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Andrew Luck - Contrarian Post


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I have watched five or six complete games now. My take is that he is more of a system QB than a franchise QB. I see lots of great things in terms of vision and accuracy with just enough athleticism. However most of his throws are short and intermediate routes to TE's, RB's, and curl patterns to WR's. He has a wonderful offensive line, rarely gets any pressure, and an outstanding running game. His deep ball floats and his over the middle and sideline throws don't seem to have a lot of velocity. This past week against lowly Washington State he had several bad deep throws in the first half.

I'm not saying he won't be the top pick in the draft but he is looking less like John Elway and and more like Matt Leinart.

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Interesting take.

 

Typically the only college football I watch is video cutups of draft prospects so in spite of living near Stanford, I've only seen bits and pieces of his games.

 

Also, more than any other position I have a hard time projecting college QBs to the pros.

 

I appreciate that you've spent a fair amount of effort watching him and evaluating him.

 

I wonder what pro scouts really think of Luck.

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I have watched five or six complete games now. My take is that he is more of a system QB than a franchise QB. I see lots of great things in terms of vision and accuracy with just enough athleticism. However most of his throws are short and intermediate routes to TE's, RB's, and curl patterns to WR's. He has a wonderful offensive line, rarely gets any pressure, and an outstanding running game. His deep ball floats and his over the middle and sideline throws don't seem to have a lot of velocity. This past week against lowly Washington State he had several bad deep throws in the first half.

I'm not saying he won't be the top pick in the draft but he is looking less like John Elway and and more like Matt Leinart.

 

I'd say i've watched about 8 or 9 Stanford games and while your take on his throws is pretty accurate, he has unbelievable touch on his throws and knows where exactly to put the ball. Also, I think, you have left out the most important part of his game. Andrew Luck is allowed to call his own plays. He controls a lot of what you see in Stanfords offense. His ability to read defenses is pretty amazing too. Helping the line with blocking assignments. I'm guessing thats what scouts see. Yea he doesn't have the biggest arm, and who know's what his line will look like in the pro's, but his "football smarts" are what I think impresses scouts the most.

 

Peyton and John both didn't have huge arms...

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I'd say i've watched about 8 or 9 Stanford games and while your take on his throws is pretty accurate, he has unbelievable touch on his throws and knows where exactly to put the ball. Also, I think, you have left out the most important part of his game. Andrew Luck is allowed to call his own plays. He controls a lot of what you see in Stanfords offense. His ability to read defenses is pretty amazing too. Helping the line with blocking assignments. I'm guessing thats what scouts see. Yea he doesn't have the biggest arm, and who know's what his line will look like in the pro's, but his "football smarts" are what I think impresses scouts the most.

 

Peyton and John both didn't have huge arms...

 

John Elway?

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I'd say i've watched about 8 or 9 Stanford games and while your take on his throws is pretty accurate, he has unbelievable touch on his throws and knows where exactly to put the ball. Also, I think, you have left out the most important part of his game. Andrew Luck is allowed to call his own plays. He controls a lot of what you see in Stanfords offense. His ability to read defenses is pretty amazing too. Helping the line with blocking assignments. I'm guessing thats what scouts see. Yea he doesn't have the biggest arm, and who know's what his line will look like in the pro's, but his "football smarts" are what I think impresses scouts the most.

 

Peyton and John both didn't have huge arms...

 

Elway most certainly did :ph34r:

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I'd say i've watched about 8 or 9 Stanford games and while your take on his throws is pretty accurate, he has unbelievable touch on his throws and knows where exactly to put the ball. Also, I think, you have left out the most important part of his game. Andrew Luck is allowed to call his own plays. He controls a lot of what you see in Stanfords offense. His ability to read defenses is pretty amazing too. Helping the line with blocking assignments. I'm guessing thats what scouts see. Yea he doesn't have the biggest arm, and who know's what his line will look like in the pro's, but his "football smarts" are what I think impresses scouts the most.

 

Peyton and John both didn't have huge arms...

A mixture of these "football smarts" and good accuracy (which even our contrarian seems to admit is there) can take a quarterback a long way in this league, elite arm strength or not.

