Former Bills OC has Final Exam grades for top 6 QBs

[aceman_16]

57 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

You understand that even the mighty Bill Belichick is “former Browns’ head coach”...

And you do understand he currently has a long term HOF job in the NFL as a head coach due to his acumen? Bad example.... there were actually better  

[OldTimer1960]

45 minutes ago, aceman_16 said:

And you do understand he currently has a long term HOF job in the NFL as a head coach due to his acumen? Bad example.... there were actually better  

Too impractical to list all of the good NFL coaches who have been fired.

 

How about Marv Levy as an example?  Wade Phillips is a MASTER DC and he has been let go as well.

 

Now, to be clear, I am not saying that Fairchild achieved on their levels, but his opinion should carry some weight as a guy who had multiple gigs in the NFL and college.

[aceman_16]

38 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

Too impractical to list all of the good NFL coaches who have been fired.

 

How about Marv Levy as an example?  Wade Phillips is a MASTER DC and he has been let go as well.

 

Now, to be clear, I am not saying that Fairchild achieved on their levels, but his opinion should carry some weight as a guy who had multiple gigs in the NFL and college.

Another hall of famer coach (Levy)  and one of the best coordinators ever (Phillips).  My larger point was and IS that Fairchild is just a guy with NFL experience.  IF you think the miracle work he pulled while coaching JP Losman, Marc Bulger, and Dan McGwire paving their "HOF careers" makes him a QB genius....  I am unsure there is help for you.

[HappyDays]

I'm bumping this thread because there wasn't much discussion about his Josh Allen report. He had Allen as his #1 QB.

http://nfldraftbible.com/josh-allen-final-exam-with-steve-fairchild/

SUMMARY/DRAFT PROJECTION

Allen is an elite talent when it comes to quarterbacks.  He has NFL size, as well as very good athletic ability. He plays the game of football with toughness. He will have to learn to slide at the next level. Allen has a big arm with a quick release. These abilities make defenses have to defend the entire field as he can quickly and effortlessly throw the ball anywhere. He can stand in the pocket and continue to process with defenders around him, in addition to being able to escape and create when necessary. His speed is good, as is his ability to throw accurately on the run. Allen is a quarterback that doesn’t have a lot of experience and may have a learning curve when making the jump to the NFL in terms of scheme and situational football. His talent is undeniable and he should be top pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft and the first or second quarterback off the board.

The report goes more in depth on each of his traits. Fairchild has been coaching QBs for years so I'd like to think he knows what he's talking about.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

20 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

I'm bumping this thread because there wasn't much discussion about his Josh Allen report. He had Allen as his #1 QB.

http://nfldraftbible.com/josh-allen-final-exam-with-steve-fairchild/
 

 

 

The report goes more in depth on each of his traits. Fairchild has been coaching QBs for years so I'd like to think he knows what he's talking about.

 

Hopefully he knows what he's talking about. His QB opinion is very different from the majority. 

[Mat68]

5 minutes ago, TheTruthHurts said:

Hopefully he knows what he's talking about. His QB opinion is very different from the majority. 

What majority?  

[Buffalo_Stampede]

3 minutes ago, Mat68 said:

What majority?  

Most reports I've read say he lacks anticipation. Even Jordan Palmer blamed his lack of anticipation on his WR's. Fairchild says he has excellent anticipation. 

[Augie]

6 minutes ago, Mat68 said:

What majority?  

 

Josh Rosen and his family and friends? 

 

I have no idea how this turns out, but I’m praying that he reaches his ceiling.  

[Mat68]

1 minute ago, TheTruthHurts said:

Most reports I've read say he lacks anticipation. Even Jordan Palmer blamed his lack of anticipation on his WR's. Fairchild says he has excellent anticipation. 

I ment in terms of his ranking.  I have seen multiple places rank Allen 1 or 2 in this draft in terms of Qbs.  

[Buffalo_Stampede]

6 minutes ago, Mat68 said:

I ment in terms of his ranking.  I have seen multiple places rank Allen 1 or 2 in this draft in terms of Qbs.  

Yeah, Allen's ranking ranged from 1-5, mostly 1-3. I have no problem with the ranking, just the evaluation makes little sense. 

