I think that was the most glaring statistic of the game. Yes he overthrew some balls and yes there were some inopportune drops and a pick, but it seemed as if Towles never got a chance to even breathe once he got the snap before they were flushing him out of the pocket. I think thats the one thing that doomed us more than anything last night.
Towles had no protection
- Thread starter rabidcatfan
- Start date
I didn't really notice if UK was changing their protection package or not. I do know Florida's front seven were very fast. It helped Florida immensely getting those injured players back. I will be interested to see how they play against a better than average UT offense next week. I think UK's struggles on offense could be contributed to both Dawson and the players- there was plenty of blame to go around. One thing is for certain, you can not drop a TD pass in the first quarter of a low scoring game.
I mean, I get the frustration but to deliberately ignore the context is pretty annoying.
It helps to get two (three?) starters back, including arguably the nation's best corner. Still a poor outing by the offense, for sure.
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Lol. Go back to the basketball board with intelligent comments like this.
He's made overly simplified negative comments on more than one thread followed by "end of story" or "enough said."
I agree, bro. Enough said from you. Move on.
How long is this Towles love affair going to last? If he were from another state maybe the fans would have less tolerant responses to bad results and judge him on performance alone. He has a slow release, slow decisions, inaccurate arm, poor peripheral vision but he's from Ky and that makes everything ok. Oh I forgot, to be fair, he does have a fast shuttle time.
After the last nine games I'm surprised he still has any apologists left. So, probably, is he.
After the last nine games I'm surprised he still has any apologists left. So, probably, is he.
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I didn't get to see most of the game but I did make it home in time to see the last drive. We still had a chance to win the thing. I saw 2 passes thrown behind the receiver on crossing routes over the middle. The first was caught and the last was knocked down by the defender. Towles is just not consistent enough with his accuracy. As I said, I didn't get to see the 2 dropped touchdown passes. That's a killer.
-team sport. Qb is the easiest to gripe about. D was great. If baker/johnson catch just one of the two tds...this morning is a lot different. Not to say pt played well...he didn't...but 6 sacks and two ill-timed drops in the endzone are pretty devastating.
If you are at the game and can see the whole field vs watching on tv where the camera just follows the ball, you see exactly what you say. Towles may/must be our best option but let's not give him a total pass.
The number of fans giving Towles a total pass are dwindling. I can't understand what they see that makes them so impressed with Towles, but they must see lots of things that most of us are missing.
This is the best and deepest group of receivers we have had in a while, and they are still young. Dorian Baker, who has dropped 2 important passes already, is a true sophomore who missed most of last November with an injury. He will get more consistent as he gains experience. People who watch a lot of football and understand technical aspects of how the game is played will tell you that Towles is a good enough quarterback to build around. Before the season, I pointed out that pass protection by Kentucky's tackles would be the potential make or break weakness for our team. Since Jordan Swindle struggled as a right tackle last year, it didn't take Einstein to see that he might struggle as a left tackle. On the other side, we are starting a true freshman. He is struggling too, but only an idiot would be surprised by that. In his analysis of yesterday's loss, Justin Rowland places the bulk of the blame on our offensive tackles. I agree with him. The existence of a vocal minority within our fan base that keeps beating the drum for Drew Barker creates noise and complicates perceptions. But throwing passes behind a bad offensive line, against a good SEC defense, is just as hard for Barker as it is for Towles. Towles is 20 pounds bigger than Barker, and better able to absorb the physical consequences of an offensive line that can't pass protect. After an emotional loss like this, all kinds of people will offer all kinds of criticisms and false answers. But the process of building a football team in a tough league is a marathon, not a sprint. Stoops has recruited well to the most difficult areas, offensive and defensive lines, linebackers, corners. In time, these high school stars will develop into solid SEC players. Landon Young will eventually become 1 of those, but not as a true freshman in 2016. This is a time consuming process that requires work and development, not a wave of the magic wand. Stoops won 2 games in 2013, 5 games in 2014. Now the consensus goal is to get to a bowl game in 2015. All along, I have predicted 6-7 regular season wins and a bowl for our 2015 team. I am still sticking with that prediction. I will not be discouraged by a game like last night, and I will not become irrationally exuberant when we beat Missouri next week either.
With Towles its the short passes. All summer long, I heard how he has been working on the short and intermediate passes. Also, last nite he held the ball too long several times, against an athletic front like Florida, it spells trouble. At the end of the nite, we need to give Florida credit, THEIR coaches had them ready to play.