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I have watched five or six complete games now. My take is that he is more of a system QB than a franchise QB. I see lots of great things in terms of vision and accuracy with just enough athleticism. However most of his throws are short and intermediate routes to TE's, RB's, and curl patterns to WR's. He has a wonderful offensive line, rarely gets any pressure, and an outstanding running game. His deep ball floats and his over the middle and sideline throws don't seem to have a lot of velocity. This past week against lowly Washington State he had several bad deep throws in the first half.

I'm not saying he won't be the top pick in the draft but he is looking less like John Elway and and more like Matt Leinart.

Well I've watched him for the past 3 years and I thought he was great as a sophomore, and was awesome last year. This year he has a new coaching staff and new players around him so he hasn't been as on fire as last year. Trust me he is the real deal and will be great in the NFL.

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I have watched five or six complete games now. My take is that he is more of a system QB than a franchise QB. I see lots of great things in terms of vision and accuracy with just enough athleticism. However most of his throws are short and intermediate routes to TE's, RB's, and curl patterns to WR's. He has a wonderful offensive line, rarely gets any pressure, and an outstanding running game. His deep ball floats and his over the middle and sideline throws don't seem to have a lot of velocity. This past week against lowly Washington State he had several bad deep throws in the first half.

I'm not saying he won't be the top pick in the draft but he is looking less like John Elway and and more like Matt Leinart.

Everyone on this board also leaves out how simply awful his father was, yet not one person here can name a crappy QB whose son excelled in the NFL. Gale Gilbert's kid was good in HS but he flamed out in college. Good luck with Luck.

 

Daddy

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Not really related, but when Aaron Rodgers came out he had a very weak arm and threw like an awkward 8th grader.

 

Now he has maybe the strongest arm in the league and throws perfectly. Not sure who the GB QB coach is but he is a good one.

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Not really related, but when Aaron Rodgers came out he had a very weak arm and threw like an awkward 8th grader.

 

Now he has maybe the strongest arm in the league and throws perfectly. Not sure who the GB QB coach is but he is a good one.

For every weak arm to strong arm Aaron Rogers' story there are 100 weak arm to weak arm no cajones Glove Wearing May type stories.

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I have watched five or six complete games now. My take is that he is more of a system QB than a franchise QB. I see lots of great things in terms of vision and accuracy with just enough athleticism. However most of his throws are short and intermediate routes to TE's, RB's, and curl patterns to WR's. He has a wonderful offensive line, rarely gets any pressure, and an outstanding running game. His deep ball floats and his over the middle and sideline throws don't seem to have a lot of velocity. This past week against lowly Washington State he had several bad deep throws in the first half.

I'm not saying he won't be the top pick in the draft but he is looking less like John Elway and and more like Matt Leinart.

 

Yea yea yea. I also remember people criticizing Adrian Peterson's "upright" running style and Clay Matthews' speed. You'd cream your pants if Luck became a Buffalo Bill.

Edited by Mr. Wonderful
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I have two words to add: Ryan Leaf... bottom line is that no matter how highly a prospect is touted, you never know how they will turn out. B-)

 

There's always room for you on the anti-Luck bandwagon. I've invested heavily in the Leaf bank. It's how/where I see this narrative playing out.

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I've watched over 20 of his games and parts of many others. He has a huge arm and can gun the ball. Not Elway strength but hardly anyone did or does. Arm strength for Luck is not only not an issue, it's a strength. A lot of times his ball seems to not be fired because he changes velocity on it depending on the need. Some QBs just gun every throw. Luck throws as hard as he needs to make it easy for the WR to catch the ball. When he wants and needs to gun it he guns it. His touch is extraordinary. He misses some deep throws at times, but he connects on a ton of them. The long ball is not at all an issue with him.

 

It is easy to watch some of his games, or portions of his games, and say that he has great protection, or WR wide open or a good running game. All of that is true. You can't blame him for that though. When the rush comes he moves in the pocket well or senses the rush or scrambles and looks downfield and throws on the run well, or he runs great. When guys are covered he most often threads the needle. When there is little run game he throws all the time and still delivers.

 

He's not always going to throw the ball great all game long, but in the game in question in the OP, which really wasn't one of his better games, and he started slow, he was 23-36 for 336 yards and 4 TD with 1 INT.

 

Here's a little bit of arm strength...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWu9SEerxkU

Edited by Kelly the Dog
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