re: Seeing a few articles today criticizing les miles’ handling of pooka assault

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I don't think anyone disputes that JJ helped rescue us in the Bama game in Tuscaloosa.

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No...you may not, but MANY MANY people do. Just ask them. They'll be MORE than happy to tell you that had Miles simply stuck with him he'd have pulled out of it and we'd have still won. I mentioned it, because I've argued that point tons of times here.

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Our complaint is that in the rematch, JJ was horrific, and we needed to put Lee in to see if he could light a spark. I'm NOT saying he would've, but it's the damn NC game -- you have to try ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING to get the offense moving.

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I'm not defending that move. Never have. The fact that I don't think Lee was capable of suddenly getting over his BAMA fears and dragging LSU's offense down the field to score that night doesn't mean I would have not been happy to at least try and see if he could. Hell...if it meant having a chance to win, I'd have been happy to have T-Bob under center!

Unfortunately, that ship sailed back in November for Lee though as far as Miles was concerned. Miles stuck with him back then until he'd thrown his second pick. All that did was prove, in Miles' mind, what he'd feared since 2008. That he'd rather play ball control and eek out offensive yards and play defense rather than risk the high percentage of turning the ball over and killing your defense. Everyone paying attention should have known that Lee played himself out of the lineup with that second pick in November. Had he NOT turned the ball over and moved it just enough to win, my guess is that JJ would have never seen the field in Tuscaloosa and would have only played sparingly afterwards...unless Lee began to be a turnover machine again...which he'd avoided most of that year until then. Lee's job was at risk not just because JJ was on the sidelines, but because his play made it likely that he'd be replaced by what was considered to be the "safer" bet.

And for the record...I didn't bring this topic up. Blame Bayou for bringing up JJ and Lee! My point back on page was was just that Miles, for all his faults, did in fact toss some high profile guys from his team which ultimately hurt his teams by their absence. Suggesting that he has a history of coddling superstars and not removing them when their behavior warranted it is bad reporting.