On Thursday I posted an article that listed some things I felt would be interesting and important to look for during the Spring Game this year. Here they are below in bold with a snippet of text from that article following in italics.
Can Sunseri carry practice success onto the field under competition? “I want to see if what we are seeing and hearing about Sunseri’s calm demeanor and accurate deep throws in practice can translate into completions at game speed.” All three QBs got a nice amount of reps yesterday and each stayed with the squad they were assigned; Sunseri 1st team, Myers 2nd and Anderson 3rd.
Sunseri did not play to the level which he has been over the last four weeks of practice and in truth was showing more of the same repetitive mistakes we have seen from him during past games. He was overthrowing open receivers and had an INT returned for a TD by Tags. His stats on the day were a mediocre 13-27 for 147 yards and one TD. Rivals.com paints an accurate picture of how things progressed for him in this article:
Quarterback Tino Sunseri completed 13 of 27 passes for 147 yards but missed a number of throws that would have put points on the board. Twice on the first drive, Sunseri overthrew tight end Drew Carswell, once on a flag route then again on a fly where a blown coverage left him wide open. That trend continued as the afternoon wore on.
“I think that guys were running open,” Sunseri said. “You just got to put the ball on people, understand certain route depths and just keep competing.
This quote from Sam Werner’s coverage in the P-G is pouring fuel on the fire as it is just more of the same: “Obviously you’re disappointed you didn’t score, but there’s still positives in that,” Sunseri said. “You moved the football.” Less silver linings and more sunny skies please, enough of the positive attitude after the fact. He did nothing yesterday to dispel the “Practice Hero” label that’s for sure.
What will Mark Myers do when the spotlight is turned on for more than a play or two? “Myers has struggled with the short/intermediate passing game. I watched this happen in practice and I’ll be watching Saturday to see if that is still an albatross around his neck. If it isn’t then new life may be breathed into the competition for the fall.” Well, ramp up the campaign slogans again. Myers made a case yesterday that he is to be reckoned with in summer training camp.
Myers was 10-16 with 167 yards and beautiful 58 yard skinny post TD to Brandon Ifill (remember that name). All spring Myers has been hitting on well thrown deep passes and didn’t disappoint yesterday either by hitting two of them. His passing all around was OK and he was accurate enough overall to complete 63% of his passes but his short passing game still has a way to go.
Having a 16.7 ypc average yesterday doesn’t hurt his case either. I don’t know if he’ll be able to sustain that level of play in August but if he can then all the better for the Panthers. I still think it is a long shot for him to grab the starting position but it is early yet.
