I think KOC alluded to that in his post-game comments where he talked not about Mond throwing the first pick as much as Mond just making a less risky decision given he felt the offense was in field goal range there.CharVike wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:08 pmMullen is 6'1" with a pop gun arm. There's nothing to get excited about. Mannion is 6'6" with a strong arm. At least he can throw a football which will keep the defense back and he has good height which can't hurt. Looks like it's a 3 way battle now. They are almost better off keeping Mullen because he has game experience. I have no fight in this battle. It don't matter to me. The coaches see these guys day in and out. Maybe they will agree to just flip a coin. Mond just started so he's getting the chance. KOC felt we needed to bring Mullen in to compete. Something forced him to do that.VikingLord wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 11:16 am
I agree. I know a lot of people on here are happy with Mullens but I just don't see anything very exciting there. Yes, he's played in a good number of pro games and thrown a decent number of TDs in those games, but he's almost even in terms of picks he's thrown. I also see nothing special about him physically. He seems like a slightly more talented version of Mannion.
I still think Mond should be getting a serious look at #2, and I hope KOC gives him that chance.
Still, I've never know a great NFL QB who played it safe all the time. When I watched that first pick again, the intended receiver was actually open and breaking deep, and had Mond gotten a half second more before the pressure reached him I'm sure he would have hit a highlight reel throw there. That he didn't is partially on Mond for trying something he saw but couldn't hit due to the pressure, and partly on the OL for allowing the pressure.
But this is an experience thing, not a recognition thing. In other words, Mond saw the right thing. He just didn't get the ball out soon enough. As he gains experience he'll recognize the pressure sooner and learn how to either evade it to buy time to hit the receiver or avoid it and look for a different receiver. That experience can only come from playing the game.
If Mond had just made a bad read there, which he didn't, I'd be inclined to agree with a lot of others that maybe he isn't cut out to be QB #2, but the read was right. It was the execution of the read that was lacking, and the pressure on him was a big part of that failure in execution. All QBs struggle when under pressure, including the greats, so I'm willing to cut Mond slack.