It just occurred to me that the receiver that Clemens threw to on several of his deep passes might have been a decoy. What do you do when you have a short pass gameplan and two elite receivers along with one mediocre one? Send the two elite guys into short patterns and send the mediocrity deep to take a man out of the coverage scheme? Of course if you actually have the arm to throw long and that man comes open there's an issue. Maybe Clemens didn't understand that McCareins was just deep to take somebody out of the play. That would explain him going to him in the 1st, 3rd and 4th quarters without much success.
Every player running a route should expect the ball to come his way . Maybe Mcarrens in his mind thought "Holy S#$@ he's throwing the ball to me im the decoy " Its possible!
Seriously, think about it. Justin McCareins got thrown to in the 1st, 3rd and 4th quarters. He must be on the field when Chad is in there also and yet we never hear his name called. That's got decoy written all over it.
McCareins maybe...but still in that game Clemens had 5 pass plays of 20+ yards. Factor in the MCCareins drop, and that would be 6. Chad has had 2.....thats right......2 balls travel 20 yards in the air, this season.
so are you saying that's Clemens' fault, or are the CS and the WR's unexpecting a QB with a strong arm to let it fly?
I'm suggesting that they were running Chad's plays for Clemens and that McCareins was the one getting open deep early on. Then in the 3rd quarter they started to run Cotchery and Coles deep also on some plays. I'm betting that Clemens was throwing to McCareins because he was the open guy, however he was also a decoy not supposed to get the ball on a given play. That would explain the stutterstep on the overthrow in the 1st quarter: McCareins was just trying to keep his guy busy while somebody else caught one underneath.
What are you trying to prove? Sure Jmac probably wasn't the primary option, WHY in the world should he ever be the primary option? Still, You run your route and if the ball comes your way you do what a wr's supposed to do. Jmac's dropped balls only mean he was taking his 'decoy' role to easily. A wr running those types of routes has to be aware of his surroundings, don't they? I try each year to believe in Jmac, but I can't help but feel each time we put him in place to make a big play he makes it...for the other team. If I understand what you're saying why even have a 'cerebral' qb if most plays involve guys serving as decoys only to throw the ball underneath. If that truly is the CS intention (it better not), then its no surprise we're 1-3.
its true especially bc when brad smith is the # 3 and plays he gets catches, i think u might be on to somehtiung...
LOL. It makes sense though. If it was Coles deep, we would have tied it up -- of course he might have been double covered.
Could it also be that the Ravens gameplan was to stop Pennington which means that they 1. would lightly cover any receiver going deep knowing that he couldnt be reached. 2. knew that the only receiver going deep would be the one who cant catch. Man, Billick really is a genius.
Thread of the week... As far as KC throwing 5 times for 20+ yards in one game, as compared to Chad's 2 all season - Mangini make the change already. Disgusting.
Are you drunk or high? An NFL football player is never "just a decoy"...if the ball comes it is your job to catch it.
J-Mac probably spends more time in practice catching balls from Clemens, being a non-starter and all. Familiarity with your receivers is part of making a QB comfortable. Think about Coles before Chad vs Coles when Chad became the starter. Same thing.
Hey, he has a point. But even if he was a decoy reciever - which does happen, usually to draw in the safeties- he still should be expected to catch it.
A receiver has to catch the ball, especially the ones McCareins dropped. Doesn't matter if he's a decoy or whatever. Ball comes to you, you catch it. It's not like he didn't turn around and the ball hit him in the back. He knew the ball was coming, got ready to catch the ball, and flat out dropped it.
