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He Made the Difference
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For the for every Delhomme there's a Feeley Department
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Posted on Sat, Sep. 03, 2005
Frerotte may be starter at quarterback by default
Nick Saban said he has made a decision at QB, and while he wasn't specific, it appears Gus Frerotte likely will start the Sept. 11 opener against Denver.
BY JASON COLE
jcole@herald.com
Dolphins coach Nick Saban said Friday he has made a decision at quarterback and will let the three contenders know today. But from all indications, Gus Frerotte likely will start when Miami opens the season Sept. 11 against Denver.
It also appears Sage Rosenfels has displaced A.J. Feeley as the No. 1 backup for now.
But when asked if the situation at quarterback was ''fluid,'' the loquacious Saban said essentially, ``Yes.''
In other words, what is presented to the quarterbacks today might not be the case all season. For now, Saban cut Frerotte slack for the conditions during Thursday night's preseason finale, gave a clue about Rosenfels and took Feeley to task.
All of that after reiterating that the performance in a 20-17 loss against Atlanta wasn't very good.
''I don't feel a whole lot better about our performance today than I did last night,'' Saban said. ``I know there is tremendous interest in [the quarterback situation]. Since we haven't discussed it with the players or watched the film [with them], we're not going to make an announcement on where we're going to go there. But I think we have a pretty good idea.''
At the same time, Saban stopped short of criticizing Frerotte and the first-team offense because conditions at the west end of the field were poor. That was where the heavy rain before the game drenched the baseball infield.
``This is not to defend the first offense, but it was even more apparent in the film -- we got the ball down there in the infield and it looked like we were playing in the beach. All their nine or 10 plays were all right there.
``Not to make excuses -- because it was the same for both teams -- [but] we'd like to at least be fair in the evaluation. Gus completed two out of three and really didn't have an opportunity to do much.''
In other words, there was nothing about Frerotte's performance that knocked him from his role with the first-team offense. At least not yet.
When Saban discussed Rosenfels, who completed 17 of 25 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns, there was a strong hint about the future.
''Sage obviously did a good job when he was in there, managed the two-minute, throwing the ball, making some plays, and that's something that certainly will be evaluated but not discussed today in terms of who goes where,'' Saban said.
Then again, if Saban didn't have at least something to discuss in terms of where Rosenfels is going, why would he mention it?
Finally, when it came time to discuss the play of the offense when Feeley was in the game or Feeley's performance itself, Saban was direct in his criticism.
''Now, in the second quarter, I felt we came unglued a little bit. We didn't always have good field position, but we certainly had better circumstances [than the first-team offense] to operate in and didn't always execute like we'd like, and that's not exactly what we wanted to see,'' Saban said.
Feeley was 4 of 17 for 56 yards and had one interception that was returned for a touchdown. Aside from the interception, Feeley had another play that was a decidedly bad decision to throw after he had escaped from a near-safety.
After escaping a defensive lineman, Feeley continued to run to his left, then tossed an incomplete pass into an area where there were three defenders and two more close by. There was only one Dolphins receiver, and the ball could have easily been picked off and returned for a score.
''I sometimes use the phrase that it's not always bad when every series ends in a kick. That means you either scored a touchdown, kicking a field goal or, at worst, you're having to punt,'' Saban said. ``So, if you have a play that breaks down, you'd like to not put yourself in a position where you give the other team an opportunity to take advantage of it. Especially when if you escape, there's a time to say this is a bad play, it didn't work -- I can't [afford to] make the situation worse by making a poor decision about what I do with the ball now.''
As for the interception, Saban laid the responsibility clearly at Feeley's feet.
''We're always trying to get guys to execute and see things, and it doesn't always work when you do it right, but it certainly has a better chance to turn out right when you do it the right way,'' Saban said. ``I think A.J. might have been trying too hard to make something happen in that circumstance and didn't see things the way we would have liked to have him see things.''
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Posted on Sat, Sep. 03, 2005
Frerotte may be starter at quarterback by default
Nick Saban said he has made a decision at QB, and while he wasn't specific, it appears Gus Frerotte likely will start the Sept. 11 opener against Denver.
BY JASON COLE
jcole@herald.com
Dolphins coach Nick Saban said Friday he has made a decision at quarterback and will let the three contenders know today. But from all indications, Gus Frerotte likely will start when Miami opens the season Sept. 11 against Denver.
It also appears Sage Rosenfels has displaced A.J. Feeley as the No. 1 backup for now.
But when asked if the situation at quarterback was ''fluid,'' the loquacious Saban said essentially, ``Yes.''
In other words, what is presented to the quarterbacks today might not be the case all season. For now, Saban cut Frerotte slack for the conditions during Thursday night's preseason finale, gave a clue about Rosenfels and took Feeley to task.
All of that after reiterating that the performance in a 20-17 loss against Atlanta wasn't very good.
''I don't feel a whole lot better about our performance today than I did last night,'' Saban said. ``I know there is tremendous interest in [the quarterback situation]. Since we haven't discussed it with the players or watched the film [with them], we're not going to make an announcement on where we're going to go there. But I think we have a pretty good idea.''
At the same time, Saban stopped short of criticizing Frerotte and the first-team offense because conditions at the west end of the field were poor. That was where the heavy rain before the game drenched the baseball infield.
``This is not to defend the first offense, but it was even more apparent in the film -- we got the ball down there in the infield and it looked like we were playing in the beach. All their nine or 10 plays were all right there.
``Not to make excuses -- because it was the same for both teams -- [but] we'd like to at least be fair in the evaluation. Gus completed two out of three and really didn't have an opportunity to do much.''
In other words, there was nothing about Frerotte's performance that knocked him from his role with the first-team offense. At least not yet.
When Saban discussed Rosenfels, who completed 17 of 25 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns, there was a strong hint about the future.
''Sage obviously did a good job when he was in there, managed the two-minute, throwing the ball, making some plays, and that's something that certainly will be evaluated but not discussed today in terms of who goes where,'' Saban said.
Then again, if Saban didn't have at least something to discuss in terms of where Rosenfels is going, why would he mention it?
Finally, when it came time to discuss the play of the offense when Feeley was in the game or Feeley's performance itself, Saban was direct in his criticism.
''Now, in the second quarter, I felt we came unglued a little bit. We didn't always have good field position, but we certainly had better circumstances [than the first-team offense] to operate in and didn't always execute like we'd like, and that's not exactly what we wanted to see,'' Saban said.
Feeley was 4 of 17 for 56 yards and had one interception that was returned for a touchdown. Aside from the interception, Feeley had another play that was a decidedly bad decision to throw after he had escaped from a near-safety.
After escaping a defensive lineman, Feeley continued to run to his left, then tossed an incomplete pass into an area where there were three defenders and two more close by. There was only one Dolphins receiver, and the ball could have easily been picked off and returned for a score.
''I sometimes use the phrase that it's not always bad when every series ends in a kick. That means you either scored a touchdown, kicking a field goal or, at worst, you're having to punt,'' Saban said. ``So, if you have a play that breaks down, you'd like to not put yourself in a position where you give the other team an opportunity to take advantage of it. Especially when if you escape, there's a time to say this is a bad play, it didn't work -- I can't [afford to] make the situation worse by making a poor decision about what I do with the ball now.''
As for the interception, Saban laid the responsibility clearly at Feeley's feet.
''We're always trying to get guys to execute and see things, and it doesn't always work when you do it right, but it certainly has a better chance to turn out right when you do it the right way,'' Saban said. ``I think A.J. might have been trying too hard to make something happen in that circumstance and didn't see things the way we would have liked to have him see things.''