‘Rush' is a loaded word. I think Haskins may well know and understand the offense better than is being reflected. What I saw in the 2 instances he was thrust into action was that he looked very uncomfortable. I suspect that his internal stress level is through the roof.
I don't know if you all have heard the term ‘rat brain' or experienced it, but it a physiological brain response to intense stress. When folks go into ‘rat brain' it literally limits your ability to accurately assess your surroundings, react, and make good decisions. While a little Adrenalin/stress response can actually help performance, a hyped up response to perceived stress isn't helpful. I would compare it to performance anxiety where you may be the greatest actor, musician, or public speaker ever, but under that stress you become completely unable to perform.
I really think that's what's going on with him.
The way you address that is not to remove him from that environment - it's to immerse him in it and let him gain experience so he can become accustomed to being in there and begin to relax and carry out the job. People talk about ‘the game slowing down' for young QBs but really I think sometimes it's more about getting a handle on that internal anxiety level.
One of the reasons (beyond how chaotic he has looked playing) that I think this is what's going on is his demeanor in the post-game presser. He looked depressed and angry. He's in fact embarrassed and upset with himself because he knows he is much better than he's showing, but he can't really describe to media types what's going on. When a reporter asked him about the INT, Haskins almost shouted ‘it happened so fast!'. He also says frequently ‘I want to be great', which to me signals he may have a fear of failing and that is also a source of big time stress. He's setting the bar far too high for himself as a rookie QB. Someone on that team needs to help him recalibrate his expectations which will also help calm him down some.
Having been in combat and also in my current field, you see ‘rat brain' a lot. It doesn't make him weak, or mean he's not ‘poised' or doesn't have they temperament'. He just has to get used to the environment and pressure and learn to calm himself so his natural instincts take over and his brain can start processing and making good decisions.
The best way to help him is get him in there and keep him in there. Holding him out or putting him in intermittently is the worst thing they can do.
Some of you may think this is psycho-babble but ones mentality and internal voice plays a huge role in performance. Stress is the enemy of high performance. I actually have a lot of personal experience with this concept.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk