I am not sure what it takes to be "sold" on a College QB. Some people are not sold on Lawrence, on Wilson. Fields has as good a tool box, pedigree, resume, and ability as anyone coming out of NCAA since Luck, aside from TL. But we just don't know. Even former NFL QBs, highly respected, cannot make a right evaluation a lot of times, like Elway missing out on QBs in Denver. Why? They never played in NFL, and it is simply impossible to tell for sure if they succeed there or not, no matter how good you are an evaluator. What we can tell with some confidence though is when people play in NFL for 3 years and fail to the point Sam did (literally the worst rated starter in NFL), they are very unlikely to become FQBs. Sure we can wait, miss out on Fields, for that slim chance Sam will beat monumental odds, but that's just not statistically wise thing to do.
At the very least, he was incompetent and had no clue what he was doing or how to build a football team.
The whole 'wait for a QB' stuff is utter nonsense. You don't keep kicking the can down the road at that position when there's a viable option available. The Browns did that for the majority of their time from 2003-2016 as they tried out Manziel and Weeden and it was clear they weren't the answer. But they did not draft a quarterback from 2000-2011 as they 'built out their roster.' They drafted a number of solid Pro Bowl players in that time and had garbage teams.
Young coach. Questionable calls. easy FG up Kind of...but Josh Allen just went from worst completion pct last two years to 4th rank. with a true #1 WR. Don't tell me he was better than Sam his 1st two years. you can't say that with certainty. the Bills made the playoffs with Allen throwing a league low of 58% last year. think about that...
He's an anomaly when it comes to improving accuracy. The league has never seen such a wild swing in improvement in terms of accuracy/completion percentage. Accuracy is something that quarterbacks usually do not improve drastically on which is why it's such an important trait. Allen's transformation is bizarre to say the least. Sam was not better in year two. Regardless of completion percentage, Allen beats him in pretty much every statistical category and added 500+ yards on the ground and 9 touchdowns in that facet of the game. Whether people want to recognize it or not, running is now an important part of the QB game and needs to be weighed when looking at quarterback effectiveness. A QB that cannot run gets a big far zero in that column. Sam is a capable athlete though he does not add a significant yardage gaining run element to an offense.
Again, Gase was against Darnold running. He wanted him to be a pocket QB for the most part. Look how few times - especially last year (year 2) - Gase even called designed roll outs. Darnold DID run quite often and successfully in college. Not as much as Allen, but not a whole lot less..that was probably due more to Allen's poor accuracy/completion % than anything else. And again, look at who the respective HCs and OCs were, and the talent around each. I really don't know why this is so hard to understand.
He ran for 332 yards on 137 carries, good for a 2.4 yards per carry average at USC. Did you watch him play in college? He was the furthest thing from a running quarterback and the tape and production proves that. Capable but pocket presence keeps him from being as effective as he could be. It's "hard" to understand because it's a fallacy that 1) he's any sort of running quarterback and 2) Gase somehow handcuffed him in that regard. A lot of quarterbacks running is feel. And we ran tons of bootlegs that you usually refuse to acknowledge in the second half of last year. He compares pretty favorably to Rodgers in terms of athleticism in terms of running ability. He's not a statue and can certainly move when he needs to while being able to scamper for 6-7 yards here and there. Allen is 5x the runner that Darnold is and that has nothing to do with coaching. It's just the difference between the two players.
Darnold can't run the ball if the coach doesn't call designed QB run plays and rollouts. If you put Allen in the standard drop back offense he would NOT outperform Darnold. Allen is a roll out QB mostly – which is fine, but he doesn't really throw from the pocket consistently. So you're comparing apples to orange. ..and Darnold missed 4 games and literally threw one less passing TD as Allen last year. 20 TDs to 19 TDs.
My point is not even to agrue Allen over Darnold. I think Allen is a much better athlete than Darnold. But if you look exactly at Allen's situation, Bills simply put better players around him, and he flourished. and their stats are essentially the same with Darnold having slight edge as a more efficient passer. Those are the facts. So there's a very strong case to build around Darnold in our division, you can't ignore as a viable option forward.
Allen has rolled out mostly on his own throughout his career and specifically this year, if you watch him, he has an uncanny feel for the pocket while being deadly escaping to his right. Allen accounted for 29 touchdowns including his legs. It can't be discounted. And threw two interceptions over his final ten games after a shaky start in 2019. The coaching angle to defend Darnold is old. It's a factor and it's not to be completely discounted but it's also not something where coaching accounts for 75% of a quarterbacks success like a lot of people like to think.
