Congrats Sam Bradford

[FRO]

If he would have come out after his soph year, and went #1 overall, the Rams could have drafted Matt Stafford at #2
Bradford screwing the Rams again!! Lol

Who knows how Stafford would have done with 3 years of Spags and nobody to throw to or block for him. That being said it would have saved them from drafting Jason Smith.

 

[dieterbrock]

Who knows how Stafford would have done with 3 years of Spags and nobody to throw to or block for him. That being said it would have saved them from drafting Jason Smith.

Or the Lions would still have drafted Stafford and the Rams still end up with Bradford.
On an even worse team....

In all seriousness, its in Stafford DNA to take chance with the ball. He cant help himself. Something tells me that if we had that in any of our QB things might be different

 

[FRO]

Or the Lions would still have drafted Stafford and the Rams still end up with Bradford.
On an even worse team....

No Bradford was their guy. Either way the 2009-current Rams support cast has been a nightmare. We can blame QBs all we want, and some deserve major blame, but these guys have been given little chance. Before we picked Bradford I thought the QB magically elevated crap into gold. The whole Bradford years wised me up to seeing that while a QB can make the players around him better, a bad supporting cast can make him much worse. That's why I was against trading up for Goff, not because I didn't believe in Goff because I really did, but because I thought the supporting cast sucked. Everybody is crowning Dak, but put him on the Rams and he sucks. It's easier to play QB in that situation in Dallas than it is on every other team in the league.

 

[dieterbrock]

No Bradford was their guy. Either way the 2009-current Rams support cast has been a nightmare. We can blame QBs all we want, and some deserve major blame, but these guys have been given little chance. Before we picked Bradford I thought the QB magically elevated crap into gold. The whole Bradford years wised me up to seeing that while a QB can make the players around him better, a bad supporting cast can make him much worse. That's why I was against trading up for Goff, not because I didn't believe in Goff because I really did, but because I thought the supporting cast sucked. Everybody is crowning Dak, but put him on the Rams and he sucks. It's easier to play QB in that situation in Dallas than it is on every other team in the league.

True but the QB has to be willing to test the defense.
Havent seen that from any of our QB since Bulger

 

[FRO]

True but the QB has to be willing to test the defense.
Havent seen that from any of our QB since Bulger

Haven't had a coach that pushed them to do it since Bulger either. I thought Martz was a poor HC, but his offensive mind was great. He taught his guys to challenge the defense and not worry so much about turnovers. Yes turnovers occurred but so did a lot of points. Having Spags develop Bradford and Fisher develop Goff was a mistake too. Teaching these young QBs to play not to lose is detrimental. Also it's much easier to be willing to test a defense when you have weapons like Bulger and Warner did. When you're throwing to Brandon Gibson and Austin Pettis and Brian Quick it's hard to trust those guys to win 50/50 battles.

 

[LACHAMP46]

He gets a lot of crap, but he put together quite an impressive season considering the circumstances.

What's been impressive th last two seasons

His last 2 season have been impressive....

And give credit where it's due, guys stuck it out, probably will force Vikes to trade Teddy B....and IMO, dude has the arm talent to become a franchise QB. Something I don't see in a LOT of places....Guess where I'm going with that if you will.

 

[bwdenverram]

Anyone here who wouldn't take those numbers vs what we looked at this year is high as a kite.

 

[thirteen28]

Haven't had a coach that pushed them to do it since Bulger either

This. Under Spags and Fisher, QB's have been coached to be safety first, go for the checkdown, don't push the ball downfield. Agree the weapons weren't there, but even if they were I don't think we would have seen QB's under these guys pushing the ball downfield.

It makes me wonder why Fisher wanted to trade up for Goff in the first place ... instead of fully utilizing his talent, I have the feeling he would have just been used as a game manager and not much more.

 

[FRO]

This. Under Spags and Fisher, QB's have been coached to be safety first, go for the checkdown, don't push the ball downfield. Agree the weapons weren't there, but even if they were I don't think we would have seen QB's under these guys pushing the ball downfield.

It makes me wonder why Fisher wanted to trade up for Goff in the first place ... instead of fully utilizing his talent, I have the feeling he would have just been used as a game manager and not much more.

