LaTunaNostra
He Made the Difference
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and by extension, the oline and coaching.
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From his Scientific Football, pages 444-445.
Patrick Ramsey
..this offense had to be the most vertically bereft offense in football. Ramsey ranked 30th in deep attempts and 27th in deep percentage of total passes. He also ranked tied for 30th in medium passes, though his percentage was higher at that depth. Ramsey also had the highest percentage of his yards coming from short passes.
It wasn't that Ramsey threw vertically so infrequently; he was truly awful at it when he did. He ranked 31st in deep completion percentage, deep yard per attempt, and in deep tight/good coverage percentage. He wasn't much better on medium passes, ranking 27th in completion percentage and 26th in yards per attempt at that level.
His penchant for completing short passes led to his ranking 13th in completion percentage, but his vertical performance and the Commanders habit of throwing very short passes (a lot of quick hitches and WR screens) led to his ranking 29th in yards per attempt.
It wasn't just his inaccuracy on the vertical passes that haunted Ramsey. He was also extremely jittery when faced with a pass rush, and this forced him into frequent bad decisions. Ramsey ranked 30th in bad decision percentage and 31st in weighted bad decision percentage, but he was even worse on deep passes, ranking 32nd in both bad decsion categories at that depth. His decision making under pressure was simply unacceptable.
Mark Brunell (non-qualifier)
He didn't have enough attempts to qualify, so I don't have the figures on him, but I wanted to share my game note findings about him. Brunell had frequent instances of happy feet, tapped the ball often, threw the ball away quickly, and threw many passes off his back foot. He had what Phil Simms in his recent book called "cabin fever" for QBs.
One sure sign that Brunell was feeling the rush was how often he took a 9-step drop. This probably isn't well known, but one of the things a QB is supposed to do on his drop is quickly get back to the assigned drop depth, especially when facing a zone defense. The reason a QB is supposed to do this is that he wants to be back at his depth before the LBs can get to their zone drop depth. If the QB wins that race, he'll be able to throw the ball a step before the LBs can get to where they are supposed to be in the zone.
There are 3 depths of drops. There is a 3-step drop for very quick passes, a 5-step drop for quick deep passes or some medium passes, and a 7-step drop for long developing medium or deep passes. There isn't a 9-step drop; it doesn't exist. Brunell didn't trust his pocket and would go two yards back of where he was supposed to be because he didn't expect the blockers to block for him. This not only shows fear on his part; it would also ruin the pass blocking lanes. The offensive linemen were expecting Brunell to be at a certain point in the backfield, and when he ran past that point, it killed their blocking angles.
Brunell also mentioned to some of the broadcasters that the coaches encouraged him to throw the ball away as opposed to forcing it into coverage. He seemed to take this as carte blanche to throw the ball away, as he did it quite often.
Ramsey looked just as bad as Brunell., so it's hard to say either of them have the edge at this point. If the Skins can't fix their pass blocking issues, I'd just as soon have an unproven player in there who won't feel the pass rush. You cannot win games in the NFL when your QB feels the rush; it's that simple.
____________________________
From his Scientific Football, pages 444-445.
Patrick Ramsey
..this offense had to be the most vertically bereft offense in football. Ramsey ranked 30th in deep attempts and 27th in deep percentage of total passes. He also ranked tied for 30th in medium passes, though his percentage was higher at that depth. Ramsey also had the highest percentage of his yards coming from short passes.
It wasn't that Ramsey threw vertically so infrequently; he was truly awful at it when he did. He ranked 31st in deep completion percentage, deep yard per attempt, and in deep tight/good coverage percentage. He wasn't much better on medium passes, ranking 27th in completion percentage and 26th in yards per attempt at that level.
His penchant for completing short passes led to his ranking 13th in completion percentage, but his vertical performance and the Commanders habit of throwing very short passes (a lot of quick hitches and WR screens) led to his ranking 29th in yards per attempt.
It wasn't just his inaccuracy on the vertical passes that haunted Ramsey. He was also extremely jittery when faced with a pass rush, and this forced him into frequent bad decisions. Ramsey ranked 30th in bad decision percentage and 31st in weighted bad decision percentage, but he was even worse on deep passes, ranking 32nd in both bad decsion categories at that depth. His decision making under pressure was simply unacceptable.
Mark Brunell (non-qualifier)
He didn't have enough attempts to qualify, so I don't have the figures on him, but I wanted to share my game note findings about him. Brunell had frequent instances of happy feet, tapped the ball often, threw the ball away quickly, and threw many passes off his back foot. He had what Phil Simms in his recent book called "cabin fever" for QBs.
One sure sign that Brunell was feeling the rush was how often he took a 9-step drop. This probably isn't well known, but one of the things a QB is supposed to do on his drop is quickly get back to the assigned drop depth, especially when facing a zone defense. The reason a QB is supposed to do this is that he wants to be back at his depth before the LBs can get to their zone drop depth. If the QB wins that race, he'll be able to throw the ball a step before the LBs can get to where they are supposed to be in the zone.
There are 3 depths of drops. There is a 3-step drop for very quick passes, a 5-step drop for quick deep passes or some medium passes, and a 7-step drop for long developing medium or deep passes. There isn't a 9-step drop; it doesn't exist. Brunell didn't trust his pocket and would go two yards back of where he was supposed to be because he didn't expect the blockers to block for him. This not only shows fear on his part; it would also ruin the pass blocking lanes. The offensive linemen were expecting Brunell to be at a certain point in the backfield, and when he ran past that point, it killed their blocking angles.
Brunell also mentioned to some of the broadcasters that the coaches encouraged him to throw the ball away as opposed to forcing it into coverage. He seemed to take this as carte blanche to throw the ball away, as he did it quite often.
Ramsey looked just as bad as Brunell., so it's hard to say either of them have the edge at this point. If the Skins can't fix their pass blocking issues, I'd just as soon have an unproven player in there who won't feel the pass rush. You cannot win games in the NFL when your QB feels the rush; it's that simple.