Chad was similar to Gannon, although not quite as good, in 2002. The difference, even pre-injuries, was arm strength and mechanics. Chad has rarely used his body to make throws. He relies heavily on very tight control of his arm and he throws from the shoulder to the wrist with very little body mechanics incorporated. That allows him to be hyper-accurate on throws that his arm alone can make. As the years have passed his injuries have reduced the range that his arm alone can address substantially and that's why he has become a largely ineffective QB. He still completes the 5 to 7 yard pass as well as anybody who ever played the game, but he is unable to put enough velocity on his throws to make most of the deeper ones. That's where the pick-6's are coming from, and they started coming mid-season last year not this summer.
Gannon was far more mobile than Chad and didn't need as much play action to create lanes to throw down field. In 02 Gannon was great at moving a little and creating a lane to go down field.
He also had a better arm and could make throws on the slants without a lot of risk involved. Chad can no longer throw to the sidelines or to the slanting receivers without unacceptable risk. That leaves him with dumpoffs to the outlet receivers and that's where a lot of his traffic goes these days. Coles and Cotchery are both really good at breaking off their patterns and coming back for him as an outlet.
What current play book? The OC was new. They drafted Clemens when Chad was still rehabing. They had a plan for an offense and decided Clemens was the best fit in the draft to run it. You can not tell me the O was designed for Chad when the CS didn't even know if he would ever play again. If BS worked this last offseason to tailor it to Chad he did a piss poor job and should be fired, because our O last year was light years ahead of this year.
I don't guarantee much, but I will guarantee that any 7 step drop that was called this year ended up in a sack. Chad did pretty well against Cincy dropping back and delivering a strike to Coles. What other chances did he have to make those throws this year? For that matter what chances did Kellen have to make those throws this year? Chad did not cripple the O, The O-line and play calling did.
This also makes no sense. They didn't design the offense around Chad, my god how many times do we have to go over this? They came in here with this offense and drafted Clemens to run it before they even knew if Chad could ever throw a ball again. The open competition for the job in the 06 camp was in this offense, the one the coach brought here. Yes, the Brad Smith stuff is a different package they put in--point being, if they had time for that, you don't think they are working with the full time QB that they drafted to run their offense? You think they just sat around for two seasons and then put him in games unprepared? If Clemens had stepped into the Herm regine in an offense that Chad had been running for years you might have a point, but that is not the case. They've all been in it the same amount of time.
This is actually an important point that seems to get ignored now that we are a couple of years down the road. The CS was in no way certain about whether Chad was going to come back with double shoulder surgeries and they did draft Clemens with at least a possible expectation that he could be the one starting. The offense built for Chad theory is toast. If anything perhaps the CS over evaluated the idea that Clemens could play well in it. Hard to know when the line sucked as bad as it did last year.
Two come immediately to mind, 31 yard strike to McCrapands (dropped at Goalline) and a 44 yarder to Cotchery (caught no YAC) against Baltimore. Compare those throws with the 3 day drive against buffalo when we were down two scores.... In fact the last two drives against Baltimore, had at least 4 throws of over 20 yards downfield, that Captain Checkdown couldnt make against Buffalo...
No. This is the upgrade they were looking for, by drafting Clemens. The mistake they made was letting Chad back on the field before his ankle was fully healed. Code: New York Jets at 06:47 1-10-NYJ 19 (6:47) 11-K.Clemens pass incomplete deep left to 29-L.Washington (55-T.Suggs). 2-10-NYJ 19 (6:41) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 20-T.Jones right guard to NYJ 19 for no gain (26-D.Landry). 3-10-NYJ 19 (6:20) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass short right to 81-J.McCareins ran ob at NYJ 29 for 10 yards. 1-10-NYJ 29 (5:59) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass deep left to 89-J.Cotchery to BAL 27 for 44 yards (35-C.Ivy). 1-10-BAL 27 (5:25) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass short left to 87-L.Coles ran ob at BAL 19 for 8 yards. 2-2-BAL 19 (5:06) (Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass incomplete short right to 81-J.McCareins [55-T.Suggs]. 3-2-BAL 19 (5:06) (No Huddle) PENALTY on NYJ-11-K.Clemens, Delay of Game, 5 yards, enforced at BAL 19 - No Play. 3-7-BAL 24 (4:51) (Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass incomplete short left to 87-L.Coles. 4-7-BAL 24 (4:47) (Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass short right to 89-J.Cotchery to BAL 1 for 23 yards (52-R.Lewis, 21-C.McAlister). 