Coach's Tape - Austin Davis Struggled

[tahoe]

Thank you for the time and effort on that. Thats pretty much what I thought watching the game. The receivers and tifht ends were getting open but Davis wasn't hanging in the pocket to get it to them. He panics almost every time and bails out of the pocket too soon. He also tends to look down field too much, especially on the run when he should just dump it off to the open guy underneath. KC is winning games with hardly ever throwing farther than ten yards, im not saying check down all the time but when its open take it. His arm is too weak for those deep throws on the run and they either take too long to get there or end up short. I know a lot of people have hopes for him to develop but I just dont see it. He cant handle pressure and is making poor reads, he is getting to the point of costing wins.

 

[moklerman]

As other have stated, thanks for the all the hard work.

As to Davis, I just think this is the natural course of growing pains for a young QB. Can anyone blame him for not having faith in the o-line at this point? I'm not arguing that he didn't bail out on some plays but I think it's understandable. Most interviews I've heard from players and coaches say that it takes 2+ years for the game to slow down for a QB so IMO it's way too early to be making declarations on Davis.

I think we also have to consider just how many adjustments they're asking him to make. It seems to me that they are asking him to do things that he is not used to doing and he isn't playing naturally. It seems obvious that there is a difference in how he has looked the last couple of weeks compared to when he got his first start. Basically, he's thinking(probably over-thinking) instead of just playing. Some of these plays where he isn't pulling the trigger or getting it out decisively are the result. 6 weeks ago, he would have just made the throw but now, I think he's weighing his options trying not to make mistakes.

But it happens to most of 'em. Look at Brees' first year's worth of starts:

This is his 2nd year after getting 1 start his rookie year so he's basically a first time starter. The first 8 games are pretty solid but then look at the 2nd half of the year. 5 games with zero TD's, no rating above 100 and a lot of struggling. The league adapts and it takes time for the player to adapt in return. Growing pains. No reason to think that Davis isn't just dealing with that right now.

Some bad mistakes against SF but big picture, I think he's still a quality #2/borderline starter if he stays healthy and keeps getting to play.

 

[bomebadeeda]

Great work Jrry32. I saw Britt on the first interception and knew Austin (for whatever the reason...) "locked" onto Tavon. And considering the measurables.....doesn't make sense. (I would think Bailey would do much better from the git go on that route.....much less lock onto a smallish target on the sideline.....bad juju......). But one thing you work has shown us is Britt is getting open. And that is a +. I was worried we were keeping him around to be a BQpick-me-up......but after seeing these. and seeing the "mic-ed up segment" he was in...... I'm starting to warm up to this guy in a hurry.... (thump thump thump.....gotta do the chest thing....LOL).
But I think more and more are seeing the truth. Austin Davis is a backup in the NFL. He's the best we got.....this year. And that's on Shotty to get him ready every week. And as a side note.... Shcottenheimer did have a good game plan in place this week. It just wasn't executed real well.
But once again. great work. I love seeing your insight.

 

[snackdaddy]

The first few games it seems like Davis played with no fear. But the last two games and the second half of the first 49er game he looked like a scared quarterback. Scared quarterbacks don't make good decisions.

All I can do is hope there's something about the 49ers that intimidated him and he'll move on from it. If not, scoring will be hard to come by.

 

[tahoe]

I still think hill is better...jmho

 

[Athos]

We're just in a bad situation with QBs right now. Hill isn't a long term answer, Davis is an unknown you hope improves dramatically the rest of the season.

The thing is, I still believe O-Line is more important than a new QB. Improve the run blocking, pass blocking, and we'd be much better off than a new green QB, though I am in favor of finding someone in the draft.

Now, the question is, do you sell out (trading future 1s) for Mariota so you can use some picks this year to still address the line? Tempting. But we'll see.

 

[ChrisW]

Thanks for the taking the time to do this @jrry32.

 

[dieterbrock]

Great work jrry32

Davis isnt the first, nor will he be the last QB to come in to the NFL, play out of his mind, then struggle when the league catches up to him
Thats what seperates the good/great ones from the JAG's

 

[T-REX]

Well done Jrry thanks for taking the time breaking that down, it left me shaking my head, to many missed and blown opportunities. I’ll chalk it up to inexperience and getting rattled in the pocket. I’m sure Frank Cignetti sits down with him and iron’s these issues out, hopefully.

 

[LACHAMP46]

Very interesting stuff. Great job @jrry32 I saw about 2-3 plays where Davis was so worried about the pressure, that he failed to stand in there and make game winning throws...For some reason, it was pretty obvious that guys were open...Usually the TV shot isn't as clear...Seems as if he's getting worse...I just wrote this on another site...But of course he has now been game planned so they know his weaknesses...Give 9ers a lil credit, but the reads he is missing some HS kids can make....And if he's better than Hill, as I suspect (not in overall talent, but just athleticism/durability) Hill must be awful.....

