I find a lot of people trying to state their case based on what's on the team, which inevitably causes the two camps to rally between our OL/WR/RB talent. Some blame the people around the QB, the others do not and place most of the blame on the QB. Obviously competition is part of the argument, but he hasn't even gone on the road yet. What happens on the road in the pac12?
If people can step aside for a second and watch a days worth of college football(which we all do), then come back to Miles you see a QB that couldn't start on pretty much any team on TV based on the eye test. He lacks decision making, arm, pocket presence, game/clock mgt, mechanics and something outside the eye test(leadership). I have watched a lot of college football this year and I can't think of a QB i've watched that looks more rattled, less comfortable in the pocket, or has a worse arm than Miles. I regularly see him throw balls top end HS QB's would be embarrassed to throw. On the positive side i do see him make the occasional throw which gives me a glimmer of hope. It's too bad for a 3rd year player he's so incredibly behind what I would expect for his recognition.
I likened him during the game to the guy you play on madden or Ncaa football who snaps the ball and tries to run outside the pocket and then make a decision where to throw the ball. Timing and presnap decision making defines the QB. I believe it's been stated 80% of a qb's decisions happen presnap. You CAN NOT rely on getting outside the pocket in the pac12 and regularly make decisions after the snap. .
My biggest concern with Miles is his inability to recognize defenses and properly go through a progression. His arm is something which could be hidden if he makes proper reads and releases the ball on time. Sadly, Miles is regularly late even when he finally does recognize a route. I do not see miles succeeding here only b/c he's in his 3rd year and would not be playing if we had any semblance of a QB on the roster. If you can't recognize defenses or be comfortable in the pocket by your 3rd year...............Guys are gonna be rattled, but not 85% of plays.
The only saving hope I have for Cyler is that part of this is peterman and smiths fault based on playcalling and pounding in that he be mistake free. Maybe he's playing scared. He's so incredibly scared to throw an INT he can't pull the trigger. The turn over mantra sounds to me as if someone is trying to paint lipstick on a pig. We don't have a QB who can throw it downfield and won't stay in the pocket so we're stuck trying to cover it up. I personally don't buy it b/c he should still be able to make progressions and make reads presnap more than 10 or 15% of the time.
As many of you have said though, how bad are our options if the current form of cyler is the best we have on the roster?