Lamb performance so far

[Seattleapp]

Three games in and I'm still waiting for Lamb to look like the quarterback we expected him to be. I understand the run first philosophy and I understand the game manager title, but when put in the position to throw the ball, he seems to be lacking. My brother asked if he had a hurt arm and wasn't trying to be funny. Does anyone else notice the complete lack of zip on his passes? I know he doesn't have the greatest arm, but his timing has been off and the air under the ball is really apparent this year. Thoughts?

[EastHallApp]

I agree his arm strength has occasionally looked worse than in the past. Don't know if we're just imagining it or what.

What's hard for me to tell is how much of the problem is with the receivers (who are getting most of the blame) vs. Lamb not trusting them or not seeing them. Every once in a while we actually execute a downfield throw and I think, "that's more of what we need." But we can't string it together.

The throw he made to Hopkins Saturday on the player where Hopkins couldn't get a foot down in bounds was a thing of beauty. Downfield, tight window, and he put it right where it had to be.

Perhaps we missed having an FCS warmup game to give the QB and receivers a chance to work out the kinks in live action.

[appbud]

I know Lamb is a coaches son and it seems to me that he may be overthinking everything. Maybe the young receivers or just maybe trying not to make any mistakes. Seems like some of the passes that were on target were dropped. Not a knock on Taylor just my opinion.

[ASU85Grad]

In Taylor's defense I have seen some dropped balls. As you all know, when a play is called, we do not know where the receiver is supposed to be. My guess is that it is a little of both. We have played two P5 teams with very good DB's. OD we went plan vanilla after scoring the first three times we touched the ball. I believe Akron this week will tell the tell. This will be good G5 competition so we will know more Saturday afternoon.

[JTApps1]

Taylor's first two passes were bad Saturday, but after that he was pretty much on target. There was one pass that was knocked down that he waited a second too long to throw, but it would have only been for a short gain anyways. We had several drops and several cases where the WR didn't turn for the ball in time. Not much the QB can do there.

[Tripp4212]

I agree in that Taylor lacks zip on the ball. On Saturday, Taylor had happy feet & looked to be a bit scared while in the pocket. Until we prove that we can throw the ball down the field, teams will stack the box and make us beat them through the air. Our ground game is obviously our first & best option, but at some point we have to be able to throw the ball. The passing game will come around soon (hopefully).

[WVAPPeer]

Please, everyone, keep in mind 2 of our 3 games have been against top 15 teams full of NFL talent - like many other things, passing is getting into a rhythm - not easy to do against the big boys --- once Cox went out, it only added more pressure on Taylor as Miami really started to stack and play tight defense - I haven't seen him in person this season so I can't objectively judge his velocity ---

[AppinATL]

I agree his arm strength has occasionally looked worse than in the past. Don't know if we're just imagining it or what.

What's hard for me to tell is how much of the problem is with the receivers (who are getting most of the blame) vs. Lamb not trusting them or not seeing them. Every once in a while we actually execute a downfield throw and I think, "that's more of what we need." But we can't string it together.

The throw he made to Hopkins Saturday on the player where Hopkins couldn't get a foot down in bounds was a thing of beauty. Downfield, tight window, and he put it right where it had to be.

Perhaps we missed having an FCS warmup game to give the QB and receivers a chance to work out the kinks in live action.

This! I know everyone hates to see us play these teams, but those games are real useful! Not just for the QB & receivers but wouldn't it have been nice to have Rubino make his debut in one of those games instead of in front of 105,000 SEC fans? I know we cant exactly pass up the opportunities like Tennessee and Miami when they come along but it wouldn't hurt to try to schedule a very early FCS game whenever possible.

[EastHallApp]

I agree his arm strength has occasionally looked worse than in the past. Don't know if we're just imagining it or what.

What's hard for me to tell is how much of the problem is with the receivers (who are getting most of the blame) vs. Lamb not trusting them or not seeing them. Every once in a while we actually execute a downfield throw and I think, "that's more of what we need." But we can't string it together.

The throw he made to Hopkins Saturday on the player where Hopkins couldn't get a foot down in bounds was a thing of beauty. Downfield, tight window, and he put it right where it had to be.

Perhaps we missed having an FCS warmup game to give the QB and receivers a chance to work out the kinks in live action.

This! I know everyone hates to see us play these teams, but those games are real useful! Not just for the QB & receivers but wouldn't it have been nice to have Rubino make his debut in one of those games instead of in front of 105,000 SEC fans? I know we cant exactly pass up the opportunities like Tennessee and Miami when they come along but it wouldn't hurt to try to schedule a very early FCS game whenever possible.

Agreed. Obviously it's not as exciting as playing P5s or quality G5s, but I'd play one FCS per year before I'd play teams like UMass or Wyoming.

[Seattleapp]

Please, everyone, keep in mind 2 of our 3 games have been against top 15 teams full of NFL talent - like many other things, passing is getting into a rhythm - not easy to do against the big boys --- once Cox went out, it only added more pressure on Taylor as Miami really started to stack and play tight defense - I haven't seen him in person this season so I can't objectively judge his velocity ---

It's not really a knock on him and he has made an occasional good throw, but the biggest thing i see is him lollipopping all of his passes. He needs to step into his throws. He could have at least 3 more interceptions against him if the defender had secured the ball. I'm a fan of his, but he looks really tentative out there. And i'd rather see him putting the ball on a line in tight spaces than trying to finesse every throw. But that's just my .02 cents.

