A Tale of Two Halves

by Poseur on Sep 21, 2008 9:20 AM CDT in Football

With 1:31 left in the first half, Jarrett Lee threw a terrible interception. Terrible doesn't even do it justice. Auburn's 11th defender was running onto the field at the snap and some of his wide receivers were completely uncovered. Lee never saw them. Instead, he stared down his receiver, double clutched, and then lofted the ball into a sea of blue shirts. As Lee walked back to the bench, it seemed unlikely he was going to see too many more meaningful snaps for the rest of the season.

His line: 0 for 5, for 0 yards, and 1 INT. If anything, he was even worse than his stats suggest. The Auburn defense was pinning their ears back and suddenly Charles Scott couldn't find a hole. His last four rushes of the half were for a total of six yards. Hatch was LSU's starter by default.

Then came the concussion. Lee came back into the game, and every Tiger fan held their breath. On 3rd and 4, I think everyone in the stadium expected Lee to hand the ball off to Scott to get him back into the rhythm of the game. Instead, Lee hit Dickson with a strike for a 16 yard gain. His next three snaps? All passes. OK, two were incompletions, but the fourth pass was a 39-yard pass to Mitchell. Lee was a different quarterback.

What happened to this guy? How did a guy who looked so awful in the first half, come off the bench in the second half slinging the ball all over the field? In a strange way, I believe Hatch's injury liberated Lee.

Lee was no longer trying to win the job with every pass. He was the guy, if only by default. Lee wasn't looking over his shoulder after every mistake. Really, what did Lee have to lose? He was already benched. He had lost the job pretty emphatically. And now he was thrown out there without a net. Knowing that he was the guy regardless what happened, Lee finally settled down and played like he was capable.

Was he unstoppable? Well, no. 11 for 17 for 182 yards and 1 TD is a good half though. But it's a lot easier to put up those kind of numbers when you get to hand the ball of the Charles Scott. It's also easier when the offensive line doesn't ever allow you to get sacked (both sacks allowed were 1st quarter sacks against Hatch).

Lee won the quarterback job last night, So long as he doesn't go back to being the guy he was in the first half. Or maybe we're just going to have to hire a guy to follow Hatch around and give him a concussion whenever Lee regresses.

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I agree with the "relaxed" theory,

and also think it was something of a “step-up-out-of-necessity” thing, but I have to wonder…if Lee had gone back out and continued to lay eggs, would Miles have put Jefferson in the game? And if so, would it have just been some trash time, or while the game was within reach?

by artiger on Sep 21, 2008 9:43 AM CDT 0 recs

RIght on about the change in Lee

When Hatch went out, I told my wife that maybe Lee would play wide open now knowing he won’t be platooning. He stepped up and did what was necessary. He might go into the toilet against Mississippi State, but the defense should cover any of his mistakes.

by gkhh on Sep 21, 2008 10:07 AM CDT 0 recs

I think we will see

good games and bad games out of Lee. Honestly, against a team like MSU, I would rather a play-it-safe guy taking a lot of snaps. Hatch won’t necessarily be available, and Hatch has himself thrown a bad interception, but he may be the steadier guy, and he adds the safe running dimension that you don’t get from Lee.

Lee (or Jefferson) is the future, but I think the present is still a combination.

Richard Pittman

by Richard Pittman on Sep 21, 2008 11:35 AM CDT up 0 recs

More thoughts on the interception

Here’s what happened on the interception. It was a weird play all around. It was a called screen, not a drop-back pass. He didn’t have the option of throwing to the uncovered receivers because they would not have been expecting the ball.

Auburn was not set. As in, their linemen weren’t even down. Had we called a power running play, it might have been a touchdown for us. But instead, we ran a screen, and because Auburn was all over the field, it threw off both the timing and the rhythm. They sniffed it out and ran to the receiver when Lee stared him down waiting for him to get in position. The linemen weren’t blocking anyone, which was probably another problem with the play. They needed to get out in front of it.

Lee should have seen that the play was busted and just thrown it away or run forward with the ball. Had he grabbed a linemen and run forward, it probably would have been an nice gain.

Richard Pittman

by Richard Pittman on Sep 21, 2008 11:46 AM CDT 0 recs

Combination definitely...

One thing though…I Poseur was right on about the horrible horrible interception that Lee threw. Richard, I don’t think it is fair to even hint that Hatch has thrown an interception as bad Lee’s this past game. I think Hatch’s decision making is further along than Lee’s at this point.

I simply say that to point out that we shouldn’t sugarcoat Lee’s obvious bad decision w/ that throw. I think i am right in line w/ everyone else on being excited about having a possible playmaker at qb and in the end I will trust the coaching staff w/ however they want to manage the qbs.

This is just my backlash to all of the “Lee is awesome” hyperbole. I think he showed great toughness getting back out there and competing.

by Zandor435 on Sep 21, 2008 11:49 AM CDT 0 recs

Oh, it was bad

Don’t get me wrong. I know it was bad, but I think it needs to be put in context. The whole play was confused from the start.

Actually, I just read that it wasn’t a screen, but a regular pass and Lee thought he could catch Auburn off guard by throwing quickly to Keiland. But with Auburn not read and not rushing, I think the better course of action would have been to let his other receivers run their routes. With no pass rush, he could have afforded to be patient.

It was the sort of play a VERY inexperienced player can make. I’m glad he put it behind him and came back to have a very nice 2nd half, but he’s still an inexperienced player. We should expect inconsistency in the future as well. This is why I’m not pencilling him in as the full-time starter quite yet.

Richard Pittman

by Richard Pittman on Sep 21, 2008 12:02 PM CDT up 0 recs

LSU is in a 3-way tie for #8

Using an objective methodology: http://ripbcs.com

by DawgPound on Sep 21, 2008 3:38 PM CDT 0 recs

Bad Methodology

While I hate the BCS as much as the next guy, that is a terrible methodology. It is based primarily on who you have lost to. I care far more about who you have beaten. The most important line of the resume is your accomplishments, not your failures.

The first question should be: what have you done?

by Poseur on Sep 21, 2008 5:38 PM CDT up 0 recs

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