How clear do you think the decision is at QB?
*If* there is a decision to be made. We don't know how serious Speight's injury is, but we have a bye, so it's conceivable he is healthy by MSU. If that were to be the case, do you think O'Korn is clearly the guy? Or do you think it's still an open question?
I feel like it's got to be O'Korn--he was more accurate, he's mobile and his skills seem to offset the issues we have in pass pro and with WRs/TEs not running routes perfectly. But I'm also wary of making too much of what was basically one very good half of football--even if it was the *only* good half of football our offense has had this year. And the staff is clearly seeing stuff in practice that we don't.
What do you guys think?
September 24th, 2017 at 10:59 PM ^
September 25th, 2017 at 8:56 AM ^
With our o-line, I am panicking a little too. At least JOK can make something out of nothing some of the time.
September 25th, 2017 at 10:54 AM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 11:49 PM ^
A possibility could be that when JOK came in for the Florida game his mind set was that Harbie was only really doing it to send a message to Wilt. Being so JOK (possibly) wasn't that motivated.
In this scenario JOK knows Wilt is down, and stepped up mentally because he had to. For possibly the season. Not just (possibly) a series or two.
If JOK replicates that stat line the rest of the season, I could possibly buy into that, based on the subpar games previous to this one.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:08 PM ^
I think he needs to go with the hot hand, and that is O'Korn. In addition, with our O-Line woes, it is good to have a mobile QB who can move out of the pocket like JOK did. Speight can be available if JOK has an Indiana type game, but right now the offense seems to have finally hit its strive with JOK.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:15 PM ^
His mobility opens up a lot of possibilities, like running some zone read, inverted veer and QB draw/ISO--not to the extent OSU does, or we did with Denard, but maybe 5-10 times a game to keep the defenses from keying in on our RBs. I also think his quicker release than Speight allows for more constraint plays like bubble screens.
Most of all, though, I really liked how his scrambling opened things up in the passing game--basically like improvised RPOs. Defenders had to make a choice on whether to stay tight in coverage or move up to tackle a running quarterback. And he chose wisely about when to throw.
Speight may have a better progression through his reads, but he can't do any of this. And without good enough pass pro or receivers who run crisp routes, that skill may be inconsequential.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:19 PM ^
I agree with everything you said.
September 25th, 2017 at 1:03 AM ^
September 25th, 2017 at 1:12 AM ^
I would be interested in video of JOK making multiple reads. Every play I watched him on, he was locked onto his main target.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:09 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:11 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:11 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:12 PM ^
Honestly we don't have enough data to make a decision CURRENTLY imo.
If Speight is not healthy, it doesn't matter. But if Speight IS healthy, we have to get more data by starting O'Korn.
Obviously the price for getting this data is that he might be bad and we lose to Michigan State or even Indiana.
Would that be worth it to see if O'Korn is good enough? It's dicy, but O'Korn looked good and our defense is lights out, so its probably worth the price!
September 24th, 2017 at 10:13 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:17 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 11:25 PM ^
Speight has always been a bit of a scattershot qb. Sometimes he's good. Sometimes he's awful and throws a couple of picks. He almost threw a pick on the first series for us. I'd say JOK is the safer qb. His passes looked pretty good and he was better at reading his options in the passing game. He can extend plays with his legs.
September 24th, 2017 at 11:58 PM ^
Not sure i'm all that worried about the risk of O'Korn when Speight has been a turnover machine all season.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:38 PM ^
There are clearly passes where Speight is very comfortable throwing, but he might be quite worried about throwing another INT after the Florida situation.
O'Korn played well but the play calls helped him. More play action from under center. Speight might have greater potential in throwing the really deep ball but O'Korn is clearly the better runner and more mobile. Speight would be ideal if we had consistent power running game.
Running the ball better will help either QB.
Last year I wonder if Speight really recovered from some hits from the Iowa game.
I guess we'll see in the MSU game.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:14 PM ^
A coach would answer this way...
