The Lions' Pride

Seriously, md, just stop posting already. You've been wrong for how many months now, and now you're resorting to making comments about the way McGloin styles his hair. Just give it up already.

Sorry son. But in my line of work...those changes in someone do say something about them. Just sayin...

You need to stop drinking the haterade

Seems like his biggest problem this past game was that he had no awareness of the pass rush, how close they were to him. Its like he was thinking "these guys cant/wont touch me".

Is it possible that he has "learned" this, subconsciously, by being in a red jersey? Should PSU have him practice as a "live" QB, who is allwoed to be hit by the D?

FWIW my opinion of "pocket presence" is that it is something you can't teach. You can practice, make kids aware of things they will be seeing, show tape over and over, remind them, correct them, etc etc until you are blue in the face. But how can you teach a kid to "feel" something that they simply don't feel? It's no different than DBs who never break on a ball early and jump a pattern. Is the problem that the DB coach never works on it and never taught the kid to do it? Or is the kid simply incapable of sensing the exact time to break? There are some things that are considered "skills" that really aren't teachable skills.Bolden pretty much cannot sense where pressure is coming from, and he obviously can't see it coming even when it is right in front of him. I admire the kid's toughness because he isn't afraid to take a shot in the face as he gets a pass off. But that's not the idea...the idea is to get rid of the ball BEFORE taking the shot. I saw Luck play Saturday night, and on one play he was being blitzed from the blindside and for whatever reason he slid away from the blitzer at the last second without ever even looking at the kid. He got the pass off and was never hit on the play, and the blitzer was coming in unblocked. How did Luck know the player was coming? I have no idea, but I am certain that you can't teach that kind of pocket awareness.

If teaching pocket presence was so damn easy as just watching tapes, there would be a ton of GREAT QB's out there (not even talking PSU). Some QB's are blessed with the size. Some are blessed with the arm. Some are blessed with the mental makeup and instincts. Very few have all 3 and not a single one of those things can be taught. Footwork, mechanics, the offense, and reading your keys/defense can really aid a QB and can be "taught" IMO. The problem is sometimes it doesn't always click for every kid. I'm not sold on our QB play, but you can't tell me RB looks anywhere near as confident as a DC, MM, or M Rob....yet they all had the same coach. You know why, because the confidence they had came from within and Rob doesn't have it right now.

Bani G was every bit the athlete any of our NFL LB's were, why isn't he in the NFL? It's not just the QB position as our LB coach is a pretty damn good one, but he still cannot force instincts down to a kid. Hell, Hull was no where near as athletic as Bani, but still worked his way into getting drafted. Did Vandy somehow forget to teach him things? At some point you can look past the coaching which could be flawed and simply see an issue. This really looks like a kid who is lost out there.

Pocket awareness is a result of all the things you said that can be taught. (footwork, mechanics, the offense, reading your defense.....) Pocket awareness is a result of all of that. Knowing your offense and where your players are, knowing what the defense is doing, knowing if you have a blocker that is going to take care of that corner blitzing....all of that leads to an ability to have pocket awareness.

I get what you guys are trying to say. You're going down that "you either have IT, or you don't" route. I simply disagree that it can't be taught or developed. Players aren't pre-determined to do it or not. Why do some get better than others? Well, coaching is a big reason. Hard work by the player is another. Of course EVERYONE won't develop it....but that doesn't mean it isn't something that can't be taught.

Just like the notion not everyone can throw a ball. Sure everyone can, if they are taught properly and put the work into it.

As a coach, I just can not ever see another coach saying "it can't be taught." That's lame, IMO. Certain things like motivation may not be able to be taught because that does come from within. But anyone who is willing and able and putting the effort into it, I truly believe anything can be taught. Otherwise, I'm a bad coach because I've already given up on a player.

