Eli Drinkwitz calls out 'outside noise' around Brady Cook: 'People need to have their minds checked'

As Missouri held on to defeat Vanderbilt in double-overtime on Saturday, Brady Cook had an up-and-down day. He had his lowest completion percentage of the young season, and Eli Drinkwitz had a strong message to the “outside noise” around his quarterback.

Cook completed 23 of 37 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns as Mizzou came away with the 30-27 win in 2OT. He didn’t turn the ball over, though, as the Tigers were able to overcome three missed field goals to get the victory.

Afterward, there were some question’s about Cook’s rough day. But Drinkwitz pushed back in a big way during a Wednesday radio appearance, telling fans to pump the brakes and let Mizzou find its stride.

“When you look at his yards, I think he’s fifth or sixth in the SEC,” Drinkwitz said on 101 ESPN in St. Louis. “There are some plays out there that we all wish we were making in the pass game. We haven’t found a complete rhythm yet offensively. But the outside noise relating to him right now is ridiculous. People need to have their minds checked. And anybody who is suggesting that there’s an issue at the quarterback position is insane, in my opinion.

“Brady Cook is an unbelievable player. He didn’t put us in jeopardy. He didn’t throw an interception in the last two weeks. If he had, we wouldn’t win those games. Can he play better? Absolutely, just like I can coach better. But to point fingers right now, our fans need to have a reality check on that stuff.”

Cook enters the bye week averaging 236.5 passing yards, which ranks fifth in the SEC. All told, he’s completed 68.7% of his passes for 946 yards and four touchdowns as Mizzou takes a 4-0 record into the week off, which comes before a matchup against Texas A&M on Oct. 5.

Eli Drinkwitz: Bye week an opportunity for improvement

As for what the break will do for Mizzou, Eli Drinkwitz said it’s about getting back to full strength. He also noted the emphasis on helping the big names on the roster get better before SEC play picks up.

“Bye week one isn’t so much about getting healthy, although there’s a couple of guys that we need to do that for, it’s really about continuing to eliminate bad football and continuing to improve as a team,” Drinkwitz said on “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Wednesday. “We clearly identified some of the strengths of our players and some of the strengths of our team and so making sure that our play design on both sides of the ball accentuates the strength of our team.

“Obviously that’s Luther Burden, that’s Brady Cook running, that’s Nate Noel, that’s Theo Wease. So making sure the plays that we have are designed specifically to take advantage of those guys’ talents. Same thing on the defensive side of the ball. Our defensive tackle room’s really played at an elite level, so making sure we’re keeping those guys on the field to have as much success as possible.”