Why Miles won't play Lee!

The focus on JJ's inability in the passing game is more on JJ and less on the coaching staff's inability to develop a QB (namely Crowton and Miles). Miles himself shirks responsibility by saying we need better play from our QB (JJ), that the QB(JJ)is getting better and can get better, and that he did some good things in each game. Miles puts the responsibility more on JJ and accepts no responsibility for the poor play himself. According to Miles, it doesn't work because the players lack execution, not because of the play calling or player development.

If Miles plays Lee and he struggles, the attention will turn on the coaching staff's inability to develop offensive players, and less on the players. Miles' Ego can't let that happen, just like he blamed a lot of the defensive players' execution (never by name) during 2008 rather than the coaches.

It must be difficult to be so self-righteous as Les Miles. Miles couldn't fire the defensive coaches after 2008 because he didn't want to accept responsibility himself for what happened. It wasn't because he was being nice and helping those coaches find another job, it was because his self-righteousness wouldn't allow him to accept responsibility by firing them. Lucky for Miles, the salary those coaches were making made it easy for them to find other positions.

Crowton on the other hand could never find a job paying him what he is making at LSU. Miles won't fire Crowton, because to do so would mean Miles accepts some responsibility for what is happening. Miles can't do that. Crowton won't leave until his contract ends and it will not be renewed. Miles will say we wanted to go in a different direction so we did not renew Crowton's contract. Once again this is what a self-righteous Miles will say, so as to not accept blame. That is if Miles last that long.

Who knows whether JJ or Lee is the better QB? The one thing I do know is that both were pretty good players out of high school and highly recruited. The players dropping catchable passes were pretty good players too and highly recruited. Why these players are having problems remains a mystery as long as no one on the coaching staff accepts responsibility for the inability to develop players. Leadership isn't about accepting responsibility when things go right, it is about accepting responsibility when things go wrong and fixing them. Not always blaming the players for a lack of execution.

Miles is so self-righteous that he doesn't believe any of the boos are for him, but rather the effort given by the players. Miles will play JJ all year; because to play Lee might expose the real problem that has nothing to do with the two QBs, and a self-righteous person such as Miles can never let that happen.

Someone should write a case study on this for a MBA program, there are a lot of management lessons to learn by watching Les Miles run an organization.