re: SBNation Article - Is Joe Burrow Good?

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Did you look at the gifs in that article posted?

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Yes. I kid you not when I say I've yet to see Burrow do something Etling didn't/couldn't do. I'd actually argue Etling was the better QB so far.

I can only give Burrow the benefit of the doubt considering his limited time with the team, but so far give me Etling.

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I kid you not when I say I've yet to see Burrow do something Etling didn't/couldn't do. I'd actually argue Etling was the better QB so far. 

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I liked Etling and thought he played his guts put every game. But, I strongly disagree with you on this one. I seriously think Burrow threw more passes over the middle in this game than Etling may have in his LSU career. Etling also didn't have the confidence to make some of those throws that were in tight windows. The two that come to mind in particular are the 3rd down out to Anderson and the touchdown to Dillon. Etling isn't attempting those throws, much less complete them.

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Yes. I kid you not when I say I've yet to see Burrow do something Etling didn't/couldn't do. I'd actually argue Etling was the better QB so far.

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Etling sat out a season after transferring from Purdue, so he had a year to become more familiar with the program. Burrow had 3 months.

If you want to compare #'s, look up Etling's 2016 stats in his first 3 starts against Miss St, Auburn, and MO vs. Burrow's 3 games this year. Their avg. QB rating is almost the same.

Burrow has the "it" factor that Etling was lacking.

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But make no mistake, Burrow is an accurate QB who will make the big throws. The majority of his incompletions thus far have been drops, intentional throwaways, and tipped/disrupted passes.

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Agreed, Burrow made one obvious check down during Miami and the press in BR talked about it for a week. We, as fans, had not seen anything like that in maybe 7 years.

Burrow's throw to Dillon was a beauty.

I am a Les fan but it is undeniable his inability to gauge and recruit the position.

He's not well-polished "eye test" - wise. But I don't give a shite. He is a WINNER. Plus, he is improving every week. The young man is mature and tough and a pleasure to watch evolve.

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LSU fans have QB shell-shock from the past 10 years.

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Well in 2013, LSU did have a guy throw for 3082yds, a little less than 10yrs, fwiw

People might laugh, scoff, or downvote this, but:

Ensminger is an older guy, his experience predates the West Coast offense.
From what I remember of the 70's passing game, guys like Bradshaw etc tended to hover around 50% or so. Yet they were very effective- completions went for 1st downs, and were down the field so you got a good bit of yds. You could have a drive where a QB went 3 for 7, and that would be a good drive and you'd get 70 yds and a TD out of it. You wouldn't see a 5 yd pass, except the occasional screen.

Nowadays, we see a lot of offenses where the QB might be 5-6, and you'd get a 25 yd drive and a punt. The QB's basic stats will be nice, but the offense is ineffective.

Ensminger's scheme doesn't look a lot like the old offenses, but it seems like it does borrow from those principles- the routes seem to be downfield, so you can miss a couple and keep moving, if you only hit a few.

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There is nothing that suggest this is the case right now except blind optimism.

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Absolutely not. As someone else said, if you can't see the difference between Etling and Burrow, you're not paying attention to the game being played and only looking at stat lines.

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I can only give Burrow the benefit of the doubt considering his limited time with the team, but so far give me Etling.

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I will preface this by saying I respect the hell out of Etling. I've said before that he's the kind of guy you hope comes back and coaches for LSU. He's a natural leader and scrappy competitor.

But in terms of pure QB ability, Burrow clearly has better tools, mentally and physically.

In fact, we have a pretty good control game to compare them by. Auburn in 2017 vs. Auburn in 2018. Auburn had a good defense last year. They lost some guys, but also kept a lot of defensive talent on board, so for the sake of argument, let's call the quality of Auburn's defense a wash.

When you dissect these games side-by-side, differences start to stand out. For one, with the exception of a couple of deep balls to Chark and a couple of shovel passes, almost all of Etling's completions were to the left side of the field. Burrow OTOH attacked the entire field of play consistently.

Then - as others have suggested - you note that Burrow threw about a dozen passes 20+ yards (from the LOS). Etling threw about 6 or 7.

Then let's look at their best plays.

For Etling, his first big throw was a deep completion to Chark. Looks good on paper and will go down as a 40+ yard pass, but it was thrown too late and/or underthrown. As a result, instead of what could've been a TD to a wide-open Chark, Chark was forced to slow down to catch it which allowed the DB to catch up and eventually cause Chark to fumble.

Then Etling had a 6-yard out route which Chark turned into a 35-yard gain because the Auburn DB went for the pick and lost the gamble. Great, whatever. Obviously not a knock on Etling, but that play wasn't really his doing either.

Then he had his TD pass to Gage. Great throw, but also a great catch as well.

Then he had a nice back-shoulder throw to Chark down the left sideline.

His last big play was a deep ball to Chark. Honestly not sure what to say about this one. Depending on your perspective, you could say it was a great back-shoulder throw, or it was a 50-50 ball that Etling tossed up which Chark happened to come down with.

Etling finished 13-24 for 206 yards and a TD. But when you get down to the nitty-gritty, two of those "completions" were shovel passes. He also had a very poor throw prior to his Gage TD that was very close to being an INT. The vast majority of his passing yardage came on a few deep shots that LSU came down with. Virtually no passing threat the entire game to the middle of the field.

Now let's look at Burrow. Here's the thing...with the exception of his TD to Dillon, Burrow didn't really have any "big plays." But that's kind of my point. He attacked the entire field with lots of slants and intermediate routes (in fact, Dillon's TD was about in that range). Yet he still threw for more yards against Auburn than Etling (249 to 206) with roughly the same amount of completions. As was already mentioned, Burrow thew about twice the number of low-percentage deep balls than Etling did,which partly accounts for the difference in completion %. Burrow was sacked twice. Etling was sacked 3 times (probably should've been 4, but he managed an improbable throw to Moreau whilst mid-sack).

Then add in the intangibles. Etling had Guice and had the benefit of a 4.0 ypc average as a team. Burrow's Tigers averaged 2.9 ypc. Burrow was playing in Jordan-Hare vs. at home. And Burrow was unflappable with 5 mins remaining and needing 45 yards to get in FG range.

Give me Burrow any day.

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Absolutely not. As someone else said, if you can't see the difference between Etling and Burrow, you're not paying attention to the game being played and only looking at stat lines.

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I'm critical of QBs, no surprise, I know.

Cforester has every Etling game on film. Every Burrow pass is on YouTube too.

Go watch that Dillon TD against Auburn - that should have been an INT all day. Both Lbs were sinking in the middle of the field, but the LB who just missed it miss played Dillon and the ball. If he continues to sink straight back it hits him in the face mask, but he played it to the middle of the field and his adjustment caused him to miss.



Both Lbs are sinking, but the one on the hash was drifting slowly to the middle while the one in the middle stayed perpendicular to the LOS.



Ultimately he had his hips turned the wrong way on the pass and couldn't adjust. Hell, Dillon expected him to hit it - the pass went right through Dillon's hands and hit him in the chest.



Look, I'm not shitting on Burrow by saying he's shown me nothing that lifts him above Etling. It's 3 games in and he'll likely improve. However, those who say he's clearly better already are blinded by a 3-0 start. If Tracy misses that FG, is Burrow suddenly a worse QB?

the low completion percentage isn't really an indictment on Burrow - I think he's good.

But the low percentage is definitely an indictment on our overall passing game (receiver, OL, QB, playcalling, etc). If we don't look a lot better passing against La Tech, I'll really start to worry if we're ever going to get there.

And we'll need it against the better teams to come.