I don't know if Austin Davis is the answer yet or what his ceiling is, but I think there is a lot of overreaction based on yesterday's game (which thankfully, I did not see and about which I have only read the horror stories). From what I have read, the offensive line was atrocious, even before the injuries threw gas on that fire, with even the normally consistent Barksdale having a bad game.
And while I respect jrry's opinion greatly with regard to player evaluation, I'm going to respectfully disagree with the opinion that Davis is not developing. First of all, the common denominator with this game and the 49er game was OL play so bad that it would make any QB look bad, and from what I have read about yesterday, it was bad enough that Bradford was probably glad he was on the sidelines. Throw in bad game planning, an injury to a key WR with none of the others getting open, and you have a recipe for a QB who looks bad irrespective of how much talent he has.
You also have to remember that Davis is a de facto rookie, with only 6.5 games of NFL experience under his belt, and that development of a QB is not always a straight line progression. There will be fits and starts and setbacks, particularly on days like yesterday when the team around him falls apart. Still, Davis has shown ability to learn from his mistakes. It may take a few bumps in the road, but from what I've seen of him thus far, I don't believe he'll keep making the same mistakes again and again. I'll certainly take the play of Davis at this point over the play of Bortles or Bridgewater, two highly touted rookies, and certainly over the non-play of Johnny Football.
The team around him must, absolutely MUST play better. And Schotty has to do a better job game planning and play calling, he needs to learn to get into the flow of a game. On those points, I'm not as confident. That's where I worry about him.
More than anything, once and for freakin' all we must fix the OL. This has been a problem for years with the Rams, and it's time to put more draft capital into and continue until we get it right. Bad OL play has plagued Bradford his entire career, even if that itself wasn't the reason for his knee injuries. And in at least two of the losses this year, bad OL play has plagued Davis. If we draft another QB high and expect him to be a savior without fixing the OL, we're going to be having this same conversation again next year, and the year after, etc. etc. etc.
