re: Official QB Thread...(do not start a new thread to discuss QB's)

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Just in case it hasn't been said before.

Lee should start over Jefferson....

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by just over a yard per. . .convincing.

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Exactly. Let JLee rack up 81 more completions, and lets see where those numbers are then

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The simple fact is that the offense has sputtered badly since the 2nd half of the Peach bowl game with JJ at the helm, in spite of numbers that indicate that he is efficient. Those numbers don't take into account the multitude of sacks taken, passes that have no chance to convert 3rd downs, etc.

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You're going back to the 2nd half of the Peach Bowl game? Come on now... It was over by half. JJ hit his first nine passes in that one and was 11/12 for 120 yards with a passing TD and good rushing yards at half. He was 13/14 before he had another incompletion. He was bound to cool off at some point and GT was bound to have a little pride in Georgia and make some plays. And like I've said before, offsetting penalties knocked that 86-yard bomb TD off the board in the 2nd half. But we didn't need any more points.

Truth be told, our offense started sputtering a few games prior to the Tech game. We only had 14 offensive points against Tulane at half. We had 3 points with a minute or so left in the 3rd quarter against Troy and Ole Miss was killing us 21-3 just before half when JJ came in and took us down and scored. So it wasn't like our offense was clicking all the time in 2008 either.

I do think JJ improved with actually passing the ball as the season went on last year. When you look at last year, in his first six games (with two bowl winning teams as opponents), he averaged 169 yards per game. In his last six games (against five bowl winning teams including the BCS Champion), he averaged 192 yards per game and had 10 TDs to 4 Ints. in that stretch. And he basically missed the 2nd half of the Bama game. But his numbers took a nice jump against superior competition last year. He was just as bad or worse though with waiting too long to throw the ball and taking sacks.

All of our losses did come to teams that all finished in the top 15 in scoring defense (2,3,4 and 15). So we did play some monster Ds as well. And we were beating every team on our schedule in the 4th quarter at some point except Florida. So JJ's style of play was not too bad considering we had additional offensive problems last year.

The bottom line is that stats can only tell part of a story. When you have a QB having such an inaccurate night like JJ did against Vandy, you should put another guy in at some point and see if he can get something going. Player confidence and all this stuff is not quite as important as winning the game you're playing at that moment. Different guys are needed in different situations and players should always be ready to step up. It's good to have confidence, but you have to be tough to play football (mentally and physically). If JJ could mix a little JL in him (throw it more when guys aren't completely open)and JL could mix a little JJ in him (be a little more careful of when & where he puts it up), we'd probably have two really good options.

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Actual numbers: Lee - 2086/160=13.08 JJ - 2832/241=11.75

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Ryan Mallet is 6.3 yards per attempt after 2 games this season. What does these numbers mean? He's not any good?

It's all about managing the game and making plays. LSU was 8/16 in 3rd down conversion last week which was, I believe, the best in the SEC in week two. I believe Lee will play (who has also gotten better) when it is an advantage (not luxury) to LSU. Look toward the big games. That's all I'm saying. We will do what it takes to win this year.

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Player confidence and all this stuff is not quite as important as winning the game you're playing at that moment

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I keep saying, Les knows that if he pulls JJ and puts in JL for poor performance, there might not be any turning back. Let's put it this way, I have not seen anything in JJ to suggest he could pick himself off the mat like JL has done. This, I think, is LM's biggest dilemma.

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Translation: After 4 complete passes, Mallett is 10 yds further down the field than JJ.

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And when you factor in that many of those 14 yard completions were picking up 1st downs, you also get

701 yards passing vs JJ at 247
30 passing 1st downs vs JJ at 12
10.3 yards per att vs JJ at 6.0
67 att per game vs JJ at 41
47 1st downs vs LSU at 32
6 touchdowns vs JJ at 2
100% red zone conv vs LSU at 57%