Shocking opinion piece from the Sporting News.
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=272074
I won't post the whole thing. It's pretty long. Here are the main points.
LSU is better with Flynn than Russell
</font>Look, I know this is sacrilegious to all those NFL
personnel guys who drool over Russell's freakish frame and his ability
to throw a ball 70 yards on one knee and his 1-point-whatever-second
release. But this LSU team is better with Matt Flynn at quarterback.
</font> You want some numbers? In 11 games the previous
two seasons against ranked teams, LSU was 7-4 with Russell -- and he
threw nearly as many interceptions (11) as touchdown passes (13). Those
four big-game meltdowns -- against Tennessee, Florida, Georgia and
Auburn -- prevented the most talented team in the most talented
conference
from winning anything other than a couple of meaningless bowl games.</span>
</font> Never have 22 wins in two years felt so unfulfilling.</span>
</font> "You would think with all those wins," says wideout Brandon LaFell, "we'd have a championship." </span>
</font>Flynn is no JaMarcus Russell -- which brings us back
to my original point: This team will not beat itself as it did in
previous seasons.
</font> The quarterback position isn't about who has the
strongest arm or who looks the best in game-day silks. It's about
making decisions, about the ability to stand firm and not crumble under
the enormous pressure.</span>
</font> In the Tigers' two most important
games the past two seasons -- losses to Georgia in the 2005 SEC
championship game and Florida last season -- the offense committed
seven turnovers and scored a measly 24 points. In Flynn's two career
starts against top 10 teams -- blowout wins over Miami in the 2005
Peach Bowl and Virginia Tech last week -- the Tigers had no turnovers
and 88 points.</span>
</font> That's not skewing numbers to make a
point. Those are cold, hard facts. LSU relied too much on Russell's
strong right arm when things got edgy or games got dicey. And no matter
how hard you throw a ball against a wall, it's not going through. </span>
</font> Besides, it's not like Flynn is some noodlearmed
overachiever. He doesn't have the best touch on deep balls, but he's
extremely accurate on short and intermediate throws and he allows LSU
to expand its dangerous running game with his ability to execute the
read option play.
</font>No longer will big games from a stout defense be nullified by poor decisions from the most important position on the field.</span>
They are unable to allow themselves to commit the sin of admitting that Flynn is actually faster than Russell. But they do acknowledge that he is more effective as a quarterback. I just wish Jacksonville would have recognized this years ago. Leftwich and Russell are two peas in a pod. Both think that the only skill needed in being a quarterback is to throw the ball as hard as possible on every pass.
In any case, congrats to Matt Hayes (writer of this editorial) for a fair and accurate assessment of the differences between the two quarterbacks. I doubt it'll ever happen again. In fact, he'll probably be reprimanded for this piece.
PS: Is it possible that Miles will recognize (and admit) that he made a mistake going with Russell all this time? Maybe they would've already had two national titles by now.
</font>
Edited by: Riddlewire 
then RB blocking for Keiland Williams
