Has Bennett replaced Thomas as the starter?

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Natebishop3

Natebishop3

Don't tread on me!
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The kid is looking very sharp. WSU had Thomas and LMJ shut down completely in the first half. Bennett came in and tore them up. Has Thomas lost his starting spot?
 
probably not IMO. I do love Bennet. And Thomas looked mediocre at best today. But I still have seen what Thomas has done on the road at the Coliseum, vs Luck and Stanford, and on and on. Bennet has looked good against WSU and Colorado. Thomas starts at UW next week me thinks.
 
To be fair to Thomas, his two INTs were more on the receivers. I have never thought it was fair to attribute an INT to a QB when it was the receiver who popped the ball up for the INT.

With that said, Thomas has looked very mediocre at times this year. I don't know if that's because Maehl and Davis are gone, or for another reason, but Bennett has looked very good at both the run and the pass. :dunno:
 
I'm not knocking Thomas at all, but he's product of the system. He's a good quarterback, but Bennett brings a different dimension with the dual threat. With the offense Chip runs, that can be lethal.
 
Thomas didn't look good today (other than that one awesome scramble/pass) but I think you can't make the swap just yet. He's done too many good things to lose his job over a single half.

If he struggles in the first half against Washington, though, and Bennett comes on to lead the team to the win? Then it starts making more sense.

It's a good problem to have, for sure.

Ed O.
 
No. Oregon typically is a second half team and we would have won with either QB. Its great to get Bennett so much PT, but,come big games, I expect to see Thomas. I've been saying for weeks that Stanford is looking very beatable. If USC wouldn't have made one of the worst play calls I can remember, with just a few ticks on the clock, they prob would have won that game.
 
Perhaps Bennett is the better option considering DT's health, but lets try to keep things in perspective. Thomas QB'd the club to the national championship game in his first year as a starter while Bennett has looked good vs arguably the two worst teams in the conference. Who plays is up to Chip. Obviously, if everyone is healthy his choice for running the team has been Thomas. I expect DT will be starting again next week but wouldn't be surprised to see Bennett again get considerable snaps.

STOMP
 
I'm not saying Thomas should lose his spot. I have been a strong supporter of Thomas all season, but I have seen some things from Bennett that are very encouraging, and Thomas has struggled at times. I'm just wondering if Thomas has lost his spot because he sure didn't look gimped and Kelly benched him in favor of Bennett in a close game. That really raised my eyebrows. I didn't think Thomas looked THAT bad. There were some bad drops by the WRs and like I said, the two INTs weren't really his fault. I just really like what Bennett brings to the table. He seems to bring out the best in Barner and DAT.
 
Starting Bennett if Thomas is healthy would be a risky gamble considering not only thomas' history, experience and record, but also his leadership off the field. Yes, Bennett is playing good and has a bright future, but a more important question would be, 'what has thomas done to lose his starting position'? The answer is, nothing. One scrappy half with two picks, after coming back from time off and an injury shouldn't merit the loss of his starting role an leadership.

Do I think bennett has earned more pt though? Yes. But, thomas IS our QB1.
 
Targus said:
Starting Bennett if Thomas is healthy would be a risky gamble considering not only thomas' history, experience and record, but also his leadership off the field. Yes, Bennett is playing good and has a bright future, but a more important question would be, 'what has thomas done to lose his starting position'? The answer is, nothing. One scrappy half with two picks, after coming back from time off and an injury shouldn't merit the loss of his starting role an leadership.

Do I think bennett has earned more pt though? Yes. But, thomas IS our QB1.
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But in this case, you aren't trying to sell me or another poster on this. It was Kelly who benched Thomas in favor of Bennett today. I never would have thought that was possible. I'm just wondering if this is a case of Kelly shifting his favor away from Thomas towards Bennett, or did he simply want to go a different direction for a change of pace?
 
in this system, you need more than one quarterback to have a successful season. this is a system that calls for the qb to carry the ball 5-10 times a game. your #1 is eventually going to get hurt. chip should put in a package just like he has for de thomas to take advantage of what he brings to the table and get him experience for the future. one of the reasons that i think that darron thomas hasnt been effective is that teams have figured out that he isnt really looking to pull the ball out and run. the read option is useless if you arent reading anything.
 
twallace23 said:
in this system, you need more than one quarterback to have a successful season. this is a system that calls for the qb to carry the ball 5-10 times a game. your #1 is eventually going to get hurt. chip should put in a package just like he has for de thomas to take advantage of what he brings to the table and get him experience for the future. one of the reasons that i think that darron thomas hasnt been effective is that teams have figured out that he isnt really looking to pull the ball out and run. the read option is useless if you arent reading anything.
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Good point, and that's why Bennett has been so much more effective. He gives teams the threat of his ability to take off and take it 30 or 40 yards before they can stop him. Darron doesn't have that. Bennett has also shown that he can air it out, which makes him that much deadlier.
 
