You cannot be serious thinking that wr was the difference in 3 or 4 games. I seriously doubt the football knowledge of someone who would think that. Yea there were dropped balls, but every team drops passes. The difference is our guys got maybe 1 decent ball thrown to them a game. And that one chance was prob some stupid wr screen. Receivers depend on a quarterback to put the ball in position for them to make a play on the ball and that simply did not happen last season.Originally Posted by checkerboard_charly
I think the recievers may be the key to the whole season. I mean look at last year, if they play more consistent and with a chip on thier shoulder we win 3 or 4 of the games we lost. They couldnt separate from corners last year at all. They have to play aggessive with the smaller corners and quit lollygagging around like a bunch of girls. If they do play to potential, we have a great shot at the SEC. If not, OOPS.
They couldnt seperate from corners? Rick Claussen, although I commend him on playing decent, could not throw 25 yards down the field. And it showed. Grab a game film and check how many times our receivers actually went vertical. Those very few occasions I guarantee that they had 2 or 3 steps on their man. Our passing game became nothing but hitches, drags, outs, and screens and it is very tough to get separation when a corner can give a 7 yard cushion and KNOW that the qb can't throw the long ball.
Now our receivers are hyped and rightly so. Not every team has the luxury we do to choose from four or five 6'3"+ guys who all run 4.4's. We simply need a quarterback that can let them play ball. You simply cannot have consistent wr play if you have no consistency at qb. This group of Meachem, Smith, and Swain has been through the freshman qb carosel, and the disaster that was last year. It's not fair to them to bash them when they had like a 8 wr rotation (stupid Sanders) and the worst QB play in TN VOL history.
I will pretty much guarantee that if they cut down the rotation to the previously mentioned 3 with Taylor and Briscoe in some formations that we will finally see some good production out of our WR's. I can see Meachem, Smith and Swain each catching 35+ balls. then we can send B Smith out to the NFL on a good note.
