Tim Tebow identifies areas Auburn must improve to best help Payton Thorne
The Auburn passing game couldn’t do much of anything in last week’s 27-10 loss to Texas A&M.
Quarterbacks Payton Thorne, Holden Geriner and Robby Ashford combined to go a putrid 9 of 23 passing for 56 yards against the Aggies.
Thorne, who got the start, was 6 of 12 passing for 44 yards. SEC Network analyst Tim Tebow spoke on The Paul Finebaum Show on Friday about the Auburn offense and what the Tigers can do to help Thorne moving forward.
“They’ve gotta find a way to get some life offensively,” Tebow said. “I think it’s at the quarterback position, but it’s also at the receiver position. It’s also offensive line.”
Tebow said from watching the game, it’s not as if Thorne had a bunch of receivers running wide open that he missed. Tebow also pointed out that Thorne didn’t have much time to scan the field and look for open receivers.
“You know, it’s not like Payton Thorne had a lot of time. The receivers weren’t really winning a bunch of one-on-ones. They weren’t able to consistently run the ball,” Tebow said. “So there are a lot of people who just want to say quarterback and that’s not fair. It’s everybody on the offensive side.”
It doesn’t get any easier for Payton Thorne and the Auburn offense moving forward.
Up next, the Tigers host No. 1 Georgia on Saturday. Thorne and everyone around him needs to play better this week for the Tigers to have a chance of pulling off the stunner.
“They’ve all got to do a little bit of a heart check, a gut check and say, ‘OK, who are we? And how can we find a little bit of flash every now and then offensively,'” Tebow said.
Jordan Rodgers calls for Auburn to play Robby Ashford over Payton Thorne
Fellow SEC Network analyst Jordan Rodgers believes a change at quarterback could help the Auburn offense.
He thinks it’s time for Robby Ashford to start over Thorne after last week’s showing against Texas A&M.
Ashford was the de facto incumbent at quarterback this year and is known for his athletic ability. That gives him a higher upside than Thorne, according to Rodgers, and it’s why he argued it might be time for a different look against a tough Georgia defense.
“Throwing for 56 yards is just unacceptable in the SEC,” Rodgers said Friday on The Paul Finebaum Show. “I don’t care who you’re playing, what the scenario is. Look, you’ve got to move on at that position, and I think you have to turn it back over to Robby Ashford. I say that because the reason Payton Thorne won that job is because [of] his consistency in the pass game. So you take a guy that maybe has a little bit lower of a ceiling for a guy that’s more consistent. That just hasn’t been the case. So if you’re not consistent on offense and it’s not clean, then you’ve got to go with the guy that has a higher ceiling.
“Robby, it hasn’t been clean. He hasn’t been consistent. But he’s the best athlete on the field when he has the ball in his hands. Payton’s done a good job, as well. But Robby’s dynamic, and also, they throw the ball downfield when Robby comes in. And I was just shocked at how little they pushed the ball downfield with Payton. I think they’ve got to figure things out.”