Much better pieces around the QB is debatable, I might prefer Gronk, Hernandez,and Lloyd to Moss, Gaffney, and Watson. But regardless, I would consider this year to be quite the disappointment if this year's defense is as bad as 2008. That defense was terrible, it relied on aging and severely slowed players like Harrison, Bruschi, and Vrabel. Ellis Hobbs was the best corner on the team! That's almost as bad as starting Wayne Hunter
Re-read the article and tell me exactly which points Cosell made about Fitzpatrick that you disagree with. In what way was he unfair or incorrect in his assessment? Feel free to do the same with Sanchez.
Either he decided to throw the ball to the other team more than any QB in the nfl or he fucking sucks. Clearly the first part Schotty did NOT structure his offense to Sanchezs strengths last year. Sparano will improving his play. Yet even with Sanchez not having that advantage nor OL his #s were better than Fitzy. I also disagree with him having a weak arm. Ill also mention the most significant thing, he never says Fitz is a better quarterback. To me it sounds like he thinks Fitz "could" have the better season in 2012, but clearly doesnt want to stick his neck out enuf to just say it
Or, as he explains in the article, sometimes his mechanics breakdown and that leads to poor throws. I don't know what to tell you man, limited arm strength is a pretty indisputable thing. The only consolation I can give you is that some QBs (Brady and Brees for example) got stronger arms as their careers progressed. Although, obviously neither of them is in the class of guys like Stafford or Cutler. The first part of this is 100% accurate. At no point does he rank one QB over the other, he just talks about what he sees from them on the film. Here is a pretty good quote on what he thinks of rankings and lists But I don't get why you think he wasn't willing to "stick his neck out" What more do you want from him?
And going a step further....Simms who actually knows what he talks about says Sanchez has a cannon. So who is right...Cosell...or Simms? The film says Simms.
Regardless of what anyone thinks about Cosell and his thoughts on Sanchez (and Cosell isn't wrong re: Sanchez and throwing outside the numbers -- Mark is similar to Matt Ryan in that regard), Simms is fucking awful. He can't even recognize a zone blitz half the time during games. I've seen people refer to him as the Tim McCarver of the NFL and that's an apt comp.
Yeah, he's the one with an agenda, not you. I'd like to see some evidence that the only difference in the running game was the wildcat and trick plays. What was their YPC in 2010 when running just conventional plays? What was it in 2011? Do you know, or are you just pulling it out of your ass? It's pathetic watching you try to discredit the author. He didn't watch film? Actually, that's his job, it's pretty much the only thing he does. He doesn't know what he's watching? Well he's been doing it for over 20 years and has spent countless hours with coaches learning this stuff, so he seems fairly qualified to me. Meanwhile, you feel completely confident in your assessments, despite the fact all you've ever seen is TV tape. Some people know more than you, if you can put your ego to the side and accept that, you might actually learn something.
Some do know more but put your bias aside and actually read what he wrote. he's 100% wrong, I don't have the exact #s but I have the #s of the top 2 Rbs who were our primary conventional run game and the #s were similar in both years. The biggest difference btw '10 & '11's rushing #s was Brad Smith and his 7.9 YPC and 300 yds. Let's add Brad's #s to 2011's top 2 rushers: 2011 LT/Brad('10)/Greene: 366-1633 yds, 4.5 YPC Looks much better, right? Clearly this guy didn't research as much as he claims to have done. To use Brad's WC and trick plays as evidence to help mark's play action game is wrong and you know it so stip hurling childish insults and actually absorb the info.
1) If you take away Smith's production from the Jets' 2010 rushing numbers they still ran for 4.2 YPC. That's much better than the 3.8 they posted last year 2) What exactly is he "100% wrong" about in regards to Sanchez? What part of that do you disagree with?
The '10 #s also included a "great" weekl 17 performance by McKnight. Again, evaluate the top 2 RBs- the 2 primarily responsible for our ground game and you will see similar #s. he's 100% wrong discusing the ground game in 2010, the #s LOOK good but you have to dig deeper than just the raw #s. Again, our top 2 RBs put up similar #s, after LTs great start in '10 our run game was not very good and our pass game won a lot of games w/o play action. he doesn't have limited arm strength decision making is suspect but w/ a poor Ol and poor jobs by the receivers it does make a job more difficutl for a QB, right? keep in mind that 3 of his top weapons going into '11 are out of football- 2 old and retired(LT & Mason) and 1 can't find work even though he is begging(Plax). He didn't have a great run game, play action wasn't great yet in 2010 he had his best year.
