Joe Burrows is better than Justin Fields

[cabezadecaballo]

Burrow does not have the golden arm of Haskins, Tua, or Lawrence. Burrow is not the runner of say Murray or Hurts. What makes Burrow special is that he has good skills coupled with an uncommon football savvy derived from his football coach father and superior work ethic. Simply said Burrow is the best all around quarterback in college football.

As to Fields, he is a great athlete, likely better than Burrow. You cannot dispute his gaudy stats for OSU this season. Yet he does not seem to have that undefinable trait of leadership that Burrow the best.

I agree with all that. I have followed the kid since the beginning of the run that The Plains team made his senior year, and have been rooting for him ever since. His dad being a DC and teaching him to analyze what a defense tries to do to him is the Brady/Belichick formula, in a way. The QB must possess the intellect, but the film study with a defensive guy is, I think, invaluable. To have had that since he was a pee-wee is great.

Burrow had the ability to track and anticipate 3 or more receivers at 17, and he has demonstrated the ability to adapt to increasing speed along the way while maintaining that "bandwidth". He isn't super fast, but he's become big and solid physically and he runs elusively well while being smart enough to know when to dip out or slide. He has pocket presence. Arm strength has consistently improved, still hucks a duck now and then. If he totally cleans up his release some day, he'll be deadly in the NFL.

I hate the fact that he'll end up here in the AFC North, but he'll keep the Bungles in Cincinnati, so that's good.

None of that changes the fact that he had a broken hand and was unable to compete equally for a job because of that. I had also heard that Cardale and the other tOSU QBs kind of allied against him in the QB room. That might explain his eagerness to graduate early even after red-shirting as a freshman and have two years of portable eligibility without a transfer penalty. Was he gone before it was known Day would take over ? Maybe he didn't trust Urban Meyer ?

 

[cabezadecaballo]

Fields is 19/20 years old. Joe Burrow is 23 (a year older than Lamar Jackson btw). When Burrow was in his second year of college he couldn't even sniff the field, let alone get an invite to New York for the Heisman ceremony. Is he better today than Fields? Sure. But what Fields did this year as a Sophomore at one of the best programs in the country is outstanding. Congrats to Burrow for finding his way and I hope they smoke Clemson, but I'm not going to knock Fields and his accomplishment because a 5th year senior was better than a true Sophomore.

I look forward to someday hearing the whole story as to why Burrow left tOSU, and if he would have stayed for Ryan Day. Fields came to tOSU because of Martell's status as the incumbent after Haskins declared, right ? That is a big void open. Martell was Kordell Stewart Lite, for God's sake. Joke.

Right now, Fields does not see the field like Burrow did at a younger age. He has the physical side covered, and is developing in the reverse order of Burrow. Burrow was top down, Fields, from the bottom up - so to speak. Time will tell, as they say.

 

[eastside_purple]

Well, you know what opinions are like...

I'm sure you felt that way prior to yesterday's game as well.

I did. I felt Hurts wasn’t a very good pro prospect for several years now.

 

[eastside_purple]

I'm good with the 105 TDs between Haskins and Fields the last two years plus getting one more year of Fields. Burrow has been electric this year, but I have little doubt Haskins was the superior player last year. Worked out well for all parties.

Hopefully Burrow finishes it off against Clemson.

No doubt OSU did just fine without Burrow.

 

[eastside_purple]

I agree with all that. I have followed the kid since the beginning of the run that The Plains team made his senior year, and have been rooting for him ever since. His dad being a DC and teaching him to analyze what a defense tries to do to him is the Brady/Belichick formula, in a way. The QB must possess the intellect, but the film study with a defensive guy is, I think, invaluable. To have had that since he was a pee-wee is great.

Burrow had the ability to track and anticipate 3 or more receivers at 17, and he has demonstrated the ability to adapt to increasing speed along the way while maintaining that "bandwidth". He isn't super fast, but he's become big and solid physically and he runs elusively well while being smart enough to know when to dip out or slide. He has pocket presence.

I hate the fact that he'll end up here in the AFC North, but he'll keep the Bungles in Cincinnati, so that's good.

None of that changes the fact that he had a broken hand and was unable to compete equally for a job because of that. I had also heard that Cardale and the other tOSU QBs kind of allied against him in the QB room. That might explain his eagerness to graduate early even after red-shirting as a freshman and have two years of portable eligibility without a transfer penalty. Was he gone before it was known Day would take over ? Maybe he didn't trust Urban Meyer ?

It was dumb to come to Ohio State to play for Meyer in the first place since he wasn’t a dual threat QB. Has Meyer ever coached a legit pro style QB, much less to success? Maybe Haskins? But I give Day the large majority of the credit for Haskins’ breakout. Meyer has always favored a dual option QB.

 

[cabezadecaballo]

It was dumb to come to Ohio State to play for Meyer in the first place since he wasn’t a dual threat QB. Has Meyer ever coached a legit pro style QB, much less to success? Maybe Haskins? But I give Day the large majority of the credit for Haskins’ breakout. Meyer has always favored a dual option QB.

I always assumed that Burrow over-estimated his ability to run and wanted to be close to home in major college ball. He ran through a lot of D3 secondaries in the OHSAA playoffs with the Plains Athens. His development to date is no match for traditional Urban, but perhaps Tom Herman could have made better use of him. Was he there when Burrow committed ?

I mean, we have to assume that Jim Burrow had a clearer picture than a couple of message board honks with 20/20 hindsight, amirite ?

 

[eastside_purple]

It just wasn’t a good fit for Burrow with Meyer. It is like Troy Aikman coming to Oklahoma with Barry Switzer. Dumb.

 

[cabezadecaballo]

OK.

 

[NewOldBlood]

I look forward to someday hearing the whole story as to why Burrow left tOSU, and if he would have stayed for Ryan Day. Fields came to tOSU because of Martell's status as the incumbent after Haskins declared, right ? That is a big void open. Martell was Kordell Stewart Lite, for God's sake. Joke.

Right now, Fields does not see the field like Burrow did at a younger age. He has the physical side covered, and is developing in the reverse order of Burrow. Burrow was top down, Fields, from the bottom up - so to speak. Time will tell, as they say.

Don't get me wrong, I think Burrow is great and what he did Saturday is one of the most impressive performances I've ever watched. I argued on another thread that unless you were in the meeting rooms, the weight room, practices, etc..there is no way to know what was going on with Burrow while he was in Columbus. Everybody develops differently and there's a better than average chance that Joe Burrow today is not the same Joe Burrow in 2017. That being said, I think he is certainly a better fit for what LSU wants to do offensively, especially after Orgeron brought in the guy from the Saints as co-OC.