I'm not 100% sure Fisher wanted to trade up for Goff. Once the Rams traded up I think Goff was the guy Fisher and Snead wanted.

I agree with your overall point. Why buy a race car when you are going to go 20 below the speed limit regardless?

 

[RaminExile]

No Bradford was their guy. Either way the 2009-current Rams support cast has been a nightmare. We can blame QBs all we want, and some deserve major blame, but these guys have been given little chance. Before we picked Bradford I thought the QB magically elevated crap into gold. The whole Bradford years wised me up to seeing that while a QB can make the players around him better, a bad supporting cast can make him much worse. That's why I was against trading up for Goff, not because I didn't believe in Goff because I really did, but because I thought the supporting cast sucked. Everybody is crowning Dak, but put him on the Rams and he sucks. It's easier to play QB in that situation in Dallas than it is on every other team in the league.

The other thing guys never gave Bradford enough credit for was elevating his teammates. He got a lot out of Brandon Gibson and Austin Pettis who never went on to do anything anywhere else. Jordan Matthews, Huff and Ertz all had career years in Philadelphia last year, and this year Rudolph, Diggs and Thielen have all had their best years as pros. Thats been with terrible offensive lines every single year.

You're right. No quarterback in the world can win with the rest of the team letting them down. Dak Prescott on the Rams would be regarded as a sucky pick. Goff has got the worst stat line in the league, but I don't think you can really assess him because of whats around him. I am with you regarding the move to trade up for him FRO - I think, and thought it was a mistake at the time simply because I didn't think we were '1 position away' from competing. We were closer last year before we lost our secondary....

 

[LesBaker]

What's been impressive th last two seasons has been that he's actually been one of the most accurate QBs under pressure. What he's done in Minnesota with that O line, with three co-ordinaries in one season after being traded 8 days before the season is mighty impressive. Teams haven't figured out his effectiveness against the blitz yet - they're still blitzing him and he carves them up with a QB rating of 100+ (154.7 today) against the blitz. I always was a fan and thought he was under appreciated because he didn't have any talent around him. I understood them moving on when they did because they couldn't trust his health, but it looks like a mistake now.

The reason his completion % under pressure is good is because he is constantly checking down. He is 19th in YPA, .02 ahead of Trevor Siemian. His TD % is way below average.

This year he's been compiling numbers late in games when the contest is mostly out of reach or they are scrambling to catch up. And in large part that's because through most of the game the MINN offense isn't moving the ball and is putting the defense back on the field too often.

Go look at his YPA........game by game. I've seen enough to know this..........Bradford is what he is. An average QB in a QB starved league.

I just don't understand all the love this guy gets, he's done nothing but be average and some people still think he's a star.

 

[Prime Time]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...dford-finished-17th-in-first-down-percentage/

Short pass master Bradford finished 17th in first down percentage
Posted by Michael David Smith on January 5, 2017

Getty Images

Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford set a new NFL record for completion percentage this season, completing 71.6 percent of his passes. Which serves as a good reminder of how meaningless a statistic completion percentage can be.

The problem with completion percentage is that it treats all completions equally, which is obviously ridiculous: A completion for zero yards doesn’t help a team any more than an incompletion. A completion short of the line to gain on third down doesn’t help much more than an incompletion, either. And Bradford had a lot of those short completions that didn’t pick up first downs.

How many? While setting the NFL record for completion percentage, Bradford finished 17th in the NFL in first down percentage, among the 33 quarterbacks who threw at least 200 passes.

Bradford completed so many passes short of the line to gain that he got a first down on just 35.7 percent of his passes. Half the quarterbacks in the league picked up a first down on a higher percentage of their passes, even though none completed as high a percentage of his passes.

Consider, for instance, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan: Although Ryan completed 22 fewer passes than Bradford this season, Ryan picked up 41 more first downs than Bradford. There were eight quarterbacks in the NFL who threw for more first downs while completing fewer passes than Bradford.

Bradford’s season points to one of the flaws of the NFL’s official passer rating statistic, which incorporates completion percentage but not first downs. Bradford finished sixth in the NFL in passer rating, thanks in large part to that record first down percentage.