I remember reports out of camp that Bennett looked better than Thomas in August. I'm just saying. Bennett's a better runner and has been spot on with his passes, regardless of the competition. Thomas knows the offense better, is battle tested and is great at reading the defense.

It is definitely a debate worth having.
 
twallace23 said:
in this system, you need more than one quarterback to have a successful season. this is a system that calls for the qb to carry the ball 5-10 times a game. your #1 is eventually going to get hurt. chip should put in a package just like he has for de thomas to take advantage of what he brings to the table and get him experience for the future. one of the reasons that i think that darron thomas hasnt been effective is that teams have figured out that he isnt really looking to pull the ball out and run. the read option is useless if you arent reading anything.
Click to expand...

That last sentence was spot on.
 
Natebishop3 said:
But in this case, you aren't trying to sell me or another poster on this. It was Kelly who benched Thomas in favor of Bennett today. I never would have thought that was possible. I'm just wondering if this is a case of Kelly shifting his favor away from Thomas towards Bennett, or did he simply want to go a different direction for a change of pace?
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I was thinking more along the lines of the team and less about fans on this. The halftime switch, we are told, was for 'health' reason. Yes.
 
Check Moseley's twitter. He's got several comments from Thomas, Chip and Helfrich re the QB stuffs.
 
MickZagger said:
I remember reports out of camp that Bennett looked better than Thomas in August. I'm just saying. Bennett's a better runner and has been spot on with his passes, regardless of the competition. Thomas knows the offense better, is battle tested and is great at reading the defense.
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sorry but no. His 53% completion percentage reflects how spot on he's been. He's got a big arm no doubt, but he's been erratic especially throwing down field. And again, thats been against two of the worst D's in the conference.

STOMP
 
DT had a gimpy knee and a bad game....and still threw for more yards than Bennett. If those 2 picks had been dumb, off-target throws it would be one thing - but you can't hang the QB when a WR bobbles an on-target throw right into the hands of the defender.
 
It sure looked like to me that Thomas had trouble planting his backfoot and driving the ball. That's why a lot of his passes were high and I think that's why he was pulled, because his knee was still not a 100 percent.
 
On paper, this should be a no-brainer. Thomas is 17-2 as a started, 61% completion ration, 48 TD/14 INT in that span. He hasn't done anything to "lose" his starting spot. However, our WRs are average at best. Other than D'Anthony, there are no playmakers. A good defense isn't going to get beat by a one dimensional offense (see LSU). It isn't Darron Thomas' fault this his WRs aren't very good. However, Bennett's legs give defenses something else to think about in the spread. While Thomas is a pretty good runner, Bennett is much quicker/faster. That is opening things up for the RBs as well. This is a big advantage reason to consider Bennett over Thomas.

The other side of the coin is that Bennett is due for a stinker. All rookie QBs have them. Think about Darron Thomas' game vs. Cal last year. Do we trust Brian Bennett to "manage the game" if we get in a close game/defensive struggle? 3rd and 10 at your own 20 yard line late in the 4th quarter in a tie game. An experienced QB might have to throw the ball out of bounce if nothing is open and punt. Rookie QBs always seem to try and do too much. That's what worries me about Bennett. I think Thomas' experience gives him a huge edge in this department.

At the end of the day, I think you have to start Thomas against UW and tell Brian to "stay loose" (we may need him).
 
The probelm I have with Thomas is when we need him to use legs he doesn't until the game is almost over. It drives me nuts, cause when he takes off great things happen. Now I don't want him to be a run first QB, but DAMN use all your skills we need um!
 
I think DT was struggling with his knee and as we need him fully healthy for UW, he sat. Simple as that.
 
Kaydow said:
On paper, this should be a no-brainer. Thomas is 17-2 as a started, 61% completion ration, 48 TD/14 INT in that span. He hasn't done anything to "lose" his starting spot. However, our WRs are average at best. Other than D'Anthony, there are no playmakers. A good defense isn't going to get beat by a one dimensional offense (see LSU). It isn't Darron Thomas' fault this his WRs aren't very good. However, Bennett's legs give defenses something else to think about in the spread. While Thomas is a pretty good runner, Bennett is much quicker/faster. That is opening things up for the RBs as well. This is a big advantage reason to consider Bennett over Thomas.

The other side of the coin is that Bennett is due for a stinker. All rookie QBs have them. Think about Darron Thomas' game vs. Cal last year. Do we trust Brian Bennett to "manage the game" if we get in a close game/defensive struggle? 3rd and 10 at your own 20 yard line late in the 4th quarter in a tie game. An experienced QB might have to throw the ball out of bounce if nothing is open and punt. Rookie QBs always seem to try and do too much. That's what worries me about Bennett. I think Thomas' experience gives him a huge edge in this department.

At the end of the day, I think you have to start Thomas against UW and tell Brian to "stay loose" (we may need him).
Click to expand...

I agree with this. Repped.
 
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