The Mangold injury was HUGE because the OL sucked without him and Sanchez played like he was shell-shocked. Sadly, Sanchez continued to play like that (at times) even after Mangold returned. I don't think you can say Sanchez was injured for most of the year, he certainly finished the season dinged up, but he wasn't playing through injuries for more than 8 games. A rookie slot WR missing time and your starting LG playing injured aren't huge issues to overcome. Buffalo did have more injuries, but that isn't an excuse for their offensive ineptitude. Fitz does NOT have good mechanics and if he can't fix those the Bills will never be anything more than a 500 team. I agree with the article in that Sanchez has the mechanics of the position down while Fitz is up and down. I do think Fitz makes better reads (though he probably should considering he has more seasons under his belt) but there's no reason Sanchez can't get better in that area of his game. I think ultimately Fitz is going to have higher highs and lower lows this year simply because the Bills like to go to the spread a lot. I don't see Sanchez being asked to throw it as much as Fitz if Sparano has his way. Fitz will make some great plays and move the ball down the field well but, due to his poor mechanics, he'll also make quite a few mistakes. Sanchez is probably going to see his completion percentage rise and his turnovers decrease while also seeing his TD numbers decline. I also think his yardage may dip. The teams run too very different offenses, but I think Sanchez is the better QB right now. If Fitz can show some consistency in his throwing mechanics, I'll rescind that statement.
The Giants' DL is great as a unit. Don't discount the interior talent; Chris Canty clogs throwing lanes with his long arms and height while also collapsing the pocket. Linval Joseph handles double teams VERY well and is continuing to develop (if I recall correctly, Cato the Elder really wanted the Jets to draft him). What makes the Giants' DL great is the rotation and versatility they have. Tuck & JPP can both line up inside and still generate pressure. Kiwi & Osi can both line up at LB. ALL of these guys can play the left or right side. They also can play run well (I know Osi gets criticized for this, but his only bad year against the run was 2009 when he was coming off knee surgery). This all amounts to the Giants have a great amount of talent that can be deployed in a number of ways while rotating constantly to keep guys fresh & give opposing OL more to think about. It also doesn't hurt that any of those four DEs on their own could win match ups and get pressure/sacks.
Fitz lack of mechanics is a serious issue and if he reverts to that while pressured I think the book is closed on him being anything more than mediocre. Having said that, he's never been an undisputed starter before and he may improve with the increased attention and coaching he's receiving. I know you're going to disagree, but Sanchez does not have an especially strong arm. It's strong enough to play the position, but is hardly something I would list as a strength of his game. I think Schotty tried to work the intermediate level of the field to make up for this. That was foolish of him because Sanchez possesses great deep ball accuracy and anticipation; these things are more important to completing deep passes than simply being able to throw the ball 80 yards. This will be an interesting year; Sanchez has a better OC and Fitz is getting more coaching than ever before. I don't think there will be excuses for either one of these guys should they struggle this year.
1. Not making correct reads once too often can go to the QB. Maybe he is making stupid calls. (Pennington would make this mistake every once in a while, mind you.) If the QB consistently misreads the coverage, then the OC is doing piss-poor job with the protection scheme and play design. (Wrong read usually comes from identifying Mike wrong, then the secondary assignment wrong, as that results in reading the entire defense wrong. Sure, if the QB is savvy enough, he will realize what the defense is up to, but that's not something a 3rd-year QB can readily recognize; and bear in mind, Sanchez played but 1 year of college bowl. Thus, in terms of the experience and number of snaps he took, Sanchez is not much better off than most rookies THIS year.) But Schottenheimer is not to blame for this colossal fuck-up. (Right, junc?) We will have to see how Sparano - and Sanchez, for that matter - matches up against the incoming defensive schemes. If anything, however, I am inclined to think that, Sparano will do a better job as a play caller and OC designing protection schemes and plays. (He did have success calling plays in Dallas, if anything.) 