Statistics that factor in not just whether a pass was completed but whether that pass picked up a first down, like ESPN’s QBR or Football Outsiders’ DVOA, didn’t think so highly of Bradford: He finished 18th of 30 qualifying quarterbacks in QBR and 17th of 34 qualifying quarterbacks in DVOA.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer has declared that Bradford earned the right to start next season. If Zimmer wants to win with Bradford next season, he’s going to need Bradford to start pushing the ball down the field.

 

[FRO]

It's crazy how the media puts out the narrative that all QB situations are made equal. Sam had a brutal offensive line. It would have been stupid to have him sit in the pocket and throw down the field. Why the need to crap on him? Just like the Goff/Prescott stuff. When you have the best line in the league and top flight receiving talent to go along with an offensive HC and good OC, you have a very good chance of doing well. Meanwhile Goff has a horrible line and receivers with bad offensive coaching and they compare the two guys. I absolutely despise how the media acts like QB is the only position out there.

 

[fearsomefour]

He gets a lot of crap, but he put together quite an impressive season considering the circumstances.

and showed toughness taking a pounding.
But this is ROD where all Ram QBs are judged by the same harsh standard.....as long as they are ex Ram QBs or have fallen out of favor.
Bulger.....err....Bradford....err....Keenum.... not accurate, too many pics, doesn't matter who is at fault, losing record as a starter.....Goff?.....

 

[simonblaze]

Good for Sam, I always thought he had top 10 QB arm talent. Just needed a good steady team that was willing to build around him (we sure didn't). Once Minnesota shores up their o-line and keeps adding weapons, Sam will be a pro bowl QB. No doubt in my mind..

 

[LesBaker]

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer has declared that Bradford earned the right to start next season. If Zimmer wants to win with Bradford next season, he’s going to need Bradford to start pushing the ball down the field.

Good luck with that Zimmer, it'll never happen.

 

[jjab360]

No matter how you get it, the highest CMP% in NFL history is still impressive. Congrats Sam.

 

[Dxmissile]

True but the QB has to be willing to test the defense.
Havent seen that from any of our QB since Bulger

You forget the record that Bradford and Givens set. It wasn't Bradford but the scheme and the oline not allowing enough time for the routes to develop

 

[Angry Ram]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...dford-finished-17th-in-first-down-percentage/

Short pass master Bradford finished 17th in first down percentage
Posted by Michael David Smith on January 5, 2017

Getty Images

Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford set a new NFL record for completion percentage this season, completing 71.6 percent of his passes. Which serves as a good reminder of how meaningless a statistic completion percentage can be.

The problem with completion percentage is that it treats all completions equally, which is obviously ridiculous: A completion for zero yards doesn’t help a team any more than an incompletion. A completion short of the line to gain on third down doesn’t help much more than an incompletion, either. And Bradford had a lot of those short completions that didn’t pick up first downs.

How many? While setting the NFL record for completion percentage, Bradford finished 17th in the NFL in first down percentage, among the 33 quarterbacks who threw at least 200 passes.

Bradford completed so many passes short of the line to gain that he got a first down on just 35.7 percent of his passes. Half the quarterbacks in the league picked up a first down on a higher percentage of their passes, even though none completed as high a percentage of his passes.

Consider, for instance, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan: Although Ryan completed 22 fewer passes than Bradford this season, Ryan picked up 41 more first downs than Bradford. There were eight quarterbacks in the NFL who threw for more first downs while completing fewer passes than Bradford.

Bradford’s season points to one of the flaws of the NFL’s official passer rating statistic, which incorporates completion percentage but not first downs. Bradford finished sixth in the NFL in passer rating, thanks in large part to that record first down percentage.

Statistics that factor in not just whether a pass was completed but whether that pass picked up a first down, like ESPN’s QBR or Football Outsiders’ DVOA, didn’t think so highly of Bradford: He finished 18th of 30 qualifying quarterbacks in QBR and 17th of 34 qualifying quarterbacks in DVOA.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer has declared that Bradford earned the right to start next season. If Zimmer wants to win with Bradford next season, he’s going to need Bradford to start pushing the ball down the field.

I mean, it's only a 2% difference b/w Sam and Tom Brady. About 1% between Sam and Ben and Aaron Rodgers.

Eli, Cam, Russell, Derek Carr, Marcus Mariota are all behind Sam by about the same percentage.