Dr. K Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 This paragraph jumped out at me from Leo Roth's column today: "Bledsoe's 53.7 percent completion percentage (36 of 67) on throws behind the line of scrimmage was alarming. Brady and Indianapolis' Peyton Manning hit more than 76 percent of their screen tosses." Like a lot of us, I have felt that Bledsoe had no touch on short passes, but I did not realize it was this bad. Barely completing 50% of screen passes? That alone is like going swimming with rocks tied to your ankles. We'll see what the holes in Losman's game are. We know what Bledsoe's limitations are, and they won't change.
Arkady Renko Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 This paragraph jumped out at me from Leo Roth's column today: "Bledsoe's 53.7 percent completion percentage (36 of 67) on throws behind the line of scrimmage was alarming. Brady and Indianapolis' Peyton Manning hit more than 76 percent of their screen tosses." Like a lot of us, I have felt that Bledsoe had no touch on short passes, but I did not realize it was this bad. Barely completing 50% of screen passes? That alone is like going swimming with rocks tied to your ankles. We'll see what the holes in Losman's game are. We know what Bledsoe's limitations are, and they won't change. 243115[/snapback] That really was his downfall much more so than his problems in the pocket. You can be a pure pocket-passer and still succeed but you have to be able to take advantage of the blitz with screens. You know, we criticize Gilbride for his use of personnel but it seems that he had the right offense for Bledsoe, one that stretches the field and gambles.
GG Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 Like a lot of us, I have felt that Bledsoe had no touch on short passes, but I did not realize it was this bad. Barely completing 50% of screen passes? That alone is like going swimming with rocks tied to your ankles. 243115[/snapback] I dunno. I recall a beauty he threw to Deion....
VABills Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 This is a very valid point. He was horrible at the short passes. While Travis was horrible at catching them, that only goes so far. Drew was terrible as well.
eSJayDee Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 Yes, from a subjective point, I'd say he has very poor touch on short passes. However, I think those stats are somewhat misleading as I think several of those are throw aways. This is his usually (only) mode to avoid a sack. Manning is by no means highly elusive, but his moves around in the pocket better, makes quicker decisions AND probably most importantly, I doubt the Colts do max protect as much as we do so his 'dump to avoid the sack' throw needs to be downfield (or OB).
Fezmid Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 I think the stat could be misleading; when making a comparison, you shouldn't take the two best players in the league to compare to. What was the league average? What percentage did each team complete? Was he 15th out of 32 teams? Or 32 out of 32 teams? Stats in a vaccuum mean nothing. CW
SouthernMan Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 Bledsoe is missing the anticipation and timing components. His screen and short passes were consistently behind the receivers. How many times did Moulds have to reach back to snag a pass? It was on one of these passes that McGahee was injured. His long passes weren't a whole lot better, but the receiver has more time to adjust to a vertical pass. It wasn't unusual t osee Evans or Moulds have to come back for the ball. Fortunately, the rules favor the offensive players so they had a better chance than the defenders. Out patterns, which depend on timing as much as screen passes, were not used effectively. Bledsoe has the same mental timing flaw in his game that Rob Johnson could not overcome. I have a feeling that Moulds had something to do with Bledsoe's ultimate fate. I wouldn't doubt that he was consulted on this matter.
obie_wan Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 I think the stat could be misleading; when making a comparison, you shouldn't take the two best players in the league to compare to. What was the league average? What percentage did each team complete? Was he 15th out of 32 teams? Or 32 out of 32 teams? Stats in a vaccuum mean nothing. CW 243352[/snapback] watch the games. Drew didn't execute more than a handful of successful screen passes last year. His mechanics are horrible because he never takes the time away from Oregon/ Montana to improve on his deficiencies.
