Austin Davis not the answer for Rams at QB/Wagoner

[blue4]

Regardless of who is under center, I don't think Schotty's offense can overcome a deficit, certainly not of the two+ score magnitude. I've liked some of the things he's added to the offense this season, but when the chips are down, his playbook doesn't cut the mustard. And I don't think that having Bradford, Hill or anyone short of Warner would change that.

That should be the first offseason move. Moving away from the OC. GW's defense has improved greatly so it looks as if the guys saying give more him time were correct.

 

[Warner4Prez]

That should be the first offseason move. Moving away from the OC. GW's defense has improved greatly so it looks as if the guys saying give more him time were correct.

I'd have to agree. Usually I'd bang the drum for continuity, but this is year 3 and I feel the same way now that I did in 2012. Schotty can be creative from time to time, and he's had some games where I've been very impressed. He's just consistently inconsistent. The ability to adjust is a concern; you can put some of that on the HC, but he isn't calling the plays.

I don't think I've ever been confident in this teams ability to come from behind and win, and I don't like how conservative the offense becomes when they do have a lead. That's probably more due to Fisher, but either way.

 

[rams24/7]

Its time for Hill. Its clear that Davis has made a habit of repeating his miscues and its costing us games. Teams have learned that he is not comfortable at all vs the blitz and the past 3 weeks our opponents have basically blitzed him all 12 quarters.

One can argue better QB play could/should have won us the Dallas, SF, and AZ games. All games in which Davis made costly mistakes in the 4th quarter, and basically played flat for the entire 2nd half in all 3 of those games.

I'm not a proponent of tanking for a draft pick. That's why I want Hill. He gives us the best chance to win.

 

[CodeMonkey]

It's curious to me that he looked a lot better in his first appearances when he was "raw" and just slinging it around. Now that he's been "fixed/coached up" in the last few games he seems skittish/scared...a completely different guy. It's true that his protection isnt very good but he does hang on to the ball too long as well. His passes this year have never been all that accurate with a tendency to sail them and he "got away" with more of those errant passes early.

 

[tahoe]

The more we learn about Davis the more there is to not like. He cant handle pressure, he is slow in his reads, doesn't hit the hot reads, often fails to check down and throws it away instead, he is not clutch, and he shrivels in the 4th quarter. I have seen enough, its time to sit the kid. fisher owes it to the rest of the team to put them in the best position to win.

 

[RamzFanz]

Well first of all even if Hill does play and is lights out and we drub Denver you won't know he would have played that well in all the other games , you may THINK that and will probably claim that but you won't know it. However I don't think we're gonna have to argue that one.
The 14 points Davis gave up according to your post were from an int. we both agree Britt should have caught and batted into the air which IMO the league should quit counting as ints and give the wr an assist on, and what was a forward pass erroneously called a fumble the ball went beyond Davis' torso and nothing the defensive player did gave it that forward momentum,HAD to come from Davis it's physics and OBTW that jailbreak pass rush ,you blame him for that?
I don't absolve Davis for all responsibility for yesterdays loss, but I also won't forget the team he stayed in the game with the team with the leagues best record in their house, delivered the ball to Cook and had them poised to take a 21 -10 lead when a bullcrap call moved them back out of scoring range. BTW I'm pretty certain that Fisher saw it as a bullcrap call as well,and he is on that rules committee.
Maybe we see Hill maybe we don't and everyone who wants him in there has the right to agitate for it , but the lead was surrendered by our defense ,Davis was put in the position to have to take more chances , every mistake he makes is a learning experience ,Hill has been around long enough that if he was the answer to a bad girls dream he'd have his own team and the people who's job depends on this team success thus far are still putting Davis out there and I think view it as this ,Davis has been sinned against as much as he has sinned and with the experience he can gain this year will be a fine backup for us next year ,it's going to take 10-6 or 9-7 to get a birth ,you don't honestly think Hill will win 6 of 7 do you?

On a less combative note I thought we had our best tackling day of the year yesterday,I recall very few misses.

Correct. even if they start Hill and he clobbers Denver, we won't KNOW that he would have won earlier games. But we will have a very good idea that he COULD have and Fisher should have seen what Hill could offer before breaking his word and benching him. If Hill then goes on to clobber a lot of teams, we will have an even better idea of what he may have done.

No one is happy that AD isn't winning. I'm sure not. As I've said a dozen times, I would have had no problem being wrong about him. If they start Hill and he sucks, I won't be taking ownership of it either. I'm not saying Hill is a star or that he's even better than Davis. All I've said is he APPEARED to be better than Davis and they shouldn't have walked away from an experienced QB who appears to have the skill sets that can burn blitzers and win games on this team with this teams strengths and weaknesses.

