USC QB Spencer Rattler takes a beating again. But sacks aren’t just O-line’s fault
Spencer Rattler must feel like he has to be Superman.
Imagine you’re South Carolina’s redshirt senior quarterback. Your team is losing. Your offensive line — a hodgepodge of bodies after a million injuries — is struggling. Your top receiver — Antwane “Juice” Wells hasn’t played in a month. And your second-best receiver, Xavier Legette, is on the sideline and out for the game.
Oh, and the defense on the sideline has already let Missouri dance into the end zone at will.
There was no playing it safe for Rattler. He had to press. Had to be immaculate.
What was not surprising about the postgame scene in (the other) Columbia was the scoreboard: South Carolina 12, Missouri 34. The remarkable moment was when Rattler emerged from the midfield scrum. He was alive! And, somehow, still upright, jogging to the southeast side of the stadium to sing the alma mater.
Sitting in his press conference, Rattler was in good spirits, discounting any ideas that the hits have taken a toll.
“I’m fine, honestly,” Rattler said. “Like my job is easy, body-wise, compared to what (the offensive linemen) have to do, the running backs have to do, defense has to do. I’m all right. I’ll keep playing as hard as I can. And I’ll protect myself.”
On Saturday, the 6-foot-1, 217-pound gunslinger was taking more of a beating than your cell phone a day before the upgrade. All caution was thrown to the wind.
“The kid gets the living crap beat out of him out there today,” USC coach Shane Beamer. “And just keeps coming back. I’m proud as heck of him and proud of all of our guys as well. But Spencer, Spencer’s tough.”
Rattler, to his credit, took the pounding.
And Rattler, to his detriment, took the pounding.
Think about this: In seven games this season, South Carolina quarterbacks have been sacked 31 times. They were sacked 31 times all of last season.
On Saturday, that total increased by a half-dozen. That’s not even the worst of it. Four of those sacks occurred on third down — and Rattler was brought down an additional two more times on third down, but flags gave the Gamecocks a first down.
Coming into Saturday, only five teams in America had allowed more sacks than South Carolina. And that was before Missouri sent blitzes and tried to turn Rattler into pulp.
“He’s a warrior and I applaud him,” linebacker Debo Williams said of Rattler. “We have to keep coming along — whether it’s the offensive line or a running back or a wide receiver or someone blocking. We have to get that corrected because he shouldn’t be getting hit that much.”
It is easy to blame the offensive line. The group has been thrown together with Band-Aids and asked to hold up like Super Glue.
Jaylen Nichols, last year’s starting left tackle, suffered what was likely a season-ending injury in the spring game. Right tackle Cason Henry hasn’t played since getting banged up in the season opener. Starting right tackle Vershon Lee was out against Missouri. Starting left tackle Tree Babalade left the game on Saturday. And that doesn’t even include another six offensive linemen — who could have at least been helpful — who are also injured.
The group is patchwork, at best. No wonder fans wince so often watching the Gamecocks offense.
“We’ve got to do a better job of protecting,” Beamer said. “We tried. We were chipping. We were max-protecting. We were moving the pocket. We were trying to get the ball out of his hands quickly. So we knew it was gonna be a challenge to block these guys and didn’t do a good enough job of that.”
But this is far from all being on the offensive line.
Leading up to some — definitely not all — of Rattler’s sacks, he does have time. Not an hour, but three-ish seconds. Problem is: When he does have time, his receivers aren’t open. Or when the pressure comes, sometimes he holds the ball too long rather than chucking it into the stands.
“I don’t want the narrative, ‘Oh, O-line this. O-line that,’ ” Rattler said. “Some of those sacks are my fault. Some of those sacks are our receivers’ fault with not getting open. It’s a team thing. Truly. We do not point fingers.”
That’s the exact sentiment you want to hear from your quarterback. Let’s just hope Rattler can point his fingers in two months.
This story was originally published October 21, 2023 at 9:58 PM.
