Art Briles stands by QBs: 'I'll go spread every single day' – ESPN (blog)
Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports had a good piece yesterday delving into the debate about how college spread offenses prepare a quarterback for NFL success. In it, he caught up with Art Briles to address the knocks against Bryce Petty (and, in turn, his offense) during the recent draft process.
As you would expect, Briles kept it plain and simple when it came to defending how the Bears approach offense.
“I just think if they’re looking for a knock on someone and they can’t find it, they’ll find it from somewhere else,” Briles told Feldman. “People are entitled to their opinion. I’m all about trying to win on the football field. I don’t want to play in a boring offense. I’ll go spread every single day.”
It’s not Briles’ job to worry about projecting to the NFL. He’s trying to win games and win over recruits, and Baylor continues to do a remarkable job on those fronts. The nit-picks about what Petty doesn’t show on film or what he must learn are important from a scouting standpoint, absolutely. But college coaches like Briles are trying to win college games, not NFL games.
There is some great stuff in this piece from Briles, Duke’s David Cutcliffe and Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez on why they think the knocks against the college spread and its passers are pointless and/or ridiculous, and Feldman is right to mention that Marcus Mariota will end up being an important case study in this debate.
So will Petty. If he takes care of business with the Jets, Briles won’t have to deal with that chatter much longer.
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