[BostonCard]

Maybe I’m being pop psychologist here, but I have a feeling that Chryst’s problems are mental.  We obviously know he is capable of playing well, making the decisions and hitting the throws he needs to.  As you point out, he has had some good and great QBR games, and it was more than just going up against a bad defense.  But it seems like when he has a bad game, he is aiming his throws, thinking too much about his receiver, holding the ball too long, evidently waiting too long for the “right time”.  It feels as if he is pressing.  The times when he hasn’t is when his back is against the wall (game winning drives against UCLA and OSU tonight) and games when he just goes out and plays football (as cliched as that is),either because Love has given the team a big lead early, or he is just confident and goes out and plays, makes a couple of nice throws, and the confidence feeds on itself.  But have a couple mistakes (like the near interceptions tonight) and the confidence is gone, and the wheels start falling off.

My guess is the coaches really believe he is capable of playing at a high level routinely.  I’m not privy to what goes on behind the scenes, but yeah, I think they are waiting for the light to go off, and worry that if they pull him out of a game, that’s it.

But yeah, at some point you wonder if the QB will ever be able to put it all together.  How long do you wait before concluding that he just doesn’t have “it” and the light will go off too late or never at all, and that even if he has stretches of playing well, one bad throw and he falls back to his bad habits.  That’s more or less where I am with Chryst.  We have four games left plus a bowl, all against tough opponents.  We don’t have the luxury of having him play like he has too many times.

I hope Shaw starts Costello from here on out.  But if he sticks withChryst, I hope he knows something that I don’t and that Chryst rewards his “stubbornness”.

BC

[BostonCard]

Maybe I’m being pop psychologist here, but I have a feeling that Chryst’s problems are mental.  We obviously know he is capable of playing well, making the decisions and hitting the throws he needs to.  As you point out, he has had some good and great QBR games, and it was more than just going up against a bad defense.  But it seems like when he has a bad game, he is aiming his throws, thinking too much about his receiver, holding the ball too long, evidently waiting too long for the “right time”.  It feels as if he is pressing.  The times when he hasn’t is when his back is against the wall (game winning drives against UCLA and OSU tonight) and games when he just goes out and plays football (as cliched as that is),either because Love has given the team a big lead early, or he is just confident and goes out and plays, makes a couple of nice throws, and the confidence feeds on itself.  But have a couple mistakes (like the near interceptions tonight) and the confidence is gone, and the wheels start falling off.

My guess is the coaches really believe he is capable of playing at a high level routinely.  I’m not privy to what goes on behind the scenes, but yeah, I think they are waiting for the light to go off, and worry that if they pull him out of a game, that’s it.

But yeah, at some point you wonder if the QB will ever be able to put it all together.  How long do you wait before concluding that he just doesn’t have “it” and the light will go off too late or never at all, and that even if he has stretches of playing well, one bad throw and he falls back to his bad habits.  That’s more or less where I am with Chryst.  We have four games left plus a bowl, all against tough opponents.  We don’t have the luxury of having him play like he has too many times.

I hope Shaw starts Costello from here on out.  But if he sticks withChryst, I hope he knows something that I don’t and that Chryst rewards his “stubbornness”.

BC