J.T. O'Sullivan: Through 6 Games: Flashes Of Kurt Warner and Alex Smith

In six career NFL starts, 49ers Quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan has shown flashes of former Mike Martz' protege Kurt Warner and of much maligned 49ers' #1 overall pick, Alex Smith. 

Through three starts, O'Sullivan had the 49ers at 2-1, looking like they belonged.  However, Mike Martz and the staff seemed to get a bit ahead of themselves with the progress on the offensive side of the ball.  In week two against Seattle the 49ers won 33-30 in OT, despite the offensive line giving up eight sacks.  But in that game, it was apparent that O'Sullivan was able to sense the backside pressure and scramble for positive yards. 

That wasn't the case when the 49ers traveled to New Orleans in week four.  The offensive line once again did not give O'Sullivan time to throw the ball, and the inexperienced quarterback threw 2 red-zone interceptions because of it.  JTO also lost a fumble that led to the Saints first touchdown.

Against New England O' Sullivan through for 3 Touchdown passes, which 49er fans haven't seen since the departure of Jeff Garcia.  But O'Sullivan also threw 3 interceptions.  One of which was by Patriots safety Rodney Harrison who was in such good position, one would of thought he was wearing red and gold. 

This is one of two main areas J.T. O'Sullivan needs to work on.  Last week against the Eagles we saw an interception thrown to a defensive lineman who dropped back into coverage and guarded against the hot-read route.  O'Sullivan had thrown short to the inside receiver a few times earlier in the game to counter the Eagles' blitzing defense.  However O'Sullivan needs to realize that just like offenses make adjustments, so do opposing defenses. 

JTO's main problem is that he locks in on his #1 target without reading the defense.  But with a young quarterback, that's not completely his fault, Mike Martz' plays all have a specific place where the ball is suppose to go.  It would also help if the offensive line would give O'Sullivan time to go through his progressions when the #1 target is covered.

The second issue that needs to be addressed with O'Sullivan is blind-side pressure.  Similar to Alex Smith, O'Sullivan has had issues fumbling, most notably on hits from behind.  Five fumbles in six games is just not going to get it done.  The first turnover in New Orleans O'Sullivan should have thrown the ball away after getting outside of the pocket but he tried to make something out of nothing.  As many young quarterbacks aren't aware of, an incomplete pass could be the best play of the game.  Against the Eagles on 3rd and 18, O'Sullivan tried to force a throw into triple coverage with 6 minutes remaining.  What JTO needs to realize is that a punt in that situation is okay.  There was still plenty of time left in the game.

49er fans aren't going to give O'Sullivan and Martz much time to turn the season around.  After 5 straight losing seasons, 49er fans are getting more and more frustrated.  But they should give O'Sullivan a little bit more time before calling for Shaun Hill (yes, I have heard some fans call for a quarterback change) because even though JTO has made mistakes, his first six starts have been light-years better than Alex Smith.

Through his first 9 games, Alex Smith threw for 875 yards, 1 TD, 11 INT's, fumbled another 11 times, and had a quarterback rating of 40.8.  On the contrary, J.T. O' Sullivan has thrown for nearly 1300 yards, with 7 TD's, 8 INT's, fumbled 5 times, and has a quarterback rating of 76.4.  Now Kurt Warner threw for 4300 yards and 41 TD's in his first full season.  O'Sullivan's numbers clearly do not project out to that type of production but he also didn't have the same cast around him that Warner did.  But in terms of finding the open receiver and hitting him in stride, JTO has looked closer to Warner than Smith. 

Clearly, O'Sullivan has shown more promise early on in his career than did Alex Smith.

But in order for O'Sullivan and the 49ers to be successful, there are a couple of issues of which I hope the 49ers can prove me wrong.

In my previous article, I made two assumptions about the 49ers. 

1) There is no way they will beat the Giants

2) The loss to the Eagles ended their playoff chances

The Giants lost to the Browns on Monday night, the NFC West leading Arizona Cardinals have yet to play the power-house teams the 49ers have played and we are only in week 7.  As much as I try to count the 49ers out for such a lousy performance, the NFC West is just so terrible, I can't do that just yet.

A win against the Giants would put the 49ers right back in contention in the NFC West.  But there going to need a few things to make that happen.

1) Offensive line needs to keep pressure of O'Sullivan

-check downs, draws and screens to Gore will keep the Giants defense honest and help the offensive line against a strong defensive front for New York

2) Frank Gore gets at least 25 touches

-Not only does handing the ball of help out O'Sullivan, but getting the ball to Gore through the passing game is vital to 49er success this weekend

3) Vernon Davis sees at least 5 balls thrown his way.

-The 49ers aren't paying Vernon Davis as the #1 TE in the league just to run-block.  They need to get him more involved.

4) Mike Nolan doesn't make any stupid challenges

-Timeouts may be important late in the game, and terrible challenge calls have limited the 49ers ability to stop the clock in the 2 minute offense.

On paper, both O'Sullivan and the 49ers have playoff talent, but whether or not they can put it together on the field is still in question.  However, if the 49ers can show up to New York and put to use those four concepts, they may be able to pull out an upset.

I wouldn't count on it though. 

-Andy Bensch

Bellarmine College Prep 09'

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