By Seth Herrold
Blaine Gabbert made it official earlier in the week, announcing his days as a Missouri Tiger were over. The junior quarterback is entering the NFL Draft and early indications show he is the second best quarterback option in the draft behind Andrew Luck of Stanford, assuming Luck leaves early like Gabbert, that is.
Basically, this is a perfect time for Gabbert to bail out, kind of.
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Sure, there might not even be an NFL season next year if the owners and players don’t learn to give a little, but for Gabbert, the only thing he can do next year is hurt his annual income with a bad year. He isn’t going to be any better than the projected first round pick he is right now.
All I have heard in the past week is that Gabbert is “NFL ready.” Missouri fans have been pouring out nice encouraging words, wishing the two-year starter the best of luck. And it all makes sense because Gabbert had such a tremendous performance in the Insight Bowl. That is what everyone is telling me anyway. The Associated Press story on Gabbert had this to say:
“Gabbert has started the past two years and is coming off a standout performance in the Insight Bowl, when he was 41 of 57 for 434 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Iowa.”
Sounds good right? Well, yes, he racked up impressive stats and made some amazing throws, but he also made some bad decisions that will have to be corrected if he is going to be successful at the next level. Everyone is sending Gabbert off without one negative thing to say, but I would like to point out that Gabbert cost Missouri 14 points in a game they lost by four.
Yes, I blame Blaine for the loss. He threw an interception in the end zone that should have been six points for the Tigers and threw an egregious pick late in the fourth quarter with a lead that was returned for six points by the Hawkeyes. Say what you want about the T.J. Moe catch that wasn’t after a review, the Tigers should have never been in that situation.
Now the first pick, in the end zone, bounced up off the receiver’s hands and then was intercepted. That one’s tough to pin on Gabbert, but that was on third and goal. Are you telling me we couldn’t get close enough to run the ball in on the first two downs? We couldn’t find a way to score on one of those first two downs? If that thrown ball was in a place where the receiver could have gotten both hands on it rather than one, it would have been a touchdown. But the ball was just enough off the back shoulder that it had to be grabbed with one hand and then drug into the other and that was what caused it to bounce perfectly to the Hawkeye defense.
Now the pick-for-six. The play-calling was terrible. I like Dave Yost, but he is still new to the offensive coordinator job and maybe a little aggressive. The Tigers should have been trying to run out the clock, but Mizzou was passing. Late in the fourth quarter, with a lead and the ball, they were passing. Gabbert was in a tough situation where he had to make a decision. He made the wrong decision, threw the ball directly to an Iowa defender in a very Brad Smith-like manner and the rest is history.
So Gabbert is going to the NFL and it’s the right thing for him to do, but don’t be surprised that I’m not sending him off with roses like everyone else seems to be doing. He cost us that bowl game and he got blown out in last year’s bowl game, another two-interception performance. Losing bowl games with regularity doesn’t say good things about your program and that’s exactly what the Blaine Gabbert era has been about.
Gabbert did have some good memories at the school and I will always be thankful to him for the Oklahoma victory this year. I won’t miss the bowl losses, losses to Baylor and near losses to San Diego State. Good luck in the NFL Blaine; this was probably the best move for both sides.