NFL Analyst Todd McShay Believes Steve Sarkisian Made Right Choice With Quinn Ewers

Many have questioned Steve Sarkisian's decision to bench Quinn Ewers in the second quarter vs. the Georgia Bulldogs. But NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay is not one of them.

Oct 19, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers (3) throws the ball in the fourth quarter against the Georgia Bulldogs at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Patzke-Imagn Images / Brett Patzke-Imagn Images

The Texas Longhorns loss to the Georgia Bulldogs last weekend was filled with crazy storylines.

But perhaps the most talked about event throughout the week has been Steve Sarkisian's choice to bench Quinn Ewers in the second quarter in favor of Arch Manning.

Some believed it to be a monumental mistake, while others understood Sarkisian's reasoning behind the decision after the game.

In a recent podcast with Ryen Russillo, NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay made it clear that he believes Sarkisian made the right choice with Ewers.

"(Ewers) just ran into a freaking buzz saw," McShay said. "You could see like, he was feeling it. Ghosts in the pocket, he wasn't getting settled, and so I could understand. Sark didn't bench him to bench him for the rest of the game. It was very clear that Sark just wanted to calm him down."

"Ewers was in control, he was doing all of the right things for two, or three series. But then, in the series before, he got benched you could tell the pressure was affecting him. Now he's making bad decisions. Now he's getting the ball out before he needs to. You could see it was Sark saying 'Hey come over here take a deep breath. Let's watch things for a minute from the sidelines.'"

Fortunately for the Horns, Sarkisian's decision actually did pay off in the second half. Obviously he wasn't perfect, but Ewers was much more effective and confident in the offense, and led the Longhorns to outscore the Bulldogs 15-7 for the remainder of the game.

In fact, after starting the game and completing just 6 of 12 passes for 17 yards in the first half, Ewers was able to complete 18 of his next 31 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns.

"You could see when he came back in the second half, he was settled down," McShay said. '"And the offense had settled down, and they started to move. The second half was more representative of what Sark expected and what we kind of all expected."

So can Ewers bounce back?

Based on his previous history as the Longhorns starter, the answer is likely a yes. In the last four losses Texas has suffered with Ewers under center, he has led Texas to a win in his next outing.

In 2022, he blew out Oklahoma 49-0 after a 20-19 loss to Alabama. Later that season, he also led the Horns to a road win over Kansas State after the worst performance of his career in a loss vs. Oklahoma State and helped Texas blow out Kansas after a frustrating loss to TCU.

In 2023, he rebounded from the Oklahoma loss to win vs. Houston the following week.

Of course, this Vanderbilt team is not going to make it easy on Ewers or Texas either.

But if history is any indicator, we could see the best version of the Longhorns star quarterback in Nashville.

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