Britt didn't bat the ball. It was a bad pass that went through his fingertips. Peterson batted the ball.

AD's biggest mistakes weren't even the bad passes. They were the passes he didn't take.

People say he doesn't have hot routes but I just rewatched and he did. If he could read blitzes he also has the authority to change the play so he does have a hot route.

We'll see but the accusations of gloating and wanting the Rams to lose are BS. I want the best QB, I want wins, that's all.

 

[dbrooks25]

All of this back and forth is bull. Bottom line, Austin Davis has a weak arm, makes bad decisions, and can't read blitzes well. It's time to bring in Hill.

 

[iced]

guys - he has 9 interceptions, 3 lost fumbles in 8 1/2 games.. That's asking an awful lot of a defense. 12 turnovers, 6 have resulted in 7 points for the other team..

literally the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.

gotta protect the football

 

[-X-]

All of this back and forth is bull. Bottom line, Austin Davis has a weak arm, makes bad decisions, and can't read blitzes well. It's time to bring in Hill.

All due respect, but that was a bullshit statement. People should be free to convey their thoughts without having to come into compliance with someone else's bottom line (not that I disagree). The reason I say that is because I've debated several people who had laid down the same "bottom line" about Bradford. I didn't accept that then, and there are some people aren't going to unilaterally accept what you're saying regarding Davis either.

 

[dbrooks25]

All due respect, but that was a bullcrap statement. People should be free to convey their thoughts without having to come into compliance with someone else's bottom line (not that I disagree). The reason I say that is because I've debated several people who had laid down the same "bottom line" about Bradford. I didn't accept that then, and there are some people aren't going to unilaterally accept what you're saying regarding Davis either.

All due respect, I don't give a shit, really. Again, Davis has a weak arm, makes bad decisions, and can't read blitzes well. I don't care if people don't accept what I'm saying about Davis, that's how I feel.

 

[-X-]

All due respect, I don't give a crap, really. Again, Davis has a weak arm, makes bad decisions, and can't read blitzes well. I don't care if people don't accept what I'm saying about Davis, that's how I feel.

sigh.

 

[RamFan503]

Davis reminds me in a lot of ways of Mark Sanchez coming out. Everybody was so high on his moxie... "he's a gamer," "the guy is a great leader," "so fiery on the field." I kept scratching my head because all I saw was a guy lucky enough to be in a great USC program with a mediocre arm and decent decision-making skills.

Moxie is important, but it shouldn't trump arm talent. I enjoyed watching Davis play with joy on the field, but he just doesn't have the arm to compensate for less-than-ideal situations. He also seems to think he's got more oomph than he actually does... he plays like Brett Favre, but Favre could just rocket one of those crazy "holy crap no he didn't" throws when he refused to let a play end. Remove the arm strength, and you have Davis - same mentality, which is great, but without the throwing power to close.

As a Pac 12 guy, I always said that about Sanchez. Never felt the love being heaped on him.

Davis is an interesting deal. He can make that long throw he keeps missing. I don't know whether it's because his footwork is just really bad right now or if he's having a real crisis in overthinking his throws. In any case, he needs to get past that or he will not progress. I don't put the pick 6 to Peterson on him. That should have been caught. The problem is that he really seems to be contemplating his throws. Even short throws are coming out without conviction - if you will.

I'm not sure what the answer is. I think this line would get Hill crushed but I also saw a number of times yesterday when Davis just flat out needed to throw the ball. I'm sure he has been worked on to not throw the game away but I really think it has gone too far in his mentality. In any case, he needs to start showing improvement and the ability to work the field and pull the team along. Right now it appears that the team has to pull him and that can't work at the QB position.

I still hold out hope that he will put it together but I fear he is losing the confidence of the players as well and as lame as it may be, the level of play by everyone often suffers when the team doesn't believe in the QB. I'm not one to call for one player over another as I've always felt the coaches know better. So I'm not going to jump on the "put in Hill" band wagon. All I can tell though is that we need better QB play. If the light comes on for Davis, that would be the best possible outcome. If we figure out that he can't be that starter for us or that we should be signing Hill to back-up next year, or whatever, I just hope we use these next several games to get some shit figured out for next year.

And yeah - I too am very tired of waiting til next year but it is what it is and I just have to hope that this regime builds and grows this team into a perennial winner.

 

[tahoe]

There is no light to come on for Davis, he is what he is, just a guy. Time to move on, he had his chance to show if he has more and he doesn't.

 

[WoodsideRam]

Two things with Austin.

Teams are obviously going to keep blitzing him until he can prove he can beat it. So far he hasn’t been able to do that on a consistent basis. This team will not do anything with him in there if he can't overcome this problem.
He has this mechanical issue where has a tendency to sail some of his passes during the game. It’s amazing he doesn’t have more picks than he does actually. If you look at his college footage on YouTube he was sailing throws back then as well. Obviously something to do with his release point. He has that over the top throwing motion like Brees. Which I like actually. Less batted balls. But I think what happens is when he gets a little panicky, he releases the ball too early in his throwing motion. And it just takes off on him.

 

[Prime Time]

We can talk about Hill vs. Davis all we want, which is fine and in fact is what we're here to do, but ultimately the Rams coaching staff will make that decision.

I've always felt that football is the ultimate team game. When the O-line is blocking well, the receivers are getting open and holding on to the ball, when the running game is working, when there's a good game plan along with proper adjustments and the refs aren't screwing a team over - then most any NFL QB will look good. When one of those components is missing then most any NFL QB will struggle(see Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl, or Colin Kaepernick in our last game against the 49ers as examples).

That being said, Austin Davis has not performed well as of late and I would welcome him being replaced by Shaun Hill, if for no other reason than to once and for all put an end to this debate.

I suspect that Shaun Hill would panic less during a blitz, be able to make better decisions under pressure, and have less turnovers than Austin Davis, but also would be sacked more often. Actually I believe Shaun Hill fits Schottenheimer's and Fisher's philosophy of "ground and pound" better than Austin Davis. I've been rooting for Austin Davis and I'll do the same for Shaun Hill if he starts. That's what Rams fans do, right?

 

[Warner4Prez]

All due respect, I don't give a shit, really. Again, Davis has a weak arm, makes bad decisions, and can't read blitzes well. I don't care if people don't accept what I'm saying about Davis, that's how I feel.

Ease up a bit there broseph.

Just think, only a month ago you came at us with:
"I'm completely on the Austin Davis train. This kid has got IT, period."
&
"IMO, Hill would not have performed any better than Davis did in this game. Just Stop it."

Maybe lighten up with the hubris a bit and let's see what you have to offer come December.

 

[RamFan503]

sigh.

Second that.

 

[Thordaddy]

guys - he has 9 interceptions, 3 lost fumbles in 8 1/2 games.. That's asking an awful lot of a defense. 12 turnovers, 6 have resulted in 7 points for the other team..

literally the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.

gotta protect the football

And if Hill had played all the snaps all season and had his average rate of INT's he had in the one half he played he'd have 18 ints all of which would have lead to opponents scoring
The Hill folks have that to point to, and although I hate like hell to disparage Hill, the game here seems to be that in order to defend Davis you have to .
As long as Fisher backed Hill to come back in I did, now I back Davis to stay in because we can profit from his mistakes in the future Hill won't IMO even be on this team next year ,gotta think Davis will .
BTW keeping Davis in there isn't "insane " because the results aren't always the same.

BTW if we should happen to crush Denver with Hill, it won't be because of Hill,it will be because our defense shut Manning down, I hardly think we would win a track meet with Denver.

 

[Dieter the Brock]

If hate for Austin Davis to go the way of TJ. Rubley and Null

The kid played with stones those first few games - and suddenly he's thinking too much

God willing he can stop playing like such a pussy

 

[iced]

And if Hill had played all the snaps all season and had his average rate of INT's he had in the one half he played he'd have 18 ints all of which would have lead to opponents scoring
The Hill folks have that to point to, and although I hate like hell to disparage Hill, the game here seems to be that in order to defend Davis you have to .
As long as Fisher backed Hill to come back in I did, now I back Davis to stay in because we can profit from his mistakes in the future Hill won't IMO even be on this team next year ,gotta think Davis will .
BTW keeping Davis in there isn't "insane " because the results aren't always the same.

BTW if we should happen to crush Denver with Hill, it won't be because of Hill,it will be because our defense shut Manning down, I hardly think we would win a track meet with Denver.

hey i loved davis when he was playing great ball - but he hasn't the past few weeks.. there's tape, his small mistakes are magnified by good defenses...And he's a turnover machine - i call it like i see it. And I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Hill in there for a bit - but something has to change at the QB position.. The turnovers are killing this team.

If you bench a rb for not taking care of the ball, don't see why you c an't do the same for a qb who is consistently doing the same