Define pressure...... ...is it playing in the big game? Or is it running for your life? I would argue it's much easier to win a race driving a Ferrari as opposed to a Civic. Oregon had good talent around Clemens but not like Leinart had at USC. Everyone on Leinart's O-line will play in the NFL. I think Leinart is a good prospect but his stats are not only attributable to his talent but the talent around him. Do you honestly believe his stats would be the same at Oregon as they were at USC? I don't. Keep in mind that both Leinart and Clemens were Elite 11 QBs coming out of high school. At this camp, Clemens looked better than Leinart. I'm not saying that Clemens is a better prospect because of this but rather his raw talent was considered to be right up there with Leinart's. Both of these guys are good prospect. At this juncture, I believe Leinart will have a better career early on due to the talent around him. Boldin, Fitzgerald and James are much better than Curtis, Coles & McCareins (no offense to Curtis).
How do you know all of this? From what I saw at USC accuracy and read was less important than merely throwing up jump balls most of the time. When you have the superior talent at every skill position you can make the wrong read and still be successful.
About the USC game........ ...Clemens played very well against USC for the first half. Oregon had the lead at halftime despite having a TD called back on a bogus penalty. Clemens got popped hard in the second half and was woozy for the rest of the game. He didn't play as well after that and came out for a series. Oregon imploded thereafter. The same thing happened to Leinart against ASU last year except USC was behind 21-3 at half. Leinart got popped hard in the first half. USC rallied in the second half to win as the tandem of Bush / White rushed for over 350 yards. 350 yards rushing in a game is amazing.
It's obviously going to depend on Chad this year. I can see him deffinately getting some playing time in this year, but IMO it would just be to gain the actual experience of a real game situation.
In college Leinart constantly changed the plays at the line and could definately fire a bullet into a small space. Like I said, yes he had a great supporting cast, but that makes him a better prospect. He shouldn't be penalized for that. Why can't people accept any criticism of Clemens on this site? In fact, I'm not even criticizing him--I'm just saying that at this point in his career he is not as good as the best QB in college football over the past 2 seasons. But somehow that means that I am a "darksider" who wants him to fail. It's stupid.
Clemens did a lot of audibles in college....... ...he's a smart guy. No doubt Leinart is a good prospect. I'm not arguing against that.
To me that doesn't make you a darksider at all. I just don't buy into the best college QB has all that much to do with being good in the Pros. I admit I only saw Leinart maybe 5 games, mostly this year. Never really saw him fire the ball in saw a lot of pretty floaters cought by superior athletes going against mediocre talent for the most part.
I'm a huge Wolverine fan and have been since the early 70's. Tom Brady was the worst Michigan starting QB in a decade when he played for them in the late 90's. He wasn't up to the Harbaugh-Grbac-Collins-Griese standard and the fans knew it. He sat behind Brian Griese because Griese was star quality and he wasn't. He got pushed by Drew Henson because he wasn't star quality and Henson was. He got really lucky that he landed with a truly great offensive coordinator who had a knack for making QB's better than they had previously shown and that his head coach was a defensive genius whose systems kept the team in almost every game. And he got the call. Of such things are legends made.
