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Articles
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Mal's Mailbag
Why did Coach Gilbertson decide to start QB Casey Paus in the remaining four games of the season? Because he didn’t want to leave the cupboard bare for the next head coach. Gilby's heart bleeds purple and gold and he did what was best for the program, knowing that his decision would be unpopular with the fans and media. On Internet message boards, fans savage Paus on a regular basis; they criticize his sidearm delivery and his lack of mobility; they argue that backup quarterbacks Isaiah Stanback and Carl Bonnell can win games with their feet as well as with a strong arm; they associate him with the much maligned Rick Neuheisel, who recruited him out of Illinois. Gilby knows it’s important that one quarterback come up to speed, practice with the ones and struggle through each game, as ugly as he may look. And all three quarterbacks have looked pathetic in games this season, at one time or another. Their combined pass efficiency rating is the lowest in Division I-A football, a miserable 77.5. Paus is the best of the three quarterbacks, and I’m not going to run the other two down just to buttress an opinion. Let’s say, that he’s the best passer, the most experienced and the most durable of the three. Paus excelled in the two-minute drills at the Evergreen summer camp, which should have been reason enough to start him in every game. Against Cal, for example, down 7-3 with 1:01 left in the first half, Paus led the offense on a 10-play, 40-yard drive that carried to the Cal 8-yard line. From there, Evan Knudson booted a 26-yard field goal with 2 seconds left on the clock, pulling the Huskies within a point. The 6-foot-5, 220 pound Paus is as rugged as the proverbial watch that takes a licking and keeps on ticking. He took some wicked shots against Cal, but survived in Timex fashion. Letting Paus play the whole game against the fifth-ranked Bears was crucial for the junior quarterback's development as a Pac-10 quarterback. Unfortunately, pulling him prematurely in a couple of games this season may have cost the UW some wins, as well as putting Paus behind the learning curve in his development. Paus is beginning to look like a Pac-10 QB -- maybe not the best, but certainly adequate enough -- and providing he has a team to support him next season, should lead the UW to some wins. Paus has played three complete games this season, against UCLA, Oregon and California. In his two best games, UCLA and Cal, Paus completed 33 out of 72 passes for 528 yards, with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. His pass efficiency rating for those two games is 112.85. His stats in the Oregon game were wretched, that is, 14 out of 36 passes for 211 yards, 4 interceptions and no touchdowns. Paus' pass efficiency is 83.59 on the season. * Pass efficiency is also a function of Paus' receivers. Indirectly, the formula is a measure of dropped balls, incorrect routes and an inability to get open. A strong pass rush brought on by a weak running game will impact a quarterback's numbers -- for example, throwing off a back foot or tossing the ball away. Taking a blindside hit has got to factor into a blurry-eyed QBs next pass. You know, of the three receivers, pick the one in the middle. All of these factors clearly apply to Paus. Remember, Paus came off the bench last season against Oregon to lead the Huskies to a second half victory. After that game, Husky fans were championing Casey as starting quarterback, replacing the much maligned Cody Pickett. Against the Ducks this season, Paus, his numbers notwithstanding, came on strong in the second half, connecting with newly-found weapon WR Craig Chambers. What’s the deal on Craig Chambers? With Chambers looking better at the summer practices in Olympia, one wonders why it took so long for Gilbertson to play him. Finally, with all the WRs going down for one reason or another, Chambers (6-foot-3, 205 pounds) got his chance to play late in the season. In Washington’s last 3 games, Chambers has caught 15 passes for 308 yards and 1 touchdown. Ironically, Chambers, out of the 2003 class, may be the last of the high-profile local recruits to sign with Washington until a new coach establishes a successful footing. Chambers may have been in Gilby’s dawghouse for one reason or another. Not showing up for the optional summer workouts, for one. That’s one explanation for his absence in earlier games. Who’s going to be the UW’s next head coach? Why would Jeff Tedford or Urban Meyer (Utah) want to leave successful programs to resurrect the UW program? Throwing money at them won't do the job. We believe the most likely candidate to replace Gilby is either Scott Linehan, who is the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, or Boise State head coach Dan Hawkins. The UW can dangle both a BCS lure and a generous salary package in front of Hawkins as enticements. Linehan, an assistant coach at the UW from 1994 to 1998, might want a head-coaching opportunity. He's used to tough weather conditions. However, this doesn't mean that the UW should give up on Tedford or Meyer as candidates. Ruth Robbins, (Link: realdawg), makes a strong case for Meyer in an article that is a must read for all UW fans. (See "An Urban Legend Worth Believing," Ruth Robbins, November 15, 2004). How long will it take the UW to regain national prominence in football? Whoever takes the helm must start at the hold and continue retrofitting the ship on up to the mainsail. Building a seaworthy ship means concentrating on its most important positional group; that is, on defense. Building a solid defense starts with the front four. There is no way Washington will ever return to football excellence without a dominating front four. Think, Steve Emtman. Once that happens, recruiting will fall into place. The prospects all know the importance of defense, as do Husky fans Four years ago, Pete Carroll brought in highly-rated defensive tackle Shawn Cody. The likes of Cody should be a benchmark for the new coach. * Mal, how did you compute Paus' pass efficiency? Pass efficiency (Paus) = (100*106+8.4*1402+330*4+(-200*14))/250 (where the numbers 106, 1402, 4, 14 and 250 represent completions, total yardage, touchdowns, interceptions and pass attempts, respectively. The constants are thrown in to normalize the statistic to that of an average passer (P.E.=100). Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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Malamute
opens his mailbag and answers some questions concerning Casey Paus (pictured
left), Craig Chambers, Ruth Robbins (realdawg.com) and who the next head coach
at the UW could be. How’s that for going out on a limb?