Although I was at the Gator Bowl, I always enjoy watching the replay on TV because you get a closer view and multiple angles to see the plays from. Having a DVR is even better because you can rewind a play and watch it in slow motion. I just watched the first half on TV for the first and I was struck by the fact that listening to the tv announcers can potentially change your perspective on the game and the players you are watching if you let their opinions influence you. For those of you who were not able to attend and watched the game at home, imagine if you could have used a special remote control that allowed you to hear the game action (crowd, pads popping, whistles, referees calls, etc.) but muted the announcers' comments throughout the entire game. How might your perspective, opinions and experience of watching the game be different?
One of the announcers for this game was Steve Beuerlein, a former QB for Notre Dame and six different NFL teams, who continuously criticized Cullen Harper throughout the first half. Now, let me make it clear that I have not watched the replay of the second half yet, so I am only going to discuss the first. Let me also make it clear that I am not going to try and defend Cullen Harper's play in the first half as perfect. However, I do think Beuerlein was overly critical of Harper and at first I thought it was because being a former QB, he was more prone to do that. However, Beurerlein didn't seem to let up even though he should know that no QB is perfect throughout an entire game. Certainly if you look back at the stats. on his own career, just from 1996-2000 and the 59 games he played as a Carolina Panther, he was sacked 191 times, threw 50 interceptions and fumbled 44 times. His overall pass completion percentage for his NFL career is 56.9. In his career, over 147 games played, he was sacked 332 times, threw 112 interceptions (to 147 TD's) and fumbled 70 times. (All stats from NFL.com). Do these stats. look like those of a perfect QB that avoided pressure, always threw the ball out of bounds and never made a poor decision?
It's also interesting to note that Beuerlein did not criticize Ganz during the first half but just for comparison's sake, he was 9 for 20 with 0 TD's, had one fumble that was returned by Andre' McDaniel for a Tigers touchdown, threw one interception right to Crezdon Butler that should have been returned for a touchdown and his team was down 14-3. Moving on, let's look more closely at Cullen's numbers for the first half: 8 of 19 with one interception and one TD. Let's break down those numbers further below. Harper's completions/attempts (0/0) are listed after each passing play:
1st QUARTER
On the first play of the game, the "trick" play after changing formations, Davis was double-covered and the pass from Harper fell incomplete. 0/1. On 2nd down, Harper was flushed out of the pocket and threw the ball away. 0/2. On 3rd down, he completed a pass to Ford. 1/3. On the second series, he missed Aaron Kelly, who was open. 1/4. On the third series, he completed a pass to Ford, who broke it for 46 yards. 2/5. On 1st down, he threw a screen to Spiller that fell incomplete. 2/6. On 2nd down, pass completed to Ford. 3/7. On 3rd down, he completed a pass to Faerber for the first. 4/8. On 1st down, he led Grisham too far and underthrew it. 4/9. On 2nd down, completion to Spiller. 5/10. On 3rd down, completion to Kelly for 8 yards. 6/11. On the fourth series, with receivers covered and Clemson facing 2nd and goal, he scrambled and then attempted a "push pass"- a Favre-like flick that was a little dangerous. 6/12
2nd QUARTER
On 3rd down, completion to Kelly. 7/13. On the fifth series, Harper threw to Jacoby Ford on 1st down, who let the ball go through his hands. 7/14. On 3rd down, he was criticized by Beuerlein for running to his right out of the pocket into pressure and throwing the ball away when Nebraska was only rushing four. Here is the situation on that play: #93 for Nebraska- Suh- was double teamed by Landon Walker and Antoine McClain and plowed through both of them. The safety blitzed from the right corner and James Davis was responsible for the block but let him get around his left side on the back side of Harper, which usually results in either a sack or a stripped ball. The pocket was collapsing due to pressure from these two defenders and Harper chose to run right, which is the general direction the pressure was coming from Suh but he could not have rolled to his left because that is the direction the safety was getting pressure from. Now, it's easy for someone sitting up in the booth or on a seat or couch to say he should have done something different. Maybe he should have stepped up two steps into the pocket away from the pressure. However, if everyone is covered, then what? Throw the ball away or scramble. Harper, as we all know, does not scramble well. So, whether he rolled into Suh's pressure and threw it away or stepped up in the pocket and threw it away, he threw it away. He didn't get stripped or sacked and he didn't try to force the ball into coverage and have it picked. 7/15
On the sixth series, on 2nd down the pass attempt was batted down and even if completed would have resulted in Aaron Kelly getting killed on a bubble screen. 7/16. On 3rd down, a Nebraska defender came through untouched and Harper was hit as he threw- incomplete. 7/17. On the seventh series, on 1st down, Harper's pass was tipped on a great defensive play by Nebraksa's Steinkuhler and intercepted. 7/18. On the 8th series, on 1st down from the Nebraska 13, Harper was sacked for a 17 yard loss. Once again, let's look a little closer at what happened: The beast known as Suh- #93 for Nebraska, manhandled Mason Cloy by getting Cloy moving to his left and then Suh just simply changed direction, gave him a swat-and-swim move to get by before wrapping Cullen up and slinging him like a ragdoll. Beuerlein again was very critical of Harper for not getting rid of the ball and this time, the criticism was a little more deserved because Cullen was looking for Grisham all the way. Grisham's ran what looked like a hook route and was open for a split second but it was a dangerous throw. Harper pumped towards and held the ball but he did have a screen to Spiller wide open, who was running right out of the backfield. It was too late because Suh was on him at that point. On the very next play, Harper throws a TD to Kelly in the end zone. 8/19. Beuerlein says he thought the pass was late and that Kelly had to turn 360 degrees to catch it. Clearly, while running the route, Kelly turned to look for the ball over his right shoulder, then turned his back toward the end zone when the ball was in the air and then turned left because Harper threw the ball over to the left side of the end zone so that Kelly could shield himself and the ball from the defender and make the catch.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
