up and stood in and threw the ball downfield! I had my doubts that he would do it, but he did and I’m happy for him and Auburn. I hope he can build off this in the off week and moving forward.

Bo stayed in the pocket (and had some nice designed runs) mostly and threw it down the field! Great game. Happy for Bo. Good win for Auburn. That downfield passing is what I have been asking for, and it obviously was what was needed to win this game. Bo stepped up to the plate. Well done!

I think the numbers are interesting. I also think your point about his legacy is interesting to think about. Bo probably has more raw talent than Stetson Bennett of UGA, but his cast is better so he performs well. I think that point is an easy one to accept. That being said, the fact that Bo had the hype and the 5 stars (unlike Bennett's walk on status) creates expectations that he can carry a team, or elevate those around him rather than vice versa. It hasn't worked out that way. Legacy-wise it think it is too early to tell. If the coaches stick with him does he improve or have we seen his ceiling. I personally am in the camp that he is what he is, but I'm certainly routing for any qb we put on the field to succeed and would love to see a redemption story play out the rest of this season. (I wonder what the completion percentages of all those other qbs in the games they threw more than 25 times were?)

I tend to agree. I guess the question becomes best chance to win what? The Sec West? I don’t think so. So what, win an extra game or two?

Here is a differ look of the “drop” by Shivers: presnap look: (notice the gesture by the outside LB on the right side) At the snap UGA brings a combo blitz from the right side bringing the lb and the corner : Bo doesn’t see it as he play actions with Shivers and then looks stares Shivers down as he releases into the flat: you can see at the top right there was one defender to cover two receivers, both of whom are open. A ball to the tight end may have been a TD as the safety jumps the underneath cross: instead Bo throws to Shivers a bit behind him and the ball bounces and is. Turnover. Could Shivers catch it? Yes. The point is this again was the wrong throw to make and it wasn’t as accurate as it needs to be. Oh and he had the protection to make the right throw as well.

Thought he looked good in limited time vs LSU

Part of me wonders if he doesn’t “turn the corner” this week, does the off week present a chance to see what TJ can do?

I can’t speak for others, but I certainly never said Bo was the only problem. Certainly there were drops there’s no debating that.

This thread is about if Bo has turned a corner. My point here is that Bo is the same Bo from the last two seasons. Flashes of real talent burdened by scrambling tendencies and inconsistent accuracy. of course I’m not suggesting one player is the only reason we can’t beat top teams. But you can’t beat them if you can’t throw the ball down the field that is for sure.

Once down to the 7, after 5 really nice plays on Bo's part, he completely comes apart. 1st down he hits the UGA defender in the chest with the ball in the endzone, he drops it thankfully. On second down, he rolls on a designed roll out to the left, and when nothing is there he scrambles around, all the way back to the 32 yard line before throwing it away! thats 25 yards backwards: Third down, Bo goes to the outlet receiver, Shivers out of the back field and Shivers couldn't catch a bullet that what put on him. (even if he did catch it he was being immediately hit for very little gain): Fourth down: With great protection, Bo throws to the back of the endzone on the call that is getting all the attention for what should have been PI: However, if the ball is out in front of the receiver it is a TD, as the ball was clearly thrown behind Capers: Clean pocket as Bo throws, Capers has a step and you see the ball delivered on time (in the pic below the ball is hard to see but it is next to the far end zone right upright); When the ball gets to Capers you can see he's had to slow down just a bit.

I will also say that following that drop, Bo scrambled out to his left and hit Robinson for a great play down to the 7 yard line to give us a chance to get some points before the half.

To what I have said about his scrambling not allowing us to get in rhythm, after he steps up to hit the TE here, Bo had a 4 or five play sequence of quality plays. He hit Hudson twice on short drops with quick releases and then threw a beautiful back shoulder ball that Robinson absolutely dropped. It was a really nice throw. So I want to be clear, I'm not trashing Bo. I'm just saying I think he is too inconsistent for us to beat top teams and we may have already seen his ceiling.

I am not suggesting there weren't drops. I'm also not suggesting that our WRs don't need to get better in this area. I don't think anyone would disagree with his comments.

