Jennifer Lopez made two comments during last night’s American Idol broadcast that are just begging to be addressed. The first comment came after Scotty McCreery’s performance: “Everybody wants us to be tough with you guys. But the truth is, you all are so damn good.”

I have been absolutely brutal with my assessment of the American Idol judges the last couple of weeks on the Idol Radio Show. I’m sick of all the “fall over each other while rushing to give the contestants the biggest gushing compliment ever” mentality that seems to have taken over Randy, Jennifer, and Steven since the Top 13. And I’ve made calls for them to actually GIVE the contestants some criticism when it’s warranted. And I’m not alone in my opinion, based on the other blogs I’ve read and the comments that have been made on the radio show.

But Jennifer has it wrong. We’re not asking her or the other judges to be tough, at least not in a Simon Cowell sort of way. Instead, we’re asking the judges to be constructive. When a performance is great, then by all means gush all over it. But most of the contestants are nowhere near that level right now. Several contestants are singing notes that are off-key, have voices that don’t match the songs they have picked, and are not making any emotional connection to the songs or audience. The judges have to call the contestants on these flaws now. Otherwise, this tremendous opportunity the contestants have to learn will be lost forever.

Jennifer’s second comment came after James Durbin’s performance: “I don’t know what these performances sounded like at home, but here they are killing it dead.” I would say I agree with that comment, but me thinks Jennifer and I are using two different meanings of the phrase “killing it dead.”

And this is a problem I think we’ve experienced since the beginning of the live audience performances. Nigel tweeted about the sound problem following one of the taped shows, saying that what was coming through the TV wasn’t the same as what was being heard in the arena. And even though the shows are live now, I can’t help but wonder if the same problem is still occurring. Is it possible that what is coming through our TVs and computers is somehow different from what is being heard by the live audience?

That said, I’m not giving a pass to those who made my Worst Performances of the Night list for last night, or those who made my Best Performances of the Night list for that matter. At least neither list was hard to compile this week.

The third Worst Performance of the Night belongs to Haley Reinhart and her rendition of Blondie’s “Call Me.” Frankly, it was enough to make me want to disconnect my phone line. Like many contestants this season, Haley’s first note was about three notes off-key. And for the first two-thirds of the song, she undersang the song while strutting around like she was some kind of sex kitten on the prowl. It wasn’t until the last section chorus when her voice finally began to break through, but by then I didn’t care. I don’t think Haley will end up in the Bottom 3, however, but her performance was almost enough to make me wish that America would make it six girls sent home in a row this week.

The second Worst Performance of the Night belongs to Casey Abrams. His performance has to be a case of sounding better in the arena than at home, because what I heard was not worthy of a standing ovation. Casey missed several notes through the song and had no connection to it or the audience. In addition, I thought it was very appropriate that Elvira was in the American Idol audience last night since Casey’s faces would be more at home in one of her “Movie Macabre” episodes. With Pia Toscano’s surprising elimination last week, Casey will likely feel the impact as those who were giving him their pity votes will go back to voting only for their favorites. So he should be in the Bottom 3.

The absolute Worst Performance of the Night belongs to Paul McDonald, hands down. I do feel sort of bad putting Paul in this spot after reading a news report last week that says he has had nodules on his vocal chords since February. If true, those nodules would explain the roughness and weakness I keep hearing in Paul’s voice. And it sounded especially bad last night. He just can’t handle these songs right now, and it doesn’t seem like medication is helping. Paul is my pick to go home this week.

Last week, I couldn’t even bring myself to write-up a Worst and Best of the Night list because I felt the whole night was simply too bad to figure out who was the worst, and no one fell into the best category. While it was easy this week to name the three best, it was still another week of the Best of the Night not living up to that title.

The third Best Performance of the Night belongs to James Durbin. However, this is really by default since his bad performance tonight was still heads and shoulders better than the rest of the pack. When he announced he was singing Sammy Hagar’s “Heavy Metal,” I expected him to deliver his best performance to date. Instead, we got one of his worst performances to date. He missed several notes during the song. But more than that, he somehow managed to sound very one-note during the song. It was too bland, and that was even with Zakk Wylde rocking it out on stage with him. It just didn’t work on so many levels.

The second Best Performance of the Night belongs to Scotty McCreery. Outside of Clint Black and Garth Brooks songs, I think Scotty’s voice is an excellent match for George Strait. And Scotty proved that last night. His rendition of “I Cross My Heart” was tender, he did a great job with his upper register, and he displayed an excellent connection both to the song and the audience. He did struggle in a few places, though, as his voice was overpowered for about a third of the song by the back-up singers and the music. But overall, it was a good, solid performance. (See, judges, that is how you give constructive criticism.)

The absolute Best Performance of the Night belongs, hands down, to Jacob Lusk. Last night I heard what sounded like a slight rasp to his voice that I haven’t heard before, but I didn’t hear it when I listened back this morning. Either way, Jacob delivered a powerful, stirring rendition of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (you were right, Jimmy Iovine… that song was made for Jacob). And Jacob had a terrific connection to the song, which shined through in his performance. I’m not convinced that Jacob fully understands how America took his comment last week, and a comment after his performance this week about needing America to cover him may not help his case. Hopefully he won’t be in the Bottom 3, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he is.

So those are my thoughts about last night’s American Idol performances. I’m not happy with the direction the performances have been going the past three weeks. Hopefully things will start improving soon.

What did you think about the performances last night? Do you agree with my picks, or do you think someone else belonged on one of those lists?

Don’t forget to Like/Share this post on your Facebook page. And join Sir Darryl and me tonight at 11 PM ET on the Idol Radio Show.