WE ARE...the San Francisco 49ers! Jay dropped a couple of stats on us over the weekend on the quarterback play this spring:
Spring pass plays of 20+ yards--the highest of any spring the last 7 years (& also as a higher percentage of passes thrown).
2010 Spring Pass INT percentage was even lower than the spring of '08--which was the lowest we've had in the past 7 years.
The first one isn't surprising. You could tell from the spring game the pass play was just about all the play callers wanted to work on. It's not a reach to think that practice was the same routine, especially considering how stacked the running game appears to be.
The second one doesn't seem to jive with what we saw on ESPN2, though. There were reports (unnamed! inside sources!) after the game that many of the players were McGloin fans during the early spring, and that his play in Beaver Stadium was uncharacteristic.
But two things:
- You don't earn the nickname "Brett" by being a steady, safe quarterback.
- And as Mike said in the pod cast, if half of Scranton can get him off his game, what's he going to do when Penn State starts the toughest road schedule in the country this fall?
So as always, take springtime banter seriously at your own risk.
The beast in the east. Penn State continues their volleyball awesomeness this week when the men's team takes on CSU Northridge in the final four on Thursday at 9 p.m. eastern. The championship is Saturday night against the winner of Stanford and Ohio State.
Oh, and guess what? The tournament is being held in Stanford.
Although I guess the men can't complain about that too much—they get to host the tournament ever four or five years—but the women get no such treatment after three straight national championships, the last one requiring a win over Nebraska in Omaha.
Guess who is playing nice in Dallas? Sean Lee:
"It's a dream to have a star on your helmet," Lee said on the first day of rookie camp. "I went out there and looked at the helmet and I couldn't believe I had a star on my helmet. This is one of the great franchises in the world. When you think of football you think of the Cowboys, and that's why I'm excited and playing for one of the top organizations."
And for any of you looking for a new team, Sean Lee will buy you a beer in Pittsburgh...
"I couldn't lie," Lee said. "I rooted against [the Cowboys]. I'm from Pittsburgh and there was no option. But now I'm trying to convert as many people from Pittsburgh to be Dallas fans."
"he took a dip into the hot tub time machine." Well played:
A left shoulder injury didn't stop Drew Astorino from throwing passes in spring practice last month.
Playing quarterback for the scout team, Penn State's right-handed redshirt junior safety looked like he took a dip into the hot tub time machine.
"I tried to show them a little bit of the old high school skills," said Astorino, who led General McLane to the PIAA Class AAA state championship in 2006.
"They didn't believe me, but I think I did pretty well."
Astorino was feeling pain "every time [he] got hit" during several (most?) games last season, and so it's probably a good thing he is taking the spring and summer to get back to 100%. The article says he still plans on being back at practice for preseason camp in August.
In scores of other games. Penn State is sitting at 3rd in the Director's Cup....the struggling baseball team swept(!) MSU over the weekend, the RPI approves.