How a QB Evolution Sparked a Coaching Revolution (SI article, Josh Allen related)

[Logic]

I thought this article from Sports Illustrated was really interesting, and I wanted to share it with fellow football junkies. It talks about the "Aaron Rodgers foot pop", a sort of hop step that many quarterbacks -- including Josh Allen -- have begun to use, and to great effect. I find these sorts of mechanical nuances fascinating.

First, here's Josh talking about it:

https://www.syracuse.com/buffalo-bills/2020/12/bills-josh-allen-details-why-he-took-something-from-aaron-rodgers-throwing-mechanics.html

“If you’ve seen my throwing motion, I’ve kind of incorporated a little foot hop on the left side. It’s something that Aaron does,” Allen said. “I don’t know what it is about it, but it allows me to just rotate with my hips more and be more of a rotational thrower as opposed to more of a vertical axis thrower. And that’s what caused the ball to sail and dive down (in the past), and it really shouldn’t have.”

Next, the actual article:

https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/11/16/cover-story-how-the-qb-evolution-sparked-a-coaching-revolution

 

"There, quarterback junkies search for an edge in video clips, scanning the slow-motion drop-backs, releases and follow-throughs of the best players in the world, trying to identify the mechanical quirks that lead to the most staggeringly beautiful—and stunningly improbable—throws we see every Sunday.

So it was that the Aaron Rodgers Foot Pop came to be known. Some warm-up footage showed the Packers’ quarterback shooting his lead (left) foot in the air for a split second, then touching it quietly back to Earth just after releasing the ball. At full speed it looks like a bit of an Irish step dance; well-timed photographs of Rodgers in action make it seem as if he is levitating as he passes.

But the Foot Pop is actually a biomechanical adaptation by Rodgers to, as one quarterbacking expert says, generate a “buildup of rotational force let out in a quicker timeline for explosive power.” If that’s too much to digest, then simply know this: It was something the likes of which we had never seen, and it unlocked Rodgers’s arm talent in ways no one could conceive.

....................

Those who believe that the recent retirements of Peyton and Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and Drew Brees, plus the imminent departures of Ben Roethlisberger and (maybe, someday) Tom Brady, signal the end of a golden age are missing the almost numbing regularity with which we are seeing better—and far more mind-blowing—throws on NFL Sundays (not to mention college Saturdays and high school Fridays). With the interception rate plummeting, the chance of a turnover on a pass is about the same as a fumble on a run play.

The average leaguewide passer rating is about 20% higher than it was in the early 2000s. And the Foot Pop, along with other idiosyncrasies, has gained acceptance. There are now rigorous rehearsals (and a better understanding) of off-platform throws, when a quarterback must move away from the designed launch point of a given play. Those kinds of unstructured moments were once stamped out of a passer by his position coach; now, they could be saving the quarterback species one lifted toe and sidearm sling at a time."

 

Edited November 18, 2021 by Logic

[Mr. WEO]

This author is certainly having a moment here--he's quite heated.  lol

 

"almost mind numbing regularity"  of "mind numbing throws" which are "staggeringly beautiful--and stunningly improbable". 

 

Nah.  Yes, guys like Mahomes and Murray and Rodgers and JA make some creative throws (which others without their arm strength  can't).  

 

But, far from being "extinct", pocket passers still dominate in passing yards leaders.  Rodgers, for all his "toe popping" isn't in the top 10 in yards per game and has under 2200 after 9 games.  No one is making their salary with a few trick throws here and there. But he's always been excellent at throwing on the run, because he leaves the pocket so often (and takes a ton of sacks), knows where everyone is and has a cannon for an arm.  His telling us that he invented the toe pop while watching The Office reruns is another way he likes to mess with the fawning media, I think.

 

Maybe this guy never saw Mahomes, Murray and Jackson play in college?  This was their game before they got to the NFL--and still is.  I don't see a coaching revolution that will attempt to get a Mac Jones to play more like Murray, etc.  

 

Also, Flutie invented the Jump Pass...