Fake-Fat Sunny Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 This is interesting as I think the "way" in the NFL is to train the QB to throw it the same way every time with almost total disregard for applying touch. Obviously a QB is expected not to throw it 50 yards when the target is five yards away. However, the method seems to be to train the QB and the receivers to expect the 50 yard throw to come to him hard and fast and where only hecan catch it and to also expect the 5 yard throw to come in hard and fast and where only the reciever can catch it as well. Bledsoe seemed to have the failing in his game he lacked "touch" on short passes because in addition to coming in hard and fast (the expectation) they sometimes seemed to come into the WR as though he was twice the distance away that he was. NFL receivers are expected to catch hard and fast catches all the time and this is reasonable, but still there is some level of touch on these hard fast passes which Bledsoe often did not show. I'm not sure what name you give to the third variable which gives a hard/fast pass touch or not, but Bledsoe lacked that and QBs like Brady have that and it makes a difference in their accuracy results.
26CornerBlitz Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 I dunno. I recall a beauty he threw to Deion.... 243241[/snapback] I was at that game and he had no business throwing that pass. The Ravens were all over it.
MadBuffaloDisease Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 Was that the pass that went off/through Willis' hands?
26CornerBlitz Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 Was that the pass that went off/through Willis' hands? 243405[/snapback] It never got to Willis...a Ravens Lineman tipped it and Deion picked it. They had the screen covered and Bledsoe should have gotten outside the pocket and thrown it away. Another dumb decision by #11...what a surprise!
Fezmid Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 watch the games. Drew didn't execute more than a handful of successful screen passes last year. His mechanics are horrible because he never takes the time away from Oregon/ Montana to improve on his deficiencies. 243360[/snapback] I have to watch every NFL game now? And he completed 53% of the passes; that's hardly a "handful." I simply wanted a reference to what OTHER quarterbacks generally complete, percentage-wise. Showing me the stats of two of the best QBs in the league doesn't let me compare how DB did in general. And to the "don't bash JP" crowd -- again, havn't seen any bashing but comments like, "he never takes the time away from Oregon/ Montana to improve on his deficiencies" are definately bashing. CW
Fezmid Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 This is the one thing that we KNOW JP can execute better then Bledsoe in. 243486[/snapback] How do you know that? I can't recall seeing JPL throwing ANY screen passes ni preseason/regular season.... CW
Rubes Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 Bledsoe absolutely had no touch on the short passes, I've always felt that way. But those stats are, as pointed out, fairly meaningless. Our failure to execute a real screen pass stemmed from two things: Bledsoe's inability to throw the short touch pass, and the entire offense's inability to set one up. I'm not sure where the breakdown always was, but it sure seemed like every time we tried to execute a screen pass, the defense was all over it. The debacle in Baltimore is a good example. Bledsoe's throw sucked, but it was compounded by the fact that the entire Baltimore defense knew it was coming and was in position to make that play.
YOOOOOO Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 It never got to Willis...a Ravens Lineman tipped it and Deion picked it. They had the screen covered and Bledsoe should have gotten outside the pocket and thrown it away. Another dumb decision by #11...what a surprise! 243424[/snapback] It was a poorly executed screen..... Bledsoe threw the ball high, Mcgahee tipped it up.....both Jennings and Reed missed blocks.....Dieon picked and went for 6.... To just blame Drew is a joke...That was total offensive meltdown from the snap...
VABills Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 How do you know that? I can't recall seeing JPL throwing ANY screen passes ni preseason/regular season.... CW 243501[/snapback] He threw a perfect one in the NE game to Banta.
Risin Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 He threw a perfect one in the NE game to Banta. 243535[/snapback] wow, what a bust.
scribo Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 It was a poorly executed screen..... Bledsoe threw the ball high, Mcgahee tipped it up.....both Jennings and Reed missed blocks.....Dieon picked and went for 6.... To just blame Drew is a joke...That was total offensive meltdown from the snap... 243533[/snapback] I knid of agreed with Drew regarding this play. He said he threw it because he was sure it would draw a pass interference penalty. It was pass interference, but no one should ever depend on the refs to make a call. You'd think a 12-year vet would know that.
Rubes Posted February 17, 2005 Posted February 17, 2005 I knid of agreed with Drew regarding this play. He said he threw it because he was sure it would draw a pass interference penalty. It was pass interference, but no one should ever depend on the refs to make a call. You'd think a 12-year vet would know that. 243541[/snapback] You're referring to a different play. The one where he tried to throw to Reed in the end zone, thinking he would draw a PI call. It was a terrible play in all aspects, not the least of which was his desire to draw a penalty.
Recommended Posts