I read that completely the other way. When he spoke of “mastering the offensive system,” I don’t think he meant managing the game and not screwing up a lot. I think he meant being a master quarterback.

The bit about being confident in the D/taking care of the football doesn’t make much sense to me, but it sounds intelligent. Shades of Diaco there.

“I think Crist supporters are being way too harsh on Rees, and I think Rees supporters are undervaluing the amount of time it takes to achieve results in terms of the passing game.”

Great summary, IL10. I’m looking forward to seeing this offense in years 2, regardless of who’s behind center.

Agreed, I hope however that Crist is our Saviour……..haha

Agree this is possible. And its part of it. But the team getting better around the QB is also part of it. Not clearly one or the other.

Everyone is so quick to just dismiss the notion of team anytime I try to credit Rees with quality wins. It’s all this “they won despite Rees” crap, but football on any level doesn’t really work this way. Every butterfly a lineman crushes in a game has an effect on the outcome of the game, and if any otherwise crush butterfly were to go unharmed because of a different set of circumstances, like, say, a different QB, there’s no telling the outcome. So when I Credit Rees with these wins, I do so while keeping in mind that a team functions as it does much in large part due to the composition of that team. Crist probably is the better QB in a vacuum, but it was Rees who played in such a way as to enable all the other parts of the machine/team to function in such a way as to result in some big wins.

The same occured with Pike in BKs second season before injury, and then he exploded and was putting up Heisman/video-game numbers in his second season as a starter, which was BKs third season there.

I think Crist supporters are being way too harsh on Rees, and I think Rees supporters are undervaluing the amount of time it takes to achieve results in terms of the passing game. BK is THE quarterback guru for Crist’s sake! (See what I did there?)

Actually, I’d have freaked out. There is no “right” answer to this question until the games are all played.

“Q. Brian, what does the number one quarterback have to show you that’s going to separate those two?

COACH KELLY: Well, it really is mastering the offensive system. When I say ‘mastering the offensive system,’ there are so many different things we can do within our offense that that quarterback has to be able to be efficient in all the areas. That is getting us in the right play, checking to the right protection, making sure that the right people get their hands on the football.

So it’s more than just arm strength; it’s more than just leadership capabilities. There are so many other factors involved within the structure of our offense that the quarterback must excel at.

I think there’s also now an added dimension in that we feel very confident about the kind of defense that we can play, that taking care of the football now is a premium. We’ve got to take great care of the football.

I know everybody wants to take great care of the football. That’s actually one of those boxes we have to check off with the quarterback. We have to ensure he’s going to be somebody that is not going to turn the football over.

So mastering the offense, all the complexities within, then really being careful with the football.”

—Media Day, August 16th: a poor paraphrase by me, but I think it is the same general point.