[Yosef10]

Lack of zip is not a new issue. No different from his Frosh or Soph years, just who he is. Take a look at TL's stats against the P5 in his career, these past two games were no anomaly, and that's not a knock just putting it into perspective. There's a reason he's playing in the SBC and not the SEC and it seems arm strength would be that reason. Had enough zip to break App's single season passing TD record, though.

[Seattleapp]

Yeah that's true. I suppose maybe the lack of timing has made me notice it more

[MtnDevil95]

It's not something that shows up on the stat sheet, and is damn near impossible to measure, but I think chemistry between QB and WR has a huge impact on game day performance. I don't think Lamb has had enough time with this receiving corps yet. It's a good point about having a gimme game to air out some big play attempts and build the chemistry, but I would not give up 2 top 25 teams and one of them at home for anything.

[WVAPPeer]

BoBo and McElfresh and Malachi played 4 years - hard, if not impossible, to replace that in the short term ---

[Yosef10]

What's most troubling and not a very good sign is our 3rd down efficiency. Currently 7-39 on 3rd down and that includes a 2-13 performance against ODU. I'd be interested to see the ratio of run-pass plays on 3rd down. I do think in passing situations on 3rd down that is where QB-WR chemistry can be (and probably is in our case) a big time factor. I really don't know what our problem is with converting 3rd downs though. On the bright side we are 6 of 9 on 4th down.

[bigdaddyg]

What's most troubling and not a very good sign is our 3rd down efficiency. Currently 7-39 on 3rd down and that includes a 2-13 performance against ODU. I'd be interested to see the ratio of run-pass plays on 3rd down. I do think in passing situations on 3rd down that is where QB-WR chemistry can be (and probably is in our case) a big time factor. I really don't know what our problem is with converting 3rd downs though. On the bright side we are 6 of 9 on 4th down.

Is there a further breakdown of how far we had to go on those 39 3rd downs? If we have about 5 yards to go on average the key is backs out of the backfield, tight ends, short slants, etc. Do we face longer situations that require more timing?

[diehardapp18]

I'm one of the biggest TL defenders out there and I do agree his performance has been a bit concerning so far this year, but nothing near bad enough to make me think it's time to even think about a switch. I don't think our receivers have been very good so far this year either, I don't think they're getting open as much as the group last year. I remember one play in particular Saturday where Lamb dropped back, threw a pass but the receiver like wasn't even expecting the ball. He never turned his head or anything

[t4pizza]

I agree his arm strength has occasionally looked worse than in the past. Don't know if we're just imagining it or what.

What's hard for me to tell is how much of the problem is with the receivers (who are getting most of the blame) vs. Lamb not trusting them or not seeing them. Every once in a while we actually execute a downfield throw and I think, "that's more of what we need." But we can't string it together.

The throw he made to Hopkins Saturday on the player where Hopkins couldn't get a foot down in bounds was a thing of beauty. Downfield, tight window, and he put it right where it had to be.

Perhaps we missed having an FCS warmup game to give the QB and receivers a chance to work out the kinks in live action.

This! I know everyone hates to see us play these teams, but those games are real useful! Not just for the QB & receivers but wouldn't it have been nice to have Rubino make his debut in one of those games instead of in front of 105,000 SEC fans? I know we cant exactly pass up the opportunities like Tennessee and Miami when they come along but it wouldn't hurt to try to schedule a very early FCS game whenever possible.

Agreed. Obviously it's not as exciting as playing P5s or quality G5s, but I'd play one FCS per year before I'd play teams like UMass or Wyoming.

I couldn't disagree more, playing a G5 is plenty of a warm up. We faced ODU before we played UM and our passing game didn't look much better. No need to play a FCS team as long as we can find other G5 teams to play. Most FCS teams are little more than a scrimmage, and our fall camp scrimmages actually have better talent. I understand sometimes we will have to play a FCS team, I don't get wanting to play one.

[t4pizza]

Lack of zip is not a new issue. No different from his Frosh or Soph years, just who he is. Take a look at TL's stats against the P5 in his career, these past two games were no anomaly, and that's not a knock just putting it into perspective. There's a reason he's playing in the SBC and not the SEC and it seems arm strength would be that reason. Had enough zip to break App's single season passing TD record, though.

Great point, he is who he is and we should all know this by now. What disappoints me is there doesn't seem to be much growth in the ability to handle big games. He looked overwhelmed at times against UT and UM, that mental part of his game is something that he can improve on but I have yet to see it. He is a good G5 quarterback but I don't think anyone will ever mistake him for a top flight draft pick. That being said, he has been mostly effective for us and has won a lot of games.

[Seattleapp]

Lack of zip is not a new issue. No different from his Frosh or Soph years, just who he is. Take a look at TL's stats against the P5 in his career, these past two games were no anomaly, and that's not a knock just putting it into perspective. There's a reason he's playing in the SBC and not the SEC and it seems arm strength would be that reason. Had enough zip to break App's single season passing TD record, though.

Great point, he is who he is and we should all know this by now. What disappoints me is there doesn't seem to be much growth in the ability to handle big games. He looked overwhelmed at times against UT and UM, that mental part of his game is something that he can improve on but I have yet to see it. He is a good G5 quarterback but I don't think anyone will ever mistake him for a top flight draft pick. That being said, he has been mostly effective for us and has won a lot of games.

Good post. By this point, he needs to be able to make a play when we need one. He has missed some open throws pretty badly and he's flirted with multiple interceptions because he's trying to be too fine with his passes. I like Lamb and I think he's a good quarterback, but this is year 3 as a starter. We need to see a little more "it" factor from him. A good quarterback will make his receivers better. It's usually not the other way around.