Evaluating Cameron's impact on Mett

I think the fact that he's been starting and playing pretty well as a rookie in the NFL says a lot for getting him prepared to play. It doesn't diminish what any coaches before him did. All of those offensive rookies (albeit very talented) seemed very prepared to play at the next level. I do thing Cam should receive some credit for that preparation.

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He's had 1 season with each of his starting QB's (not counting last year with Jennings). One more year with Cam and Mett would have been at least in the top 2 rounds, if not a 1st rounder.


If Mett spoke very highly of Cam, why are we so judgemental of him after 1 season with the most inept QB we've seen in a good while?

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No one is saying he had no significant or positive influence on Mett. On the contrary, I believe he polished Mett into a consistent QB overall. I think he is just given way too much credit for the offensive progression.

If LSU doesn't play in the bowl game against Clemson, people already would've seen the offense turning the corner, but the offense was horribly prepared for the bowl game and that is what people remember.

Mett would've gone round 2 last year if not for his injury.

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What is Mett's opinion on Cam? Do you have any quotes?

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I do not, but I recall him stating he really helped him with his footwork or something like that. I am not the one claiming Cameron was some messiah. His history states otherwise seeing as it took him 3 years to get Brees to even serviceable in the NFL.

Never taught him how to bend his knees

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Despite his amazing play last year, Mett had exactly 10 TDs in SEC play (8 games), while having 12 TDs in our 4 OOC games including 5 against UAB

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Lets think about it for a second....

We were up 21-0 vs Auburn at the half. We had a significant advantage running the ball vs their DL so we ran it the 2nd half and quite successfully. And Mett was 14/22 for 229yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.

Vs Miss St, Mett was 25/29 for 340yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT. And wasnt that the game where Jarvis hurt his ankle and was not at 100%? Oh and Hill had 157rushing yards and 2 TDs on just 16 carries.

Vs UF. They had a great defensive backfield in 2013 with Purifoy, Roberson, Hargreaves, Watkins, etc. They also had a 3rd string QB starting for them in that game in Tyler Murphy. And the UF-LSU game is typically low scoring and a game where you need to dominate the trenches and establish a running game to get the W. We threw it just 17 times that game and ran it 39times. And Jarvis wasnt fully healthy.

Vs Ole Miss. Our offense threw 3 INTs in the 1st half and we still were in it at the end. This was also the game where Hill fumbled the ball, but recovered it, and was benched because of that for some reason. Was a weird benching.

Va Alabama. Mett was 16/23 for 241yards and a TD. He also led us down the field on the 1st drive of the game and JC Copeland fumbles on the 1. And the next drive, Mett fumbled the snap. Our OL also struggled vs Bama and Mett was sacked 4times and this was the game where he dragged himself off the field and had a knee issue. And we did not rush the ball well at all either.

Vs TAMU. Mett was 11/20 for 193yards and 2 TDs. And TAMU had someone named Johnny Manziel playing QB for their team. You dont want to get in a score-fest against a Manziel led team. And TAMU had a bad DL, as usual. And when you go against a team with a dangerous QB that can put up points and a horrible front 7 that cant stop the run or get off the field.... you run the ball, control the clock, keep Manziel off the field and dominate the game. Which is what we did.

Different opponents = different game plans. When your gameplan is to run the ball and control the clock, you wont be thowing it that much and that hurts QB stats.

2013 - Mett was 131 / 203 (64.5%) for 1957yards, 10TDs, 6 INTs, 155.9 QBR vs SEC opponents

2012 - Mett was 130 / 237 (54.9%) for 1642yards, 5 TDs, 4 INTs, 116.6 QBR vs SEC opponents

So Mett was more accurate by 10% in 2013 than he was in 2012, doubled his TDs, and his QBR was better by about 40points. Thats a significant improvement. Should Cameron get all the credit? No not saying that. Mett always had the physical tools and we all knew that. So its not like he took a horrible QB and tuned him into a good QB. But he took a kid with a lot of talent and helped him figure it out both as a QB and as a leader and helped Mett improve on small things such as getting the ball out quicker, making his reads quicker, and being a leader for our offense.

And Hill was great for us in 2013. But couldnt you say 1 of the reasons why we had so much success rushing the ball because teams had to respect our passing game and coudlnt stack the box to stop our rushing attack? Look at this year. Horrible QB and passing attack, teams dont respect it, stack the box. And our rushing attack has struggled at times, mainly because we are facing a stacked box 80% of the time.