"It's kind of clear. It's pretty clear. Not crystal clear. Nothing ever is, but it's clear or clearer. We got some guys working through some things, but its kind of clear, yes"
September 24th, 2017 at 10:18 PM ^
...run the ball and pass the ball, we'll move down the field.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:15 PM ^
I went back and rewatched the film and Speight is just not seeing the feild and getting the ball away in time. It's like he has 'sparring partner syndrome'. Speight is a liability to the team and to himself. He's taking hits that he shouldn't be taking because he isn't getting rid of the ball. Even on the play he got injured on, he had a tight end open in the flat and he was looking dead at the blitz. In stead of dropping the ball off, he took the hit. Can't put a guy out like that on the field.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:30 PM ^
September 25th, 2017 at 5:42 AM ^
This is what confuses me. When JOK went in, they opened up the passing game instantly. This suggests a much higher confidence level in JOK. Otherwise, they'd have opened it up prior with Speight, right? And that's what I don't understand - shouldn't the coaches have known that potential was there, and tried a switch to JOK prior to the injury? I mean, that offense could not have been more pathetic! The way they opened it up seemed to suggest they did know. It was like: Finally!I we can start throwing the ball now!
I love Harbaugh, and hindsight's 20/20, but I'm still left thinking: Shouldn't you have known JOK was capable of that, and tried that sooner? I would love to have known their QB thoughts prior to the current situation.
September 25th, 2017 at 8:10 AM ^
That's actually a pretty good one and its true. He looked terrible compared to what I thought a QB with a years worth of starts under his belt.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:15 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:16 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:17 PM ^
Who knows what ails Speight but it would behoove him to take some time off and heal a bit. After seeing what ND did to MSU, and with our D, we can afford to roll with O'Korn for that game and get some more data on his abilities.....and if he fails, Speight goes back in.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:17 PM ^
O'Korn played a nice game, but that's literally the first decent performance he's had here. Everything else has been a disaster. There's really no good option at QB right now.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:20 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:22 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:23 PM ^
...let's instead rush to judgement based on this one other game, which was a year ago."
September 25th, 2017 at 9:14 AM ^
Oh, the irony!
September 25th, 2017 at 10:33 AM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:17 PM ^
The biggest difference to me was that O'Korn got the ball out on time instead of hesitating more often than not. When he made the read and threw the ball, it was hitting the guy in stride allowing YAC. When he hesitated, the passes weren't accurate and the rush blew up the protection. Unfortunately, Speight hasn't had the confidence to make the read and get the ball out for some reason.
So, to my untrained eye, unless O'Korn reverts to how he performed against IU, Speight will have to improve quite a bit to get the job back, and that's assuming he'll even be healthy again this season.
September 24th, 2017 at 11:12 PM ^
So judge O'Korn by one game last year, but not Speight by 3.25 games this year?
Hmmmm.
September 25th, 2017 at 12:01 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:21 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:39 PM ^
Hitting receivers multiple times in the hands on crossing routes for big gains would lead one to draw this conclusion.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:23 PM ^
Let's see if Speight is even healthy first. I like Speight because of his size and arm strength over JOK, but JOK looked good in the second half. His mobility is also a plus. I'm hoping that it becomes more of a legit battle and the best man plays.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:33 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:47 PM ^
Stronger, or more accurate? I don't think its any stronger, but I do think it was more accurate yesterday than Speight has been all year.
September 24th, 2017 at 11:21 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:26 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:26 PM ^
Brandon Peters.
When will you idiots learn to trust in Harbaugh. Period.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:32 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 10:35 PM ^
He chose Alex Smith over Kaepernick, who was the better QB? It's okay that O'korn may have surpassed Speight. It just may be a mobile QB fits this offense better. I trust Harbaugh will make the correct decision now that he has seen O'korn play, but that does not mean Harbs or the coaching staff may have been wrong.
Where would this offense be if this was O'korn's 4 game?
September 25th, 2017 at 12:28 AM ^
Alex Smith's stats before he got hurt in 2012 were:
153/218 70% completions, 1700 yds, 13 TDs and 5 ints. It wasn't like Smith was playing shitty football.
Heck, Smith has gone on to have a pretty good NFL career. Since the beginning of 2012 he's only had 1 year where he hasn't completed over 65% of his passes.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:28 PM ^
September 25th, 2017 at 12:30 AM ^
The announcers said during the game, and Brian and other insiders said the same thing, the plan in the Florida game was to give JOK a couple of series. It wasn't a spur of the moment game time decision to put him in after the two pick 6s. I do agree though, it probably meant he had closed the gap.