 

[Thordaddy]

Great work jrry32

Davis isnt the first, nor will he be the last QB to come in to the NFL, play out of his mind, then struggle when the league catches up to him
Thats what seperates the good/great ones from the JAG's

But ya know even when the shit hit the fan Sunday,instead of trying to do too much he settled down took what the defense gave him and didn't lose the game ,which a lot of those you speak of have done . Cousins threw like 4 ints. in his last start , Davis just started throwing it away ,not the best outcome but better than giving it back to them.
Not putting our defense in bad situations was as much a part of how Fisher wants him to play as the flash IMO.

 

[OnceARam]

Hey, I'm certainly not going to debate the logic. I think the points are all strongly supportable.

But you can just say that I gotta feeling. I know, that's not supposed to be a strong backbone for a position, especially for someone who's spent his whole life in the physical sciences. But the older I get, the more I've learned to trust my gut. And my gut still tells me AD will be competing with SB for the starting role at the beginning of next season, and that AD will probably get the starting gig until everyone is confident that SB is 100%.

I would never argue with your gut my friend.

 

[Zaphod]

To put it into perspective though ... Davis wasn't the only rattled quarterback with a poor performance in that game.

 

[LesBaker]

Wow. What is GRob doing in that last screen capture? He's turned completely around the wrong way.

Anyway, height is probably becoming a factor and Davis probably needs to manipulate the pocket better to see his WRs.

But, all those mistakes are still pretty much typical of a rookie, which he really is. Not much you can do but just hope these things improve.

What I did like better this time, was we actually saw him step up and run forward for positive yards. He has legs. He is mobile. He needs to utilize them more. And honestly, I think it'd help out his passing game if he ran the ball when the lanes open up for him.

But for the love of god, dude needs to go to the Aaron Rodgers/Russell Wilson school of learning how to slide.

He's 6'2"

 

[anode8]

Some great insight here, thanks! I think it's a positive sign that we can see open receivers with game planning and play calling that should work. This is clearly an execution issue, which is not surprising given Davis' "rookie"status. Hopefully he continues to grow, and evens out the season for us.

 

[fearsomefour]

Thanks Jrry, always look forward to these.
The pick on the throw to Austin is frustrating because Britt was open and right in his field of vision, however, Austin was open as well....I agree he was just late. The last still (going by memory here) I think it was a designed roll out, but, Kenricks was open the whole time Davis was running and was in his field of vision. I think Davis was in total "no turnover" mode at this point. He has work to do. The thing that was impressive earlier this year was he was on time with his throws. Teams are starting to know what bugs him. The last two weeks he was very flighty. We will see how he progresses. The good news?....receivers running open.

 

[fearsomefour]

I still think hill is better...jmho

He is certainly better in terms of having the experience. The one still where Davis misses a blitz read that is basically in front of him....I am sure that is a play Hill makes. On the flip side he may have been sacked a bunch of times when protection broke down. If Davis continues to struggle it will be interesting to see if Fisher makes a change at some point.

 

[Pancake]

Show me a young QB in only his 7th game who doesn't make these kinds of mistakes. It's part of the growing process they all go through.

 

[Irish]

If you do not have the natural QB abilities (arm strength, decision making, pocket presence, reading defensive backs), then you have to rely on outlier QB abilities that have become more en vogue, namely, being dangerous with your legs.

Wilson, Kaepernick, Newton; these guys don't need to be Manning or Rodgers or Brady because their legs get them out of tough jams, but more importantly open up easier passing reads based on the number of players required to keep them from killing them on the ground.

Davis does not have the natural QB abilities, and cannot rely on his legs to get anything done. Bortles, Bridgewater, and Carr are similar to Davis in that way, however, they have superior arm talent to compensate for lack of NFL QB readiness. I want Davis to succeed and the Rams to win every game they play, but at some point you have to look at the body of work once defenses had tape on Davis and face the facts: there is a reason he was a walk on in college, went undrafted, and was cut twice by NFL teams and was coaching high school football before ending up on the Rams roster. The guy just doesn't have what it takes.

 

[moklerman]

QB's on the road vs. the 49ers this year:

9/14 Jay Cutler - 23/34(68%) 176 yards 4TD/0INT 119.2 rating
9/28 Nick Foles - 21/43(49%) 143 yards 0TD/2INT 42.3 rating
10/5 Alex Smith - 16/30(53%) 158 yards 1TD/1INT 65.7 rating
11/2 Austin Davis - 13/24(54.2%) 105 yards 1TD/2INT 44.6 rating

Coming off a bye and getting some guys healthy on defense for the 49ers as well as the Rams re-shuffling their o-line, losing Quick, cutting Pettis and no Zac Stacy, I'd say Davis didn't fare any worse than Smith and Foles statistically and the Rams won whereas the Chiefs and Eagles lost.

There's room for improvement for Davis but it's a tough nut to excel and win in SF for a lot of QB's.