[MV72018]

It is terrrible that Elijah Brown has been out for weeks. What I want to know is what happened to him and why it was able to happen. I seem to recall that the injury happened during our bye week. Unless it was a freak or  contact-free injury, I can't fathom why TT would allow EB to be a live target in practice. Elijah is by far the most talented QB we have. He throws a beautiful, accurate, catchable ball. (And, given that our receivers have considerable difficulty gaining significant separation from the D backs covering them, EB's accurate throws are even more important to our O being successful.) Remember how accurate he was against Cal Poly SLO, completing 7 of 7 in Q4. He is a precious resource for Stanford football at this juncture, one to be carefully protected from serious injury in practice. If TT did not protect him in practice, e.g, by making tackling or otherwise blasting him off limits, then I'd criticize TT, whom I still like as a person. But I must question why a rare talent like EB was not explicitly protected in practice -- again, assuming he did not injure himself or have a freak accident. I'd be interested in knowing what others think about this matter.

Given that QB’s wear different colored jerseys from everyone else in practice to denote they are “untouchable”, the likelihood of an QB practice injury due to tackling or “blasting” is extraordinarily rare.  

However, as Sagehen suggested, a “follow through finger injury” is not unusual whether in practice or a game.

IMO, stating that Taylor may be responsible for the current status of Brown is poor form.

My claim was CONDITIONAL. I wrote: "If TT did not protect him in practice, e.g, by making tackling or otherwise blasting him off limits, then I'd criticize TT, whom I still like as a person." There's an important difference between a conditional claim and a categorical claim. It could well be that, as another poster suggested, the injury was caused by a hand accidentally hitting a helmet, which I would not blame TT for at all. e, e.g, by making tackling or otherwise blasting him off limits, then I'd criticize TT, whom I still like as a person.

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Elijah is by far the most talented QB we have. He throws a beautiful, accurate, catchable ball. (And, given that our receivers have considerable difficulty gaining significant separation from the D backs covering them, EB's accurate throws are even more important to our O being successful.) Remember how accurate he was against Cal Poly SLO, completing 7 of 7 in Q4.

Sorry, but I am not willing to anoint any QB as "the answer" because he completed 7 of 7 against a clearly inferior team in garbage time. Yes, he did well. There is reason to believe he is in fact a much better passer than either Daniels or Lamson. However his recruiting evaluations seem to indicate that while he is relatively elusive in the pocket he is not a running threat. He was classified as a "drop-back" passer. If we had a better OL that might be just fine. With the one we have, he might not have the protection he needs to excel, or even survive. That may be why he wasn't out there already. We just don't know yet. We will know a lot more when TT is willing and able to put him out there as "the QB". We haven't seen that yet. The injury undoubtedly postpones that date considerably.

I would also like to caution that as KJ Costello proved it is very difficult to have a good passing offense if your receivers can't get significant separation at least a meaningful percentage of the time. Costello was generally pretty accurate. However, 50/50 balls are just that and the defense wins the battle often enough it becomes very difficult to win games throwing those passes. The QB inevitably becomes overly aggressive, because otherwise he would almost never throw the ball at all. For example Ayomanor has great body control, can jump very high, and battles for the ball pretty well. However expecting him to "win" that battle on every play is unrealistic. The losses are often interceptions. Hard to sustain drives that way.

[MV72018]

It is terrrible that Elijah Brown has been out for weeks. What I want to know is what happened to him and why it was able to happen. I seem to recall that the injury happened during our bye week. Unless it was a freak or  contact-free injury, I can't fathom why TT would allow EB to be a live target in practice. Elijah is by far the most talented QB we have. He throws a beautiful, accurate, catchable ball. (And, given that our receivers have considerable difficulty gaining significant separation from the D backs covering them, EB's accurate throws are even more important to our O being successful.) Remember how accurate he was against Cal Poly SLO, completing 7 of 7 in Q4. He is a precious resource for Stanford football at this juncture, one to be carefully protected from serious injury in practice. If TT did not protect him in practice, e.g, by making tackling or otherwise blasting him off limits, then I'd criticize TT, whom I still like as a person. But I must question why a rare talent like EB was not explicitly protected in practice -- again, assuming he did not injure himself or have a freak accident. I'd be interested in knowing what others think about this matter.

Given that QB’s wear different colored jerseys from everyone else in practice to denote they are “untouchable”, the likelihood of an QB practice injury due to tackling or “blasting” is extraordinarily rare.  

However, as Sagehen suggested, a “follow through finger injury” is not unusual whether in practice or a game.

IMO, stating that Taylor may be responsible for the current status of Brown is poor form.

My claim was CONDITIONAL. I wrote: "If TT did not protect him in practice, e.g, by making tackling or otherwise blasting him off limits, then I'd criticize TT, whom I still like as a person." There's an important difference between a conditional claim and a categorical claim. It could well be that, as another poster suggested, the injury was caused by a hand accidentally hitting a helmet, which I would not blame TT for at all. e, e.g, by making tackling or otherwise blasting him off limits, then I'd criticize TT, whom I still like as a person.

---

Elijah is by far the most talented QB we have. He throws a beautiful, accurate, catchable ball. (And, given that our receivers have considerable difficulty gaining significant separation from the D backs covering them, EB's accurate throws are even more important to our O being successful.) Remember how accurate he was against Cal Poly SLO, completing 7 of 7 in Q4.

Sorry, but I am not willing to anoint any QB as "the answer" because he completed 7 of 7 against a clearly inferior team in garbage time. Yes, he did well. There is reason to believe he is in fact a much better passer than either Daniels or Lamson. However his recruiting evaluations seem to indicate that while he is relatively elusive in the pocket he is not a running threat. He was classified as a "drop-back" passer. If we had a better OL that might be just fine. With the one we have, he might not have the protection he needs to excel, or even survive. That may be why he wasn't out there already. We just don't know yet. We will know a lot more when TT is willing and able to put him out there as "the QB". We haven't seen that yet. The injury undoubtedly postpones that date considerably.

I would also like to caution that as KJ Costello proved it is very difficult to have a good passing offense if your receivers can't get significant separation at least a meaningful percentage of the time. Costello was generally pretty accurate. However, 50/50 balls are just that and the defense wins the battle often enough it becomes very difficult to win games throwing those passes. The QB inevitably becomes overly aggressive, because otherwise he would almost never throw the ball at all. For example Ayomanor has great body control, can jump very high, and battles for the ball pretty well. However expecting him to "win" that battle on every play is unrealistic. The losses are often interceptions. Hard to sustain drives that way.