Here is another play for example. Setting is our last possession before the half (the previous drive Bo stayed in the pocket and delivered a beautiful ball to Jackson on third down that he absolutely dropped). Bo scrambled and threw the ball away on first down and we are in second and 10 from our own 25. Bo drops back and surveys the field. No one breaks open for any big play, and the protection is good and UGA drops into coverage (i'm going to show you this same play from an angle from behind the qb to better show what the pocket actually looks like) Bo pulls it down and throws at Shivers releasing out of the backfield (he's releasing because the protection is fine). The ball hits Shivers in the back and fortunately falls harmlessly to the turf (it is hard to see, the ball is the white blur inside the AU graphic just past the 20 yard line): Now here is the look from behind, at the snap Bo looks left as UGA rushes 4 and drops into coverage (Shivers looks for his assignment on protection to see if he needs to help): Bo doesn't like what he sees on the left some he looks back right as Shivers releases out to the right (coverage is tight by UGA): Bo starts to pull the ball down and scramble right while the crossing route breaks (again the protection is nearly perfect as UGA has dropped and only brough 4 with one jumping in the air at this point): As the crossing/dig route opens (given it is a tight window), Bo scrambles out of a still intact pocket: And then he delivers a bullet to an uncatchable location for Shivers (it is hard to see, but the ball is hitting Shivers in the back of the arm/left side in the screen grab, with defenders bearing down on him, notice the still intact pocket): On the next down, 3rd and 10 Bo stood in the pocket and delivered a nice ball to the TE for a big first down. So I'm not saying he never stands and delivers on time, just that he if very inconsistent at it and it is not always due to pressure from a bad line: Here is his good play: As the pocket starts to break down, Bo does not leave it, he steps straight up into it and delivers a strike: Notice he stepped up from the 22 1/2 half yard line up to the 20 to deliver the ball:

I picked one that clearly shows one of his BIG issues. He consistently doesn't throw ball on time when the protection is ok. My point is that is the symptom that is related to many of our offensive woes. I could be wrong, I'm not paid millions to coach football.

Considering I can read your reply, I'm confident I'm not blind. Can a delusional person recognize their own delusions? Probably not, so you may be right. At the college level? Zero times. I said that very plainly in my post.

Bo took 4 sacks for a loss of 46 yards! Yes, I'd rather a qb stand in and try to throw the ball. You're going to take some sacks, that is part of playing good teams. Bo's scrambles have hurt as much as they have helped. If we left him in there to lose the GA state game would you feel the same? Take away Bo's rushing and our RB's averaged a pretty solid 3.3 yards per carry. I'm not buying that our line is trash and ALL the receivers just can't catch.

No he is not. It certainly isn't all on Bo, but I think we have seen his ceiling. He simply refuses to throw the ball down the field. I was at the game and he had 5-6 chances to push it down field to open guys and he either didn't look at them or simply didn't throw it. I'll sound like a broken record, but we can't win if we don't throw it down the field. Here is on of the examples form the game: The setting. Georgia just scored their second touchdown to go up 17-3. We get the ball back and Hunter gets 8 yards on a run up the middle. On second down we have a pass play called.. The play is a hitch and go at the top of the screen on second and 1. Bo pumps to the receiver and goes away from him to look at other routes before giving it a chance to come open. Protection is there if the ball comes out on time. Instead he holds the ball, dances, and throws it away. But after the normal release time the O-line ends up with a hold (again it wouldn't have occurred if the ball was thrown on time) and we end up in 3rd and long and punting. This was a TD play and instead we lose 10 yards and punt. This isn't a "drop" or any of the other blame going around. It is a perfect play call, good execution by everyone but Bo: pre snap: Bo is dropped and beginning his pump as the reciever is beginning his "stop," and the corner is squatting on it with the safety drawn up with play action: Bo then looks to another receiver, I presume Robinson who is running a deep route down the other sideline, before the route on the top of the screen comes open (you can see Bo has completed the pump fake, the receiver up top is now sprinting forward while the Corner is still sitting down on the route): Receiver up top now coming wide open, protection is still good and Bo looking at the other side of the field, never gave the play a chance (notice how clean the pocket is and no flag thrown, the UGA defender at the top of the screen is even pointing at where the ball should go as he recognizes what has happened: Receiver at the top now has nearly five yards of separation! And again the protection is there: Instead Bo holds the ball and starts to scramble and you see the flag starting to be thrown: second and 1 with a TD play turns into 3rd and long and a punt. Blame drops or whatever you want, but Bo has to throw this ball and he isn't even looking at the WR. Not even giving the play a chance.