1-1-BAL 1 (4:18) (No Huddle) 11-K.Clemens up the middle to BAL 1 for no gain (95-J.Johnson, 57-B.Scott). 2-1-BAL 1 (3:48) (No Huddle) 20-T.Jones up the middle to BAL 3 for -2 yards (42-G.Sapp). 3-3-BAL 3 (3:17) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass short right to 86-C.Baker for 3 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Baltimore challenged the runner was in bounds ruling, and the play was Upheld. (Timeout #1 at 03:12.) 1-M.Nugent extra point is GOOD, Center-85-J.Dearth, Holder-7-B.Graham. PENALTY on BAL-55-T.Suggs, Leverage, 15 yards, enforced between downs. NYJ 13 BLT 20 Plays: 11 Possession: 3:35 Baltimore Ravens at 03:12 1-M.Nugent kicks onside 22 yards from NYJ 45 to BAL 33, out of bounds. 1-10-BAL 33 (3:12) 7-K.Boller pass incomplete deep left to 87-D.Williams (36-D.Barrett). 2-10-BAL 33 (3:10) 23-W.McGahee left guard to BAL 38 for 5 yards (25-K.Rhodes). Timeout #1 by NYJ at 02:55. 3-5-BAL 38 (2:55) 7-K.Boller pass incomplete short right to 85-D.Mason. 4-5-BAL 38 (2:47) (Punt formation) 4-S.Koch punts 62 yards to end zone, Center-70-M.Katula, Touchback. New York Jets at 02:38 1-10-NYJ 20 (2:38) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass short left to 89-J.Cotchery ran ob at BAL 30 for 50 yards (42-G.Sapp). 1-10-BAL 30 (2:26) (Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass short left to 20-T.Jones to BAL 31 for -1 yards (57-B.Scott). Two-Minute Warning 2-11-BAL 31 (1:59) (Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass incomplete deep middle to 81-J.McCareins. 3-11-BAL 31 (1:55) (Shotgun) PENALTY on NYJ-11-K.Clemens, Delay of Game, 5 yards, enforced at BAL 31 - No Play. 3-16-BAL 36 (1:55) (Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass incomplete deep middle to 89-J.Cotchery. PENALTY on BAL-42-G.Sapp, Defensive Holding, 5 yards, enforced at BAL 36 - No Play. 89 Cotchery injured on the play 10 second run-off 1-10-BAL 31 (1:39) (Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass incomplete deep middle to 87-L.Coles. 2-10-BAL 31 (1:27) (Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass incomplete short left to 87-L.Coles. 3-10-BAL 31 (1:22) (Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass deep left to 87-L.Coles to BAL 7 for 24 yards (22-S.Rolle). The Replay Assistant challenged the runner was in bounds ruling, and the play was Upheld. 1-7-BAL 7 (1:16) (Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass incomplete short middle to 81-J.McCareins (42-G.Sapp). 2-7-BAL 7 (1:10) (Shotgun) 11-K.Clemens pass short middle intended for 81-J.McCareins INTERCEPTED by 52-R.Lewis at BAL 0. Touchback.
Did his ankle force him to throw game ending picks in how many consecutive weeks? Was his ankle healed for the New England and Titan games? How did those turn out?
I can agree with part of what you're saying, in that replace McCareins with Moss and we instantly win 2 more games, and likely would have been at least closer to winning another 5. However, with this OL I'm not convinced Brady would make that much of a difference. When Brady is pressured and sacked he melts just as bad as the next guy.
Those were not 7 step drops and I know the one to McCareins was in the 2 minute drill, not exactly the WCO we were talking about.
Yes. I think his ankle tiring out had a large part to do with his late game drop off. But don't get me wrong, I think Clemens is the better prospect right now. Chad is at that point in his career where he thinks he can start bbut the coach needs to know he's a backup. The point I was making about Clemens, using the Baltimore game, was the fact that he was able to consitently manufacture large chunks of yardage, in the clutch. Chad will never be able to do that.
He took the full drop and delivered the ball 31 yards on a line. on the previous drive he did the same thing to Cotchery 44 yards downfield, again on line . Chad cannot make either of those throws. Chad takes 6 minutes to make one drive of those legnths. Clemens made two in about 4 minutes.
So he had one good drive that still ended up with an INT and a loss and you're going to bank the entire franchise on him based on that. Sound thinking there.
....... on a side note, I know the Broncos are not in the post season, but what type of yr did cutler have? Until Ferguson starts blowing up, or Cutler shows he's a dud, I'll not be too happy with the pick.
Cutler had an okay season. He threw 20 TDs and 14 INTs. His biggest problem is fumbling. He has 19 fumbles in 21 career games. He is smart and tough and has a strong arm. It looks like he's going to be a very good QB.
Cutler was never going to go on the 4 pick. The Jets would have needed a partner to trade down with and there were no partners. Cutler looks a lot like Jeff George at this point. He'll be a decent QB but not a lot more is my guess. He definitely does not have that "it" thing that field leaders have and that's one of the primary reasons that the Broncos are 9-11 with him as the starter.
That and their OL running game and D aren't that good anymore. Jeff George wasn't nearly as good as Cutler has been in year two. George pretty much sucked after a decent but not spectacular rookie year. George had a decent 4 years in an 11 year career and the first decent one was in year 5.