But he completed 8 passes. No excuses. Call it like it is. Start running quick dump off passes and open it up. Play calling was lacking for him.
Vocal minority???? Keep thinking that.
It's so nice of you "football experts" that know more than the rest of us to be quick to defend a mediocre quarterback. Yes, the offensive tackle spot is a train wreck right now. Virtually everyone can see that and you weren't offering any incredibly perceptive insight by pointing that out before the season started. Freddie Maggard also said before the season started that Kentucky would only go as far as Towles would take us. He played QB for Kentucky and has more credibility with football fans. He doesn't think Towles is playing well and isn't giving Towles a total free pass for his poor play like you are.
If you are admitting that Towles isn't very good but he's the best we got, you may be right. It's possible that Barker isn't playing because he's worse than Towles and won't be better even if given a chance to gain experience. Maybe that's why the coaches haven't let him see even a series yet. This coaching staff has generally tried to play the best player unlike many previous staffs that tended to play their favorites. I respect that (with the exception of Chad Scott not playing Dyshawn Mobley). If Barker's worse, it would quiet the fan base down if they at least let Barker get a few series so we could see for ourselves.
I don't believe Barker's worse. I think he makes more bad decisions, but at least he can deliver the ball on target. He needs game experience to reduce the number of bad decisions he makes. If he's worse than Towles, then we're in for a long season.
It's so nice of you "football experts" that know more than the rest of us to be quick to defend a mediocre quarterback. Yes, the offensive tackle spot is a train wreck right now. Virtually everyone can see that and you weren't offering any incredibly perceptive insight by pointing that out before the season started. Freddie Maggard also said before the season started that Kentucky would only go as far as Towles would take us. He played QB for Kentucky and has more credibility with football fans. He doesn't think Towles is playing well and isn't giving Towles a total free pass for his poor play like you are.
If you are admitting that Towles isn't very good but he's the best we got, you may be right. It's possible that Barker isn't playing because he's worse than Towles and won't be better even if given a chance to gain experience. Maybe that's why the coaches haven't let him see even a series yet. This coaching staff has generally tried to play the best player unlike many previous staffs that tended to play their favorites. I respect that (with the exception of Chad Scott not playing Dyshawn Mobley). If Barker's worse, it would quiet the fan base down if they at least let Barker get a few series so we could see for ourselves.
I don't believe Barker's worse. I think he makes more bad decisions, but at least he can deliver the ball on target. He needs game experience to reduce the number of bad decisions he makes. If he's worse than Towles, then we're in for a long season.
Respectfully, you are missing the point.. Prior to this game, when almost everyone was posting about eating barbecued gator and slam dunking a losing streak that makes them feel bad, I tried to explain that Florida's defense and Florida's speed rushers presented 1 of the worst matchups we will see all season. Florida's last 4 recruiting classes were #3, 4, 8, and 23 in the national Rivals rankings. In other words, Florida is the better football team. For sure, yesterday was not a good game by Towles. But football is a team sport, and quarterbacks are never very successful when defensive ends are right up in their face masks all day. Beating the drum for Barker might make people feel better. But most of our fans are on a perpetual emotional roller coaster. Barker would struggle behind a bad offensive line as much or more than Towles. The consensus goal for this season is a bowl, and we will get there. Read Justin Rowland's analysis of this loss, which can be accessed on the home page of this site. If you accept what Rowland says, you will have a clearer picture of the problem.
The defense played a hell of a game. Offense was really at fault on the first TD Fla scored. The offense had plenty of blame to go around, The OL allowed 6, count them, 6 sacks Towles had to rush several more of his passes. The receivers dropped some passes, Pat missed some open throws or held on to the ball too long. Just a poor showing by the Offense.
Again, you are completely missing the point. You seem to be using this board to blow off steam. Read Justin Rowland's analysis of the game, then see if you don't think he has a point.
But if Towles best pass is a long ball, and your OT's are not getting the job done in pass protection, do you just stick with him handing the ball off?
Were you able to see that our receivers and our offensive tackles were losing their individual matchups with Florida defenders all day? Florida's speed on the edge took away the plays you are asking for, although they were tried. Florida has 2 of the best corners in the country. That's why a lot of Kentucky's passing game was attempted in the middle of the field. High throws come when quarterbacks aren't set, especially when they are being hurried. Florida's pass rush was better than our pass protection. Football is a team sport.