And if Mett was so improved towards the back end of 2012 season, what happened in the Bowl Game vs Clemson? He was 14/23 for 120yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. And what about the Ole Miss game? He threw for 282yards, but he also had 2 INTs and 0 TDs. And Miss St was not good in 2012. I think they went like 2-4 in the SECW. And Ole Miss wasnt much better than that either in 2012. And Arky was 1-5 vs SECW that year as well.

Mett always had a lot of talent but was inconsistent until we hired Cameron. He turned Mett into a QB that consistently was playing at a high level. Metts 2012 QBR was 128.3. In 2013, with Cameron, it was 171.4. Cameron made a big difference in Mett.

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Everyone looks to 2013's offensive efficiency and production as proof that Cameron worked miracles with Mettenberger. In doing this, they choose to ignore the significant imnprovements Mett made in the latter parts of the 2012 season as well as the emergence of Hill as a primary back.

Looking at Mett's stats in his last 4 SEC games in 2012 (Bama, MSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas), his stat line was on average:

62% completions, 268 yards passing, 1 TD and 0.5 INTs

Looking at his 2013 SEC stats against significantly weaker overall defenses that year:

65% completions, 257 yards passing, 1.25 TDs and 0.75 INTs per game.

The fact is that while he clearly did improve, much of this happened prior to Cam even setting foot on LSU's campus.

Despite his amazing play last year, Mett had exactly 10 TDs in SEC play (8 games), while having 12 TDs in our 4 OOC games including 5 against UAB.

No one is saying Cameron had no hand in Mett's improving, because he clearly did, but how bad Mett was prior to that is greatly overrated, and Cameron helped him to become more consistent. It also didn't hurt that our WRs learned to catch the ball last season.

That said, this year and Cameron's history should prove that while a good QB coach, he's much like Crowton in that he had the advantage of a peaking RS senior QB to run his offense his first year and we all saw what Crowton did after that.

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Cammy Cam still has his defenders. But I'm with you. I don't give him a whole shite-ton of credit for Mett's success. Mett has physical tools, natural talent, and a whole lot of heart. He may be a goofy bastard, but he works hard and leaves it all on the field. Cam didn't give him that.

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And if Mett was so improved towards the back end of 2012 season, what happened in the Bowl Game vs Clemson? He was 14/23 for 120yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. And what about the Ole Miss game? He threw for 282yards, but he also had 2 INTs and 0 TDs. And Miss St was not good in 2012. I think they went like 2-4 in the SECW. And Ole Miss wasnt much better than that either in 2012. And Arky was 1-5 vs SECW that year as well.

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Firstly, the bowl game was a disaster in many ways, so I didn't look at it. LSU was being super conservative and leaning on the running game until the last drive.

Secondly, all 3 teams you mentioned were mediocre in 2013 too if not bad (Arky was 0-8 in the SEC last year). That Arky, Ole Miss, and MSU are good this year is irrelevant to last season and the year before.

Nowhere did I say Cameron had no effect on the growth of Mett, but I did say he's not some miracle worker like some choose to believe and his track record is as up and down as it gets. He gets credit for Brees in 2004 and 2005, yet people ignore the first two years he coached Brees where he was benched for mediocre to bad play. It took him 3 years to "develop" Brees.

In the end, he's a very good coach, but he's not a miracle worker. Jennings lack of any type of progression is an issue. He plays the same way this year as he did last year with no improvement. That is partly on coaching.

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If Mett spoke very highly of Cam, why are we so judgemental of him after 1 season with the most inept QB we've seen in a good while?

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WHy? Because Cam CHOSE to not only recruit Jennings over other QBs from 2013, he also chose to run off Hayden Rettig.

Now, you might say Jennings is better than Rettig. If that's the case, then he swung and missed BAD on QB recruiting in 2013.

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Every announcer on the Titans broadcast says Cam made an impact. Mett says Cam made an impact.

What Cam has to work with now, is not close to Mett.

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Making an impact and being the miracle worker some believe are two different things. Outside of a few nutjobs, most acknowledge that Cameron had an impact on Mett and helped make him a more consistent player. My point is that how much of an impact he made is greatly overrated seeing how Mett played for the end stretch the season before for the most part.

The last high school QB that Cameron developed was at Indiana with Antwaan Randle El. The remaining QBs on the roster were so bad that when DiNardo took over a transfer that had a QB rating rating of 71 at Notre Dame won the starting job.

Let's update and include that horrid bowl game:

2012 - last 5 games (4 SEC games and Clemson)

62% completion, 238 ypg, 1 TD and 0.6 INTs per game

2013 - SEC games

65% completion, 245 ypg, 1.25 TD and 0.75 INTs per game

Include the BCS opponents for good measure:

63% completion, 245 ypg, 1.2 TDs and 0.7 INTs per game.

Yup, that looks so much better than his end to the 2012 season.