You must be a coach that has every kid playing at the highest level possible and they are all AA's and future NFL kids because your coaching is so damn superior. I mean you just coach the kids to do things and they all get it. Wow, your township must be lucky to have the best damn coach to ever walk the planet. As a coach you realize some kids have instincts at a certain point in time and others don't. IT doesn't mean you ignore them or don't coach them, but you can't force a kid to see something. Hell Rob can't see things right in front of his face, but I guess he needs to be told "look out for the guys wearing a different jersey, they may hit you". Just like some kids are athletic and you can see it and others may not be.....unless you are completely blind to it.

You're talking about guys who were developed from a young age compared to guys who probably weren't. Look at the Mannings. They probably had footballs in their hands coming out of their mom. It was drilled in them early. You guys think it was pre-determined, when in fact, it was most likely taught, but at an earlier age and much more effectively. So they got it a little easier and faster. That doesn't mean when they were born they were already determined to have "it" or the ability.

You're just being a ___ right now because you don't like me. I said NOTHING, I repeat...NOTHING about RB deserving to start or play any snaps right now. Yet that's what you go back to in all your posts to me. Grow up man.

Seriously, this...

So, md154 wants to support a kid that he's always believed had potential. This is a reason to jump all over his sh** on a daily basis?

I want Bolden to be good too. No one can really deny that he's shown flashes of ability at times over the last two years, but at this point, he's so mentally destroyed for what I'm sure is a myriad of reasons that he's no good to anyone right now. I was fine with Bolden getting the first two series that he got in the Illinois game, because really McG hadn't done anything of value up to that point. I also was livid when they trotted him out for the other two series in the 2nd qtr, because everyone in the stadium could see that he was mentally shaky on the series he was given, you have to have the presence of mind as a coach to give the kid the hook for his own good at that point.

I realize that Bolden is no one's favorite kid at the moment, and that's fine, but it's really sickening to watch how you all just pile on a kid that (until is announced otherwise) is STILL a member of the PSU football team just to get a rise out of another poster on the internet. It's f**cking shameful that some of you have the audacity to call the kid a scrub for no other purpose than your own entertainment.

They are valid points, but you don't want to hear them. You are trying to state every kid is coachable and anyone who has played sports or coached them know this isn't the case. The sport doesn't even matter as they all have a certain level of instincts involved. Do you really think Kerry Collins was successful because of Dick Andersons' masterful QB coaching or did he have a but load of talent? How is it Cutcliff isn't churning out NFL QB's at Duke? Nobody is discounting coaching completely, but this idea that you can teach pocket presence is off. Either that or your idea of pocket presence differs completeley than mine. You have taken shots at SJ's coaching twice now and both times were off the mark, so don't play that card. At least he is honest enough to say that some kids don't always get it.

Jay could be the worst coach in the world, but I don't think he is telling Rob or MM the following things. Nor do I think these things need to be pointed out to ANY college QB. The only fair thing at this point in time is to play the kid who is at least seeing part of the game. This isn't little league and little timmy doesn't have to play nor should he be in this case. AM played for two whole years, had private coaching, and it never clicked for him. Maybe it does for Rob as a junior or senior, but he shouldn't be playing at all versus NEB IMO.

1) Do look for the blitz. Just wait until they get in your face and then complete the pass.
2) Throw the screen pass as hard as you can.
3) Throw the ball into double and triple coverage. It's up to the WR's to make that play.
4) Lock on to your primary WR as early and often as you can.
5) Don't move to avoid pressure, you are only allowed to throw from the middle of the pocket.
6) Don't worry about what the defense looks like, just go to your primary WR...READS are overrated.

Some of the things BOTH QB's do wrong are common sense. QB's that aren't confident or even the best QB's make mistakes under pressure. It's why defenses like to get after the QB. Right now Rob looks lost out there and really doesn't deserve any PT because you hope it may just click.

No actually SJ and I are correct. You just don't know what pocket presence is and that is pretty clear. You're understanding of it is about as good as Rob's ability to see a blitz right now. You would argue with the pope that he isn't catholic if you said it one time on accident....seriously. Nobody is mad at Rob, but he isn't a good QB right now at all.