Yeah you’re gonna throw alot of less TDs if your coach advocates to the run ball. We’ve seen this before. Newton threw deep. He ran the ball. He escaped the pocket. Eventually your body breaks down, you get slower and sluggish and younger defenders over time get faster. It won’t lass in 5 years when Aaron Donald / Quinnen speed and size becomes normalized. That’s why the well protected pocket passer have still thrived. Allen is a nice kid. but his game needs to evolve to win long term. alot of young QBs win his way early to eventually run out of steam.
If you watched Darnold play, you know It was night and day In comparison. The way they used him as a Freshman and the way they used him In his Sophomore year was completely different In these terms specifically. He was clearly being given the opportunity at USC his final year to show he was good In the pocket. They didn't execute a lot of the same schemes that highlights just how good of a runner he was In his Sophomore year. This isn't a fair assessment at all. I can't imagine you would ignore the two seasons like that If you followed his games, and, I'm sure you did. So this argument is either biased or I'm just confused otherwise? Idk.
They definitely did. Capable and decent enough but I'd hardly say dynamic in terms of his rushing ability even as the scheme changed from year one to year two at USC. Regardless, there isn't a whole lot about Darnold that screams dynamic athlete in terms of scheming up quarterback runs for him. And there aren't many NFL quarterbacks for that to be the case. They could've moved him around a bit more over the past couple years but it's not as if they strictly ran in the pocket plays. Most NFL quarterbacks (sans the lure rushers like Lamar Jackson and co.) gain their yards on the ground after dropping back in standard pass plays and breaking the pocket on their own accord because they have good pocket presence. Deshaun Watson, Josh Allen, Russell Wilson, etc. aren't guys with a ton of quarterback runs schemed up. Allen a bit more than the other two because he can take the beating but otherwise it's up to the quarterback to make plays with their feet when it's available. Even if you look at Darnold's first year at USC running the ball, he was good enough but hardly a fantastic output especially by college standards. Allen and some of the other guys (except Wilson because he has the quickest QB feet in the game) are also long striders. Darnold runs with short choppy steps that get cut down by NFL linebackers quickly.
Anyway Diggs arrival in Buffalo, allowed Allen to be who he is and take his game to next level. true #1. He wouldn’t be in MVP race otherwise. literally one elite player. get my drift.. now imagine if Lamar Jackson had a Diggs caliber receiver. I’m going to beat it into you guys heads. you need great players around you to become great. no one has done it alone. nobody.
So Allen had nothing to do with Diggs and Beasley statistically having the best season of their careers? Got it
Darnold is garbage.. If we can actually get a 2nd rounder for him we do it. Draft Fields or sign a vet like Stafford and move on
I never said he was a "running QB". I said he was capable of running and did so in college. How can you say that Gase's play calling didn't handcuff him? Gase came out and said that he didn't want Darnold calling audibles. I was wrong that he ran only slightly less than Allen - 137 carries to Allen's 237 carries, but it's not like Allen was Gale Sayers - he averaged 3.2 YPC to Sams' 2.3 YPC. While a definite difference it's not like Allen was a great runner - great for a QB, but not for a RB. But that Allen is a better runner than Sam isn't a surprise. Frankly, given how poor Allen's accuracy was coming out it was widely expected that running would need to be a major part of his game in the pros. Fortunately for him he went to a team that actually tried to work with him and improve his deficiencies and added protection and weapons for him. And that's the big difference between them: how their respective teams handled them. If we could enter another dimension and have them swap teams there is no doubt that we would see Allen struggling and being called a failure, and Darnold succeeding and being nominated for All Pro.
No. But a quarterback shouldn't need a scheme to be an effective runner in the NFL. Part of Darnold being ineffective as a runner is the poor interior line but another element of it is pocket presence. Allen ran around like an absolute maniac his first two years. Do you remember when they "upset" Minnesota his rookie year? The dude was dodging defenders left and right to escape the pocket against that pass rush. It wasn't scheme dependent.
If Allen was a QB that made those around him better, wouldn't It stand to reason he would've shown that type of impact before those guys came into the fold? Amongst other important pieces around Allen to aide In his miracle season? One good year doesn't mean he deserves to be In the hall of fame convo. I highly doubt he will ever exceed this level of success. I'm skeptical this isn't just some fluke year If I'm honest. We shall see though.
They are two different QBs with their own style, as are each of the other 30 QBs in the league. Darnold is not as good a runner as Allen, but then again he never had to be. That's really besides the point. The point is that Allen was put into a very favorable situation that was tailored to his strengths and minimized his weaknesses - it's what EVERY QB should be given - and Allen took advantage of that and thrived. Kudos to him. But Darnold was put into a situation that one could argue was tailor-made to destroy him. No, I don't believe that was the intention, but intentional or not, that's exactly what happened. Whether you agree with that or not, that's the fact of it.
