A Question About The National Championship Game

[Beerball]

The difference? FSU dropped two games last year. Sure EJ takes some of the hit on those. Secondly Alabama took a miracle loss and wasn't in the title game. I think if they played FSU in the title game you wouldn't be talking about Jameis Winston's NC win.

Apparently you didn't see them get dominated by an average Oklahoma team?

[flmike]

OK, I watched EJ for his whole college career and for Winston's so far. Here are the differences I noticed:

 

EJ was a running QB that had to pass sometimes. Ponder was a much better passer and Winston seems to be so far. Teams were always concerned about EJ taking off. He's not quick but covers ground and has good moves (He seems to have been told not to do that anymore which is asinine. Why did they pick him?)

 

The biggest loss of his career was against Oklahoma on the road and that was the defense's fault. DC Stoops is gone now and our defense looks a lot better.

 

The amazing recruiting class in EJ's senior year were sophomores, so while had good talent, Winston is blessed with more.

 

There is something about the FSU team that keeps them from starting games on fire. They always take a half to heat up and it almost cost them in the BCS game. I predicted this BTW.

 

Have a great day.

[Steve O]

First, Winston is a RS Freshman, not a true Freshman, and a better QB now than EJ was then. He would be the #1 overall pick this year, if eligible. He is the best college QB prospect since Luck and RG3, both considered anomalies as far as being NFL ready. Second, 6 offensive coaches were replaced at FSU between EJ and Winston. And although one can always argue that the "players are the same," in college the level of improvement from one year to the next is huge, esp with WRs. These kids come in out of HS and their development is rapid from year to year. So different from the NFL, where there is a degree of development but for the most part NFL coaches don't have time to "teach" fundamentals - they want finished products and all they have time to trach is system, scheme and playbook. Kelvin Benjamin is one example, as a RS Freshman last year he had the dropsies big time. He was able to make an impact due to being pysically more imposing than a lot of the DBs in the ACC, but his progression between last year and this year was significant.

 

Overall, whether or not EJ won a NC at FSU doesn't mean anything about what he will accomplish in the NFL. The QBs in the NFL who have won SBs have not won NCs. Peyton Manning left UT and the year following they won the NC.

To build on this point, the QB that led the 98 Vol's to the NC was Tee Martin (one of the "pre-Brady 6" picks)

[NoSaint]

OK, I watched EJ for his whole college career and for Winston's so far. Here are the differences I noticed:

 

EJ was a running QB that had to pass sometimes. Ponder was a much better passer and Winston seems to be so far. Teams were always concerned about EJ taking off. He's not quick but covers ground and has good moves (He seems to have been told not to do that anymore which is asinine. Why did they pick him?)

 

The biggest loss of his career was against Oklahoma on the road and that was the defense's fault. DC Stoops is gone now and our defense looks a lot better.

 

The amazing recruiting class in EJ's senior year were sophomores, so while had good talent, Winston is blessed with more.

 

There is something about the FSU team that keeps them from starting games on fire. They always take a half to heat up and it almost cost them in the BCS game. I predicted this BTW.

 

Have a great day.

 

appreciate the perspective here - i admittedly saw only bits here and there of FSU the last 6-7 years, but they are one of those teams thats always on the radar so i feel like i get good broad strokes assessments, even if i dont see enough to dig deep into the day to day comparisons of 2013 vs 2012 vs 2009. This, and the last long post at the end of the last page seem to fit together pretty well, and generally speaking match what my impressions of what is going on at FSU have been - a lot more than the "whoa is me we got EJ who destroyed a national championship team" sentiment from the first page.

[Nanker]

What time's kickoff?

[YoloinOhio]

OK, I watched EJ for his whole college career and for Winston's so far. Here are the differences I noticed:

 

EJ was a running QB that had to pass sometimes. Ponder was a much better passer and Winston seems to be so far. Teams were always concerned about EJ taking off. He's not quick but covers ground and has good moves (He seems to have been told not to do that anymore which is asinine. Why did they pick him?)

 

The biggest loss of his career was against Oklahoma on the road and that was the defense's fault. DC Stoops is gone now and our defense looks a lot better.

 

The amazing recruiting class in EJ's senior year were sophomores, so while had good talent, Winston is blessed with more.

 

There is something about the FSU team that keeps them from starting games on fire. They always take a half to heat up and it almost cost them in the BCS game. I predicted this BTW.

 

Have a great day.

I did not watch EJ in college and did watch some of Winston. What I heard though (maybe incorrectly) is that when EJ was a Freshman and Soph he ran a lot more than as a Jr and Sr. Is that true? I thought I read that he started out as a "running QB" and was a bigger threat to do so when he first started out but had an injury or something and got more cautious about that as he moved on through his FSU career, becoming more of a pocket QB who could be mobile as needed and run the read option. I also noticed when watching Winston that he seemed uncomfortable running and he wasn't naturally going to roll out when things break down, preferring to stay in the pocket. However, that last observation was based mainly on the NC game since in his previous games he rarely faced that kind of pressure.

[NewEra]

Winston throws WRs open. He's a much better passer than Ej at this point. I watched a bunch of fsu games this year and Winston made a believer out of me.

 

Ramius--- first off congrats on the NC! Secondly, what are your thoughts regarding Winston and if you have any comparisons between Manuel and Winston.

[flmike]

Maybe so, but EJ ran a ton in his senior year. He was inconsistent on passes, though. Some really nice, some real headscratchers. Hope he gets better.

[YoloinOhio]

Maybe so, but EJ ran a ton in his senior year. He was inconsistent on passes, though. Some really nice, some real headscratchers. Hope he gets better.

Exactly how I would describe his passing game his rookie season!

 

Winston throws WRs open. He's a much better passer than Ej at this point. I watched a bunch of fsu games this year and Winston made a believer out of me.

 

Ramius--- first off congrats on the NC! Secondly, what are your thoughts regarding Winston and if you have any comparisons between Manuel and Winston.

I don't think there is any true debate about who is the better NFL prospect. While that isn't a knock on EJ as I am a fan of his, Winston would be the #1 overall pick this year if he was eligible and that says it all

[flmike]

Winston does need another season of playing against top teams, though. He had trouble in the first halves of the Auburn, Florida, and BC games. He seems easily flustered and needs to show that he can lead w/o his team always picking him up. If you watched the NC game, you also noticed that you don't want him running...

[YoloinOhio]

Winston does need another season of playing against top teams, though. He had trouble in the first halves of the Auburn, Florida, and BC games. He seems easily flustered and needs to show that he can lead w/o his team always picking him up. If you watched the NC game, you also noticed that you don't want him running...

That is what I noticed...looked very forced, like he really didn't want to run but was doing so to not get blown out.

[YoloinOhio]

Jameis credits EJ for his development:

 

http://www.nhregister.com/sports/20140111/jameis-winston-credits-ej-manuel-for-help-along-the-way