When will players learn that talking smack to the media only makes you look stupid?
USF Bulls defensive lineman Eric Lee will learn this lesson the hard way for his comments about East Carolina quarterback Shane Carden. When speaking to reporters following practice on Wednesday afternoon, Lee said this:
“[He’s] nothing special. He’s like any other quarterback. He’s short, that’s…the only assessment. Of course you can’t underestimate or overestimate though. You’ve just gotta go out and come out here and practice for whoever is in front of you.”
He’s just like any other quarterback?
Before the season even began, the voters for national awards put notice on the fifth-year senior; Carden was put on the Davey O’Brien, Walter Camp, Maxwell and Manning Award watch lists just to name a few.
Carden is listed as a top-10 quarterback in the nation in terms of total passing yards (1,469) at No. 9 overall, which makes him the best at his position (statistically speaking, at least) the Bulls will have faced so far this year.
Additionally, Carden has thrown for 11 touchdowns to just three interceptions (two against SEC East power South Carolina), and is flashing a 74.4 Adjusted QBR, which ranks No. 28 in the country and No. 2 behind AAC counterpart Gunner Kiel.
Not bad for someone that is “nothing special.”
It’s always a bad idea to let your players pop off ill-advised comments like this, especially when you don’t have much to back it up with. USF hasn’t been stellar on defense this season and has a lot to tweak before hosting ECU on October 11.
So far, USF holds a boastful 2-3 record, including a 36-31 victory over FCS opponent Western Carolina and a 17-14 victory over UConn, where the Huskies only mustered 132 total yards on offense and still only lost by three points.
The Bulls are ranked 70th in the nation for total defense, giving up a total of 391.8 yards per game and have allowed 219.4 yards per game through the air (t-44th). They also own the 86th-best team passing efficiency defense, whereas Carden and the Pirate offense excel at No. 34.
So why would Lee, a starting tackle whose stats are buried down the team defensive leaders sheet, be talking about someone else’s game when clearly he and the rest of his team have so many problems that need to be fixed?
Head coach Willie Taggart saw the error in his player’s ways and made comments in order to save face and assess the situation.
“I don’t think (Lee) was looking at the same East Carolina film,” Taggart explained. “The quarterback’s a stud. You watch the kids play and they play with a lot of confidence, they play fast. … They’ve all been playing together for a while now, and you can see it in the way they react to negative things that happen in the game. They don’t get flustered or anything, they respond, and they respond fast.”
I get why Lee said what he did about Carden—it’s not fun to be on a losing football team that doesn’t have much going for it and hasn’t garnered much attention outside of a jersey debacle. But you shouldn’t be spouting off to the media, giving your opponent extra ammunition to beat you even more.
Suggestion box: Just give the normal coach-speak to the media and move on to improving your own team before talking smack.
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