[John from Riverside]

This is where I get confused on Josh Allen's evalutation

 

I have seen people all over the place on evaluation of his mechanics

 

This guy says he has excellent mechanics

 

but then I see lots of reports that he need to clean up his fundamentals....and he is doing all this strictly from arm talent alone

 

I mean which is it.....or a combonation of both?

[Houston's #1 Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, John from Riverside said:

This is where I get confused on Josh Allen's evalutation

 

I have seen people all over the place on evaluation of his mechanics

 

This guy says he has excellent mechanics

 

but then I see lots of reports that he need to clean up his fundamentals....and he is doing all this strictly from arm talent alone

 

I mean which is it.....or a combonation of both?

I'll let you know in September.....

[billspro]

2 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

This is where I get confused on Josh Allen's evalutation

 

I have seen people all over the place on evaluation of his mechanics

 

This guy says he has excellent mechanics

 

but then I see lots of reports that he need to clean up his fundamentals....and he is doing all this strictly from arm talent alone

 

I mean which is it.....or a combonation of both?

 

I don’t think you can throw a football 70mph without perfect mechanics. He has some footwork to clean up, but what NFL prospect doesn’t. He doesn’t have to change anything about his throwing motion imo.

[MJS]

2 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

This is where I get confused on Josh Allen's evalutation

 

I have seen people all over the place on evaluation of his mechanics

 

This guy says he has excellent mechanics

 

but then I see lots of reports that he need to clean up his fundamentals....and he is doing all this strictly from arm talent alone

 

I mean which is it.....or a combonation of both?

 

I bet he does have perfect mechanics on a lot of throws, but has bad mechanics on others. I've read that when throwing to the left side of the field he opens up his base too much instead of pointing his left foot at his target. But when throwing to the right he does well.

[Tyrod's friend]

On 4/19/2018 at 9:03 PM, aceman_16 said:

My larger point was and IS that Fairchild is just a guy with NFL experience.  IF you think the miracle work he pulled while coaching JP Losman, Marc Bulger, and Dan McGwire paving their "HOF careers" makes him a QB genius....  I am unsure there is help for you.

Steve Fairchild has a long career in football at the highest level. 

Just for ***** and giggles ... I mean, I don't this guy at all but ...
 

First year as an OC - team goes from 7-9 before him to 12-4 in his first year and the QB gets his first PB.

Second year as OC - team goes 8-6 with starting QB, wins playoff game and loses in second round.
Third year as OC - team still middle of pack. Throughout this time period the Rams segue from one HoF RB to Steven Jackson. Offense ranks 2nd, 19th, 11th.

This is what he got out of his QB. Let me assure you, whatever Marc Bulger was going to be, Steve Fairchild didn't leave any of it in the clubhouse.

 

Marc Bulger Passing Statistics for Career Games 2003 to 2005

 

		Games		Passing																Passing
Year	Tm	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	Lng	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Y/G	Rate	QBR	Sk	Yds	NY/A	ANY/A	Sk%	4QC	GWD
Average		12	12		283	435		3369	19		15									35	259
Per 16 Games		16	16		367	564		4370	25		19									45	336
2003-2005	RAM	37	37	22-15-0	849	1304	65.1	10106	57	4.4	45	3.5	57	7.8	7.1	11.9	273.1	88.8		104	778	6.63	6.00	7.4

Comes to Buffalo and gets this out of JP Losman - who, before Fairchild completed 49% of his passes:

J.P. Losman Passing Statistics for Career Games 2006 to 2007

 

		Games		Passing																Passing
Year	Tm	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	Lng	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Y/G	Rate	QBR	Sk	Yds	NY/A	ANY/A	Sk%	4QC	GWD
Average		12	12		190	302		2128	12		10									30	218
Per 16 Games		16	15		253	403		2837	15		13									41	290
2006-2007	BUF	24	23	9-14-0	379	604	62.7	4255	23	3.8	20	3.3	85	7.0	6.3	11.2	177.3	82.6		61	435	5.74	5.08	9.2

 

Before Steve Fairchild, Losman was horrible. Losman disappeared after he was gone. Obviously our offense under Dick Jauron wasn't much in those years. But again, whatever JP Losman was going to be Steve Fairchild didn't leave any of it in the locker room.