Ok so let's look at this from a big picture perspective recognizing this "drops" problem permeates through the entire WR group, TEs and RBs at time. The options are basically deciding if the "drops" are primarily on the person catching or the person throwing. My personal view is that in this case, the issue is mostly on Bo Nix. Hear me out before you go all "but ball touched their hands!" on me. I never played football at a high level but played other sports a pretty high level and I can tell you for a FACT that when your teammates are unpredictable it makes everyone's job harder. To me, that is the biggest issue with Bo. I was at the game this week and had a great view of the full field and he consistently throws slightly behind, slightly out in front, short balls with too much heat, etc from an accuracy standpoint. But he has much bigger issues. He also consistently throws to the wrong guy. He consistently missed open receivers and attempted harder throws that what were needed. Look at the missed TD to the TE on the first drive. The HB is more open in the flat and completely uncovered. He also leaves the pocket when he shouldn't, flees into pressure to his right when he needs to slide left, and simple refuses to throw the ball deep down field. We had sever plays early in the game where there were go routes down the sideline that our WR had a step on the DB and Bo just wouldn't throw it. All of these things make him unpredictable. What that does it make it hard for every other guy on the passing play to know what is about to happen. PERIOD. He rarely gets the ball out on time, this sporadic play makes it impossible for the offense to get in a rhythm, and I would speculate that it makes it hard to call plays as well. To me that is the biggest reason I would like to see what TJ can do with extended time. He is on time with most of this throws, and I think the entire O would respond well. I think Bo is a good player, a great competitor and he clearly works hard and does all the things off the field and at practice the coaches ask. But you have to ask yourself if the problem is with every single pass catcher we have or with the primary guy delivering them. And for everyone that keeps saying that due to the drops this one isn't on Bo, he bears plenty of blame or we didn't watch the same game. From the dropped snap on the first drive in the redzone for no reason, to the fastball (slightly behind) that hits Shivers in the helmet, he was far from flawless. His 46 sacks yards (due largely to running backwards under pressure) were a killer. That's basically points, a 46 yard drive usually equals a score. There is a reason, beyond "drops" that Bo has a career 58% completion rate. Unless every receiver we've had in the last three years are all bad (a couple of the guys he threw to are on NFL rosters).

I was there as well and it was a great atmosphere. Crowd was pretty rowdy into the early part of the 4th quarter. Being in the stadium gives you such a good view of the full field to see plays develop and that has really informed some of my thoughts about this group. I'll save that for other threads and just say that I took one of my kids to the game and we had a great time. Great crowd and gameday atmosphere from downtown throughout the entire stadium. There was even a pretty good vibe going throughout the tailgates we visited after the game was over.

He seems like a great kid and certainly is easy to root for. That being said, I hope he develops as well to be a guy that is strong on the boards, defense, screening and rolling and being a physical presence. The area he needs to improve the most is free throw shooting. A guy who can bang, draw fouls and make free throws would be great. He is a role guy for sure and seems to be bought into that which goes a long way for team chemistry.

With the talent at wings, we don't need as much scoring from the point as we have in the past. And no school is deep with starter-level talent. Chemistry, fit and rotations is what is going to be key here. There isn't going to be a ton of passing into the post. We are going to spread the floor, drive, swing, kick and crash the boards. Should be a fun team to watch.

I'm really excited to see what this team can do. Interested in where/how Pearl decides to utilize some of these players and the ultimate rotations he settles on. So much talent and so few minutes, its incredible to see the talent now vs what seems like not that long ago.

I'm pretty sure they showed him once on the sideline after he when out. He was standing watching the game like everyone else. Of course it was a glimpse, so you couldn't draw much from it one way or another. If it comes down to their legs we lose badly. For us to compete, we have to push it down field to keep them honest. The success of our running game, short and intermediate passing, depends on at least having a bit of success down the field. If we let them man up with one safety high and they commit the other in the box, we (anyone) will get embarrassed. I thought Finely did well on his drive. Seems very composed. His shovel pass should have been a completion but the TE got lost and ran himself out of bounds. On the ensuing 4th down, the ball across the middle to Shivers would have been a tough catch, but it was catchable and would have gone for a first down. Finely to me is a Big Ben style qb. His size strength and mobility allow him to move and complete balls others just wouldn't have a chance to. I think Bo is a hell of a competitor, and I liked seeing more designed runs for him vs LSU. He is going to have to find a down field passing game if this team is going to exceed expectations. Which personally is why I think you run TJ out there if Bo isn't clicking down field, to see if he can show a spark and exceed expectations.