2. That Fitz is making better read means: he understands Gailey's system well enough to execute. He knows who will be protecting where, and where to look when shit hits the fan. (Not always - when Rob Ryan called a few well-designed zone blitz, Fitz got mauled, oblivious to the pressure coming from his blindside; after that, he played scared all game long against Dallas, with the deer-in-headlight look.) That's all it comes down to, really - if the QB understands the schemes, and knows how to utilize the weapons at hand. Obviously, Sanchez couldn't make much out of Schottenheimer's offense, but then no QB did. Fitz will be Fitz; a backup QB playing for a starter job. He almost always suffers against elite defenses, and plays like shit even against middle-of-the-road kind of challenges every once in a while. (As he has shown last year.) His number will be much of what we have seen last year; probably 60 +-@ % completion ratio, 20 TD/20 INT and some 3500 yards through the air. If at all, I haven't seen much improvement from Fitz's mechanic - but then that's from the first preseason game so we won't know for sure as of now. As for Sanchez, I don't think your prediction holds true; Sparano believes in big plays. You cannot have 10+ play drive every time; you need chunk yardage here and there. So, if you are looking for improvement from Sanchez's game, that's where it is going to come from. Sanchez had very few 'chunk yardage' play last year, and that has to change. If Sparano has his way, then it will change. Surely the turnovers will be cut down, as Sparano is very high on limiting turnovers and mistakes. Completion ratio, I don't know much about whether there will be a visual improvement in there. (If Sanchez can break 60% barrier while holding his YPA over 7 yards, then I will be doing cartwheels, for real.) ================================================ Last, but not the least, Cosell's assessment got under my skin because it seemed to me that Cosell tried to pull the fast one on general (and not-well-educated) public with his stat number presentation. Like I said in Cosell-related thread, 1st down conversion comes primarily from 1st and 2nd downs. (up to 60%). By average, 1st down conversion from 3rd down is not really good. (about 30-35%). The rest is 4th down attempts and turnovers. So why am I picking on Cosell? Because 3rd down situation includes every situation, from 3rd and inches to 3rd and a mile, and if you add them all up, you get some 35%. That means, that 35% includes running up the middle for a yard or two, to completing that 20 yard bomb on 3rd and 18; which means, if you take out the obvious and easy choices (running on 3rd and short) conversion through the air is obviously lower than 35%. Now, Cosell presents Sanchez's number (which is about 35%) as his WEAKNESS when it actually is not. That is better than the league average to say the very least. This kind of douchebaggery belongs to Dick Cimini. So, in that regard, you can say I have lost every sliver of trust I had in that old man with that joke. He was trying to convey a false image that does not exist. (Ok... where did I pull that breakdown? That's from the situational football from Bill Walsh.)
reading comprehension isn't your strong suit huh? If you actually read what he wrote, he said that WHEN SANCHEZ THREW THE BALL on 3rd down, he got a first down only 35% of the time. Now, I don't know how that stacks up against the league average, but you can put aside all that bullshit running on 3rd and short skewing the numbers. As for Junc, just a few final points, because you're obviously not gonna accept any criticisms of Sanchez. 1) Compare the run/pass ratios of the 2010 and 2011 teams. They clearly relied on the running game more in 2010. 2) saying he doesn't have limited arm strength is proof you have no idea what you're talking about and are just looking at this through green goggles. Go watch Matt Stafford or Jay Cutler play sometime, if you want to see what a QB without limited arm strength looks like. 3) If you can't make good decisions when you're being pressured, or get the ball to receivers who have made minimal separation, you're probably not gonna win a Super Bowl. But yeah, when it comes to Sanchez, the executive producer of NFL Films, who watches coaches tape for a living, doesn't know what he's talking about. It's the geniuses at TGG who really have all the answers. Honest question, if he wrote a positive article about Sanchez, would ANYONE on this board question him? Of course not, but since he was critical, he must be a blowhard, or be trying to "pull a fast one" over his readers. Lord knows there is no way an objective and qualified person could watch Sanchez and have anything bad to say about him.
I accept criticism of Sanchez, there are many things to criticize him for which is why there is no need to make stuff up regarding the run game and play action game. They relied more on the ground game in 2010 b/c they didn't fall behind early in games nearly every week like 2011. part of that was OL, part ground game, part pass game, part D. They didn't necessarily rely on the run game they didn't fall behind as much and when they did sanchez and the pass O bailed them out numerous times. B/c he doesn't have a cannon doesn't mean he has limited arm strength, he can make any throw required on the football field. We weren't winning a SB w/ the team last year, if Mark improves, the run game improves, the D improves,... then we'll have a shot. I'm not a Cosell fan but if he wrote something positive and it was wrong in parts like this one was I would mention it.