Meanwhile YOU are someone with all the credits in your life in football to the point where you don't disclose you real name on a football blog. Pretty cheeky if you ask me.

My own larger point is that somebody on a football website probably doesn't have the chits to sit at a table with Steve Fairchild.

TO the OP - thanks for sharing.

 

[BarleyNY]

3 hours ago, TheTruthHurts said:

Hopefully he knows what he's talking about. His QB opinion is very different from the majority. 

 

Agreed. There are a lot of scouting reports out there that are not at all complimentary of Allen.  It’s nice to see that someone loved him and thought he was the #1 QB prospect before we drafted him. 

[BurpleBull]

I was trying to gauge the accuracy of Fairchild's assessment because he's offering an in-depth breakdown of each QB and speaks so well of Allen but I don't know how much stock can be fully placed in his analysis despite all the good things he expresses about Allen.

 

I'm willing to buy that Allen's stat struggles are a result of a poor supporting cast, but become a little iffy on Fairchild's analysis somewhat when checking Mason Rudolph's breakdown to see if he would mention some of the flaws in his game that I saw and see none of them really highlighted.

 

Rudolph's ball placement isn't great all the time despite having one of the better career completion percentages among the QB's, as he threw the ball too high for his receivers to make a play after the catch at times (including passes to Marcell Ateman, 6-4 WR). I chalked it up to him being a taller QB with a higher release point.

 

He also doesn't appear to have great pocket awareness at times; there were plays where he'd be so stuck on his receiver downfield that he didn't notice the defensive pressure of a four-man rush whatsoever, was sacked, and stripped of the football.

 

He gives Rudolph pretty good scores across the board except for when it comes to his mobility.

 

I can buy that Allen will have greater success in the NFL being surrounded by better players given his abilities, it sounds fair, but I'm unsure of the accuracy of Fairchild's complete assessment. 

 

[Magox]

A couple points that I'd like to make:

 

Most reports and analysis did not criticize Allen's lack of throwing with anticipation, as a matter of fact more analysis than not mentioned that he did throw with decent anticipation.

 

The criticism in regards to the mental aspect was that he lacks in processing the play after the snap and that he needs work with his progressions.

 

Also Allen has excellent throwing "mechanics", however his weakness in this area are his lower body mechanics.  Primarily when he needs to reset off of his first progression to the second.  

 

There is a distinction between these.

Edited May 17, 2018 by Magox

[BuffaloBill]

The real question is whether Allen will respond to and absorb coaching.  He has all of the tools.  

[Drunken Pygmy Goat]

Nice bump.

 

I'm not going to question Fairchild's credibility (and being fired as an OC shouldn't lead people to believe that he doesn't know what he's talking about), but his analysis was probably a bit too shiny to me. Only once or twice did he point out a flaw in Allen's game (leaving the pocket early, touch on short throws). In most evaluations, you list multiple strengths and weaknesses. The way Allen is described here, you would think the Browns would have ran to the podium and taken him 1st overall. 

 

This doesn't mean I'm not a fan, I just think the analysis may have left out some of the things that Allen doesn't do as consistently as he needs to at the next level. Just because he can do something, doesn't mean he does it well all the time. Granted you can find those types of flaws in all QBs at times, but there was no mention of them. 

 

That said, I think the general idea that fans have when they read about a player's weakness is that it's a major issue, when many times, it's more of a consistency issue. Just because Allen may have opened his hips on some throws to the left, doesn't mean he hasn't done it without opening his hips. We tend to focus on the negatives a bit more than we should, and often forget about the strengths. IMO, Allen's strengths far outweigh the weaknesses. His talent is undeniable, and he does excel in several areas that you want from a professional QB. Trusting his arm too much may get him in trouble at times, but that's the mentality that you want. Trust in yourself, and trust in your receivers to make the play if you just give them a chance. And what flaws he does have seem to be correctable, and it doesn't seem like there's many. 

 

He's very smart, tough, and was a late bloomer beginning his collegiate career. Uber talented QB that played with marginal talent last year. I think he's come a long way in 3 years, and if coached properly and surrounded with decent talent, I think we'll be in good shape to truly contend for championships.