Who agrees with the statement by Peter King?

[dave mcbride]

Does anyone remember the throw that Edwards made to Josh Reed on the last drive of the Redskins game a few years back? I know you can't declare someone accurate or inaccurate based on one pass, but that throw was one of the most accurate throws I've ever seen. The pass he threw to Evans in Jacksonville a few years ago was a close second.

 

Edwards' problem is accuracy under pressure, as a few here have noted. In fact, according to this Football Outsiders study, Trent-o was the second worst QB in the League under pressure last year.

 

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/extra-poi...-under-pressure

Nice find.

[Spiderweb]

And it also explains why guys like JP Losman fail. Look great in pads, strong arm, mobile, but piss poor accuracy and pocket awareness.

 

Ah, you touched on something else that can't be over rated, and that's the mental part. Pocket presence, ability to read a defense, and make quick and proper decisions. Accuracy is huge, no doubt, but it won't mean much if the QB doesn't have the mental presence required for the job. Nore will having the mental attrributes for the position, but no accuracy (see Fitzgerald).

 

Not to bring an old debate, but Flutie often stated how important the decision making ability is. He ranked it number 1.

[Beerball]

Thoughts on this blurb at the end of the column?

 

1. I think I disagree with Buffalo GM Buddy Nix, who said the other day in the wake of the release of defensive end Aaron Schobel, "Our fans should know that this decision was made in the best interests of the Buffalo Bills and Aaron Schobel.'' That's half true.

 

It was in the best interests of Schobel that the Bills released him; it gives a 32-year-old defensive end a chance to play for a winner, or to play for a team closer to his home near Houston. But it was not in Buffalo's best interests to release a guy, instead of waiting until a team in camp got desperate for an eight- to 12-sack player and would pay a draft choice to get him.

 

He also posts the odds of Andre making the HOF next year as 7:1.

[Cash]

"Bradford said his surgically repaired right shoulder hasn't bothered him at camp. He said he was very happy with his accuracy in camp. Quarterbacks in the NFL need lots of traits to succeed, but none is more important than that last one -- accuracy. At the base of it all, that's why Tom Brady and Drew Brees and Peyton Manning have succeeded. And it's why JaMarcus Russell, Cade McNown and Kyle Boller didn't."

 

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writ...l#ixzz0w7KDLziK

 

I hear this all of the time, whether its from NFL people or the high-end NFL media. Assuming that is true - or, rather, that most people of consequence in the league believe it to be true - it would explain the continuing hope that Edwards will pan out.

 

I tend to agree that accuracy is the most important trait for a successful QB. However, I haven't seen much from Trent. He completes a high percentage of his passes primarily because he throws so many short routes where accuracy isn't an issue. On medium and longer routes, where QB accuracy is often the difference between a completion and an incompletion, Trent rarely puts the ball on the money. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a case where Trent hit a guy in stride on anything other than a fly pattern.

[flopagamo]

Forgive my brief rant:

 

Peter King is a fatuous blowhard who is obsessed with himself. He fancies himself as a connoisseur of many things, including coffee and football. He really is terrible, given to making obvious statements and coloring them as insight, and making it look like he has really close personal relationships with most NFL players. Accuracy is of course an indispensable characteristic of a successful quarterback, as is "pocket-sense" - feeling & reacting to pressure, avoiding contact, etc.

 

Now then...

 

Completion percentage can be a deceiving metric, stat-wise, especially in west coast offenses. I think downfield accuracy -- completions of 15-20 yards or more -- is a better measure than just straight completion percentage, when it comes to being considered an accurate QB.

[Mickey]

If you are throwing 5 yard passes, accuracy shouldn't be an issue.

 

Depends on the type of pass. I actually think that a short screen pass can be among the hardest of all to hit properly. The lineman are chipping the DL and then pulling so the QB is going to have guys in his face, that is the whole point, lure them out of position. The QB is usually backpedaling like mad buying just enough time for the fat lineman to pull and the RB to get free of traffic. Then he has to find way to throw the ball just a few yards but get it past huge rushers with outstretched hands at the same time. How do you get it over their heads without overshooting the RB? How do you hit the RB, often with suspect hands, on the spot so he doesn't drop it and can start running right away? JP's worst pass, bar none, was the screen. It requires accuracy, touch, judgment, even some improvisation to find a way to get it done.

 

You are right of course that some passes are so easy you shouldn't have to be 100% accurate but even some short passes require that the QB be spot on. The windows in NFL secondarys are pretty damn small.

[Mickey]

Ah, you touched on something else that can't be over rated, and that's the mental part. Pocket presence, ability to read a defense, and make quick and proper decisions. Accuracy is huge, no doubt, but it won't mean much if the QB doesn't have the mental presence required for the job. Nore will having the mental attrributes for the position, but no accuracy (see Fitzgerald).

 

Not to bring an old debate, but Flutie often stated how important the decision making ability is. He ranked it number 1.

 

I have a pet theory on Flutie. I think he made his decision before the snap on who he was going to go to based on what he saw. Sometimes he was right, sometimes not but he stuck with his decision figuring that you have a better chance of completing a pass, even to a covered guy, if you knew where you were going and therefore could get the pass off that much faster and cleaner. That doesn't mean that he didn't pull back if after the snap it became clear that his first choice was impossible and then scramble and buy time. He did plenty of that and was damn good at scanning the field quickly and finding the open guy. But I think his meat and potato was decisiveness and part of that was to ditch the mandated progressions from primary, if covered, secondary, if covered, TE, etc. that so many passing games are built on. How many times have you heard Trent in the Jauron era talk about "going through my progressions"? I really don't think Flutie gave a damn about that. I think he knew who was running what route, took a good look at the defense and made his best guess pre-snap as to who should be the best option.

 

It may not sound like a big difference but when you only have 2 seconds to make a good decision and then launch an accurate pass under fire, saving a little time by giving up all the reading the saftey crap to try and get to the most open receiver in exchange for decisiveness and time can make a big difference.

 

No, I can't prove this but I watched every game he played for the Bills and so many times I saw him drop back and let it fly to a "covered" receiver without so much as a glance anywhere else, that I think he often had his WR picked out pre-snap and didn't give a damn if he was covered or not. And when they were, more often than not he completed it anyway because the pass was so on the money or the WR made a play. Sure beats watching a guy hold the ball while he searches and searches and searches for the open man, going through is progressions one at a time. God forbid a QB should just rely on his years of playing football to complete a pass. Better to make him pull out a slide rule and T-square and figure out scientifically who the optimum target is on every play.

 

Hamlet said, "There is nothing in this world either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

I would paraphrase that "There is no WR either covered or uncovered, but thinking makes it so."