There are lots of factors that contributed to yesterday's loss besides Patrick. I agree that Barker wouldn't have necessarily fared better yesterday and it wouldn't have been good to insert him for a series or two in the second half. Also, improving the QB play wouldn't have necessarily won the game yesterday and dropped passes when the ball was thrown well don't help either the QB or receivers' confidence. Florida has a very good defense, despite losing several players to the NFL draft last year.
This coaching staff hasn't shown they are very good at making second half adjustments. Perhaps that's more on the youth of the team than anything else, but it concerns me almost as much as the struggles at the QB position.
I also expected this team to struggle some because of its youth and think next year and 2017 will be very good years for the Cats. They will continue to get better as the year goes on. I really hope Towles gets better along with the others.
This coaching staff hasn't shown they are very good at making second half adjustments. Perhaps that's more on the youth of the team than anything else, but it concerns me almost as much as the struggles at the QB position.
I also expected this team to struggle some because of its youth and think next year and 2017 will be very good years for the Cats. They will continue to get better as the year goes on. I really hope Towles gets better along with the others.
Then you will just have to believe what you want to believe. Kentucky's offensive line was beaten in pass protection all day. That invariably leads to disappointing performances by quarterbacks. Contrary to what you are trying to accuse me of, I have no more, no less loyalty to Towles than any other player on our team. If I believed for 1 moment that your suggestions would get better results, then I would agree with you. But you are just ranting.
Agree with Blue Decade for the most part. I can see both sides of the QB debate. I get that people are disappointed with PT and would like to see if Barker may be better. Practice would suggest that the staff feels he is not, but football history is littered with "inferior" backup QBs who came in and were great. That said, playing Barker at this point is a big risk. I think we can get to 6 or 7 wins with Towles, and the program continues (slowly) to build momentum. If we sit him now, we risk losing whatever "rhythm" the offense has and wrecking his confidence in the process. If Barker ends up not any better, we've not done ourselves any favors, short OR long term.
I don't think Barker would have been out there going 19-24 with the pass rush we were allowing, that's for sure.
I don't think Barker would have been out there going 19-24 with the pass rush we were allowing, that's for sure.
Good post. I agree with you that switching horses mid season is a risky proposition and could be devastating to Towles confidence. I agree that Towles can was UK to a 5 or 6 or maybe even 7 win season. I don't agree that playing Barker some so he can gain game experience is a bad thing. It would quiet some of the fan base down and would send a message to Towles that he has to play better. Stoops has said that competition makes people play better.
Blue Decade is a good poster and I agree with much of what he says. The main point of contention is whether Towles' issues are primarily the result of poor play around him or self-inflicted.
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Maybe he's referring to the end zone pass to a 6'6" Blake Bone that sailed 15 feet over his head.
But yeah, Towles is awesome and deserves no criticism.
Fair. It's obviously both, right? I agree with the hypothesis that fans are particularly frustrated because of the streak. I don't think Towles was as bad as some seem to think. I definitely don't think he played well. But I saw him make *some* throws when he had a chance to look downfield.
This is what they see:
- He is 6'5" tall and looks good, like a typical NFL QB.
- He talks very confidently in front of the microphone during interviews.
- He has a rocket strong arm.
These 3 things do NOT make a good QB.
-johnson dropped a td pass in the 4th.
-many folks have a myopic/tunnel vision understanding of football...qb play is important but football is a team sport.
-blue decade is killing it in this thread. Read and learn.
-towles deserves criticism...just not *all* of it. Again, blaming everything on qb play is easy and displays a lack of depth of football knowledge.
-many folks have a myopic/tunnel vision understanding of football...qb play is important but football is a team sport.
-blue decade is killing it in this thread. Read and learn.
-towles deserves criticism...just not *all* of it. Again, blaming everything on qb play is easy and displays a lack of depth of football knowledge.
You can get better in certain things..accuracy and processing info quickly in order to make quick decisions are rarely things you get better at.
Like being a good shooter in bball. 95% of the time it is inate and it taught.
Towles is not the answer
-pt may not be the answer. But I doubt the coaching staff is betting their jobs on PT if barker is a better option.
-oline has to get better for any qb to do well.
-oline has to get better for any qb to do well.
