pjmuli wrote:
When one takes into account the whole of the situation, I do think (1) the coaches have seen from last season and in practice that Jake is the best option to play, (2) they have seen enough to know that Riley has yet to demonstrate an ability to consistently throw well, and (3) they believe(d) that Jake would come out of his trend of poor play.
Your first and third observations are correct, because they were either explicitly stated by the coaching staff or definitively reflected in the coaches' personnel choices. Your second point is fan conjecture, unless there's some quote by Bronco or Doman floating out there that I missed where they stated as such.
Putting Jake in as our starter does not equate to a dismissal of Riley's abilities, or anyone else's. If you want to state that we as fans don't believe that Riley can throw the deep ball, or if you want to say the spring ball numbers that Riley was putting up were less than encouraging, that's fine. But I don't see how you can state that "the coaches have seen enough to know that Riley has yet to demonstrate an ability to consistently throw well."
pjmuli wrote:
I can understand wanting to see someone else get an opportunity...but the entitled and negative sentiments sometimes shared by fans is ridiculous.
I guess it would be more tolerable for me if those who are so mad at Jake held themselves to the same standards for exactness and lack of patience in their own lives. Maybe they do...but it just seems to me the best thing to do is be glad we won, acknowledge it was a good decision, then get behind whoever is behind center next week.
Look, I believe in being deferential to coaching decisions to a point, and if you want to look back at my posts this season I think you'll see I've been a believer in keeping Heaps in on the basis of trusting Bronco and co. But I'll be legitimately mad if Heaps is in next week, not because I love Riley and hate Heaps, but
precisely because I think Heaps is a valuable commodity to BYU. Giving him more playing time right now is NOT a good idea. I've been worried about benching Heaps because of what it might do to his confidence, but I'm starting to believe that what's happening to him week in and week our is even more detrimental to his confidence. He's wilting out there, and I think the problem goes beyond "he needs more experience" or "he's still young and settling." Whatever his problem is, I think the answer to it is more likely to be found on the bench than on the field.
